Billy Napier continued to grow the ranks of Florida’s 2022 recruiting class, as the newly tenured head coach landed the verbal commitment of Hayden Hansen out of Weatherford HS (TX) Sunday. A three-star tight according to 247Sports, Hansen is currently the only player at his position in the Gators’ incoming recruiting class.
The Weatherford, Texas, native held offers from the University of Texas-San Antonio and Colorado-Boulder, plus an offer from Napier at Louisiana-Lafayette in June 2021. Hansen committed to the Ragin’ Cajuns before decommitting on November 28. The tight end took official visits to UTSA and Florida before committing to the Gators.
Hansen, a dual-sport athlete, stands at 6-feet 5-inches and weighs in at 250 pounds. He’s ranked as the 103rd TE in the class of 2022 and has a .8181 247Sports composite rating. Hansen is the second player to commit to Florida this week after three-star athlete Miguel Mitchell committed on Jan. 16.
Ties to Napier and Gators tight ends coach William Peagler at Louisiana-Lafayette clearly had an influence on the commitment. This commitment continues the current trend of staff carryover alongside transfers Montrell Johnson, Kamryn Waites and O’Cyrus Torrence all joining Napier with his new team.
The 2022 class is now ranked 33rd nationally and 13th in the SEC as National Signing Day approaches on February 2.
Contact Jackson Castellano at jcastellano@alligator.org. Find him on Twitter @jaxacastellano
Jackson Castellano is a third-year sports media journalism student and the Digital Managing Editor at The Alligator for Spring 2024. In the past, he's served as the Sports Editor, Assistant Sports Editor and a Sports Reporter covering Football, Men's basketball and Baseball.
