GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Defensive end Xavier Thomas is one of the most talented prospects in the entire 2018 class. The five-star from Florence (S.C.) Wilson visited Florida for his first game inside the Swamp on Saturday.

“It was a great atmosphere and stuff like that,” Thomas said. “The fans were great and the defense got the crowd into the game. It was pretty nice.”

Thomas, who has a top group of schools that includes Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, has a connection to the Gators program.

“My whole mom’s side of the family lives in Gainesville and they’ve been die-hard Gator fans, since before [Tim] Tebow. They’ve been fans a long time.”

Florida defensive line coach Chris Rumph, who is the lead recruiter on Thomas, also has an interesting connection to Thomas.

“His sister-in-law teaches at my school.”

The five-star went on to praise Coach Rumph.

“He’s a great [defensive] line coach. The [defensive] line stunts they do create one on one match-ups with the [offensive] linemen and makes it interesting.”

While on campus, Florida’s pitch to Thomas extended beyond football.

“This is a special place,” Thomas said of Florida’s message to him. “They are building a whole new facility, but not just that, it’s more about life than football like Coach [Jim] McElwain explained to me.”

The 247Sports Composite, an industry generated average, currently ranks Thomas as the nation’s No. 2 overall prospect in the 2018 class.