7/23/2017 football Edit

Updated: Russell talks Florida commitment

Mike Singer

Inside the Gators

In the past several days, Florida has added five new commitments overall, three of them in the Class of 2018. The Gators' annual Friday Night Lights camp has historically been a great time for Florida to land new commitments, but not to the extent that they have this weekend.

Since even before he decommitted from Miami, Florida was thought to be in the best position to land Miami (Fla.) Carol City three-star safety Randy Russell.

However, though he made his pledge to the Gators on Saturday, which was preceded by a visit to Florida on Friday, it wasn't a given that the pledge was going to take place.

"It wasn't premeditated," Russell said. "I didn't go into that day saying that I was going to commit. I woke up, thought about it, and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to be a part of something special, so I pulled the trigger."

The Florida coaching staff was a big part of why the 5-foot-11, 175-pound prospect chose the Gators.

"I told coach Mac, coach Bell, and coach Shannon all at the same time. I let them know that I was a Gator, and I was 100% committed," said Russell. "I've built a good relationship with them for the past year, and some of the coaches [at Florida] for even longer. I have a good relationship with all of the coaches on the staff."

With Florida's recruiting class growing so quickly, Russell and the other commits wanted to become more tight-knit.

"Once I committed and once Corral committed, me and Divaad Wilson put all of the guys in a group chat to make sure we all get close," Russell explained. "We want to learn more about each other and recruit more guys."

Russell plans to help the UF coaching staff on the recruiting trail. He named a couple of five-star prospects that he plans to target in Micah Parson and Tyreke Johnson.

Russell was previously a Miami commitment. He also held offers from Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, and many others.

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