OL Jawaan Taylor latest to commit to the Florida Gators

Chomp Chomp times two was the message on Sunday morning as the Florida Gators landed offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor (6-4, 330, Cocoa, FL High) after landing JUCO athlete Dre Massey earlier in the day.

Taylor, who just picked up a Florida offer last week, decommitted from Miami on Saturday and he says that he did that because Florida was the right fit for him.

“I talked it over with my family and I just decided Florida was the best fit for me so that’s why I decided to decommit from Miami and commit to Florida,” Taylor said. “The opportunity to play early and Florida is a big time program. I have a good relationship with everyone there so I feel like it’s the best fit for me to go there.”

Florida now has two prospects from Cocoa committed, as Taylor joins his teammate cornerback Chauncey Gardner in the class and Taylor says that Gardner was happy to hear the news.

“Chauncey was very excited when I committed to Florida,” he said. “We’ve been playing with each other since we were four years old so it’s great to be able to play with him for another 4 to 5 years in college.”

Not only was Gardner happy about the news but also when Taylor told Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain the news, the Gators headman was very happy.

“Coach Mac was very excited when I told him, he said it made his day,” Taylor said. “He said it was great for me to commit to Florida and that he was ready to work with me. He said it’s great to be a Gator.”

Offensive line coach Mike Summers has been recruiting Taylor ever since the summer and he has told Taylor to be ready to play at Florida next year.

“Coach Summers said that I would fit in great at Florida and that he was excited to coach me,” he said. “He said that I need to be ready to go and I’ve been talking to him every day so it’s a good relationship. Coach Summers says that he sees me as a guard but he says that I can also play tackle too.”

The hold up for Taylor in getting his offer from the Gators was that Florida wanted Taylor to lose weight and that is exactly what he did over the last few months.

“It was motivation because 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.”

The Gators found out about Taylor’s weight loss this fall and McElwain was shocked and happy to see Taylor last Saturday when the offensive lineman visited Florida.

“Coach Mac said he was excited to see that I had cut down my weight,” he said. “He said it was great to see me have my weight down and that I was working hard to lose the weight.”

Now that Taylor has committed to Florida, the Florida Gators coaching staff has told him a message about playing next fall.

“The whole staff told me to be ready to come in and compete for playing time next year,” Taylor said. “I see that they have a lot of opportunities open for guys to step up and play as a true freshman.”

Despite the commitment on Sunday, Taylor says he still plans to take other official visits but he says that he’s very solid with his decision.

“I’m still planning on taking my officials to Auburn, Florida and Miami,” he said. “My official visit to Auburn is set for December 11th and then I will visit Florida and Miami in January.”

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.