Top 150 overall prospect Jalen Wiggins is one of seven Gators participating in the Under Armour All-American game on Thursday, January 2nd. Florida landed Wiggins’ commitment on January 15th, 2024. Despite remaining committed for nearly a full year, the four-star edge rusher didn’t make his final decision until early singing day.
“It kind of came down to that last night, it really had me thinking more bigger picture, I wanted to kind of just pull out all Florida, all other schools, and think about what do I really want, and that’s one of the main things I’ve been getting from every other school, be selfish about the decision. It kind of gave me time to think overnight about it, but when the morning came on December 4th, I was just like ‘I’m gonna stick with my decision’, so I did,” Wiggins said at the Under Armour All-America camp.
Consistency from the coaching staff was key in Wiggins’ recruitment. Florida’s staff never stopped pitching the programs vision to the Tallahassee native and kept their relationship strong by letting Wiggins know he’s wanted.
“It’s just been the consistency,” Wiggins said. “When I first started getting recruited by Florida till the end, it’s always been the same as far as just the relationship with them, how much they’ve treated their team, even how I’ve seen it how I came in, everything’s all the same. The process that they’re going through, the journey that they’re trying to build up to, I saw it all. When I stuck with our process, I could see that weren’t giving up it, and they weren’t giving up on me as well so. From there, I really believed in my choice.”
Wiggins took a liking to Billy Napier’s family-oriented style of recruiting, which was a common theme among Florida’s 2025 signees.
“He knows specifics about each player in their family,” Wiggins said on Napier. “It’s amazing to see that he takes so much time into those personal accounts of each and every recruit, and he goes into detail about it. I really think that’s amazing.”
Florida sees Wiggins playing the ‘F’ position for the Gators. Florida likes his versatility and length at the position. Wiggins stands at 6’4.5, 255 pounds.
“Coach Napier and even Coach Peterson have been saying the extra effort, that’s been the main thing with me,” Wiggins said on his skillset. “Really long, really good strength as far as fitting in the run game but also can transfer into the pass game, just the versatility and the effort is kind of the main thing that fits me into that position.”
Former Gators’ defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong played a large role in Wiggins’ recruitment to Florida. On December 14th, after Wiggins had already signed with UF, Armstrong took a job with Houston. One day before the announcement, Armstrong was still recruiting Wiggins to Florida.
“Still got a good chance to talk with him about the program, see how things were going, still seeing how good the program is getting into, Wiggins said. “He was pushing forward that message, you’re going to do great things here, you’re going to push yourself to be the best that you can be.”
There’s been no word on any potential defensive coordinator candidates, according to Wiggins. The edge rusher didn’t seem fazed by Armstrong taking another job.
“I really trust the scheme,” Wiggins said. “I know coach Napier really has good intentions as far as who he can get into the program, he knows he can get someone that can develop and also coach in the right way.”