Kelvin Taylor commits to UF

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Florida’s second Junior Day began with a bang Saturday morning when running back Kelvin Taylor committed to the Gators.

“Gator Nation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s goooo,” he tweeted. “Can’t wait to get on that field!!!!!”

Kelvin Taylor with UF coach Will Muschamp (taken from Taylor's twitter account)

Taylor is from Glades Day in Belle Glade and has won two state titles during his high school career. Last season, he became Florida’s career rushing leader, surpassing Emmitt Smith’s 1986 record of 8,804 yards.

Taylor is 3,118 yards away from breaking the national mark of 11,232 yards set by Ken Hall of Sugar Land (Texas) in 1953.

Taylor is the fifth commitment of the 2013 class and the second running back, joining Winter Haven’s Adam Lane. Taylor plans to enroll early at UF.

He is in Gainesville this weekend on a three-day trip with his father, former Gator running back Fred Taylor (1994-1997). The elder Taylor won the 1996 National Championship and rushed for 3,075 yards and 31 touchdowns during his UF career.

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44 COMMENTS

  2. Hooray for Kelvin! Hooray for our Gators! Fred Taylor is one of the most admirable football guys in our history, all the way through his great NFL career. This a Gator legacy commitment with the promise of an early enrollment that adds big momentum to our 2013 class. Great job, Will Muschamp!

  6. The Gator Nation welcomes you with open arms, Kelvin, and is so happy to see this wonderful legacy commitment. One would think this could lead to many other great 2013 commitments coming on board. Good luck to you and Glades Day in the coming year!

  10. 6 commitments in one day and 10 total in less than a month. Hot start to say the least! Linebacker class done in February!

    Zach, without any attrition we will have 16 scholarships available for this class with the few seniors that will be leaving if I’m not mistaken. Obviously attrition is inevitable and this year probably neccesary. What is a rough, early estimate of how much attrition may take place regardless of the reason for leaving? Or, I guess, how much do coaches generally expect in a given year? How many guys would they like to sign in this class?

  13. “5’9′ 209lbs with quick feet, great change of direction and field vision. Bursts through the hole and makes 8 yards before the defense has reacted! Not a blazer but gets better as the game goes on, then runs for a 50 yard TD in the 4th quarter.” Hmmm sounds familiar?? Emmitt:)

  15. It’s east Todd, he is at a 2A private school. Emmitt went to Escambia, a 6A school, and the same school as Trent Richardson. It’s like comparing UF to Santa Fe. Right now he is a man amongst boys. If anything he is lucky to be rated as high as he is. This is why he has such gaudy numbers. I don’t hold it against him that he is going to Glades Day, the education he is receiving is a strong one. If he wanted to really show what he was made of on the football field, Glades Central is only a couple of miles away, and they are a 5A program.

  18. The mark of a good running back has to do with vision, explosion and power through tacklers. The excellent running backs can catch the ball, run the ball and pick up blitz blocking. The raising of his level of competition as an issue only denotes your lack of football knowledge. This kid has all the intangibles that cannot be taught. When he gets into our weight & strength program he will be a 1000 yard rusher barring any injuries. The most important part of evaluating talent is the fact that a player must get better each year. This guy is running even when the teams know he is going to get the ball. He has a very good offensive line but he sets up many of those blocks with his running style. The new OC and OL coaches will turn us around and attract more high profile RB, OL and WR to Florida. Coach Champ will keep our defense stocked. I am happy this guy did not go to Bama and terrorize Gators for 3 years.

  21. Duke, I definitely yield to your knowledge and acumen in all things football. I mean just the fact that you can still make those fingers press the keys, what, being from 1906 and all, that’s just amazing. Or are you dictating? Well regardless, it’s just good to have you here buddy. Just as an aside though, Brantley was from a 3A school, do you think his level of competition in high school affected his college performance? NO? Oh well, I thought I would just throw that out there. And while we’re at it, here’s a brain teaser for you, name 5 running backs that played in the NFL from 2A schools. OK, name 4. Alright name just 2 ………… 1?

  22. Reality, I was not calling anybody out. I was just giving some insight on running backs. I guess you never heard of Travis Henry Parade All-American from Frostproof High School. CJ Spiller is from Union County Lake Butler HS. John L Williams was on the Palatka 1981 3A state HS championship team.
    I hope you knew the Fred Taylor played for 3A Glades Central HS. Now here is the grand finale, Emmitt Smith played for 3A/4A Pensacola Escambia. Oh, by the way Emmitt was said to be too slow to play major college football. See I got to see John L Williams, Neal Anderson (Graceville) and Lorenzo Hampton (Lake Wales) in person. All these players were 1st round draft choices and came from 4A or lower schools at the time when 5A was the highest Florida High School Classification.

