Defensive end CeCe Jefferson (6-2, 245, Glen St. Mary FL Baker County) has been recruited by Will Muschamp and the Florida Gators for 3 years now and he says that Sunday’s firing of Muschamp shocked him but he also understands the decision.
“I was kind of surprised, I mean, but it’s a business,” Jefferson said. “Coach Muschamp knew what he was getting into when he decided to coach. He knows that if he doesn’t win enough games he will get replaced but I was definitely surprised that it happened.”
Despite Muschamp not winning games, Jefferson was impressed by the person that Muschamp was off the field.
“Coach Muschamp is a great coach and a great man,” Jefferson said. “Every time I go up there I always sit and talk with him and we always have a great conversation. I’m pretty sure he will get another great coaching job soon.”
Jefferson who visited Alabama on Saturday hasn’t had a chance to speak with Muschamp since his firing but he plans to change that this weekend.
“I plan to go up to the Florida game this Saturday,” Jefferson said. “I’m going to talk to Coach Muschamp when I’m up there but I haven’t talked to him since all that happened on Sunday.”
The Florida Gators did however have assistant coach Brad Lawing reach out to Jefferson after the news broke on Sunday.
“I talked to Coach Lawing on Sunday evening but we really didn’t talk about recruiting too much,” Jefferson said. “He basically just told me what went down and he just said that he was going to keep in touch this week and that we would talk at the game on Saturday.”
Jefferson and Lawing have been close since Lawing arrived at Florida from South Carolina and the defensive end is hoping that Lawing will return to Florida under the new Florida Gators head coach.
“Coach Lawing said he’s hoping to come back,” Jefferson said. “Coach Lawing and I have a great relationship and he’s my recruiter so keeping him would be big for me. His experience speaks for itself.”
Despite Muschamp being fired and the Florida Gators not having a head coach Jefferson says that he still likes Florida a lot.
“Florida is Florida to me still,” Jefferson said. “I don’t think what has happened will affect my recruitment or my interest in them. I’m really looking forward to seeing who they will bring in as coach.”
Jefferson who lives just outside of Jacksonville has visited Florida a ton but he says that an official isn’t needed to Gainesville.
“I’m not going to use an official to Florida because I can visit them anytime because they are only an hour from my house,” Jefferson said. “I will get down there to meet the new coach though.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Jefferson truly loved Will Muschamp but at the end of the day I believe that Jefferson will choice a school for a school but he will be watching the hire closely.
These next few weeks, until a new coach is named, is the ultimate dead period. None of the assistants can recruit, except in name only, because they have no idea if they will still be at Florida next year. How can you go to a recruit and say we have this or that plan for you when they have no clue if they’ll be out the door like Muschamp. The only coaches with any credibility will be the ones that are seeking to pluck this or that commit pledged to Florida. I don’t think there’s any need to worry about most of them. But if a team still needs a quarterback or receiver, Jones and Dillon, are ripe for the picking. The real dead period is from December 15 until January 14, the only contact allowed during that time is with early enrollees. The contact period is from January 15 until January 31. Unless a new coach is named before December 15, this means that UF will have only a little over two weeks to put together a class. That seems like an impossible chore. The only hope is that the new coach, along with the new assistants, bring some recruits with them. Regardless, the previous vision of having a great, maybe top five, class is probably a pipe dream.