Florida DL commit lays out travel schedule, future official visits

Verbal commitments don’t mean a thing until a national letter of intent is signed.

Billy Napier and the Florida Gators know that fact all too well, and it’s why they’ve prepared for continued competition in the recruiting race for Grayson High (Loganville, Georgia) defensive lineman Joseph Mbatchou .

Since committing to Florida on July 31, Mbatchou, a Cameroon native, has picked up offers from Alabama , Auburn , Georgia , South Carolina, Texas and USC .

With offers also come visits. Mbatchou is set to take official visits to Auburn, Georgia State, South Carolina and Texas, according to 247Sports . Florida is responding accordingly.

Mbatchou will attend Florida’s season opener against Miami on Saturday — it will be his first game inside The Swamp — and he also has an official visit lined up for the LSU game on Nov. 16.

The Gators also have the advantage of being the first team to offer Mbatchou. Napier and Co. believed in him before everyone else did, and that kind of endorsement goes a long way. Everyone crowds around the guy who finds the needle in the haystack.

“I talked to Coach (Gerald) Chatman, Coach (Mike) Peterson, and Coach Napier, and they felt like genuine people to me,” Mbatchou said. “I like the academics, the facilities, I like everything about Florida, so I committed. We’re just going to go from there. See what happens during the season.”

Recruiting Summary

Mbatchou is a three-star recruit everywhere but ESPN, where he has yet to receive a grade. The On3 industry ranking puts him at No. 1,195 overall and No. 121 among defensive linemen in the class of 2025, while the 247Sports composite has him at Nos. 1,248 and 133, respectively.

The On3 recruiting precision machine gives 98.7% odds for Florida to land Mbatchou, which is mostly because he’s verbally committed there. No other teams are listed in the race (right now), but Auburn feels like a team to watch moving forward.

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