Cornerback Jayvaughn Myers (6-1, 175, Dade City, FL Pasco) made news on Tuesday morning when he decided to make his commitment to the Florida Gators over the Auburn Tigers and Florida State Seminoles.
Florida has long been the favorite for Myers but it was the timing that shocked many people in Gator Nation but Myers says the time was just right for him.
“It was a special day for me when I committed to Florida yesterday [Tuesday],” Myers said. “I’ve always wanted to be a Gator. I’ve just thinking about everything and I felt it was time to do it so I called the coaches.”
Myers called Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain to give him the news and the Pasco cornerback was greeted with a lot of excitement from the other end of the phone.
“Coach McElwain was pretty happy for me,” he said of McElwain’s reaction. “He told me welcome to the family and that he was excited that I was a Gator.”
Over the last few months Myers has seen his recruitment explode with offers from Auburn, Florida State and many other top programs but he says that the atmosphere in Gainesville was just different and that’s why he’s a Gator now.
“Florida’s coaching staff is just different from the other schools,” Myers said. “They care about you more at Florida. Florida also made sure to make me a priority and they recruited me for me and not just for my brother [big receiver target Nate Craig-Myers]. That was a big key to me.”
Florida Gators defensive back coach Kirk Callahan also deserves a ton of credit in landing Myers and the cornerback says that Callahan has a special message for him.
“Coach Callahan said he was surprised and that he was super happy to hear the news,” he said. “He told me he wanted me to finish out my high school season strong and that he thinks I can play right a way at Florida. He said that I will be a big part of the defense.”
Now that Myers has committed to Florida, he has had several people congratulated him including a fellow member of the class of 2016 defensive class.
“It feels great to be a part of DBU,” Myers said. “Chauncey [Garnder] has already welcomed me to the class and he said that he was happy for me. He told me to keep my head on straight.”
Like most prospects Myers said that he will get busy recruiting others to Gainesville including his brother.
“I’m going to start recruiting a little bit for Florida,” he said. “I really haven’t looked at who to recruit besides my brother. My brother did say he was happy for me but he has to make his own decision.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Myers is a big pickup for Florida and he’s a player in his own right and that’s something that helped the Gators land him. Florida made sure to let him know that they wanted him no matter what his brother Nate Craig-Myers did.