Linebacker Rayshad Jackson (6-1, 205, Miami, FL Norland) made big news for the Florida Gators on Sunday when he announced his commitment to Florida. Jackson was down to Arkansas and Florida and says there was one, big, determining factor that helped seal his decision.
“The main reason I committed to Florida was because of the academic success Florida has,” Jackson said. “The success rate at Florida is great. I think that I can benefit from that a lot. My major is sports management and Florida has a great program for that and the classes are very good for that at Florida.”
Jackson told head coach Jim McElwain the news on Sunday morning and Jackson says he got a nice reaction out of the Gators head coach.
“Coach McElwain jumped up and gave me a hug and a high five,” Jackson said. “He said welcome to the club and to the Florida community. He was so happy when I told him I was going to be a Gator.”
One other big reason for Jackson committing to Florida was his relationship with linebackers coach Randy Shannon and on Sunday Shannon laid out his plan for Jackson for his future.
“Coach Shannon said that he’s going to make me a better player at linebacker,” Jackson said. “He said he’s going to make me better by working on my fundamentals as a linebacker and helping me improve in drills. He says that I’m going to be a good outside linebacker at Florida.”
Friday was the first opportunity for Jackson to meet defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and according to Jackson he liked what he saw and heard from Collins this weekend.
“Coach Collins was telling me a lot of the same thing as coach Shannon was,” Jackson said. “He was telling me that they need more linebackers like me at Florida. I’m really excited to play for him because he’s a funny guy with high energy.”
All of the coaches impressed the Florida commit this weekend but McElwain’s energy was something that caught Jackson’s eye on Friday.
“Coach McElwain is a great, high spirited guy that gets you happy and excited,” Jackson said. “He was telling me that Florida is going to change my life on the field and off the field and that I made a great decision.”
Before Jackson ended our conversation he wanted to send one message out to the Florida fans.
“Welcome to the Swamp,” Jackson said. “I’m ready to ball out for Florida.”
Welcome to Gator Nation!
Welcome to our Family young man, Glad you are a Gator…
It is just unfathomable how some of these people on here rant and rave with their negative comments on how we don’t and won’t get any 4 or 5 star recruits. I don’t believe that to be the case at all….but what kills me AS is they get caught up in the numbers game or adding stars….there are WAY too many intangibles in football for that to be your sole reasoning for logic. I would love to see from 2004 to 2014 how many 5 star players actually made all american, won heisman, nfl superstar , ect. I would pay a months salary the number is considerably lower than people would think….calling out snowflake here!!