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Florida football recruiting: Offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor commits to Gators

Florida just keeps bulking up on the offensive line.

By Andy Hutchins
Student Sports

After getting a commitment from JUCO wide receiver Dre Massey, Florida wasn't done making waves on the recruiting trail on Sunday — hell, it wasn't even done for the half-hour. Just 22 minutes after Jim McElwain's #ChompChomp tweet alluding to Massey's commitment, he sent another, this one related to the commitment of Cocoa offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor.

Taylor beat his future coach to the announcement of his commitment, though.

Taylor, who decommitted from Miami on Saturday, is a three-star player per the 247Sports Composite, and boasts a lengthy offer sheet that also includes scholarship tenders from Ohio State, Florida State, Georgia, and Clemson, among others. At 6'5" and 350 pounds, it's clear his size alone is worth at least some interest.

But Taylor's also got some basic techniques of playing offensive line down, as his Hudl reel that comes with the tagline "Manchild!" shows, like the "turn the defensive end away from the quarterback and then push him to the grass" one. (I like that one.)

However, while he's apparently being recruited as a guard, Taylor's weight will likely either make him an offensive tackle to start his career or, more likely, earn him a redshirt season in 2016 devoted largely to getting his body right.

With Taylor's commitment, Florida's up to 25 commits in its 2016 recruiting class, and three offensive linemen.

Taylor's also another commit from what appears to be Cocoa's flowing pipeline to Gainesville. The Brevard County school, which won three consecutive state titles in the late 2000s and is now producing Power Five talent like Notre Dame's Tarean Folston, former Ohio State signee Jamel Dean, and Florida commit Chauncey Gardner, seems poised to yield more Gators in the near future, especially given the presence of former Cocoa quarterback James Rowe on Florida's secondary staff.