4-star DB Elijah Blades decommits from Florida

Florida's recruiting cycle for the 2017 class has not been very strong thus far, and it got a lot worse with the decommitment of four-star defensive back Elijah Blades on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-2, 170-pounder is ranked as the 25th-best defensive back in the country for the class of 2017, and is listed as the 265th overall prospect on the ESPN 300.

Blades was the sixth-highest ranked member of the Gators class, which currently sits 20th in the country on ESPN's rankings. Florida currently only has 15 players committed, so that leaves lots of room to add talent on national signing day. Though, unless a number of big names commit to the Gators, they will have their worst class in years.

Florida hasn't finished outside the top 20 in recruiting classes since ESPN started its rankings in 2006.

All hope is not lost however, as Blades admitted that Florida is still one of his final five schools, along with USC, Oregon, Georgia, and Nebraska.