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Florida football recruiting: 2015 DB Marcus Lewis commits to the Gators

Florida's just gonna keep restocking the No-Fly Zone.

By Andy Hutchins
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Florida has landed a commitment from 2015 defensive back Marcus Lewis from the confusingly-named Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., Rivals' Adam Friedman reports ($).

Why? Well, you can never have too many defensive backs.

Lewis is a four-star player in the 247Sports Composite rankings, and rated by the 247Composite as the nation's No. 12 athlete. Rivals has Lewis rated as the No. 8 cornerback in the country.

And at 6'1" and 180ish pounds, Lewis certainly has the rangy frame that is en vogue for cornerbacks. He uses it well in these highlights.

But Lewis's commitment also plays into two other narratives about Florida.

The first is the Gators' remarkable stretch of luck in landing big-time cornerbacks out of the D.C. area. Joe Haden was Florida's first, Jalen Tabor became the Gators' second, and Lewis, if he fully follows Tabor's footsteps, is likely to be the third. Three is a trend in journalism, the axiom goes, but three high-level players at the same position from the same out-of-state area heading to a school is definitely a trend and then some.

Moreover, though, Lewis may be from the DMV — shorthand for the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area — but he's going to be a Floridian of sorts by the time he signs his college paperwork.

The feeling in college football recruiting is that the IMG Academy in Bradenton should be a stronghold of sorts for Florida, or for Florida and Florida State: Jeff Dillman, Florida's director of strength and conditioning, worked at IMG for years, and former FSU quarterback Chris Weinke serves as a coach at the school. This didn't quite turn into a thing in 2013, when Denzel "Dee" Ward, thought to be a Florida lean, ended up committing elsewhere, and when Alabama commitment Bo Scarbrough remained an Alabama commitment despite playing his senior season at IMG, but the worry is out there.

Lewis going to IMG and then coming to Florida would be a first, of sorts, and tangible proof that there is an intangible "pipeline" to IMG for the Gators.

But that's all down the road, just like Lewis's actual commitment is. For now, he's a strong verbal commitment, and a future top-flight member of the No-Fly Zone.

Lewis is Florida's sixth commitment for the 2015 class.

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