The Gators appear to be in good position to land one of the nation’s top cornerbacks in the 2019 recruiting cycle as California native Chris Steele has made the cross-country journey to Gainesville twice in recent weeks.

Steele, rated as a four-star prospect, the No. 39 overall recruit and the No. 4 cornerback in the country according to 247Sports Composite Rankings, is planning to announce his commitment on July 7th. Before making his decision in just over a month, Steele plans to take official visits to South Carolina, Miami and USC. Last weekend, Steele took an official visit to Florida.

According to Steele, the visit went great and the Gators let him know he’s at the top of their cornerback board.

“They all let me know that I’m their number one priority at my position,” Steele said according to Joseph Hastings of Inside the Gators.

But it isn’t just the team’s need or desire to land him that’s winning over Steele, it’s his growing relationship with his potential college head coach Dan Mullen. Here’s what Steele had to say about the growing development of his relationship with the Florida coach.

“My relationship with coach Mullen probably got 10 times stronger throughout this visit. It definitely helped them out a lot,” Steele added. “They’re obviously one of my top schools, and we’ll see what happens on July 7th (when he commits).”

That’s got to be big for Florida fans hoping for good news come early July. Coming off his official visit to Gainesville, Steele’s Twitter page is filled with support and mentions of the Gators. If the program can continue to trend with Steele in the coming weeks as he makes his other visits around the country, there’s a great chance Florida’s next commitment could come from one of the highest-ranked prospects on the board in the 2019 recruiting cycle.

https://twitter.com/gators_digital/status/1003342261692911616

Here’s Steele’s junior season highlight reel: