Florida Gators Land Commitment From Priority 2021 DB Corey Collier Jr.
Following the commitment of his Miami Palmetto (Fla.) teammate Jason Marshall Jr. to the Florida Gators last night, Florida doubled down to land another excellent defensive back from the 305 today.
The Gators added four-star safety Corey Collier Jr to their 2021 class after he made his announcement on CBS Sports HQ just moments ago. Collier is one of the top safety prospects in the entire 2021 class and has been near the top of the UF board for months now. Collier chose the UF over Miami and LSU who had cracked the final three he put out on July 20th.
Collier has visited Gainesville on a variety of occasions over the past year, present for both the FSU and Auburn games. He was most recently was in town for March's junior day event before the coronavirus pandemic shut down in-person recruiting.
Landing a rangy safety like Collier fills any potential holes the Gators have in their secondary class, as he joins fellow 2021 commits in Marshall, Winter Park (Fla.) safety/nickel Dakota Mitchell, Peters Township (Canonsburg, Pa.) safety Donovan McMillon, and Gaither (Tampa, Fla.) cornerback Jordan Young to carry on the rich tradition of Florida's defensive back development and production.
Below is a preview of Collier's full Sports Illustrated All-American evaluation:
Bottom line: Collier, the son of former Florida State defensive back Cornelius Collier, has the makeup of a versatile secondary prospect with an extremely high floor. His athleticism won’t jump off the page but he compensates with incredible savvy, ball skills and sheer play-making ability that gets defenses off the field on third down. Collier projects as a signal-calling deep safety with the advanced technique to hold up in man coverage as needed.
Collier had a spectacular junior season, recording 52 tackles, four tackles for loss, four interceptions, and 13 defended passes and joining Marshall on the Miami Herald All-Dade 8A-6A First Team in 2019.
The Gators will be losing over four safeties after this season in Shawn Davis, Donovan Stiner, Brad Stewart Jr, and Quincy Lenton, due to graduation. Once he hits campus, Collier will get a chance to make an impact immediately as the only other safeties on the roster are freshmen Mordecai McDaniel and Rashad Torrence II.
While losing out on fellow Palmetto targets, namely elite defensive tackle Leonard Taylor, Florida has to be happy with its results. Landing Marshall and Collier as a defensive back tandem fills two of Florida's most pressing needs in the 2021 cycle with top talents.
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