Gators add commit No. 9 in LB Rayshad Jackson

By Adam Silverstein
January 25, 2015

The second commitment of the Jim McElwain era made his intentions known on Sunday as three-star outside linebacker Rayshad Jackson (Miami, FL) pulled the trigger for the Florida Gators.

Jackson (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) was a target of linebackers coach Randy Shannon and a former lean to Arkansas, where Shannon coached before being hired by Florida.

The ninth member of the Gators’ pedestrian 2015 recruiting class, Jackson is also the ninth three-star prospect on Florida’s list.

His commitment was first reported by ESPN‘s Derek Tyson.

15 Comments

  1. J.A. says:

    Kid looks very good on film. Instinctive and has a high motor and seems like a hybrid pass rusher. I know a lot of you guys would fill better if he were a 5-star. Looks like a quality ball player.

  2. 305Gator says:

    Good addition to the team at a position of need. I don’t care if he is rated “only” a 3 star.
    Plenty of those have gone on to be solid players. Keep bringing more coach.
    Go Gators!

  3. Mark Davis says:

    Looks like a football player the coaches like and who wants to be a Gator. All-right, let’s get this thing going; welcome to Gator Nation. I don’t care how many “stars” he has like he was in kindergarten. There is not one player on either of the teams in the Super Bowl this Sunday that was a five-star high school recruit, not one. The average number of “stars” for the players on the two Super Bowl teams is 2.3 and 2.4. That means the vast majority of players on the two best teams in the world were either two stars or unrated (zero or one star) in high school according to the expert “recruiting services”. So getting worked up about how many stars a recruit has is much ado about nothing.

    • Michael Jones says:

      Yes and no. Rarely does a 5 star turn out not to be a good college football player. However, I think that the majority of what you are suggesting is true. . that the college coaches are better evaluators of talent and what they need than the recruiting services are, and that you can find some real gems with only 2 or 3 “stars.” Mizzo does it routinely. Miss St did it this past year. Other teams like TCU, Boise State and others routinely do more with allegedly less.

      The star rating system is subjective and, therefore, prone to mistakes in evaluating talent.

      Coaching and development at the college level is HUGE.

  4. KarVer says:

    Once a Gator always will be a Gator!
    If you ain’t a Gator You Gator Bate!!

    Welcome Rayshad!
    Stars- who needs stinking starts! We need players!!

    • Gatorgrad79 says:

      Grind it, go all in, put team first. We’ve had lots of 4 & 5 stars the past 4 years…how was that working out for us?! It would be nice to see a bunch of these kids actually play 3 or 4 years in a row and see what they could put together.

    • 305Gator says:

      It’s Gator BAIT

  5. Trevor says:

    Hate to be negative but we need to be landing 4 and 5 star kids. This kid isn’t even ranked on ESPN recruiting site. Obviously that doesn’t mean he won’t be a good player one day, but just saying. I really fell McElwain hired Callihan so that he’d be able to get Byron Cowart. So if we can get him and Ivey/Jefferson I think this class will be saved. I’m waiting patiently. Go Gators!!

    • 305Gator says:

      You need to relax dude, we will get many of the 5 and 4 star kids in the years to come. This year we are way behind thanks to the Chump who only had about 8 kids committed and whose losing ways kept all the others away.
      It would be extremely short sighted to hire an assistant coach solely to land one recruit, if that were the case Big Mac would have kept Lawing on board. Cowart, Jefferson and Ivey will come if they want and that would be swell however if they go elsewhere so be it. We will be fine either way.

      • Ken (CA) says:

        Sounds like Ivey is in. If Cowart decides to come, he will bring a lot more than just Jefferson, Holland and several others will likely join the train who all want to play together. It would be a serious hit to Auburn, but will we be able to catch up? It will be a very interesting week and could be a stunning (one way or the other) NSD. We should know very early which way it is likely to go

  6. Wes says:

    I like his tape. And I don’t care too much about “stars” awarded by recruiting services. Welcome to the Gator Nation, Rayshad. We believe in you. Go to work and make your name, sir!

  7. Brandon says:

    Adam,

    Any more kids out there that are very close to committing to UF ?

    • The ones that are the the closest you will not be excited about.

      • Marc says:

        I think most of us (me included) will be excited just for warm bodies at this point. I’m fine if this year is only about getting a class of guys that can contribute to the university and the team in some positive fashion- even if only as a career backup, special teams player, scout team, whatever. Maybe we can get a few difference makers this cycle. But we need to right the ship on the field this coming season, which will allow us to get back to dominating the recruiting trail next year.

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