Tampa tight end comfortable with Florida

Head coach Jim McElwain and his staff signed two tight ends in the class of 2015 and they’re looking for just one in 2016 because of that.

Tight end Jacob Mathis (6-4, 212, Tampa, FL Berkeley Prep) is one of a handful of tight ends that currently has a Gators offer and he says Florida is after him hard right now.

“Florida is a great school and they’re recruiting me pretty hard right now,” Mathis said. “I talk to the majority of the coaching staff every week at least. I plan to get up there for a visit sometime during my spring break next week.”

Mathis hasn’t had the chance to meet the new staff yet but he has talked to McElwain at length and he believes in the coaching staff Florida has now.

I’m pretty comfortable with the new staff because they came in and started building a relationship with me,” Mathis said. “They told me from the beginning that they had a vision for the program and they laid out that plan to me, so I’m pretty sure things are going to work out just fine for them.”

Offense hasn’t been pretty at Florida in a few years, but Mathis has interest in the Gators due to McElwain’s history of producing good offenses over the years.

“I have seen what coach McElwain has done before with offense so it definitely peaks my interest in them,” Mathis said. “He’s a great coach and a great guy and he understands what he’s trying to do on offense. I’m looking forward to talking to him about how he sees me fitting in.”

At 6-4 Mathis has the ability to play a lot of positions but the Gators see him more as a tight end that could do multiple things in their offensive scheme.

“Some schools are recruiting me as a big receiver but Florida is recruiting me as a tight end,” Mathis said. “They told me that I’ll have a lot of different roles like out in the slot, on the line and just moving around a lot.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Mathis is one of the few tight ends that Florida is recruiting for the class of 2016 and, with his size, he’s a good fit for McElwain’s offense. If the Gators push him then Florida has a great shot.

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. The Gator football program will be started on its long road back to SEC relevancy when we can out recruit Clemson in the Tampa area and the State of Florida more generally. We need LB and I just read where Clemson just received a 5-Star LB commit from, you guessed it, the Sunshine State.