Florida confirms receipt of CeCe Jefferson's National Letter of Intent

CeCe Jefferson is finally officially a Florida Gator.

Florida announced its receipt of Jefferson's National Letter of Intent late Monday morning, in tweets from Jim McElwain's personal Twitter account and the official UAA account.

Want to officially welcome @cecejeferson7 to the Gator Family! #ChompChomp

— Jim McElwain (@CoachMcElwain) February 9, 2015

Welcome to the #Gators family, @cecejeferson7! #ItsGreatUF pic.twitter.com/78r8yKopIy

— Florida Gators (@GatorZoneNews) February 9, 2015

It was never supposed to take this long, not after Jefferson committed to the Gators on National Signing Day and appeared to physically sign a National Letter of Intent live on ESPN, but a saga that exploded last Thursday with Jefferson's father alleging a host of errors by Florida coaches in his son's recruitment never seemed likely to end with Jefferson switching schools.

And when Florida officially announced the hiring of defensive line coach Chris Rumph to replace Terrell Williams — a move Leo Jefferson accused the Gators of not telling him or his son about — that father was placated; when CeCe Jefferson tweeted Saturday that he had spoken with Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and reported "my LOI will be in soon," it seemed like just a matter of time before that letter arrived.

And, yes, it took long enough that Jefferson, in attendance at Florida's primetime showdown basketball game against Kentucky on Saturday, was beseeched with a chant of "SEND THE LET-TER!" at that game — but it's done now.

CeCe Jefferson is a Gator, Florida's 2015 recruiting class is complete, and McElwain and his staff can begin their vacations turn their full attention to preparing for their first spring practices with a program in transition.