Florida football: Jon Kitna’s son commits to Gators
By Ty Butler
Former NFL QB’s son commits to Florida football.
After a long recruiting dry spell, Dan Mullen managed to pull Florida football out of the depths with two 2021 commits in just 2 days– Florida is now ranked 6th for the 2021 class.
But this commit isn’t just the average high school kid. No, Jalen Kitna is actually the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna. You know, the guy who spent 14 seasons in the NFL and threw for over 29,000 yards?
And I’d say if Jalen even comes close to matching his father’s success in football, he’d had a pretty good career.
https://twitter.com/KitnaJalen/status/1265319583826788352
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, this is just the beginning, and Mullen has a knack for turning 2 and 3-star recruits into Heisman hopefuls- the sky is the limit in Gainesville.
It also seems that the quarterback room will be filled with scholarship players, exactly what Mullen was aiming to do.
In 2021, Kyle Trask will be sharing reps with Emory Jones, Kitna and 4-star Carlos Del Rio who has been a hard commit for quite awhile now.
It’s uncertain whether Kitna will press any of the ones mentioned for the starting spot, but he should serve as a pretty good security blanket during his first couple of seasons with the Gators.
What’s Florida football getting?
Kitna’s highlight film showcases a tall-lengthy passer who loves the deep ball, and can get it there with precise placement. As a matter of fact, his accuracy when throwing passes over 40 yards is some of the best I’ve seen. He’s not only hitting guys in stride, but he’s placing the ball in areas where only they can get it.
And though he’s not much of a runner, his passing skills more than make up for his mobility deficiencies.
At Burleson and Ricky Reed High School, Jalen has thrown for 3,028 yards and 23 touchdowns in just two seasons.
The only real issue is his frequency turning the ball over. In his sophomore year, he threw 17 interceptions, which was ultimately cut down the following year. Nonetheless, Mullen will have to get that fixed if the kid wants to see the field.
Overall, the Gators just got better with Kitna’s commit. And as stated before, it’s unsure whether or not he’ll actually make a run for the starting job, but it is certain that Florida’s quarterback room just got that much meatier.
We all saw what happened to Kentucky last season- using a receiver at the quarterback position due to injuries- I don’t think Florida will have to worry about that problem for quite awhile now.