Prime 100 QB recruit Tramell Jones flips from Florida State to Florida
One of many longstanding recruiting jobs of the 2025 cycle has lastly come by.
Tramell Jones, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin quarterback who had been on board and dedicated to Florida State for the reason that spring of 2023, has flipped mentioned pledge to Billy Napier and the Florida Gators.
The announcement came visiting the weekend after Jones took in Gainesville for an official go to. It additionally comes nearly per week after Gator administration issued a public vote of confidence in Napier’s return in 2025.
Couple it with the Gators engaged on flipping Jones for the higher a part of a yr, together with many under-the-radar unofficial visits to Gainesville, and the lengthy courting pays off with the No. 4-ranked professional type passer within the 2025 cycle.
Jones is pledge No. 14 for Napier and turns into the second highest-rated prospect within the Florida class, trailing solely South Florida Specific 7-on-7 teammate Vernell Brown III up to now.
What it means
In an period that appears like it’ll belong to DJ Lagway on the quarterback place, there’s not a lot confirmed depth behind the freshman star and former Rivals five-star shifting ahead. This system has lengthy held the pledge of 2026 quarterback Will Griffin, a junior, however Jones may deliver steadiness to the QB room that a lot sooner together with his expertise as a four-year varsity starter, maturity in his recreation and general type — one which contrasts that of Lagway on the floor (extra on that later).
Within the brief time period, this turns into the primary tangible recruiting win for Napier following the safety of holding onto his job going into subsequent season, and it could be silly to underestimate the correlation into Jones making the flip many have anticipated at completely different factors within the cycle. Rivals started listening to critical rumors to the actual fact again within the early spring months, particularly with Jones’ father being very pro-Florida all through the method of his son being on board with rival FSU.
Jones at all times mentioned the suitable issues about his standing and definitely helped recruit for the Seminoles for the majority of the cycle, however Florida zeroing in on him and sticking with it by the method continued to resonate together with his camp because the season wore on. An absence of stability with FSU on the place, paling compared to Florida’s room regardless of its youth, can also be a subject usually introduced up by these monitoring every program late within the season.
If nothing else, it is a flip from a significant rival. Whether or not it’s the sport’s most necessary place or a part-time participant, it nonetheless satisfies late within the recreation.
What Jones brings to Gainesville
Jones would not have the elite bodily construct or uncooked instruments Lagway has introduced to varsity soccer, however he checks about each different field on the place. He’s a rock regular, correct, good, mature and skilled decision-maker who mimics a degree guard on the soccer area, in a position to unfold the soccer across the area with relative ease to all three ranges. He tasks because the excessive flooring prospect on the place constructed to win video games when surrounded with aggressive expertise impartial of scheme.
Whereas his senior season was minimize brief resulting from a damaged leg in Week 2, Jones was trending to one-up all his manufacturing numbers from one season to the following — one thing he has accomplished yearly since getting the keys to the Mandarin offense again in 2021 as a freshman. In 35 video games he accounted for 77 whole touchdowns (75 passing) and almost 8,000 whole yards in opposition to stout Jacksonville-area competitors. Jones was off to a red-hot begin in 2024, notching a 5-0 landing to interception ratio whereas finishing higher than 90 p.c of his passes earlier than the harm.
There’s a calm with Jones on the helm, one thing onlookers noticed all yr lengthy whereas he dominated the 7-on-7 circuit earlier than his senior season. He’s on time, anticipatory and understanding of ball placement at a clip forward of most senior prep passers in a category that’s going to be recognized for its depth on the QB place. He carries the least quantity of flash inside that group, however the even-keel nature of his recreation resulted in as many (or extra) wins than the larger names within the class, together with a run to the state championship recreation throughout his final full marketing campaign.
In a system that has labored below Napier with many various quarterbacking kinds, and with the bodily threat a participant like Lagway brings into every begin, Jones appears like the proper praise to the way forward for the Gator QB room.
