{"id":36003,"date":"2025-07-03T18:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T18:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/36003\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T18:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T18:44:09","slug":"gators-earn-recruiting-win-over-georgia-with-4-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/36003\/","title":{"rendered":"Gators earn recruiting win over Georgia with 4-star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state of Florida is always filled with elite talent, and the last school that the Florida football<\/a> team wants to see those players go to is Georgia. Four-star safety CJ Hester was heavily recruited by the Bulldogs, and they were a finalist when he announced his college decision on Thursday. The Gators won this battle<\/a>, however, as Hester revealed that he will stay in the Sunshine State to play for head coach Billy Napier<\/a>. This is a big recruiting win<\/a> for Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cBREAKING: Four-Star CB CJ Hester has Committed to Florida, he tells me for @rivals,\u201d Hayes Fawcett said in a post. \u201cThe 6\u20191 195 CB from Titusville, FL chose the Gators over Georgia, Syracuse, & Iowa.\u201d<\/p>\n

CJ Hester still has one more year of high school, but he is ready to be a Florida Gator immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready right now, Go Gators \ud83d\udc0a,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hester is a four-star recruit<\/a>, according to\u00a0247Sports’ composite rankings. He is the #233 player in the 2026 recruiting class, the #2o safety and the #36 player in the state of Florida. Hester currently attends Cocoa High School in Cocoa, FL. Georgia, Syracuse and Iowa recruited him hard, but Hester is staying home.<\/p>\n

\u201cBattle-tested defensive back with natural coverage skills and some alignment flexibility that has produced since he was a freshman for a Cocoa program that has won three-straight state titles,\u201d Hester’s scouting report says. \u201cVerified at just under 6-foot-1 early on in the recruiting process and should eventually carry 195 pounds or more. Has plenty of experience working in off-man situations from an outside posting and does a favorable job of putting himself in position to make plays in the deeper third with his route recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hester shouldn’t have trouble finding the field at Florida as he is good enough to play numerous positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnimated as a tackler as he charges towards opponents and tries to unload with force,\u201d his scouting report continues. \u201cNot afraid to lower his shoulder and rock a compromised pass catcher, either. Owns promising track and field metrics, but game tape and in-person evaluations suggest that he\u2019s quicker than he is fast. Projects as a starting-caliber safety at the Power Four level that could also earn snaps on the inside as a nickel defender. Should be a regular on special teams units with his physicality and sound football IQ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billy Napier is building yet another elite Florida football recruiting class. The Gators are creeping their way toward a top-10 class, and it won’t be surprising at all if this is one of the best classes in the country when the 2026 cycle wraps up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state of Florida is always filled with elite talent, and the last school that the Florida football…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[23605,7854,29511,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-36003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-billy-napier","9":"tag-college-football-recruiting","10":"tag-florida-football","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-ncaafootball","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114790784616214287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}