Billy Napier and his recruiting staff are back in the market for a running back in Florida’s 2024 recruiting class following a decommitment from The Benjamin School’s (North Palm Beach, Florida) Chauncey Bowens, who flipped to the Gators’ rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday.
Only four-star linebacker Myles Graham had been committed to UF longer, but On3’s Hayes Fawcett is reporting that this flip has been on the table for some time. It wasn’t an easy decision, but Bowens’ May claim of being 100% locked in with Florida sounds like it might have been stretching the truth a bit.
“It was a tough decision and I had thoughts of doing it months ago,” Bowens said. “But ultimately I had to stick to my gut.”
Losing any four-star recruit is tough, but losing him to your biggest conference rival stings a bit more. He’s described by scouts as one of the top running backs in the class, in terms of size and speed. Most just have one tool, but Bowens runs a 10.88-second 100-meter at just under 6 feet tall and 215 pounds. As a rising junior, it doesn’t get much more projectable than that.
Florida will now have to gameplan against Bowens rather than for him. There’s no good way to sugarcoat the loss, and Stacy Gage — who is another running back target for Florida — just pledged his services to UCF.
Napier and Co. will need to add at least one more running back to the class of 2024 after losing Bowens, preferably two. The Gators are ranked No. 22 overall on 247Sports team recruiting rankings for the 2024 class.
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.