Florida Gators take the lead for Jeawon Taylor

The Florida Gators already have two commits from the state of Alabama in the class of 2016 and on Saturday they hosted a slew of prospects from Montgomery, Alabama on visits.

One of those prospects was safety Jeawon Taylor (6-2, 192, Montgomery, AL Park Crossing) who enjoyed his time in Gainesville.

“It went good, I liked it down there,” Taylor said of his visit. “We went over some plays with Coach [Kirk] Callahan for a little while and then we went put on the jersey’s and looked at the new gear. The gear looks nice and I didn’t know that you got to pick your own facemask when you came in.”

Taylor had never met Coach Callahan before but on Saturday he got to hang out with the Gators defensive back coach and he likes the personality he showed him.

“He seems like a great coach to play under,” he said of Callahan. “He’s a young guy and he has a good personality. He’s able to relate to us young guys.”

The public perception is that the Gators are loaded in the secondary, but in reality, they are in need of young defensive backs and that was the message that Callahan gave to Taylor on Saturday.

“He told me that if I come in and work hard than I can play early,” Taylor said of Callahan’s message. “He says that he sees me as a free safety. He was saying that a lot of DB’s are scared of coming to Florida because of [Vernon] Hargreaves and those guys so he needs some guys. I see it as an opportunity.”

Florida Gators defensive coordinator Geoff Collins also impressed Taylor with his energy and his social media game.

“Coach Collins came in and showed us a highlight video,” he said. “He’s a high energy guy. I like that because I don’t want to play for a boring coach.  Coach Collins was telling me about the stuff he post on Twitter like ‘BDN’ which means ‘best defense in the nation.’”

Now that Taylor has visited the Gators and learned about the opportunity in Gainesville, the Alabama native has the Gators sitting on top of his recruitment.

“This visit helped Florida and my favorite part was going on the field at the Swamp, even though it was raining,” Taylor said. “Florida is my leader after this visit now and I may make a decision soon or maybe later. I’m done with visits until after the season.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Taylor sees early playing time at Florida and that helps the Gators out a ton because the Auburn Tigers don’t have early playing time available. If Taylor decides soon then the Gators should be the pick over Auburn.

 

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.