The Florida Gators have been looking at likely taking a pair of tight ends in the 2025 recruiting cycle, so the board had been deep with names. One target that’s gotten consistent focus from the coaching staff over the course of the last year is Madison (MS) Central three-star tight end Micah Jones. Florida offered last August, remained in regular contact with him, and had gotten him on campus four times since the offer was extended.
“I just needed to make sure Florida was the place,” Jones told Swamp247 ahead of his decision date. “Just that reassurance I got on my OV. When I took that visit, I saw everything. Saw campus again, and it brought me back, and made me realize this was the place I wanted to be at.”
Jones let the Gators know earlier this week he was going to be setting a commitment date, and they would be the pick. Those calls went out to tight ends coach Russ Callaway and head coach Billy Napier. It was an exciting moment for Jones giving them that good news.
“Coach Callaway was who I called first, and then I called Coach Napier. Coach Callaway was super excited. Yelling and going crazy, but that’s him. He’s a big energy guy. He was with his wife when I called him, so he told her, and even she was excited. That was a cool moment. Coach Callaway is real genuine, has an NFL mind, and really prepared. I think he can get me to that next level. He said he’s going to push me, and do everything he can do to help me make an impact in college football. Coach Napier, he’s a little bit more laid back, but he was really excited. I could hear his energy over the phone.”
Callaway and Napier were both maintains in Jones’ recruitment, and had been two of the staff members he talked with the most. Running backs coach Jabbar Juluke has some Mississippi ties himself, so he also assistant in this recruitment as well.
“Coach Callaway most definitely first was the big contact for me there. I’ve met his whole family, and I’ve been talking to him the longest out of everyone there. His personality, and everything he brings to the table have always stuck out to me. I think he can be the person to get me to the next level. I talk with Coach [Jabbar] Juluke a lot there too. We have a great relationship. He was actually one of the first guys I ever talked to at Florida. Coach [Billy] Napier is another big one too. As far as head coaches I’ve kept up with, he’s one that I’ve always talked to a lot. We talk weekly. I know he’s not a coach, but KD Daniels and Cam Carroll are dudes I’ve talked to a lot too. They’re Mississippi guys, and I feel like I can kind of relate to them. I’ve seen how they are doing well at Florida when they’ve hosted me.”
It’s never easy to pull prospects out of Mississippi that the in-state programs are after. This is the second year in a row the Gators have been able to do that. For the Gators to come out victorious here, it was due to the comfort and bond that not only Jones made with UF, but also his family.
“I think Florida’s biggest thing they did to help that was having a great relationship with my family, and not just me. They showed my family that if I went to Florida, I would be just as fine there as I would anywhere closer. The relationships are really strong, and really good at Florida. They have relationships with my family from staying in touch with them, they’ve all met, and things have just grown. That is what I think they did to get me out of the state.”
Jones’ mom is a principal, so she has background in the field of education. Her biggest questions on schools her son was looking at are what a program can offer him in the classroom. The weight a Florida degree holds was a big factor in her feeling confident about her son being a Gator as well.
“That definitely sold my mom,” he said of UF’s degree. “Every mom, you don’t want to think about it yourself, but every mom wants you to have something to lean back on if you got injured, or it doesn’t work out. She wants me to have something after football even. Florida is the number one public school in the Nation, so that was key for her, and something I liked too. She always stresses getting my degree and everything. She knows a Florida degree holds a lot of weight.”
At 6-foot-5, 245-pounds, Jones has the ability to help the offense with his blocking and pass catching abilities. Florida wanted to add a tight end this cycle that can do a bit of both, and Jones fit well into that skillset.
“They showed me some plays of things I’ve done on my high school film, and then things they’ve done on their film. Showing me how things go hand in hand, and I can be used there in a way that I know how to be used. I’ve heard from them multiple times, Coach Callaway showing how me be able to block and then also help in the passing game is something they like with their tight end room.”
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Pair of Gator baseball players hit NCAA transfer portal
A 6-foot-2, 210-pound reliever who attended the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith made 15 appearances from the Florida bullpen in 2024 and pitched 17.2 innings to the tune of an 8.66 ERA with 25 strikeouts.
Though his results were at times undesirable, Smith showed off a promising splitter throughout the season that enabled him to draw a high volume of swings and misses. Control, however, proved problematic as he walked 5.6 batters per nine innings.
Recruited as a transfer out of Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida, Russell made appearances as a pinch hitter and reliever for the Gators in his first season with the program, collecting three hits in 29 at-bats, including a double and triple, and two RBI. He also appeared in four games from the mound and pitched three innings, allowing three runs on five hits (two home runs) and striking out four.
Florida is in the middle of a rather significant roster retooling during which it is expected to lean on the NCAA transfer portal more heavily than in year’s past.
As of June 21, the Gators have already earned four Division I transfer commitments: former Jacksonville infielder Justin Nadeua, former Texas Tech infielder Landon Stripling, former Miami infielder Blake Cyr, and former Stetson outfielder Kyle Jones.
The additions come on the heels of a trying, but ultimately very successful, 2024 campaign in which the Gators finished their regular season just one game above .500 but managed to push their way to the College World Series semifinals after eliminating four nationally-seeded teams: Oklahoma State, Clemson, NC State, and Kentucky.
“This team got here in a different way,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Wednesday. “They had a target on their backs in the beginning of the season and we didn’t play up to our expectations. We were a little bit young on the mound but we fought our way throughout it. I think that was probably our biggest motivator at the end there. There were some naysayers that thought we shouldn’t have been in but we needed to prove to the committee that they made the right decision.”
It marked Florida‘s nation-leading ninth trip to the College World Series since O’Sullivan took over as head coach in 2008. The Gators also pave the country in super regionals hosted (nine) and NCAA Tournament appearances (16) since 2008.
It’s a level of dominance other coaches yearn to replicate.
“Florida is the program that at Texas A&M, we’re trying to emulate,” Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle said Wednesday after beating the Gators to secure his program’s first-ever national championship appearance. “… Florida, to me, is the epitome of what every program should look to be. It doesn’t shock me. Death, taxes, and Florida in Omaha are pretty much things you can count on.”
