Update 1:10pm: Florida has parted ways with DL coach Terrell Williams, who supposedly either didn’t understand recruiting or didn’t enjoy it. He is going back to the NFL, and Florida is targeting Texas DL coach Chris Rumph to replace him. Now, how does this affect Cece’s status? Well, it doesn’t, really, contrary to many reports out there. Or at least it shouldn’t. Cece Jefferson is a Gator. It’s just a matter of his dad signing his LOI.
Update 1:47pm: Orrrrrrrr maybe the change at DL coach does matter. Mike Farrell of Rivals has spoken to Cece Jefferson’s father, Leo, who told him that McElwain and his staff never informed him of the coaching change, and that they don’t know Chris Rumph at all. Leo Jefferson also told Farrell that McElwain was the only coach not to call Cece at the end of his recruiting process. Other coaches- including coaches of schools that weren’t even finalists for Cece- did. That’s not very good, if it’s true. Of course, Cece Jefferson’s father could simply be lying, which wouldn’t be cool, but Jefferson has since indicated on Twitter that he is, at the very least, surprised by the coaching change. This is all just speculation right now, though. Somebody… somewhere involved in this case… is lying. We don’t know who, and we really don’t know anything definitive. All we know is that as of right now, Cece Jefferson’s LOI is still not in.
Update 2:01pm: I’m officially getting antsy about Cece Jefferson. That said, I still wouldn’t start freaking out. To expand on my earlier update, this is not the first time something like this has happened. A couple years ago, Alex Collins announced his decision to attend Arkansas. His mother didn’t approve, so she thought the best course of action was to literally snatch his LOI off the table, sprint to her car, and drive away with them. If memory serves me right, I believe Alex Collins had a big game for Arkansas against Florida in 2013. So I think he won that battle. Then there was Josh Harvey-Clemons, who wanted to go to Georgia and whose father wanted him to go to Florida. He wound up caving and signing his LOI to Georgia. Now, Harvey-Clemons did get himself kicked off the team… but he made it to Georgia. So again, I’d like to stress that kids usually… usually… win these types of battles.
Update 2:25pm: Much has been made about Cece Jefferson’s dad refusing to sign the LOI. So the next natural question is: well, why can’t his mother sign it? The answer is not entirely clear, but multiple people are telling me that his mother likes the idea of Cece going to Florida even less than her husband. Why that is, I don’t know for sure, but if you want me to guess, I’ll give you two possible reasons: one, she shared her husband’s frustrations I mentioned in the earlier updates. Or two, her husband is simply refusing to let her sign the LOI. Mike Farrell of Rivals reported that Cece’s dad told him on the phone that his wife didn’t want Cece to go to UF, either, but didn’t cite a concrete reason. So, yeah, this is officially getting frustrating. But stay tuned for updates as we continue to track the story.