Florida football recruiting: Elite 2022 athlete Sam McCall commits to Gators

The Florida Gators’ cherished — if self-assigned — reputation as “DBU” may be taking a hit on the field in this fall of 2020, with Florida’s defense spending more time in flames than flying around. But that doesn’t appear to be affecting Florida’s recruiting for its secondary very much, with five-star Class of 2022 athlete Sam McCall making the call for the Gators on Wednesday evening.

McCall hails from traditional Florida stronghold Polk County, and attends Lake Gibson High in Lakeland, so his commitment to Florida isn’t a major surprise. It is, though, a major get: McCall is rated a five-star prospect in the 2022 cycle, and ranked the No. 30 prospect overall and No. 5 prospect in Florida by the 247Sports Composite rankings.

The versatility and athleticism McCall shows as a corner and wide receiver — and a return man — in his short 2020 highlight reel is plenty promising, too. By scarcely more than a minute in, he’s picked off a pass after drifting to perfectly cover a late-developing route, jammed a receiver en route to another pick, made a perfect form tackle, high-pointed a badly underthrown ball, and taken a short kickoff to the house.

At this juncture, McCall is likely to play defense at the collegiate level, and probably slightly more likely to be a corner than a safety, but with more than a year before his earliest chance to sign with Florida, much could change.

What he changed on Wednesday by committing is where Florida sits in the 2022 class rankings: Joining wideout Syveion Ellis as the only other member of the Gators’ 2022 class should push it well upwards from the No. 27 spot it sat at nationally.