Florida football recruiting: Four-star LB Aaron Chiles becomes Gators’ fourth commitment of day

Football

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Image Credit: GatorsFB / Twitter

The Florida Gators had no chill on the recruiting trail Saturday. After being dealt a blow at the game’s most prominent position in the morning, Florida rallied — almost as if it was a planned response — with four 2024 commitments before the day was out. The last came near 10 p.m. ET as four-star linebacker Aaron Chiles (Olney, MD) pledged for the Gators during an official visit.

Chiles (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) is the third blue chip linebacker to join Florida’s class. He picked UF primarily over Michigan and Maryland with the Gators stunning both schools, which believed they were competing with the other for his services.

Earlier in the day, four-star tight end Amir Jackson (Portal, GA) and four-star defensive linemen Amaris Williams (Clinton, NC) and Nasir Johnson (Dublin, GA) committed to the program. All four players are among the top 250 prospects in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite. Chiles was the highest-rated of the group at 80th with Jackson checking in 108th, though the latter was the biggest position of need Florida acquired on the day.

The commitments of Chiles, Jackson, Williams and Johnson combined to boost the Gators 14 spots to No. 8 in the 247Sports Composite team rankings. (Florida was actually already at No. 8 before Chiles committed, but his pledge closed the gap between UF and Penn State). The Gators now have six of the top 108 players in the nation, including four of the top 53 with two five-star commitments (quarterback DJ Lagway, safety Xavier Filsaime).

Earlier Saturday, four-star 2025 quarterback Austin Simmons — long expected to reclassify to the Class of 2023 and enroll at UF this summer — indeed decided to reclassify but flipped from Florida to Ole Miss. Simmons was who head coach Billy Napier had long been talking about as the player expected to join his quarterback room prior to the season.

Though losing Simmons hurts depth for 2023 and beyond with the Gators again coming up short at the game’s most important position, they clearly made significant headway in the 2024 cycle on Saturday. The four additions are all blue-chip prospects who will continue to flip Florida’s roster as Napier has intended since he took over the program.