Dan Mullen has his first big win as the new Florida head coach and it comes at the expense at his old boss with the Gators.
The program confirmed that four-star quarterback and 247Sports’ No. 4 dual-threat signal-caller Emory Jones had signed with Florida on Wednesday, flipping his commitment from Ohio State and the coach Mullen once worked with in Gainesville in Urban Meyer.
Welcome to the Florida Family @eXjones6 #AllBite18 pic.twitter.com/H3nNt7E3Qf
— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) December 20, 2017
The reaction says it all. 🐊🐊
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) December 20, 2017
Welcome to #GatorNation, @exjones6! #AllBite18 pic.twitter.com/K6DV90Kc5x
Adding to the intrigue with Jones is that he was also strongly considering a change to rival Florida State and new coach Willie Taggart as well, having visited both Tallahassee and Gainesville last week. It’s no secret that the Buckeyes, Gators and Seminoles go into 2018 with the quarterback position wide open so it’s a big feather in the cap of Mullen’s new staff to land him.
A Franklin, Ga. product, Jones should come in right away and provide plenty of competition for returning starter Feleipe Franks -- who didn’t exactly impress at a high level in 2017 as a redshirt freshman. The two are basically the depth chart for the team going into spring practice and fall camp given departures at the position so it will be interesting to see if the Mullen era begins with a true freshman under center to kick off 2018.
Either way, it’s a nice way to build a little momentum for the staff after just a few weeks on the job.