2021 Florida Gators Target WR Christian Leary Commits to Alabama
The Florida Gators will not be getting the services of 2021 wide receiver Christian Leary, at least for now.
Late last night, the receiver out of Edgewater High School, (Orlando, Fla.) announced his intentions to commit to Southeastern Conference-rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide, leaving his Florida recruitment closed - at least for the time being. Leary was originally slated to announce his commitment on June 6th before he delayed it late last month.
"First and foremost I wanna thank the man above for the position he has put me in," Leary wrote via Twitter. "I wanna thank my mom, dad, uncle and the rest of the family that supported me through it all. Give a huge thank you to coach [Cameron] Duke and the Edgewater coaching staff for making me a better player on and off the field
"Shoutout to Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Grey for making sure I'm eligible to play at the next level. I wanna thank every coach that believe[d] in me through this process. Love you Dex and Curt! This is my new home! Proud and blessed to say ... I will be committing to the University of Alabama."
Over the course of the past several months, the Gators have recruited Leary aggressively, sending him custom-made pictures of himself in Gators garb and actively comparing the four-star recruit to former Gators receiver Percy Harvin.
With his speed and athletic ability, it is easy to see why the comparisons could be made. At 5-foot-9, 180-pounds, Leary clocked in his 40-yard dash time at 4.56 seconds and ran a 10.5-second 100-meter dash in high school.
Prior to his commitment to Alabama, Leary released his top-six list which included, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Ohio State.
Recently, Leary and 2021 Gators target, safety Dakota Mitchell interacted on Twitter, with Mitchell indicating that he and Leary would team up, likely joining the same University. While it likely means next to nothing, in the end, Mitchell did post an elephant emoji along with the hashtag "#RollTide", last night.
While he did indicate he is "100%" committed to the Crimson Tide, there is no reason for Florida to halt their efforts in pursuing Leary. The Gators recently received a commitment from a similar receiver in Charles Montgomery and are very likely to continue adding to the class in the coming months.
For now, Leary is going to be attending Alabama following his senior season in high school.