100 Days of Florida Football: No. 2 Jabari Gorman

Florida’s secondary is absolutely bursting at the seams with talent. The good news for Gator fans is that group of defensive backs should stay intact for at least this season and next. Safety Jabari Gorman is the lone senior in the secondary and for that he’s earned the title of “The Godfather”. Now, he’s looking to put a cap on a nice career at UF.

Monsignor Pace High School is a catholic football powerhouse in the Miami area. The Spartans consistently compete in Florida Class 2B and Gorman’s tenure at the school was no different. As a running back and defensive back, Gorman helped Monsignor Pace to the Class 2B regional final in his senior season before they fell to University School for the sole loss on their season. Gorman was nonetheless recognized as a second team all-state selection as a DB in Class 2B.

Gorman shows a lot of moves and potential with the ball in his hands, but it was his defensive skills that had major college programs calling. Gorman was rated as a four-star prospect, ranked as the 8th-best S, 27th player in Florida, and 129th overall in the 2011 recruiting class, according to 247Sports composite rankings. The 5-10, 185 pounder had offers from Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, and Alabama, among numerous other schools, but decided to choose UF over the rest. In the process, he was the first player to commit to Will Muschamp at Florida.

Marcus Roberson, Loucheiz Purifoy, and De’Ante Saunders were all defensive backs in that 2011 class, but Gorman’s the only one that remains. While Roberson and Purifoy stole the headlines in their three years at Florida, Gorman quietly contributed. He’s played in all but one game the Gators have played during his three-year career, starting five of those 37 games. In his freshman season, Gorman played mostly on special teams with some time at safety. He finished the season with eight tackles, three of them coming on the special teams coverage unit. He got it done in the classroom as well as he was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.

The 2012 matchup against Tennessee is the only game Gorman’s missed in his Gators career. During that sophomore season, added two tackles and nabbed his first interception against South Carolina and recovered a big fumble against Florida State.

Last season, Gorman saw more and more time at safety, starting his first career game in week four at Kentucky. He racked up 48 tackles, seven pass breakups, an interception, and a forced fumble. He finished sixth on the team in tackles and had his first double-digit tackle game with a career-high 10 against Georgia Southern. Gorman was also named the team captain for the Arkansas game.

Nicknamed “The Sledgehammer” for a hit he made on RB Mack Brown his freshman year, Gorman looks to bring the pain this season as the elder statesman of the Florida secondary. He’ll be starting opposite of Keanu Neal as the Gators last line of defense in their new, revamped No Fly Zone. His class counterparts in the secondary, Roberson and Purifoy, left Florida with the taste of a 4-8 season fresh in their minds. Gorman will be doing all that he can to make sure his last memories at UF will be of the Gators hoisting a trophy.

As always, discuss in the comments section, Facebook and Twitter.