Four-star cornerback Joshua Shaw (Palmdale, CA), the No. 23 overall recruit in the nation, announced Tuesday that he has decided to attend the University of Florida and commit to play college football for the Florida Gators in 2010.
Shaw (6’1″, 195 lbs.), who also received scholarship offers from other top programs including the Ohio State Buckeyes, LSU Tigers and USC Trojans (among others), last visited Florida two weekends ago for the Vanderbilt Commodores game. Shaw’s visit that weekend was unofficial (meaning he paid his own way) and occurred less than two months after he took his official visit on Sept. 18. OGGOA said late last week that Gators fans had reason to feel optimistic about Shaw because, almost immediately after he returned home from Gainesville, he narrowed his list down to four and announced that he would be making his decision this week.
“[USC has] talked to me several times during the day and said they still plan to recruit me, but I’m solid with Florida,” Shaw said. “I’m a man of my word and this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision for me. I thought a lot about this and Florida is just the best fit for me. I love watching Florida play, they have so many athletes and play fast and aggressive. They play a lot of true freshman at Florida and [Joe] Haden and Janoris Jenkins were both freshman starters at corner. Both are probably going to be first-round draft picks too so that was a pretty big selling point.”
While visiting UF, Shaw’s family reportedly met with head coach Urban Meyer for an extended period of time to discuss a potential future in the Orange and Blue. Some rumors suggested that Shaw wanted to know about the status of junior cornerback Joe Haden while others stated he already gave Meyer a silent commitment but wanted to wait and officially announce it in his hometown. Neither seems to matter now as he plans to enroll at UF this spring to get a jump on next season.
On an interesting note, Shaw and five-star defensive end recruit Ronald Powell (Moreno Valley, CA) have said they wish to attend the same school and room together as freshman. Powell is still deciding between the Gators and his hometown Trojans. Reeling in Shaw was big for Florida, which has struggled in the past to gain commitments from the West Coast. That looks like it has changed as, according to Shaw, he will not be the only one from the state of California signing for 2010. “I’ll say this, there’s definitely more to come for the 2010 class,” Shaw told Rivals.
Photo Credit: Rivals
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