3 Florida commits Kirby Smart and Georgia need to try and flip immediately

With the firing of Billy Napier on Sunday, it officially became open season on the prospects in the Florida Gators 2026 recruiting class. 

Georgia currently has the No. 2-ranked class in the nation and with 29 commits, room for more is probably limited, but there are a few players that I believe Kirby Smart and his staff will check the temperature on over the next few days, if they haven't already.

1. 4-star DL Kendall Guervil

I would expect Georgia to focus on the trenches, because that's where championships are decided, and there's probably no other prospect in the Gators' class that has as much potential upside as Guervil. The defensive tackle from Fort Myers, Florida, has said in the past that Georgia was his dream school, and he had positive things to say about the program after his official visit back in early June.  Despite all of that, Georgia wasn't technically a finalist in his original recruitment as Guervil chose the Gators over Texas and Florida State. With all the questions surrounding FSU, there might be an opening for Georgia to jump back in, especially after the Bulldogs lost DL Corey Howard to Alabama over the weekend.

2. 4-star TE/OT Heze Kent

​Kent, who is 6-foot-6 and 300-plus pounds, still seems to have aspirations of playing tight end, but if he's open to being an offensive tackle, Georgia should be all over the prospect from Brunswick. However, I don't think the staff looks at Kent as a tight end and, for that reason, they haven't been too involved in his recruitment. Kent has been looking — he visited Florida State when the Seminoles played Miami, but he was back in Gainesville this past weekend. It's hard to determine his next move right now.

3. 3-star CB CJ Hester

​Hester took an official visit to Athens back in June and had plenty of positive things to say about the Bulldogs coming out of that visit. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound prospect from Cocoa, Florida was always a heavy Gator lean, so it wasn't a shock that he committed to them a few weeks later. Hester isn't a prospect that's big on drama, and he's focused on trying to win a state championship in high school, so there might not be much movement here until closer to the Early Signing Period. But if he decides to open things back up, Georgia could be in play.