Jaquan Bailey 100 percent a Florida Gator

Most of the Florida Gators commits didn’t work out at Friday Night Lights  but defensive end Jaquan Bailey (6-3, 235, Jacksonville, FL Raines) was one of the ones that chose to work out for the coaches.

According to Bailey he had such a good performance that defensive line coach Chris Rumph told him to let the younger guys get more reps.

“I had dominated so much that Coach Rumph told me I was done for the night,” Bailey said of his performance. “Coach Rumph was like, ‘man just go over there and chill out.’ He was basically telling me I had done enough for him.”

There were some reports written that Bailey was close to flipping to Louisville, or Virginia Tech, but Bailey put those reports to bed on Friday night after the event.

“Man, my commitment to Florida is 100,” he said. “All of that stuff that people put out about me flipping and stuff, y’all can put that away. I love the coaching staff at Florida, shout out to my boy Coach [Tim Skipper] Skip, Coach Rumph, Coach [Jim McElwain] Mac and Coach [Geoff] Collins. Florida feels like my second home, actually it feels like my home.”

Bailey says that the coaching staff at Florida never questioned his commitment to the Gators because he keeps in constant communication with the Florida Gators coaching staff.

“A lot of people don’t know that me and Coach Skip talk almost every day,” Bailey said. “Anytime he feels some type of way about something, he comes and talks to me and anytime I feel some type of way about something, then I come and talk to him.”

Now that Bailey has put all of the flipping news to bed he’s ready to get to work at Florida and he says that defensive line coach Chris Rumph talked to him about his future position in Gainesville on Friday.

“He wants me as a hybrid lineman,” he said. “I was actually doing some linebacker drills on Friday night. I was feeling comfortable getting coached up by one of the games’ best coaches.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Bailey was very mad about some people writing that he was going to flip to Louisville or Virginia Tech and he straight went off about it. Bailey had a good workout and I believe he showed the coaches what they wanted to see from him on Friday night.

 

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.

2 COMMENTS

  1. This just goes to show that what we don’t know about a recruit’s actions and intentions… we don’t know about a recruit’s actions and intentions. This staff has so far seemed to be really intentional about building relationships on a consistent basis. There is no “hot and cold” like we have seen in the past.

    Can’t wait to see this young man in the orange and blue…