Jawaan Taylor
School: Cocoa High School
Hometown: Cocoa, FL
Height: 6-4
Weight: 330
Position: Offensive Line
Rivals Ranking: 3-star
Recruited by: Mike Summers
Notable: The big offensive lineman worked hard to get his Florida offer, perhaps harder than any other recruit in the class. Taylor grew up a Florida fan and dreamed of wearing the Orange and Blue but he had a problem. The Florida coaching staff asked Taylor to lose weight before they would offer him a scholarship. Taylor weighed around 380-385 pounds when he showed up on Florida’s campus for a camp and took the staff’s comments to heart. He dropped nearly 60 pounds to get into a more manageable frame and earned a scholarship from the Florida staff. That’s commitment.
Quotable: I knew I wasn’t at the right weight, so I basically knew after Florida told me I needed to cut down that I had too,” Taylor said. “It was motivation and that’s why I lost 50 something pounds since this summer, because I wanted to be in better shape for college. I weigh 330 now and I was 383 this summer.”