The Florida Gators’ spring game on Friday night is the centerpiece of what could be a massive recruiting weekend for the program. Jashon Watkins becoming the Gators’ third commitment of the weekend and first of Saturday earlier this morning made that seem very possible.
Watkins, a 2019 athlete from Nashville, tweeted three alligator emojis — did you know that’s actually a crocodile emoji? It says so in the source code, if you look — late Friday night, and by morning, there was a subsequent #ChompChomp tweet from Jim McElwain’s account.
— Jashon Watkins2 (@jashonPerkins) April 8, 2017
#ChompChomp!!!!! #GATA19
— Jim McElwain (@CoachMcElwain) April 8, 2017
And Zach Abolverdi of SEC Country was the first to tweet Watkins’s commitment...
Update, 8:00 p.m.: ...but Rivals writer Woody Wommack tweeted later in the day that Watkins told him he had not committed to Florida, and Watkins has deleted the three-emoji tweet, as well.
Watkins lists his positions on his Hudl page as free safety, wide receiver, and quarterback, and his highlights show him playing all three. Watkins is listed at 6’4” and 185 pounds by 247Sports, but does not yet have a rating from any of the recruiting services.
Watkins would have been Florida’s fifth commitment for the 2019 recruiting class, and would have given the Gators more commits in the 2019 class than their 2018 class, which stood at four commitments as of Saturday morning.