Florida got some good news on Tuesday as 2026 center Jones Lay announced his commitment to the Gators.
Last weekend Lay took a visit to Gainesville where he was able to see the team practice and observe the way that Florida uses their frontcourt, and with the Gator staff ready to take the commitment Lay excitedly made his announcement. A native of Hickory, North Carolina, Lay attends Moravian Prep after also spending time with Overtime Elite playing for the YNG Dreamers.
As a player, the first thing that jumps out about Lay is his size and frame. A legit 7’0”, Lay also looks the part of a high-major center with a 230-pound frame that is already fairly filled out which isn’t the case for a lot of centers in the 2026 class. Recently Lay has worked a lot on his mobility and athleticism, something that wasn’t necessarily viewed as a strength for him historically but has more recently been seen as something that could be a positive by the time he gets to college. Still unranked by some outlets, On3 has him as the 142nd ranked player in the class, and the Gators are looking to buy low and lock him in while he is much more available then in 6 months if his game and recruiting take a major leap. Outside of Florida, South Carolina took interest in Lay, and after that it was largely mid-major teams like Bryant, Old Dominion, and George Mason that extended offers.
After great success with their frontcourt depth the last two seasons, Florida made it a priority to get more post players in the pipeline. They expect to lose one or two players to the NBA after the 2025-26 season, and Viktor Mikic is expected to step into a bigger role when that happens. This should give time for Lay to develop and adapt to the highest level of the college game without having pressure to contribute as a freshman, while then hopefully sliding into a role in year two.
As a player, Lay loves to play a conventional center’s role–something that is harder and harder to find with every passing year as even taller players want to do more ball handling and shooting. While Florida allows their bigs to play on the perimeter they still need conventional post play down by the rim, and Lay is someone who happily takes on that role. Whether it be rebounding, battling post up players, or trying to dunk everything around the rim, Lay is someone who embraces a traditional center’s role and has the size and frame to do so, and that is what Florida has seen and is happy to lock in as they look to shore up their frontcourt depth moving forward.
Lay becomes Florida’s first commit in the 2026 class, and while it’s unknown exactly how many high school players the Gators will want to take, they are in a good position to go after some higher-ranked players after landing a solid frontcourt piece.