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Kendall Jackson: Florida Gators commits 'pretty much still locked in'

On3 imageby:Keith Niebuhr•09/04/23•

On3Keith

Kendall Jackson
2024 On300 DL prospect Kendall Jackson (via Jackson's Twitter).

What was the mood of the Florida commits following the Gators’ 24-11 loss at No. 14 Utah last Thursday?

“All of us pretty much said it’s the first game — we gotta get the bugs out,” said 4-star defensive end Kendall Jackson of Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz. “We’re all pretty much still locked in and no matter what we’re still all going to be here.”

For Florida fans, those are encouraging words. The Gators currently have 22 commitments and the No. 3 recruiting class in the country.

Jackson, who pledged to Billy Napier and Co. during the summer, is in a group chat with the other Florida commits and the players communicate often in there.

But Jackson, the No. 48 recruit in the state of Florida for the On3 Industry, is more than a commit — he’s a longtime Florida fan. So when the Gators lose, he probably hurts more than your average commit.

As he reflected on the Utah loss, Jackson pointed to the same mistakes as others.

“The discipline thing. All the false starts, consecutive false starts, like that was one of the main things I see,” he said. “It took away from the game. That was pretty much the biggest thing for me. I get that the center was second string coming in but you’ve got to be ready. Like my coach always says, you’re one play away from starting no matter if you’re a two.”

To Jackson, the issues can be fixed. 

Jackson says the Florida Gators’ mistakes are correctable

“It’s definitely correctable,” he said. “.You’ve just got to work on it. Takes a lot of reps, mental reps. O-Line I feel like you should pretty much know the call. So that stuff is just like making sure you stay locked in, stayed keyed in with the call. Make sure the whole line and everybody is on the same page.”

For what it’s worth, Jackson did have some positive takeaways for the Gators.

“The defense definitely I feel like was strong — played pretty well aside from the bomb and the few busts that they had,” he said. “I think Coach (Austin) Armstrong’s defense actually played pretty well. Graham (Mertz) played well. I think the offense actually played pretty well. Without the offensive penalties and the special teams mistakes, I feel like Florida, we played pretty well. We pretty much beat ourselves. It showed out there that Utah wasn’t the better team. We just beat ourselves with all the careless mistakes.”

Jackson, as players have to do, is ready to move on from that game.

And, he’s eager to see the Gators play in the Swamp on Saturday.

“I’ve got to be there (Saturday),” Jackson said.

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