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Christian Jones now looking to take visit to Gainesville
Winter Park Lake Howell star LB Christian Jones looks to schedule visit to Gainesville
By Chris Hays | Orlando Sentinel
3:45 AM EST, January 11, 2010
Like many of those viewers watching the Army All-American Bowl on Saturday, Christian Jones was amazed.
Every time another player picked up a Florida Gators' hat and put it on his head, the Winter Park Lake Howell star linebacker was flabbergasted by the scene in San Antonio, Texas.
He saw the same thing last week during the Under Armour All-America Game in St. Petersburg. While he was taking part in the game on the field, he kept seeing fellow stars flashing the Gator chomp off it. Eight Florida recruiting commitments played in that game.
Before it was over, two more prospects had joined the influx. Six more UF recruits played in the Army Bowl, making it 16 of the Gators' 24 commitments to the 2010 recruiting class have played in national high school all-star games.
Over the course of two weekends, Florida mounted a recruiting assault that even Lane Kiffin had to admire.
Five top-notch recruits in seven days: Dominique Easley and Chris Dunkley in St. Pete and Sharrif Floyd, Matt Elam and Ronald Powell at the Alamodome. The Gators were ranked No. 15 by Rivals.com last week. Saturday they were ranked No. 1 by everybody. Rivals, Scout, ESPN, Elite Scouting Services, you name it, Florida was atop the list.
And it all got Jones to thinking.
Not long after Army Bowl MVP Powell, the No. 1-ranked defensive end in the nation by Rivals out of Moreno Valley (Calif.) Rancho Verde, lifted his Gators' cap, Jones was on Facebook commenting to another Florida commitment Cody Riggs of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.
Riggs posted, "It's great to be a Florida Gator."
Soon, Jones was chiming in, "Man I had (Florida) off my list but now they back on man. I'm seeing some more championships there dude," he posted in reply to Riggs. And also, "I'm going to wait until signing day (to announce) but I'm now about to go up and visit Gainesville this month."
Jones confirmed that Sunday afternoon in a phone conversation. He's supposed to be visiting Southern Cal this weekend, but that looks like it will be cancelled with coach Pete Carroll heading to the NFL. Now Jones has time to schedule a Gainesville visit before Feb. 3, signing day.
"They're looking real nice," Jones said of the Gators recruiting class. "Guys are going there for a reason, so I might as well go check it out."
Jones has been getting plenty of recruitment from those Gators commits with whom he has become friends through camps and other events.
"Some of the guys started texting me over the last few days," Jones said. "Trey Burton, Matt Elam, Josh Shaw, Dominique Easley, all of those guys."
Jones, the No. 1-ranked player in the Sentinel's final 2010 Central Florida Top 100, has been thought to be leaning Florida State all along in the recruiting process. That thinking is mainly based on both his father and brother, Willie Sr. and Willie Jr., having played at FSU and the younger Jones had said FSU was his early favorite.
He's said recently, however, that's not necessarily the case, any more. He's had visits to Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama and Notre Dame, and USC would have been his fifth allotted visit. The Gators look like they are in line to get that fifth one, now.
"If the official word comes out that (Pete Carroll) is leaving … I don't think I'll go," Jones said. "I talked to one of the guys and they said Pete Carroll might be taking Coach (Pat) Ruel and Coach (Ken Jr.) Norton with him and those guys have been the main guys who have contacted me."
The Los Angeles Times reported late Sunday night, early Monday morning that USC players had received text messages that he was gone and he is expected to sign a contract with the Seattle Seahawks on Monday.
It's highly likely that Urban Meyer will clear a spot on the calendar for Jones. He doesn't have anything else to do, right?
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