  23. One of the best comments I saw on Zach’s Twitter was from Derek Tyson:(looks like Coach Muschamp got a great O Line coach) “Derek Tyson@DerekTysonESPN——5-star OL Laremy Tunsil on new UF OL coach Tim Davis: “He’s so energetic, he’s never out of energy, he’s out of control. I really like him

  24. Thanks for the perspective Duke. I understand the hesitation now in heaping praise. However, there have been a lot of running backs in small schools since Emmitt graduated. Not one of them comes close to amassing the kind of yardage Taylor is. He must have something!

    Not to mention that lots of kids from all schools have had chance to break Emmitt’s record. This kid is going to obliterate it! I’m excited he’s in our camp and not another Florida or SEC school!

  25. Duke my man, again I stand completely corrected by you. This quote from you “ The raising of his level of competition as an issue only denotes your lack of football knowledge.” of course is not calling anyone out. What was I thinking? And of course you are making my point by citing all of these examples of players from the earlier years when the high school class system was still growing. I think if you would look at it objectively, you would have to agree most of them “were” playing competition at a higher level due to the fact that there were no 6, 7, or 8A schools around. I am very familiar with Fred Taylor and Glades Central, I will give you that one. They would have been more comparable to a 6A school of today(but still not 2A). They are an anomaly(and a 5A school now). They have put players in the pros forever due to the location and segregation of the area. But thanks for all the examples of non-2A players. Oh the memories. Are you familiar with Glades Day? Cause I am.

  26. Lets just hope that the O Line can open some holes next year for whoever is running the rock. Last year was painful to watch, even in a first year situation. Florida needs to get nasty, like punch you in the mouth on the first play of the game kinda nasty. We were a little soft last year, just saying!

  33. I am for everyone expressing their opinion, but it seems to me that these guys from FSU need a place to be. Are they not welcome on their own FSU blog site? I’m happy that they have gotten some recruits that will at least give them some hope, but the last two to three classes that have gone there has only gotten them a best of 7 wins. They have been in the TOP 5 Classes the last three years and have come away with( A BEST of ) 7 wins. I give it to u guys at the very least you can say that you bet the BIG BAD GATOR for the last two years and that has been the highlight of of the past 10 years. Take note of this, YOU SEE HOW UPSET GATOR FANS ARE WITH LOSING, you guys take losing as “OH WELL” but we beat the GATORS.
    With the Players you guys have been fortunate to bring in, you should be MARCHING on Tallahassee, in stead you hang around the GATOR blog site trying to antagonize the GATOR NATION. Get a life, its OK we understand!!! GO GATORS !!!

  34. @ Jacky Boy, umm he’s a junior in high school, so he won’t be there next season to face FSU’s amazing “front 7”, and as I remember, wasn’t FSU and that stellar defense picked to AT LEAST finish in a BCS bowl this past season? Ended up in the…heck I can’t even remember bowl…yeah

  36. Hey Zach
    We already have 4 LB’s in the 2013 class. I was really hoping to have Peter Kalambayi as part of the LB’s. have you heard anything from him? Last thing you posted about him was that UF was his dream school.

  37. Well played Dub. I guess the point whizzed past you like a UF student on I-75. Anyone can come up with an example or two if you spend enough time on Google. It is supposed to be an “off the top of your head” type thing.

  38. Everyone’s quoting this 3,118 rushing yards figure until he breaks the career record. As far as I can tell, that only works if you back out his eighth grade season. But then, you can’t say he broke Emmitt’s record, because he would have only 8,114 yards. As far as I can tell, Kelvin has 9,806 career yards, which places him only 1,426 yards away from the all-time record. Maybe they don’t count eighth grade toward the total nationally…

  39. Also, just because the boy comes from 2A school, doesn’t mean all he competes against is 2A schools. I’m gonna do some research on that one, but you can bet this boy is the real deal, and with football in his blood and being around it his whole life, I’m sure his work ethic will more than make up for his lack of playing for a bigger school. I guarantee you ANY 5,6,7A school in the state would love to have this kid running the ball at their school!

  40. I agree with Reality Bites, you cannot compare Kelvin and Glades Day to his dad or Emmitt, because he does not play the same level of competition, since the FHSAA, went for a money grab and expanded teh classifications. Emmit played 4A, which was at the time the second highest classification. I have seen Kelvin play and the talent level is really lacking, he does have the moves and frame of big time backs. CJ Spiller at a small school was playing against big schools and dominating

  42. To the two fighting over divisons: Anybody thats played high school football in the past 5 years knows (If theyre honest with themselves) that the division rankings are more based one the population of the school. ex) You cant compare Vero Beach High School to a Pahokee or Centennial. Vero would get stopped by both of them, even though Vero is in a “more powerful” division.