OT Caden Jones Talks Ties With Florida Gators Coaches, Players

In the 2023 class, one of the most important positions that the Florida Gators must address is the offensive line, but more specifically offensive tackle. New head coach Billy Napier and his staff have been thorough in kicking the tires on a number of prospects at the position and have gotten several high-level targets on campus.

One of those targets, Caden Jones from New Orleans (La.) De La Salle, an area where Napier and the staff have strong ties, visited on April 7.

Jones did not have an offer from the Gators going into his visit, but that quickly changed once he got on campus. Florida running backs coach Jabbar Juluke, a fellow New Orleans native, was the person that got to deliver the good news to Jones.

It wasn't the first time he had done so, as Juluke also offered Jones on behalf of Louisiana in 2021.

The towering tackle — standing at 6-foot-8, 315 pounds — was also able to speak with Napier while on his visit to get a better understanding of what the coaching staff likes about his game and what led to the offer.

“[Napier] said he likes my explosiveness, he liked how athletic I am for as big as I am," Jones told AllGators. "And if I was to go there I’d be playing tackle.”

Florida has several coaches on staff who either are from Louisiana or have coached in the state for several years. Jones expressed that the staff's ties to The Boot go a long way in his recruitment to the school.

“I had a [prior] relationship from when they were at Louisiana,” Jones said before acknowledging the highlight of his visit. “The coaching staff, how they treated me and just the vibe around them.”

Being able to see potential future position coaches in action during visits is something that prospects really relish. Jones was able to observe Gators' offensive line coaches Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton teaching and coaching firsthand, which definitely caught his attention.

“I like it, because when they're in practice, they can do right side and left side. It’s not just one coach focused on everyone," Jones examined. "Say you have ten guys, it’s not just one coach focused on all ten. You can go five and five and every offensive lineman can get the one-on-one time that they need to get better.

“It was similar to what we do at De La Salle, where they do the conditioning during practice, not after practice. I really liked that about it. And like I said before, with the two offensive line coaches they can go right and left side and switch so they can get the work they need from both coaches.”

While Florida has not had great success recruiting in Louisiana in the recent past, one player on the roster that is from New Orleans and even went to the same high school as Jones is running back Montrell Johnson, who followed Napier from Louisiana via transfer.

Johnson has been able to share some insight on how things operate and his impressions of Florida so far with Jones.

“He said he has liked coach Napier since he was at UL because he's a great dude," Jones recalled. "I asked him how to transition was he was like, 'Man I'm loving it out here.' I was like, 'That’s understandable because it’s the SEC and you have a lot of great competition.'”

A lot of programs are reaching out to Jones on a daily basis, each one making him feel important, so he doesn’t have any particular program or group of schools that are standing out at this time. But when it does come time to make his college decision, he knows exactly what he’s looking for in that program.

“What I am going to be looking for is the vibe I get from the locker room, how the players treat each other, how the coaches treat the players just how they all interact with each other,” Jones said.

While Jones said he is done taking unofficial visits at this time, he does plan to use all of his official visits, likely during the summer months of June and July before making a final decision on signing day.

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