Jake Slaughter: A Gift To Florida Gators Mick Hubert, From Ocala’s Trinity Catholic
Against the wall of a gym, a single member of Trinity Catholic’s marching band stood with a tuba wrapped around his torso. Meanwhile, everyone else in the gym had a puzzled look on their face.
The national anthem and school fight song had already been played.
Then, as the band’s tuba player stood quietly, a voice at the microphone invited Trinity Catholic’s starting quarterback and the Celtics’ head football coach to join him at the podium.
Together, aside from their ties to Trinity Catholic, the three at the center of attention were glued together by one common denominator: the University of Florida.
At the podium was Tommy Bond, Trinity Catholic’s athletic director. Bond, an Ocala native, played baseball for the Florida Gators in the 1990s. The righthanded pitcher, who helped lift the Gators into the College World Series in 1996, doubles as Trinity Catholic’s baseball coach in the spring.
To the right of Bond stood Trinity Catholic’s junior starting quarterback, Cole Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who transferred from Oak Hall High School in Gainesville, heads home to Gainesville each evening, where his dad, Billy Gonzalez gets home late after coaching the No. 6 Florida Gators’ wide receivers.
And farthest to the right, John Brantley III, was likely grinning under his mask. The former Florida Gators quarterback, whose son John Brantley IV, a Trinity Catholic alum, also quarterbacked the Gators in 2009-11, proudly stood alongside Bond and Gonzalez.
“Obviously, we’re talking about my alma mater,” Bond said with a smirk. “I’m always proud when guys are going to play in the Orange and Blue.”
Reaching under the podium, Bond emerged with a grocery bag. Inside was a throwback Gators football jersey, replicating the threads that debuted in the game against Auburn last season.
“I’m just gonna kinda set this up here,” Bond said, draping the jersey across the front of the podium.
“But I'm also gonna ask James... James over there with the tuba, I need your help.”
The hero of Bond’s presentation, James with the tuba, began playing the Jaws cadence... or, if you’re a Gators fan, the Gator Chomp.
“I know you know how to do this,” Bond said to Gonzalez. “Now Jake, make sure you don’t mess this up. It’s always right over left. Now, people argue that, but it’s right above left. Coach Brantley, I need your help too.”
Together, the trio of Celtics with ties to the University of Florida in some way or another, helped welcome Jake Slaugher to the Gator family with open, chomping arms.
Slaughter, a member of Trinity Catholic’s offensive line, was celebrated alongside three other Celtic student-athletes as they signed their letters of intent to their respective universities.
Slaughter spent his career at Trinity Catholic where, under three different head coaches, he helped the Celtics to a combined 25-16 record over the past four seasons.
This year, Slaughter, along with the rest of the Celtics’ massive offensive line, of which two members signed alongside him on Wednesday, helped Trinity Catholic to a 7-4 record and a trip to the state semifinal, where the 11-1 Trinity Christian Conquerors topped the Celtics 56-33.
Slaughter, who committed to Florida on July 24 of this year, flipped his pledge from the rivalling Seminoles on the same day. The offensive line prospect joins the Gators’ fourth-ranked 2021 recruiting class, which currently has four other offensive linemen on board.
“Originally he was committed to Florida State,” Bond said, recalling a conversation he had with Slaughter. “And he said that initially, early on in that process he was excited about Florida State. And then things… as they changed staff and you know, some of the things that they’ve had to work through here recently in football, things just changed and put things into question.”
According to Bond, when UF offered Slaughter, who fielded 23 total offers, he felt like Florida’s program was on the rise.
But there’s a bit more to it than that.
The reality is, Slaughter would have had to adjust to life in Garnet and Gold, had he stuck with Florida State.
Meanwhile, Slaughter grew up a Gators fan and comes from a lineage of University of Florida grads.
“They’re telling me all about everything that’s great about it,” Slaughter says. “It just makes it that much more special that I get to go up there.”
Despite the many Gator-heavy influences in his life, including the light-hearted jokes from coach Billy Gonzalez about how Slaughter better have protected his son during games, Slaughter never really felt pressured to decide on Florida.
“Nobody really pushed for it,” Slaughter said. “The stars kinda aligned and that was where I needed to be.”
At 6-foot-4, 290-pounds, the ability to bench press 315-pounds, squat 565-pounds and with a last name like Slaughter, you can imagine Mick Hubert will eventually have some fun with this one.
Ainslie,
That is an absolutely excellent article, which I enjoyed tremendously! Very well done! I'll bet it was a terrific event to witness, congratulations to you and to those in attendance.