Florida Gators recruiting: Williams looking to visit Florida

The Florida Gators recruiting board is still loaded with offensive linemen. The coaching staff tries to get the depth back up at the position after the last coaching staff left the depth chart pretty bare at the position.

Offensive lineman Jauan Williams (6-6, 314, Washington D.C. Archbishop Carroll) is one of the guys on the board and he’s planning to take an official visit to Gainesville because of how much he liked his unofficial visit over the summer.

“It will probably be either the 22nd or the 29th,” Williams said of when he may take an official to Florida. “The campus and the coaches there are good. The coaching staff is a good staff and they have a good support staff there too. I really liked everything when I went down there for my unofficial visit.”

Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier visited Williams at his school earlier in December and he’s one of three coaches recruiting him hard to Florida.

“Coach Nuss, Coach [Mike] Summers and Coach [Jim] McElwain are all after me and recruiting me,” he said. “Coach McElwain tells me that I’m a great player and that I’m going to have to work when I get there but he says that I’m player that he wants at Florida.”

Offensive line coach Mike Summers is also playing a big part in Williams’ recruitment as the two parties have developed a good relationship.

“Coach Summers is a great coach and a calm type of guy,” Williams said. “He’s my type of guy and he’s like a father figure to me. He’s a guy that can coach the position really well.”

The Florida Gators recruiting board is starting to focus more on tackles, as the Gators are low at the position, and that’s exactly what Williams is being told.
“They want me as a left tackle there,” Williams said. “They’re telling me that they have a big need for tackles down there and that I have a chance to play early because of the lack of depth there.”

When Williams was in Gainesville over the summer the coaching staff showed him some schemes for a left tackle to block and that’s something that the Maryland lineman liked a lot.

“The coaches went over all of the plays with me during the unofficial visit and that stood out to me,” he said. “They were willing to work with me and teach me the plays and that will help me develop at the next level.”

Florida isn’t the only school trying to get Williams on campus in January, four schools are chasing the Gators instate rivals.

“Oklahoma, Nebraska, LSU and Florida are the teams that I want to take official visits to in January,” he said. “Florida State is my leader because I took an official visit there but Florida is still in the mix.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Florida State and Oklahoma are the two schools that have the inside track with Williams right now but he seems like a player that is still very much undecided on his decision.

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.