The Florida Gators coaching staff is hitting the recruiting trail hard this week in order to finish the recruiting class of 2016 on a positive note.
Not only is Florida visiting uncommitted prospects, but they’re also visiting commits and on Monday they visited safety Jeawon Taylor (6-2, 192, Montgomery, AL Park Crossing) at his home.
“The visit with Coach [Jim] McElwain went good,” Taylor said. “Coach [Randy] Shannon and Coach [Geoff] Collins was also with him at my house. They were just going over everything about Florida with me and they said that I would be able to ask all of my questions during the visit.”
Taylor last visited Florida in November, so it had been a little bit of time since he had seen McElwain and the Gators head coach had a message for him.
“It was about time Coach McElwain came to Alabama,” he said laughing. “Coach McElwain was telling me that recruiting is like a marathon, and he said that I’ve been a Gator and that they have been with me for 25 miles and just seven more days until I reach the finish line. He said that he knows people are coming at me hard and that I deserved it, but he wants me to stick with Florida.”
The big question for most prospects is who the Florida Gators will hire as the defensive back coach and McElwain addressed that on Monday.
“Coach McElwain didn’t really talk to me too much about the defensive back coach,” Taylor said. “He said that he was going to get the best defensive back coach out there and that Coach Collins was going to be helping out with safeties a lot. So basically they’re just hiring a cornerbacks coach and Coach Collins will coach safeties and I already have a good relationship with him.”
While all prospects would like to know who their position coach will be, Taylor says that it won’t play a huge role for him.
“Right now it doesn’t matter to me,” Taylor said of whether or not he’s worried about the defensive back. “Like I said Coach Collins will mostly be coaching the safeties. Coach Collins tells me that I’m going to be great in the Swamp
This coming weekend Taylor will take his official visit to Florida with his mom and the two have some things they’re looking forward to seeing this weekend.
“I just want to have fun this weekend,” he said. “I want to see the education part and see the campus. I’ve never really got to check out the campus because I’ve just come to games and stuff like that. It will be a great experience for me and my mom.”
INSIDERS TAKE: I really believe Taylor sticks with Florida after this official visit because of his relationship with the coaching staff. Also, Taylor likes that Florida was on him first before everyone else.