Florida football recruiting: Speedy athlete Charles Montgomery commits to Gators

It was a relatively quiet Memorial Day Weekend in much of sports, but the Florida Gators managed to make a little news on the recruiting trail — the kind that might lead to fireworks at The Swamp down the road.

On Sunday, during a ceremony at his church live-streamed online, four-star Seffner Armwood athlete Charles Montgomery committed to the Gators by donning a Florida hat.

Montgomery committing to Florida over Maryland was not a shock — his Crystal Ball contained only Florida predictions — and Florida landing a commitment from the Tampa-area powerhouse Armwood, a program that has in the past generated Gators such as Matt Jones and Mike Pearson, is no great surprise, either.

It should also not surprise that Montgomery, a smallish player — 5’10” and around 170 pounds — is known better for his speed and quickness than his overwhelming physicality. His junior-year highlights, though, show him outrunning virtually everyone he shares a field with, and demonstrate well why he ranks within the 247Sports Top 247 (if barely, at No. 241) for the 2021 recruiting class.

Montgomery likely profiles as a receiver-running back hybrid — perhaps in the other order — at the collegiate level, a role not dissimilar to the one Kadarius Toney currently occupies for the Gators. Whether Montgomery can be even a facsimile remains to be seen.

But for now, he’s the 14th and latest member of a Florida recruiting class that sits seventh in the 247-compiled team rankings for the 2021 cycle.