Osani Gayles | Alabama WR Commit & IMG Academy Star | Class of 2027

When the NFL Draft aired this past spring, the IMG Academy locker room had reason to celebrate early. Carnell Tate went fourth overall. Francis Mauigoa went tenth. Both were former Ascenders—and both had stood on the same campus where Osani Gayles trains every day.

Gayles, a wide receiver from Tracy, California—about an hour outside San Francisco—relocated across the country to Bradenton to sharpen his game at one of the most talent-dense programs in the country. The move is already paying off. Ranked among the top 40 overall prospects in the 2027 class, he holds a commitment to Alabama, where he plans to develop into an NFL-caliber player.

His self-described strengths lean toward versatility—running routes from the inside or outside, contributing on jet sweeps and screens, and using his combination of size and quickness to create mismatches. Competing daily against a locker room full of Division I prospects, including several elite receivers, has only raised his standard. "Iron sharpens iron," he said.

Football runs deep in the Gayles family, but so does academics. His father attended Stanford, his mother USF, and among his three older siblings, one graduated from NYU, another from Washington, and his brother Omari—a defensive back—is currently at Harvard. Growing up in the Bay Area with parents working in tech at Tesla and Facebook, education was never an afterthought.

Gayles and Omari did share one season on the same field at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, a moment Osani counts among his most meaningful football memories. Now, with Tuscaloosa on the horizon, he's focused on a path that mirrors the one he watched unfold on draft night—with his own name eventually called.