{"id":910706,"date":"2026-06-05T14:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/910706\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:21:14","slug":"top-100-edge-cahron-wheeler-arrives-in-gainesville-commits-to-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/910706\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 100 EDGE Cahron Wheeler arrives in Gainesville, commits to Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Entering the month of June, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/cahron-wheeler-282819\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cahron Wheeler<\/a> had a plan. The fast-rising edge rusher from Baltimore (Md.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/high-school\/st-pauls-school-baltimore-md-23690\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Paul\u2019s School<\/a> scheduled official visits to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/tiger-illustrated\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Clemson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/florida-gators\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/auburn-tigers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Auburn<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/tennessee-volunteers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tennessee<\/a> before making his college decision.<\/p>\n<p>He only made it through half of them.<\/p>\n<p>After a successful trip to Clemson, Wheeler arrived in Gainesville on Thursday for his official visit with Florida. Before the end of the first day, the Gators had all the answers he needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dGo Gators,\u201d Wheeler told Rivals. \u201cFlorida is a great environment. Everyone at Florida, on and off the field, supports each other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe coaching staff doesn\u2019t just feel like a normal coaching staff \u2014 it feels like a family. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlorida also has the academic support that I need. I\u2019m proud to be a Gator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler committed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/jon-sumrall-131272\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jon Sumrall<\/a> and Florida, giving the Gators a major recruiting win and another blue-chip addition to a class that continues to build momentum.<\/p>\n<p>The 6-foot-4, 265-pound defender ranks as the No. 90 prospect in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/rankings\/player\/football\/2027\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rivals300<\/a> and one of the top edge rushers in the country.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/join\/?utm_source=publisher&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=subscriber_referral&amp;ref=33\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Florida spent months building toward this moment.<\/p>\n<p>Defensive coordinator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/brad-white-134014\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad White<\/a> and defensive line coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/gerald-chatman-135467\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gerald Chatman<\/a> led the charge, making Wheeler feel like a priority from the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCoach White and Coach Chatman have been great,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBoth have been recruiting me hard since they offered. I like how they communicate with me. I like how the whole staff at Florida works together. It is a good environment down there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That staff chemistry stood out immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like the area. I had a great visit there [back in the spring]. The coaches seem like they\u2019re all together and work well with each other. I really like that about them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Florida\u2019s momentum accelerated throughout the spring, and once Wheeler arrived on campus, the Gators capitalized on the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>From hoops to the gridiron for Wheeler<\/p>\n<p>The commitment caps a remarkable rise for Wheeler.<\/p>\n<p>Not long ago, basketball occupied most of his attention.<\/p>\n<p>Football quickly changed that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love football now,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI can go out there and be violent and physical. It is a little surprising how it all played out. I thought it would be basketball for me, but football changed everything. I now love it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After a breakout season at St. Paul\u2019s, recruiters from across the country flocked to Baltimore to evaluate one of the East Coast\u2019s fastest-rising defenders.<\/p>\n<p>The physical transformation has been equally impressive. Wheeler entered last season weighing around 230 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Today, he checks in around 265 pounds while maintaining the athleticism, explosiveness and movement skills that first caught coaches\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering the month of June, Cahron Wheeler had a plan. The fast-rising edge rusher from Baltimore (Md.) St.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[114261,7],"class_list":["post-910706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-cahron-wheeler-27-st-pauls-school","tag-football"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116697948792642912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=910706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}