Summer recruiting season is pretty much done in Florida.

Only one of the state’s 39 blue-chip recruits in the Class of 2027 in the 247Sports Composite is uncommitted: four-star linebacker Za’Kari Johnson of Miami Carol City Senior High School.

Texas A&M, which owns the No. 1 class in the country, has commitments from five of the top seven players in the state. Miami, ranked three spots behind Texas A&M, leads the way with six blue-chip commitments from the state.

Let’s get to your state of Florida recruiting questions.

Questions have been lightly edited for clarity.

Mensah’s at Miami. What does it mean?

Stewart Mandel and Ralph D. Russo

What effect has the transfer portal had on local recruiting — especially for players who are rated lower than five stars? — Rob M.

Great question, Rob. I feel like we’ve had enough time since the launch of the one-time transfer rule in 2021 and the adoption of the unlimited transfer rule in 2024 to gather some solid data.

We’ve been hearing for years from high school coaches in the state about how the transfer portal has limited their players’ opportunities at the FBS level. I’ve heard stories about how some programs have pulled scholarship offers from high school recruits in the middle of their senior seasons and pivoted to signing transfers who they believe are more game-ready.

To gather some perspective, I researched where in-state recruits signed in the final cycle before the implementation of the transfer portal (2018) and compared those numbers to the 2025 cycle, a year after the unlimited transfer rule took effect.

First of all, the number of available scholarships for high school seniors has clearly dwindled. Only 296 high school seniors from Florida signed with FBS programs in 2025 — significantly fewer than in 2018 (362).

What’s interesting is where the shift occurred. While the number of in-state recruits who signed with Power 4 programs in 2025 (169) dropped compared to 2018 (193), the wider gap was among Group of 6 schools. Only 127 recruits from Florida signed with G6 programs in 2025 compared to 179 in 2018.

Why do those numbers make sense? P4 programs are still getting their choice of top high school players, while G6 programs are spending less time developing high school recruits, opting instead to take transfers who didn’t make the cut at the P4 level their first go-around and are usually more affordable in the portal.

What impact do you think the Canes’ practice of parachuting in a star QB for a year had on the recruiting of elite young QBs? — Altan K.

I think we’ve reached a point in college football where quarterbacks know they’re likely to enter the portal at one point in their careers. So while it might seem like the Hurricanes would have done irreparable harm to their high school quarterback recruiting by taking a high-profile transfer for the third year in a row, the truth is, it really hasn’t.

The best players want to play for the best teams, and it’s obvious Miami’s run to last year’s national title game put them on a different level in the eyes of recruits nationwide. The Canes signed four-star QB Dereon Coleman in the Class of 2026 and have a commitment from Class of 2027 five-star QB Israel Adams from Illinois.

Miami has offensive continuity on its side as well. Keeping OC Shannon Dawson around has helped.

🚨BREAKING🚨 Elite QB Israel Abrams has committed to Miami 🙌

Abrams is the No. 3 QB in the 2027 class.

Read: https://t.co/7qlK9C49zT pic.twitter.com/EwVrLnzEJc

— Rivals (@Rivals) April 3, 2026

Can you talk about how Phil Trautwein’s homecoming to Gainesville, Fla., has put the Gators back in contention for elite O-line recruits? Is it sustainable? — Matty J.

We’ve all seen the effect Mario Cristobal’s homecoming had on Miami’s immense turnaround at the line of scrimmage over the last couple of seasons. Trautwein’s return could end up being just as big for Florida.

He’s already helped the Gators land commitments from three blue-chip offensive linemen in their 2027 recruiting class, including five-star Maxwell Hiller from Pennsylvania. Florida’s staff signed 15 high school offensive linemen, including five blue-chippers, over Billy Napier’s four seasons in Gainesville. But only three of those 15 became starters: guard Knijeah Harris, right tackle Caden Jones and now-backup tackle Bryce Lovett.

Like Cristobal, Trautwein returned to his alma mater, where he also won two national titles, with extensive recruiting ties across the country. As an assistant at Penn State and Boston College, Trautwein recruited Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia and Texas.

After not having any offensive linemen drafted in 2024 or 2025, the Gators bounced back this past April with center Jake Slaughter going in the second round and tackle Austin Barber in the third. Both Barber and Slaughter began their careers at Florida before Napier’s arrival.

Which quadrant of the Big 12 do you see UCF finishing in? — Luigi M.

