Usually, on the recruiting trail, it's Florida doing the flipping. On Saturday, Georgia played the Gators' game, as former Florida commitment Deontai Williams flipped to the Dawgs, according to 247Sports reporter Rusty Mansell ($).
Williams, who attends Trinity Christian School in Jacksonville and is rated a three-star safety by 247Sports, was at one point Florida's only commitment for the 2015 cycle, having popped for the Gators in January. (He wasn't the first: Wide receiver Da'Vante Phillips of Miami Central followed Dalvin Cook's lead in committing to Florida last summer, then followed Cook's lead in decommitting from Florida in the fall.)
His flip to Georgia is painful, partly because of the flip, and partly because he could help a Georgia program that struggled against the pass in 2013, and could struggle again in 2014. But while Williams reminded me of Reggie Nelson on his impressive film, he was also one of Florida's lesser commits, at least according to recruiting services: The 247Composite ranking pegged him as the No. 469 player nationally, and the No. 29 safety.
There's a good chance that, if Florida takes another safety in the 2015 class, that safety will be a higher-rated player than Williams was. And even without a replacement lined up, Williams's decommitment actually boosts Florida's "average" substantially.
While the Gators, thanks to their mere nine commitments, now rank 28th in the 247Sports recruiting rankings, their "average" of 90.08 is sixth nationally, behind just Alabama, USC, UCLA, Texas A&M, and Penn State. That average slots the Gators in ahead of current top 10 occupants Auburn, South Carolina, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Mississippi, and Georgia, and also ahead of Miami and Florida State.
That's with the Gators' five three-star commitments factored in, too, and without any five-star players currently in the fold. While current ratings don't love the Gators' work on the recruiting trail just yet, they do forecast substantial leaps for Florida should Will Muschamp keep adding players as good or better as his current commits.