Florida stays hot on recruiting trail, lands 4-star in-state DB
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida’s June momentum on the recruiting trail has carried over into the month of July.
Billy Napier‘s staff landed a new commitment on Thursday. CJ Hester is staying home to play college football at Florida.
Out of Cocoa (Florida) High School, Hester is listed as measuring 6-1 and 185 pounds. On the 247Sports Composite, Hester is rated 4-stars, the No. 20 safety, No. 36 player in the state of Florida and No. 233 prospect overall in the Class of 2026.
As a top defensive back in the widely recruited Sunshine State, Hester had notable attention. He collected scholarship offers from 36 programs during his recruitment.
Hester told Hayes Fawcett of Rivals that he chose Florida over Georgia, Syracuse and Iowa.
Hester puts Florida at 16 commitments in its 2026 recruiting class, which ranks No. 15 on the Composite. Twelve of those commitments came in the month of June. The Gators landed 4-star DL Kendall Guervil on Wednesday.
Florida fans who may not follow Cocoa football can get a feel for what Hester brings to The Swamp by watching his junior-season highlights in the video below, via Hudl:
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
