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Who doesn’t want to get their hands on a 6ft, 200 lb safety, especially a 5-star one? The predictions are high for Ryan Day to bag the 5-star talent, but he’ll have to fight Billy Napier and Co. first. Day currently sits comfortably in the No. 3 position in the 2026 recruiting class. Florida, which sits way down at No. 14, will make an aggressive push to improve their standing in class. So far, it looks like Day has a reason to worry.

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Buckeyes Safeties coach Matt Guerrieri made an offer to 5-star prospect Bralan Womack. Hailing from Mississippi, he’s ranked the No. 1 safety in the 2026 class by On3. He picked off 8 passes in his junior year, passed for 1,045 yards, and also scored 13 touchdowns. Naturally, Ohio State, coming off a National Championship win, hoped to have the star talent on board. However, Womack is currently checking out Florida, which On3 predicts to have a 3% chance of poaching.

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Earlier in the week, Womack dropped by Gainesville for a visit. The Gators continue to impress Womack, reports On3‘s Steve Wiltfong. The most attractive aspect about the program, according to Womack, is their zeal to turn things around. “I like the culture over there,” he told On3. “Just how they know where they should be and they feel like the fell way short of that last year so you kinda see a difference type of competitiveness and expectations for the players and coaches now,” Womack added. “They are aware they were young last year, but they feel they have enough experience now to make a playoff run this year.” That’s a bold claim for a program that has consistently turned up poor in Napier’s time.

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But the Gators won’t have an easy battle either. Womack has narrowed down his picks to four – Ohio State, Auburn, Texas A&M, and Florida. The Gators, unfortunately, sit at the bottom of his list. They’d have to catch his attention with a nice lure, because it won’t be easy getting Ryan Day to relinquish his claim over the safety. Florida also misses out on having the first advantage, because A&M took that spot on March 28. The Auburn visit will take place on April 12. Womack also dropped by Columbus on April 5, and it looks like Day still has an edge in this fight.

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Ryan Day’s OSU is still the No. 1 choice for Womack

The norm of the recruiting class is such that players will continue to look at other programs than the one they have implied they’d go to. Womack had paid Ohio State a visit before Florida and will also be headed to the other two picks this spring. But intel suggests that Ryan Day is still the No. 1 pick in Womack’s list.

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Wiltfong wrote, “The Buckeyes are in prime position to land one of their top targets in the 2026 cycle. Womack regards the environment at Columbus as attractive to himself.” He told On3, “Their tradition, the mindset in the locker room, the brotherhood and development is second to none.” He also has kept an eye on Ohio State’s current recruiting moves. Blaine Badford and Simeon Caldwell’s flips to OSU didn’t escape his eye. “[A]dding me into the mix, a hybrid ball-hawking safety who can get the ball out of the air and make the tackles that are needed to be made, they have a great trio of versatile safeties in the 26’ class,” Womack said. Sounds like he has a plan already!

Ryan Day, at the moment, still has the upper hand in this recruitment battle. However, you never know these days with the nature of the recruiting pool evolving day by day! But, if Billy Napier wants Womack as a Gator, he has to continue to be aggressive in this fight to rise from that No. 4 spot.

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Afreen Kabir

1,231 Articles

Afreen Kabir is a College Football Writer at EssentiallySports, contributing to the CFB Trends Desk. Selected for the College Football Pro Writer Program last year, she was trained by a panel led by a former Managing Editor of MSN Sport, now a mentor at EssentiallySports. Her previous experience covering the entertainment and lifestyle beats for major digital media outlets adds a unique lens—enabling her to craft compelling narratives at the intersection of sports and pop culture.

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Antra Koul

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