Florida Gators 2022 RB Target Checks In for Unofficial Visit

Photo: TreVonte' Citizen; Credit: Zach Goodall

Since his hiring as the Florida Gators head coach, Billy Napier has put an emphasis on rebuilding the Florida Gators' running back room.

During the Adidas All-American Bowl, Napier and Gators running backs coach reeled in a commitment from 2022 Jennings (La.) running back Trevor Etienne, and shortly followed up Etienne's pledge with the transfer portal acquisition of former Louisiana-Lafayette running back Montrell Johnson.

Yet, Napier and Juluke's work at the position in the class of 2022 doesn't appear to be finished quite yet. Florida is hosting Lake Charles College Prep (La.) running back TreVonte' Citizen for an unofficial visit this week, which began on Wednesday when Citizen checked in on campus in the early afternoon.

At @GatorsFB ya boy touched down in Gainesville🐊📍
— TreVonte Citizen✍🏾 (@Tre_Citizen1) January 26, 2022

Citizen, a consensus four-star prospect, has received plenty of interest from Florida since Napier took over. He earned a scholarship offer the day after Napier was introduced as head coach during a visit to his school in Lake Charles, alongside Juluke.

S/o to @coach_bnapier and @CoachJuluke from @GatorsFB for stopping by to recruit our RB (@Tre_Citizen1) and prospects at @LCCPfootball ‼️ pic.twitter.com/m2nxZKyhVa
— Lake Charles College Prep 🏈 Recruits (@Recruit_LCCP) December 6, 2021

"My relationship with coach Juluke, it's solid and with coach Napier too," Citizen told AllGators at the Adidas All-American Bowl. "I've been knowing them since they were at UL. It's just, like, a Boot [Louisiana] relationship, there's nothing like a Boot relationship compared to any other school, you know?"

Perhaps the idea of a loaded 2022 running back class shouldn't come as a surprise to Florida fans. Aside from transfer additions over the last two years in Demarkcus Bowman and Lorenzon Lingard, who have combined for just - carries as Gators, UF has not acquired a running back since the 2019 recruiting class.

To make matters trickier, Florida's top two running backs in 2021, Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis, are NFL-bound this offseason.

Time will tell if UF will be able to bring three running backs into the program during this cycle, as Citizen is set to make his college commitment within the next week, with National Signing Day approaching on Feb. 2. Citizen has also been coveted by LSU and Auburn, among other programs.

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