Florida one of two schools vying hard for this JUCO LB transfer
The recruiting trail has been a hot one this month as Florida football continues to push forward its rebuild of a once-proud program. While the primary focus has been on prospects from the high school ranks, particularly the 2023 and 2024 classes, there is another avenue that head coach Billy Napier and his staff have also been exploring — the junior college transfer portal.
Among those available from the JUCO ranks is linebacker Justin Jefferson out of Poplarville (Missippi) Pearl River Community College, who made an official visit date for the Swamp this past weekend.
“I really liked and thought it was everything I expected and then some,” he told Swamp247. “I got a lot of time around the players and the coaches and got to know their culture and the plan for their program. They mapped things out about how they want me there and want to get me on the field early. They want me to play a big role in their defense.”
The 6-foot-1-inch, 215-pound linebacker got a chance to spend some quality time with inside linebacker coach Jay Bateman in particular, but also got some solid exposure to other members of the staff as well.
“I was with Coach [Jay] Bateman, Coach PT [Patrick Toney], and Coach [Jamar] Chaney,” Jefferson explained to 1standTenFlorida. “They really liked my game and think that I could make a good impact for them.” The attention he received from the coaches gave the rising senior a family kind of feeling.
“It was just the amount of communication from me, my mom, coach Napier, coach Bateman, coach PT, coach Chaney, everybody; coach Hocke, the strength and conditioning coach, everybody. It was just a lot of love coming toward me,” he offered to Gators Online.
Jefferson is not ranked by 247Sports, however, On3 rates him as a four-star prospect with its Recruiting Prediction Machine giving the Texas A&M Aggies the best chance of landing him at 29.3% while the Gators are close behind at 25.7% and the Oregon Ducks also in the mix at 22%.
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