Gators Commitment Diary: Jalon Jones

Jalon Jones is one of Dan Mullen's biggest wins on the recruiting trail so far. The talented quarterback followed Mullen from Mississippi State - recommitting to the head coach after Mullen took over the reigns at Florida. Now the St. Frances Academy standout is doing his best to help Mullen and his staff add a few more talented players to the 2019 class.

In the first installment of Jones' commitment diary on Gator Territory, Jones discusses his plans for the spring and who he is targeting on the trail.

JF: You committed about a month ago to Florida, has the excitement or the energy changed for you?

JJ: I'm still really excited. I'm a on real life high. All the fans and the love that I'm getting from all of them has been amazing. I really feel the love being committed to Florida, and I haven't even stepped foot on campus yet. So I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I report to school. So I'm really excited.

JF: Craziest thing you have heard from a Florida fan?

JJ: My grandmother used to say that people don't always have to be nice to you, so they have to go out of their way to be nice to you. It's just been nice to get those little things, those little words of encouragement that just mean a lot.

Some kid from California inboxed me on twitter asking for my autograph, and he said he was a die-hard Florida fan and thats something that is very big to me. I remember being that little kid that wanted everybody's autograph and trying to get everybody's signatures - now having people holding me up in such high regard that they want me to sign a piece of paper is just real special to me.

JF: You found your school, you have committed, whats next for you? What are your goals this spring?

JJ: Right now I'm just really focused on my SAT, I'm taking that for the first time on Saturday. Next few months for me and Florida, it's just to keep building stronger relationships. My relationships with everybody is great right now, so just keep building those.

I can hit them up whenever; they can hit me up whenever, it's just a good working, strong relationship; we're becoming a family. [Gators QB] Coach Brian Johnson is coming out May 10 to watch me throw, so I'm excited to see him and have him watch me throw live for the first time. [Florida defensive line] Coach Sal Sunseri was just up here last Tuesday, so it was great seeing him. He is a real great guy, so it's just about building relationship with everybody.

JF: You're also in the middle of spring practice for St. Frances, what are you trying to accomplish this spring?

JJ: Right now, it's just trying to get everybody along and try to get back together. We have on offense with probably only three returning players: my center, my running back and myself - so everybody is relatively new. I'm just really teaching and showing everybody different things. With my growth as a quarterback, coach is letting me run the offense a lot more. He is actually letting me come up with certain plays and RPOS and different stuff. It's been kind of hard, I'm not going to lie. Last week I had to run the whole offensive practice, but it was a good, strong way for me to build my leadership quality.

JF: How about your individual goals this spring?

JJ: I want to put on probably another ten pounds so I can play at 215, because I'm 205 right now. I also just want to be a stronger leader. We have a bunch of guys coming in from different types of environments and just to have them all buy in on the offensive side and the defensive side, just to get the whole team to unify is big - thats the same thing I'm going to have to do in college. Guys from different backgrounds have to get a good enough relationship with me and have enough respect for me to follow me and let me be their leaders, so I'm just practicing for that.

JF: You seem to already earned four-star WR Mycah Pittman's respect. He told me that you've been recruiting him heavily.

JJ: Thats the number one thing that coach Dan told me when I committed that Saturday, that I need to get after these guys. I loved doing that back when I was committed to Mississippi State and now that we're at Florida we just have bigger recruits, so I'm really excited to go out and do it.

Me and Mycah have a real interesting relationship, thats my dude, thats my boy. It's really exciting just talking to him about the magic that we can make if he comes to Florida.

JF: What vibe are you getting from Pittman?

JJ: He likes it [at Florida]. He likes it a lot. But you know me, once I click with somebody I want to make the best decision for him. If it's Florida, I'm really excited to be playing with him. But if it's not Florida, I'm not going to hate him or stop talking to him somewhere besides Florida. Football is a fraternity and it's a brotherhood even if he doesn't play with me.

Whichever school he chooses I'm going to support him; but I'm going to support him a lot more if he is with the Gators, and I told him that.

But he really likes Florida and he understands what type of magic will be there if we both go there.

JF: Who else are you targeting?

JJ: Trey Sanders. I got Tyron Hopper, I was real excited about him because we've been texting for a while. I'm trying to go after Nathan Pickering, Trey Sanders and coach told me about two linemen that we need to go after.

JF: Whats your sales pitch to these guys when you talk about the Gators?

JJ: We're interested in the same thing. The coaches, the fan base, the facilities, all of that, so it's appealing to what they like and what they want in a school. How I recruit Mycah is going to be different in how I recruit someone else. There is nothing wrong with that it's just different people want to see different stuff.

It changes per player but nothing changes that Florida is one of the top schools in the nation: academically and football. You can't get those two anywhere else and then you can't beat the 75 degree weather everyday. It's great. The campus is gorgeous and amazing and the whole area is great. The coaches, all the winning they have done in the past, everybody wants to be that guy that helped turn the program around. I want to be the guy and I want these guys to be the guys to help turn the Florida program.

JF: Who do you think will commit next or Florida is doing well with right now?

JJ: We are on the right track with Mycah. I hope he really does end up choosing Florida...Thats the one guy I'm targeting the hardest right now.