Top 100 QB rookie Tramell Jones transfers from Florida State to Florida State

One of the long-awaited recruitment efforts for the 2025 cycle has finally come to fruition.

Tramell Jones is a Mandarin quarterback from Jacksonville (Fla.) who was on the team and contributing. florida Since the spring of 2023, with Billy Napier florida Gator.

The announcement was made over the weekend after Jones took an official visit to Gainesville. It also comes just about a week after the Gator administration held a public vote of confidence in Napier’s return in 2025.

Coupled with the Gators working on flipping Jones for the better part of a year, including a number of low-key unofficial visits to Gainesville, the long courtship as the No. 4 ranked pro-style passer in the 2025 cycle It was worth it.

Jones is Napier’s No. 14 commitment, making him the second-highest-rated prospect in the Florida class so far behind South Florida Express 7-on-7 teammate Vernell Brown III.

In this era where it seems like DJ Lagway will take the quarterback position, there isn’t much depth the freshman star and former Rivals five-star has proven moving forward. The program has long had a commitment to acquire junior quarterback Will Griffin in 2026, but Jones has four years of experience as a varsity starter and maturity in his game and overall style. , could bring balance to the QB room sooner. In contrast to that of a ragway on the surface (more on this later).

In the short term, this would be Napier’s first tangible recruiting win after being guaranteed to keep his job through next season, but a reversal for Jones that many had expected at various points in the cycle. It would be foolish to underestimate the correlation. . Rivals started hearing serious rumors about this fact in early spring, but Jones’ father in particular has been very pro-Florida throughout the process of his son joining rival FSU.

While Jones has always said the right things about his status and certainly helped shore up the Seminoles for much of the cycle, Florida focused on him and continued to stick with it throughout the process, adding to his camp as the season progressed. It continued to resonate. FSU’s lack of consistency at the position, despite its youth, pales in comparison to the University of Florida, and is a topic frequently brought up by those who follow each program late in the season.

At least that’s a reversal from its main rival. Whether you’re the most important position in the game or a part-time player, you’ll still be satisfied late in the game.

Jones doesn’t have the elite size or raw tools that Lagway brought to college football, but he checks just about every box at the position. He is a solid, accurate, smart, mature and experienced decision maker who can mimic a point guard on the football field and spread the football onto the field at all three levels with relative ease. He projects as a high-rise prospect in a position built to win games surrounded by competitive talent, regardless of scheme.

Although his senior season was cut short due to a broken foot in Week 2, Jones tended to improve all his grades by one each season. This is something I’ve done every year since I regained the keys to the Mandarin offense as a freshman in 2021. He totaled 77 touchdowns (75 passes) and nearly 8,000 total yards in 35 games against the best teams in the Jacksonville area. Jones got off to a red hot start in 2024, posting a 5-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio and completing over 90 percent of his passes before his injury.

With Jones at the helm, there was a calm that onlookers watched all year while he dominated the 7-on-7 circuit before his senior season. He’s on time and anticipates and understands ball placement at a clip ahead of most senior prep passers in this class, which will be known for its depth at the QB position. He’s not the flashiest player of that group, but the even-keeled nature of his game makes him as good as (or even better than) the big-name players in his class, including a berth to the state championship game during his last full campaign. more than that). .

In a system that has worked with a variety of quarterback styles under Napier, Jones seems like the perfect compliment for the future of the Gator QB room, given the physical risk that a player like Ragway poses to each starter. appear.

Share your thoughts with Florida fans on Florida 1st and 10th