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Florida football recruiting: Hulking JUCO DT Javier Edwards commits to Gators

After a recruiting cycle without a defensive tackle, Florida has landed two in two weeks.

By Andy Hutchins
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Florida needs to bulk up on its defensive line. Landing massive JUCO defensive tackle Javier Edwards, as the Gators did on Thursday, certainly means there will be more bulk at the position in 2017. ESPN's Derek Tyson was first to report Edwards' commitment.

Edwards is listed at 6'3" and 350 pounds by 247Sports, which is suitably huge for a run-stuffing defensive tackle, and should have three years to play two seasons of FBS ball with Florida, after originally signing with Texas State and then heading to Blinn College in 2015. Edwards is unranked right now, but was a three-star prospect and just outside the nation's top 100 DTs then, but did hold offers from a list of schools that included Miami, Texas, and Stanford as a senior at Houston's Benjamin O. Davis High.

Then, Edwards was a run-stuffing defensive tackle.

Now, Edwards is ... a run-stuffing defensive tackle.

For this second go-round in his recruitment, Edwards' offer sheet isn't so gaudy, without a single offer from a Power 5 school other than Florida.

But Texas State's still on that list. And Texas State's current staff has several coaches influenced by Urban Meyer, as former Meyer defensive coordinator Everett Withers took the job and then cobbled together a staff with a former Meyer quarterback (offensive coordinator Brett Elliott redshirted at Utah while Meyer was there) an Ohio State-turned-Houston staffer (Adrian Mayes, known as one of the brains behind Houston's wildly successful #HTownTakeover work), and several other assistants who helped Withers win 19 games in two seasons at James Madison.

While Edwards being esteemed by that staff is not the same as Edwards receiving universal recruiting industry acclaim, obviously, it says something to me. Maybe they — and Florida's coaches, including well-regarded defensive line coach Chris Rumph — see the broad shoulders and substantial chest that I see on tape and think that Edwards has a lot of room to grow as a player?

Edwards joins the squatter and more explosive Jordon Scott as Florida's second defensive lineman in its 2017 class. Florida now has seven commits in the 2017 cycle.