In the Sunshine State, the college football program with the most momentum can be found in Gainesville. It became evident with Florida’s 41-14 blowout over arch-rival Florida State on Nov. 24 in Tallahassee. It was confirmed this bowl season: Florida thumped Michigan 41-15, UCF lost 40-32 to LSU and Miami got blown out by Wisconsin 35-3. (FSU went 5-7 in the regular season and did not qualify for a bowl game.)

The only area left for the Gators to demonstrate superiority was the recruiting trail. For the 2019 recruiting cycle, FSU had long been the highest-ranked team in the Sunshine State. That changed Thursday night when 4-star WR Arjei Henderson surprised everyone during the Under Armour All-American game by announcing he had pledged to Florida.

Consider the Seminoles conquered. The updated 247Sports Composite team recruiting rankings now have Florida at No. 15, ahead of FSU (No. 16).

It goes without saying that a top-15 class is expected to be the floor, not the ceiling at Florida. And the No. 15 ranking is hardly cause for celebration when annual opponents Georgia (No. 2), LSU (No. 4) and Tennessee (No. 13) are all ranked higher. But passing FSU is a big step in the right direction.

Dan Mullen’s Gators could be moving up again soon. On Saturday, 4-star CB Chris Steele will announce his commitment at the Army All-American game in Houston.