Florida football recruiting: Gators commit Marc Britt signs with Ole Miss

The Florida Gators had a fine National Signing Day back in early February, doing most of what they were expected to do, missing on one expected commit, and reeling in a defensive lineman from Texas.

But one of the expected non-happenings was four-star athlete Marc Britt signing with the Gators — and that left him open to continue his recruitment.

On Thursday night, it ended — with him flipping from Florida and signing with Ole Miss, announcing the decision during a Twitter livestream.

The pickup is big for the Rebels, who now sit No. 39 nationally for the 2020 recruiting class and could be poised to do more post-NSD poaching under Lane Kiffin, who also landed South Florida running back Henry Parrish — thought at one point to be a primary Florida target — to some fanfare. Britt is now the third-rated prospect in the 2020 Ole Miss class, behind the fantastically named Demon Clowney and Parrish.

He was, by contrast, the 12th-ranked prospect in Florida’s 2020 class prior to his exit — and has a lower rating than Florida’s average in the 247Sports Composite, if only just barely. A player like Britt means more to Ole Miss than to Florida, and so it’s little surprise that Britt was given the full-court press by Kiffin.

What may be a bit surprising is how little Florida did to keep Britt in the fold. Yes, he took an official visit to Gainesville in January, but there’s no public evidence that Florida kept the pressure on after National Signing Day came and went without his signing. And while it made sense for Florida to have Britt — thought of as a player who may have trouble qualifying academically — delay his signing for as the Gators sussed out his chances of ultimately passing the first cut for the 2020 class, it makes less sense for Britt to do that if another slot is available elsewhere.

That all said, losing Britt after the National Signing Day miss on Avantae Williams turns what could have been an tremendously deep class of potential safeties into one that’s merely pretty deep, with early enrollee Rashad Torrence leading a group of at least three players who should start their collegiate careers back yonder.

Britt’s departure from Florida’s class also drops it one spot to No. 8 behind Auburn in the 2020 247Composite class rankings.