From a talent acquisition standpoint, it’s obvious Scott Frost and the program have put high school recruiting on the back burner.

UCF signed only 16 high school recruits in its 2026 class, which ranked 14th in the Big 12. Nothing has changed in the 2027 cycle. The Knights rank 15th in the league and have only 13 commitments.

As for the on-field product, I’ve got higher hopes for the team this season in large part because of the addition of Alonza Barnett III at quarterback.

As UCF was preparing to make the jump to the Big 12 four years ago, Gus Malzahn told me that his program needed to beef up both sides of the line to have any level of success at a P4 level. This could end up being a bowl team because of Barnett, but I still don’t see enough around him — especially at the line of scrimmage — for UCF to make the jump into the upper half of the league.

I’ve read that next year is a special year in terms of Florida talent. Is that accurate, and can you elaborate on that talent? – Roland S.

It’s always fun to get excited about the next chapter. Sometimes we’ve overreacted and overhyped classes. I hate doing that. I’ll say this for the Class of 2028 in the Sunshine State: It’s got some elite dudes for sure.

The top three players nationally in the class are all from Florida. That includes electrifying receiver Brysen Wright, two-way star A’mir Sears and edge rusher Asher Ghioto. The group also features top-100 quarterback Neimann Lawrence, a Texas commitment.

Is it the state’s best class in recent memory? Maybe in terms of elite star power. But it’s not the deepest in terms of raw blue-chip numbers. It’s better than the 2027, 2026 and 2025 classes, though, for sure.

Cristobal has recruited South Florida really well recently. How are the other Power 4 Florida schools doing in their areas? Are the Gators succeeding in the north? Has UCF done well in the Orlando/Tampa area? — Sam W.

I love this question because it requires good use of a map and tests my geography skills. First of all, I looked up how many high schools are within 100 miles of each Power 4 college campus in the state. Then, I narrowed our search to blue-chip recruits (four- and five-stars in the 247Sports Composite) for the last three completed cycles and the current cycle (2027).

We’ll start in Tallahassee, Fla. Florida State’s immediate 100-mile recruiting radius includes roughly 22 Florida high schools and another dozen or so between southern Alabama and southern Georgia. There’s just not a lot of high-level talent in the area.

Mike Norvell has signed 21 in-state blue-chip recruits since 2024, but only two played within reasonable driving distance of Tallahassee (four-star running backs Micahi Danzy and Amari Thomas). It should be noted that the pool of “local” blue-chippers isn’t big — only four in the most recent three recruiting classes. And there are two in the Class of 2027 — receiver Jamarin Simmons, a top-100 recruit committed to Clemson, and 2027 four-star receiver Tramond Collins, who is committed to Florida. Norvell has generally fared better in South Georgia and Alabama, landing running backs Kam Davis (Albany, Ga.) and Ousmane Kromah (Leesburg, Ga.) and tight end Landen Thomas (Moultrie, Ga.).

Florida has 80-plus high schools within 100 miles of campus, including the talent-rich Jacksonville, Fla., area. The Gators signed 23 in-state blue-chip recruits over the last three cycles, including seven who meet the parameters. Among them: five-star defensive lineman LJ McCray (Mainland High School, Daytona Beach, Fla.), top-100 linebacker Myles Graham (Buchholz High School, Gainesville) and elite receiver Vernell Brown III (Jones High School, Orlando, Fla.).

Florida has five in-state commitments in its 2027 class, but none are within 100 miles of campus.

UCF has signed five in-state blue-chip recruits over the last three cycles, including three from high schools within its 100-mile radius. Frustrated Knights fans, however, will quickly remind you that none of the blue-chippers to come out of the area’s top high school talent producers — Jones, First Academy, Edgewater, Lakeland, Cocoa, Apopka or Lake Mary — have signed with UCF since its transition to the Big 12.

Miami, meanwhile, signed 27 in-state blue-chip recruits over the last three cycles, including 13 within a 100-mile radius of campus. The Hurricanes have seven in-state blue-chip commitments in their 2027 recruiting class, including four within 100 miles of campus.

Is Miami getting all the elite talent it wants in its own backyard? Nope. The Canes didn’t sign Jeremiah Smith in 2024. Mark Matthews, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2027 cycle from nearby St. Thomas Aquinas High School, is committed to Texas A&M. But Cristobal has more than made up for the local misses by landing elite players at the national level.