(Photo via Jamonta Waller, twitter.)
First and foremost, a special thank you is needed from every Gator fan to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. Because Kiffin did something that set off a chain of commitments for Florida the likes of which have seldom been seen throughout history. He pissed off Billy Napier.
No sooner had news broken of QB Austin Simmons decommitting from Florida and flipping to Ole Miss than a rather trollish tweet appeared from Kiffin’s verified account. Tom Petty is, of course, a Gainesville icon, and there is no other rational way to construe his tweet than as a dig at Florida.
So Billy Napier responded with a recruitment rampage that took the nation by storm. Seven recruits in all committed to Florida on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. And now, the Florida Gators have saved the best for last, and capped a historic weekend on the recruiting trail with style.
And, oh yeah- this last one is direct and devastating payback to Kiffin and the Rebels.
Defensive end Jamonta Waller (Picayune, MS/Picayune HS), a consensus five-star prospect, has committed to Florida. Thus, he becomes the seventh commit for Napier and the Gators this weekend. The move comes shortly after a crystal ball had been inserted for him to Ole Miss, which had made no secrets about the fact that it was recruiting the in-state defensive playmaker.
Strangely enough, Waller is only a 247Sports Composite four-star prospect, but that’s because On3Sports has him rated as a three-star prospect. Meanwhile, both 247Sports and ESPN’s recruiting services have him ranked as a five-star prospect.
The offer list of Jamonta Waller certainly says “five-star.” Among the other schools to offer him a scholarship: Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Oregon, Alabama, Texas A&M, Penn State, South Carolina and Ole Miss. And his high school highlight tape says “five-star,” too.
Simply put, Jamonta Waller is a game-wrecker. He’s not the biggest player you’ll find either at the edge or outside linebacker position, but he wreaks havoc on opposing game plans lining up at a variety of different spots on the defense. His incredible athletic ability and strong hands mean that he can bend and strike extremely well en route to the backfield, and that’s where he makes plays- often in legal and clean yet exceptionally violent fashion.
As a pass-rusher, Jamonta Waller is just terrifying. He can win off the snap by simply bullying the offensive tackle and throwing him around, or he can win with more finesse and quickness with both his hands and his feet. His short bursts of speed can be deadly, and he rarely loses the chase when closing in on a QB in the backfield.
But he’s also more than that. He’s a versatile player and can contribute in a multitude of fashions in the front seven. Waller’s short-range speed is incredible, but he’s plenty capable of pursing a ball carrier for some distance and then flagging him down. Additionally, he shows a strong ability of sifting through the garbage and then suddenly exploding towards where he needs to go on a whim. And to round out his skill set, he’s not bad in pass coverage, either.
The addition of Jamonta Waller simply serves as yet another boost to a Florida recruiting class that’s skyrocketed over the past three days. Florida’s class has literally doubled in size in the span of one weekend. And even more impressive than that sheer statistic is the quality of the athletes that have committed.
We all fell asleep on Friday night with a Florida class that was ranked outside the top 20 in the 247Sports Composite rankings. On Saturday afternoon, Amir Jackson committed, and that touched off a series of high-profile commitments- seven in all. Five of those seven commits are of consensus four-star caliber, and the other two are offensive linemen with offers from Georgia and LSU.
Fast forward 72 hours later, and Florida now has a class that all four ranking systems- ESPN, Rivals, 247Sports and On3- deem to be one of the top five classes in the nation.
Historic, indeed.
