Top 100 Basketball Recruit Jones Lay Signs with Florida

The Gators Men’s Basketball Team has signed its first recruit from the 2026 class. 

Three-star recruit Jones Lay signed with the Gators on Wednesday for National Signing Day. Lay has moved into the top 100 in Rivals’ updated rankings from No. 142 to No. 99. 

As the lone recruit so far for the Gators, he adds much needed depth to the frontcourt of the team that will lose senior center Micah Handlogten and potentially bigs Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu to the NBA Draft.

Florida Head Coach Todd Golden was thrilled to announce the news on Wednesday afternoon.

“We are really excited to welcome Jones to our program here at the University of Florida,” he said. “Jones is a big, strong athlete, with his best basketball in front of him. He is a smart, hard worker, who already has a lot of the qualities we look for in our student-athletes. He comes from a family of coaches and athletes, and we believe he will become a valuable piece to our program.”

Rivals analyst Jamie Shaw talked about Lay’s game and what he brings to the Gators.

“Jones Lay is a big man, pushing 7-foot-0 tall, and plays a physical style of basketball,” he said. “He is a presence around the basket, has nice hands and keeps the ball high in traffic. He tries to dunk everything around the rim.”

Category: College Basketball, Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball, SEC