Five-star CB Jalen Tabor flips to Florida

By Adam Silverstein
January 9, 2014

Less than a week after committing to the Arizona Wildcats during the 2014 Under Armour All-American Game, five-star cornerback Jalen Tabor (Washington, D.C.) changed his mind and has instead decided to join the Florida Gators.

The early enrollee will step foot on campus Monday, according to multiple reports.

“If You Not A Gator You Gator Bait !” he tweeted shortly after making the flip. “Following In Big Cuz Footsteps @joehaden23 ! Wearing #5”

Tabor (6-foot-1, 186 pounds), ranked the No. 24 overall player in the nation by Rivals.com, chose Arizona primarily over Alabama on Jan. 2, but his final four also included Florida and Maryland.

“Marcus Roberson [declaring for] the draft had a big part to do with Tabor’s flip, that and distance according to him,” explained Blake Alderman InsidetheGators.com.

The fourth-highest rated cornerback in the country immediately becomes the Gators’ top-ranked prospect and only five-star commitment to date this cycle.

Tabor is coming off an impressive performances both in the Under Armour game and during the week of practices leading up to the contest. Rivals.com’s recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said Taylor “provided the best coverage on defense during the week.”


The fifth defensive back to make a pledge for Florida, Tabor joins four-stars Quincy Wilson (Fort Lauderdale, FL), J.C. Jackson (Immokalee, FL), Chris Lammons (Plantation, FL) and Duke Dawson (Cross City, FL) – though Jackson’s commitment status is up in the air as of press time.

He is also the third player to join the Gators’ 2014 class over the last eight days. Four-star defensive end Gerald Willis III (New Orleans, LA) committed at the Under Armour game, and three-star offensive lineman Kavaris Harkless (Jacksonville, FL) made his pledge by flipping from Louisville on Jan. 5.

ESPN also lists Tabor as a five-star prospect but ranks him No. 15 overall in the nation.

Florida now has 21 total commitments this recruiting cycle along with a JUCO transfer.

25 Comments

  1. sjkoepp says:

    We are gonna have a stacked secondary between last year and this years class. Man cover and let those defensive ends pin their ears back.

  2. ejl33gator says:

    We need safeties though. When our defense was dominant, we had Elam and Evans back there, preventing big plays, laying big hits, ball hawking, and providing good run support. Our lack of consistent safety play really hurt us this year. Hope it improves next year.

    • sjkoepp says:

      Totally right about that- but I think with a year of experience learning with marcus maye who has a high ceiling and the depth we have- poole, washington, neal, gorman, riggs (who needs to live in the weight room after getting trucked last season) we should be fine. It’s tough to replace talent like evans and elam in one year.

  3. cline says:

    Go Gators, we seem to be closing better this year in recruiting than last. Hopefully we can get 1 offensive flip from somewhere before NSD. TE or WR is my hope.

  4. Gatoralum88 says:

    Awesome news! A great flip! If he’s anywhere near as good as his “cuz” Joe he should make an immediate impact like Vernon Hargreaves! Go Gators!

    • John says:

      Now that’s just setting the bar way too high, you can’t expect anyone to come in and make an impact like Hargreaves did, hopefully he can play and get into the rotation and I think he will, but to ask him to make an impact like Hargreaves did is just setting him up to be a HUGE disappointment.

      • gatorcooken says:

        I agree, but don’t forget we’ve had great success with freshmen at CB. Haden, Jenkins, Roberson, Hargreaves, etc. All 5 stars, all started day 1, unless I’m wrong.

  5. gjkhjh says:

    Here is how our secondaries will look for next year, looks to have a great future.

    Likely RS Freshman
    Quincy Wilson
    Duke Dawson

    Freshman
    Nick Washington
    Marcell Harris
    Keanu Neal
    Jalen Tabor

    Sophmore
    Vernon Hargreaves III
    Marcus Maye

    Junior
    Brian Poole

    Senior
    Jabari Gorman
    Cody Riggs

  6. gatorboi352 says:

    If nothing else, Muschamp sure can land some corner backs.

    Maybe he’s looking to devise a 3-3-5 defense or something.

    • 305Gator says:

      You are too funny “boi” always finding something negative to say even in the face of good news. Never mind the facts, such as Mus also “landed” a top QB, DE, DT, 2TEs and many others. Go ahead and remain negative, sarcastic and pessimistic. I for one think Mus is a very good recruiter and will have the program back on track sooner rather than later.
      Go Gators!

    • SWFL Joe says:

      Whether its by design or lack of linebackers, we play a lot of nickel so this will help.

  7. Ken (CA) says:

    great get and really need some momentum. If ESPN recruiting is to be believed, there are 4-6 of our highest profile recruits that are wavering right now and a good chance we could lose several of them to FSU/Miami and a couple of others. Hopefully they are wrong.

    • 4-6? That’s not the case. 2-3.

      • Ken (CA) says:

        you are right they mentioned 3, just seemed like more. they are looking at several possible flips: Ermon Lane, Chris Lammons, C.J. Jackson. However I think Jeff Jones will flip from Minn to Gators, and I can’t imagine Joker’s godson would go somewhere else to play

  8. Champ Supporter says:

    Adam, how many can we sign this year? Does Tabor coming hurt our chances for Adoree?

  9. aziatic41 says:

    Big time landing for us! With Tabor, Grier, and Willis our class is shaping out nicely. If we can land Lane that will solidify our class. And also hopefully Jeff Jones

  10. Gatorboychip says:

    Thank The Lord for this I hope and pray my Gators show up next year and go undefeated. If Fspoo can do it it has to be easy. They didn’t play anyone all year then play a real team in auburn and auburn decides to quit at half time. To bad cuz Fspoo didn’t deserve to win. Go Gators I know it will be a better year in 2014 🙂

Leave a Reply to gjkhjh Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux