Florida Gators lurking in the shadows for Georgia's top commit

One of the top commits for Georgia football so far in their 2026 recruiting class is defensive lineman James Johnson. In fact, Johnson is the No. 1 defensive lineman in the country according to On3, so it'c clear how big of a commitment this is for Georgia.

Unfortunately Georgia's recruitment of Johnson isn't over just yet as a new report indicates UGA's biggest rival is still lurking in the shadows.

Florida Gators attempting to flip No. 1 DL from Georgia

Not long ago on June 28, Johnson announced his commitment to Georgia over Texas, Florida and Miami (FL). Typically this is the final straw in most recruitments, but that doesn't appear to be the case with Johnson.

According to 247Sports analyst Tyler Harden, Florida has not stopped contacting Johnson even after he announced his commitment to Georgia. Harden is an analyst for the Florida site on 247Sports, so there is a great chance that this report is accurate.

The above post unfortunately does not indicate how interested Johnson might be in hearing Florida's pitch or not. However, it does say that two other schools are continuing to recruit him as well, so that makes it seem like Johnson is still keeping his recruitment open.

It's unclear how worried Georgia fans should be about this report. Schools attempting to flip Georgia's commits is nothing new, but it is always a little scary whenever that fear becomes a reality. Johnson is from the state of Florida as well, so that is another thing to monitor because he could always decide that he wants to stay closer to home instead of going out of state for college.

So while Georgia continues their pursuit of other important targets, Kirby Smart and his staff will have to continue recruiting Johnson who doesn't appear to be as locked in to UGA as he originally seemed.