Gators add CB/ATH Jalen Julius to 2015 class

By Adam Silverstein
April 30, 2014

The Florida Gators on Wednesday added their third defensive back pledge of the 2015 recruiting cycle, gaining a verbal commitment from a fast-rising local product in speedy athlete Jalen Julius (Orlando, Florida).

Unranked and unrated by Rivals.com, Julius was offered by the Gators on March 23 and took just over one month to come to his decision, telling recruiting analyst Blake Alderman that he chose UF over Auburn, Ohio State and Tennessee after he and his family came to a unanimous decision.

“Florida has a great environment. My aunt knows Coach T-Rob [Travaris Robinson] on the staff and my mom likes Florida and then I like Florida,” he told Alderman at InsidetheGators.com ($). “I think the team has good chemistry and the coaches are easy going. It’s a good place for me because my connections with them.”

Primarily an offensive player during his first three years of high school, Julius (5-foot-11, 173 pounds) is considered an athlete and committed to the Gators as a cornerback. He is also a likely candidate for kick and punt returner. [Highlights]

Former Florida CB Keiwan Ratliff is Julius’s 7-on-7 coach and has been training him on the defensive side of the ball.


The seventh member of Florida’s 2015 class, Julius is the latest among of group of players that have been either ignored or rated low by multiple recruiting services.

According to Rivals, the Gators have the 27th-ranked recruiting class nationally with one four-star pledge (DB Marcus Lewis of Washington, D.C.), a trio of three-star commitments (wide receiver Deondre Farrier of Orlando, offensive lineman Tyler Jordan of Jacksonville and DB Deontai Williams of Jacksonville) and three unrated players (Julius, linebacker Camrin Knight of Tallahassee and WR Tristan Payton of Jacksonville).

ESPN does not even have a profile for Julius, giving Florida four four-star commits (Jordan, Knight, Payton, Williams) and two three-star pledges (Farrier, Lewis).

Lewis (No. 76 overall) is the only member of the Rivals250, while Jordan (No. 103 overall), Payton (No. 132 overall) and Williams (No. 188 overall) are on the ESPN 300.

13 Comments

  1. gatorboi352 says:

    LOL you have got to be kidding me.

    Maybe we’ll be running an unprecedented 2-2-7 defense here before long.

    • Daniel M. says:

      You’re a troll but that was funny.

      • gatorboi352 says:

        Except that I’m not a troll.

        Remember folks: Difference of opinion != troll.

        A troll would be in here, every article, all like “OMGZZZZZZ GAYTURDS SUUUUCK! GO NOLES!”

        THAT is a troll.

  2. kinggator says:

    This kid is official at the corner really good cover skills and flys to the ball

  3. Michael Jones says:

    I’m with gatorboi. We’ve become “D-back U.” Too bad we can’t field 22 of them. We’d go back-to-back-to-back-to-back. , , ,

  4. Michael Jones says:

    Now this is interesting: “The seventh member of Florida’s 2015 class, Julius is the latest among of group of players that have been either ignored or rated low by multiple recruiting services.”

    Muschamp apparently has decided to pick the low-hanging fruit. I know there are the occasional diamonds-in-the-rough out there on the recruiting trail that get overlooked and become steals that really pan out, but as a systematic overall recruiting strategy? Hmmm . . . it’ll be interesting to see how that works out for us.

    Then again, maybe it’s better that we sign’em before Georgia Southern offers them.

    • 212 says:

      I disagree. Look at the other schools that are/were interested in these recruits. The recruiting rankings get updated when these kids actually play in the coming fall. Just saying, you can’t jump to conclusions this far out.

      • Michael Jones says:

        You make some good points and I’m not usually that knee jerk. I also don’t think the recruiting services are necessarily the be-all end-all of talent evaluating. I know they miss some. Just was surprised to see that ALL of our recruits so far for that class fell into that category.

      • Steven says:

        I disagree with your diagreement.

        This is Muschamps MO and was Mack Browns MO.
        They would rather have the 3 star in the hand rather than the 5 star in the bush.
        That’s great at mid-tier schools, but at Florida and Texas there is no reason to settle

  5. SW FL Joe says:

    Muschamp must really want Dexter Williams

  6. Joe says:

    Ya’ll want some crackers and cheese with that whine?

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