Gators Lose Tight End Commit to Washington

The Florida Gators lose a commit to another power conference program toward the end of the early signing period

The Gators see a rare decommit during the signing period | Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kahuku (Hawaii) three-star tight end Kekua Aumua flipped his commitment from the Florida Gators and signed with the Washington Huskies on Friday during the early signing period. 

Aumua is the No. 771 overall prospect in the nation and No. 49 tight end in the 2026 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. In addition to Florida and Washington, he received offers from schools such as Ole Miss and Auburn. 

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound tight end from Kahuku, Hawaii, had been committed to the Gators since June of this year. He was the seventh commit at the time. After the visit, he provided insight as to why he chose the Gators over the rest of the competition, highlighting the program’s strength and conditioning. 

“Their strength and conditioning program is next level. Their nutrition is next level. The way they take care of their athletes is next level," he said

Another important reason was the connection with former Gators head coach Billy Napier and Gators tight end coach Russ Calloway. 

“The thing that stood out to me was the connection that coach (Billy) Napier built with us and the connection coach (Russ) Callaway kept building with us,” Aumua explained. 

Since his commitment, though, two impactful variables in his recruitment changed: the proximity to home and the head coach at the university. 

Earlier this year, Aumua was playing his high school ball with IMG Academy in Florida. However, he moved to Hawaii, which could have played a major role in his switch to Washington. 

Additionally, with a new head coach in place for the Gators, he would have to rebuild a new relationship with the incoming hire, compared to his existing one out west with the Huskies. 

This is only the second decommitment for newly hired Gators head coach Jon Sumrall. The only other player in the Gators’ 2026 class to have put themselves back on the market and end up choosing a different school was four-star running back Carsyn Baker.  

Outside of these two, 16 of the original 19 commits under Napier have signed their paperwork with the Gators, which is all Sumrall asked for, to give him a chance to win them over. 

“I told them to give me an opportunity. I'd love to coach them all,” Sumrall said on Monday. 

That is important to note, too. Florida fought off suitors such as Texas A&M for four-star edge KJ Ford, Ohio State for four-star defensive back CJ Bronaugh and Oklahoma for four-star athlete Davian Groce. 

It is not too surprising, though, to see Sumrall work extremely hard to keep this class intact heading into the early signing period. He stated that he would do so during his introduction. 

“I'm going to fight like heck to hold on to them,” Sumrall said. “I'm going to FaceTime with the rest of them tonight and get them all knocked out and make sure they know, man, I can't wait to coach them. I'd love to coach them.”

Sumrall also added another player on Thursday, four-star safety Dylan Purter, putting Florida’s 2026 class currently at No. 15 in 247Sports' 2026 overall football team rankings.