Florida Gators Make Top 3 List for DL Zavion Hardy
Photo: Zavion Hardy; Credit: Zach Goodall
Another day, another player that has included the Florida Gators among their top teams in contention for their services next season.
Part of the 2023 recruiting class, defensive lineman Zavion Hardy out of Tattnall Square Academy (Ga) announced via social media on Monday that Florida was one of the three teams he's set to decide between.
Hardy, 6-foot-5, 260 pounds also included Liberty and South Carolina among those teams. Florida has been in contention for Hardy over the past few months, though that steam had appeared to dwindle a bit.
Liberty was not among Hardy's top teams list when he announced his final eight in February, with Florida and South Carolina being the only two teams that have made the cutdown. Ole Miss, JSU, Florida State, Miami, Georgia and UCF, have since been taken out of consideration, according to his latest top teams list.
On March 5, Hardy visited UF's campus and the indication from that visit was that Florida was high on his list of potential suitors. That seemingly has remained unchanged, however, it is not clear just how much of a shot Florida will have as South Carolina has been viewed as the likely suitor for some time now.
"We just been keeping in contact since the jump," Hardy said in March when speaking about his recruitment with Florida. "They grabbed my attention off [the] rip. It's unexplainable. If I ever drop my last final [schools list], they'll for sure be in it."
That held true, with Hardy signifying at that time that he, along with co-defensive coordinator Sean Spencer and defensive analyst (ILB/OLB) Jamar Chaney have a "bond." Though Hardy indicated that Miami would be among teams he's interested in paying an official visit to, they remained off of his finalist list.
Hardy has yet to officially state when he will be visiting Florida, or if that official visit will occur at any time this summer.
Hardy is currently ranked as the No. 14 defensive lineman in the 2023 recruiting class, and the No. 7 player in all of Georgia, according to On3 consensus.
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