JUCO DT Damien Jacobs picks the Gators, too

By Adam Silverstein
December 21, 2011

For the second time in four days the Florida Gators have received a commitment from a four-star JUCO defensive tackle, earning a pledge from Damien Jacobs (Scooba, MS) out of East Mississippi Community College on Wednesday.

“I just joined the Florida Gator Family!” he announced on Facebook.

A soft verbal commitment to Tennessee before changing his mind on junior college national signing day, Jacobs had recently taken visits to Florida, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. He is considered the No. 10 JUCO player in the nation by Rivals.com and was previously a Florida State commitment as a three-star player in 2010.

Jacobs is graduating this semester and will join the Gators in January.

Florida also gained a pledge Sunday from Visesio Salt (Walnut, CA), a 6’3” 340-pound nose tackle who may also see some time on the Gators’ offensive line depending how he performs in practice once he arrives in Gainesville, FL.

Rivals.com ranks Salt as the No. 9 JUCO player in the country, and Florida expects him to join the team in May after he graduates from Mount San Antonio College.

Jacobs is the 18th player to commit to the Gators for 2012 and the fifth defensive lineman. He joins Salt, four-star Dante Phillips (Venice, FL) and three-stars Quinteze Williams (Tyrone, GA) and Jafar Mann (Stone Mountain, GA).

Florida announced Jacobs’s commitment Wednesday afternoon:

Jacobs, a defensive tackle from East Mississippi Community College, was a part of the team that won the 2011 NJCAA Football Championship Game over Arizona Western College. Listed at 6’4” and 310 pounds, he totaled 47 tackles, 8 tackles-for-loss, 4 QB hurries, 2 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries this season for the Lions.

The following video contains a song with explicit lyrics.

11 Comments

  1. Joe says:

    The story went Houdini on me just as I was about to celebrate. Murky waters? Hopefully we’ll pull him when it’s all said and done with.

  2. Joe says:

    It’s back… are we official now?

  3. mark says:

    Good news. Juco players will bring immediate help and will also help to even out some of our class sizes

  4. Marc Mac says:

    Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems like picking up JUCO linemen is the way to go for the Gators considering the state of the program. We need someone to hit the field right now and we can’t wait for new freshmen to develop. On the recruiting angle, these JUCO guys will only be around for a year or two, so we can still sell playing time to the ’13 class.

    Great job staff. Now go get some JUCO Offensive Linemen.

  5. ziggy says:

    WoooooooooooooHoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great news Gators. Go get em Muschamp!

  6. CeeThree says:

    I do find it funny Jacobs was a 3-star DE in 2010, he’d have never been able to sniff UF that year with the “greatest recruiting class ever”, now that class has had so much attrition we’re turning to him to bail us out, funny how things work.

    I’m glad this kid will be in for the spring though, and wish him the best of luck. Welcome to GatorNation.

    • Joe says:

      This kind of story happens all the time with JUCO kids. It’s a great opportunity to show your worth and come into a top-tier program with maturity, grades and experience when it may not have been previously possible coming out of high school. The best part is we stole him from three rivals and he was once an FSU commit. Doesn’t get much better, especially if he dominates in his time here.

  7. Gatorgrad79 says:

    Adam – great news , but the language on the Juco film is VERY offensive, including the “N” word, the “F” word, and b__tch , numerous times. This should be removed form a family site….

  8. Daniel M. says:

    Welcome to Gator Nation Mr. Jacobs. Grab a playbook and start eating. We’ll need you to man a weapon immediately.

    Hard to glean much from that video. That’s the most rag-tag college football team I have ever seen.

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