Florida football recruiting: Four-star EDGE Jayden Woods commits to Gators in flip from Penn State

Football

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Image Credit: Mallory Peak, UAA

The Florida Gators’ momentum on the recruiting trail continued unabated on Black Friday with four-star EDGE Jayden Woods (Shawnee, KS) committing to join the team’s Class of 2025. This as head coach Billy Napier continues poaching products from some of the top programs nationally.

Woods (6-foot-3, 240 pounds) had been pledged to Penn State since June. He officially visited Florida last week for the Ole Miss game and pulled the trigger on his flip seven days after having stepped foot on campus.

Ranked as the No. 130 overall player in the 247Sports Composite, Woods is listed No. 75 nationally by 247Sports’ internal rankings system. As such, he is anywhere between the third- and fifth-highest rated player in the Gators’ class and the biggest fish landed by Napier since receiving a vote of confidence from athletic director Scott Stricklin three weeks ago.

Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. (Jacksonville, FL), four-star running back Byron Louis (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and three-star offensive lineman Daniel Pierre Louis (Loxahatchee, FL) all joined Florida after backing off Florida State commitments. Four-star linebacker Ty Jackson (Loxahatchee, FL) linked up with UF after previously deciding to go to USC. Other recent flips include three-star defensive lineman Stephon Shivers (Brentwood, TN) from Georgia, three-star wide receiver Muizz Tounkara (League City, TX) from Arizona and three-star OL Jahari Medlock (Riverside, GA) from Cincinnati.

Florida moved up two more spots to No. 15 overall in the 247Sports Composite team rankings with Louis now on board. It has boosted its standing 28 slots across the last two weeks after sitting at No. 43 prior to the LSU game. UF had fallen to as low as 51st in early November.

As the Gators add commitments, they will continue progressing up those rankings; however, it will take landing some big fish to push Florida up to delivering the level of class (top 10) that has been expected from Napier. At this juncture, though, there is a path for that to potentially happen. As it stands now, though, the Gators’ Class of 2025 will likely be the lowest-ranked yet during his tenure, which likely means UF will put a greater concentration on the transfer portal this offseason.