Safety Rhaheim Ledbetter picks the Gators

By Adam Silverstein
July 15, 2011

A week before what is expected to be a recruiting surge for the Florida Gators as they host Friday Night Lights at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on July 22, the team received good news in the form of a verbal commitment from underrated three-star safety Rhaheim Ledbetter (Boiling Springs, NC), who announced his decision on Friday.

Ledbetter, who said earlier this month that the Gators were recruiting him the hardest, chose Florida over Alabama, Clemson, Miami and South Carolina.

“I just felt better about Florida’s staff and Florida in general as that’s where I have to live for three years,” he told InsidetheGators.com‘s Andrew Spivey.

Rivals has Ledbetter ranked as the No. 25 player at his position, while ESPNU has him listed as a four-star recruit and the No. 9 safety in the country.

He is teammates with five-star defensive end Jonathan Bullard (Shelby, NC), and the duo at one time gave indications that they would like to play college football together.

Ledbetter, whose cousin is former Gators now New England Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes, said he will not be taking any more visits.

40 Comments

  1. GatorNsc says:

    Great news.. not saying this kid is not as good, but does this mean no marcus maye????

  2. David says:

    I hope this helps with Bullard! Maye soon. Humphries on Aug 5. This could get good!!

  3. GatorNsc says:

    yeah, still hope we snag maye— hopefully bullard will follow

  4. Monstasloth says:

    recruiting surge? i like the sound of that…Agholor and Maye maybe? its awesome to see that diggs is going too.

    • Mr2Bits says:

      Think Adam was referring to Friday Night Lights and how we usually gain quite a few verbals around that time.

  5. Gatorbuc15 says:

    Welcome to the Gator Nation Rhaheim!

  6. g8ter27 says:

    Upon first reading this i thought this was a reach but then I saw Bullard’s name and I get it now. And maybe this kid is really underrated. Anyone remember when we wanted Jaquez Richardson and had to offer his undersized brother a scholarship to get him? Well, his brother (Brandon James) ended up having a pretty good 4 years here…Richardson…not so much. Good luck and welcome to Gator Nation Mr. Ledbetter.

  7. Tractorr says:

    That is where I have to live for THREE YEARS…? I don’t like the sound of that. The kid hasn’t even played a single down of college football and he is already making his plans to leave early for the NFL.

  8. npgator says:

    Adam – is this the bookending it?

  9. Gatorguy11 says:

    What about nelson agoholor? Where do we stand with him, and tracy Howard?

  10. aziatic41 says:

    I really like what Muschamp is doing with his first official recruiting class. If you are a true Gator fan and you’ve been following our committs you’ll know that he is landing some very good players. If you’ve watched the highlights on all of our 2012 committs you’ll know that they all are really good fundamentally sound physical football players. Loved what Urban did at UF but often times he chose small speed kids over kids who were more complete all around players.

    The Ledbetter kid is a really good player. He plays fast, and hits hard, and has a nastyness about him; which is evident in the above highlights. Would love to see us get more current 5 star kids, but most of the kids Muschamp has landed will probably be on the final ESPNU 150 list. Muschamp is landing some studs! GO GATORS

    • CeeThree says:

      why does it have to be Urban vs Will? It’s all O&B. Plus, go look at recent NFL draft’s, Urban has absolutely been pumping guys into that league. Who cares if your big or small, just win baby. Urban did, Will better.

  11. wingtee says:

    If we are talking about offering brothers like James and Richardson I wonder why we did not offer Nathan Theus who signed at UGA. I would say John would have been happy to follow. Urban screwed that one up, yet we offer all these quitters and now we are left holding the bag.

  12. Marc Mac says:

    GREAT NEWS!!! Keep that signing pen ready for Bullard!!!

  13. aaron says:

    What are we looking like with theus anyway?

  14. wingtee says:

    Adam yes it does. Sorry

  15. wingtee says:

    All Iam saying is we could have had him and Nathan. I am very close to this situation and it was never close

  16. aziatic41 says:

    Hey guys, Shaq Roland from Lexington, South Carolina is a beast! He is a 5-star wide receiver and this kid is a very explosive playmaker. He currently has Florida in his top 5. Really wish we could land this kid. He is also projected as a high major basketball prospect. Don’t know how hard we are recruiting him, but he would definitely put a stamp on our 2012 recruiting class if we get him.

  17. gatorcooken says:

    Adam, any word on where Chris Martin is transferring to? Not important, just curious

  18. Larry says:

    Hmmmm…………..”Where I am going to live for the next three years.” Sure does sound like he has his sights set higher than the Gators. I do believe in Surburban Meyers first year he was pretty po’d because everyone was talking about the NFL. Before you get to the big leagues you have to prove yourself on the college gridiron. Players who talk like this generally do not work out as they are saving their bodies for the big leagues. Just saying…………………….

Leave a Reply to wingtee Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux