Polite goes in-depth on why he’s a Florida Gators

The Florida Gators recruiting commit board got bigger on Thursday morning when defensive end Jachai Polite (6-4, 253, Daytona Beach, FL Mainland) committed to the Gators.

Polite has had Florida and the Miami Hurricanes on top for quite some time, but says the Gators coaching staff is what pushed Florida over the edge for him.

“I committed because of my relationship with the coaching staff at Florida,” Polite said. “I just think Florida is the best fit for me. Florida has been recruiting me hard ever since I came down there this summer and that made me decide to go there.”

One other important thing led to Polite being on the Florida Gators recruiting list and that was that head coach Jim McElwain was personally recruiting him.

“Coach Mac said that he has been waiting on me to commit and that he was real excited about it,” he said. “Coach Mac has been talking to my head coach about me and he’s been telling me that he wants me bad. That showed me that they want me pretty bad when the head coach is recruiting me.”

When McElwain wasn’t recruiting Polite, then receivers coach Kerry Dixon was recruiting him as the defensive end and Dixon have built a good relationship.

“Coach Dixon and Coach Mac have both been recruiting me real hard, Coach Dixon is my recruiting coach,” Polite said. “Coach Dixon and me talk every other night and he just tells me that he needs me at Florida. We have a good relationship though and he always asks me about my family and stuff.”

Polite has been a sack machine, as he has 22 sacks during the last two seasons, and the Gators are hoping he can bring that to Gainesville with him.

“Coach Mac and Coach [Chris] Rumph both have been telling me that they want me to play strong side defensive end,” he said. “I think that I will fit into the defense good at defensive end. They said that they think that I’m good fit for their style of defense there.”

Despite Polite making his commitment to Florida on Thursday morning, the defensive end says that he plans to still use some of his five allotted official visits.

“I’m still planning on taking some trips even though I committed,” Polite said. “I’m going to go Tennessee, Miami, Auburn and Florida. I told Coach Dixon that I still want to take my trips but I plan to visit Florida for the Florida State game and for an official.”

Now that the Florida Gators have Polite in the class, the Gators are hoping that Polite can help them get his teammate Marcus Tatum on the Florida Gators recruiting commit list next.

“I’m going to start recruiting Marcus some but he says that they’re already high on his list,” he said. “I’m not going to have to do too much recruiting on him.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Polite ended the interview by saying “Go Gators” and that he was glad to be a Gator. Despite him taking visits I think Polite remains on the Florida Gators recruiting commit list through National Signing Day. Polite adds a big body that could either slim down and play defensive end or he will grow into a defensive tackle. Only a college weight room will tell what position he plays.

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.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Andrew loved that last quote on Polite, laughed out loud, this kid has a sense of humor when talking about not having to recruit teammate Marcus Tatum too hard because Florida is already high on his list. Love it, great stuff as usual, thanks Andrew