Deontai Williams Commits to Florida: Gators Land 2015 DB Recruit

The Florida Gators secured their first (active) commitment in the Class of 2015 on Thursday, landing 3-star safety Deontai Williams from Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville.

Derek Tyson of ESPN had the news:

Williams isn't the sexiest recruit in the field, ranking No. 638 overall on the 247Sports composite, 38th among safeties and 79th among players from Florida.

Still, he's got decent height at 6'0'' and appears capable of adding weight to a slender 175-pound frame. He also has a whole year of high school football ahead of him, giving the rising senior a chance to improve his stock and rating.

More importantly, though, Williams is a teammate of 5-star outside linebacker Jeffery Holland, whom Florida would love to get its hands on. Holland is the No. 27 overall player on the 247Sports composite, and he would represent a major coup for Will Muschamp's staff on the heels of a turbulent season.

Florida and Auburn are currently the two favorites to land him. 

Four-star receiver Da’Vante Phillips, a top-60 overall player in the Class of 2015, had previously committed to the Gators but reopened his recruitment in December. According to Adam Silverstein of Only Gators, Phillips was a high school teammate of 2014 running back Dalvin Cook, who also recently flipped from Florida to Florida State.

With Phillips' decommitment, Williams is officially the only pledged member in next year's class for the Gators. Whether or not he can deliver Holland to Gainesville remains to be seen, but for now, at least Florida is back in the books.