Florida football recruiting: Gators nab commitment from 2019 CB Chester Kimbrough

The Florida Gators got a boost early on Monday from the news that receiver Van Jefferson was cleared by the SEC to play right away this fall.

That wasn’t the day’s only bright spot for Florida.

Four-star cornerback Chester Kimbrough gave the Gators a nightcap of good news on Monday evening, announcing his commitment to the program via a Future-soundtracked video posted on Twitter that sure seems like it was filmed at the program’s Friday Night Lights camp, given how it ends.

The wisdom of setting a commitment video to “Hate the Real Me” aside, Kimbrough is a major pickup for a Florida secondary that needs a big class to fortify its ranks. Listed at just 5’11” and 168 pounds by 247Sports, Kimbrough nevertheless sits within the nation’s top 400 prospects per that service’s Composite recruiting rankings.

And his latest highlights spotlight his physicality — to the point that “VERY PHYSICAL FOR MY SIZE” appears on screen within the first minute, and you believe it.

And though Kimbrough hails from New Orleans, and is thus the latest in a long line of recruits that Florida may have to keep from LSU’s clutches until National Signing Day, this commitment was just about the opposite of a surprise. Rumors had suggested Kimbrough was going to commit to Florida at some point this summer for literal months, and Kimbrough’s Crystal Ball held no predictions for any other school.

Kimbrough is currently Florida’s 12th commitment for the 2019 cycle, and his addition to the class bumps it into the nation’s top 30 per 247Sports — but the service also doesn’t include a commitment from linebacker Jammal Abrams to Florida’s credit, and while that’s probably correct, that’s a complicated story I’ll get into tomorrow.