By JT Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com Communications Director

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SouthernPigskin.com Contributor Kevin Price sat down with Columbia (FL) High School defensive lineman Tim Jernigan.

By Kevin Price
SouthernPigskin.com Contributor

SouthernPigskin.com Contributor Kevin Price sat down with Columbia (FL) High School defensive lineman Tim Jernigan. Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/SouthernPigskin. Become a fan of us on Facebook at the SouthernPigskin.com Facebook Page

LAKE CITY, Fla. – Craig Howard saw Tim Jernigan up close and personal when he was a mere freshman with the Columbia High Tigers.

But what the former head coach at Nease (Fla.) High didn’t know then is that he would wind up coaching Jernigan the following season.

After accepting the head post with the Tigers, though, Howard knew he had a special player who would anchor his defensive front for the next three seasons.

And, as it has turned out, Jernigan has blossomed into one of the country’s most sought-after players, having received more than 50 scholarship offers including several from college football’s most elite programs.

That comes as no surprise to Howard, who lights up when he talks about his 6-foot-2, 275-pound stud defensive tackle, who began preparations for his senior season with the Tigers when preseason camp began on Monday at the school.

“When I was at Nease, we played them in the playoffs his freshman year,” Howard recalls. “We didn’t know who he was before the game. They moved him up to the varsity from the junior varsity for the playoffs. We beat Lake City, but we found out who No. 10 was that night. He had three sacks against us.

“We couldn’t block him. People tried to double team him as a sophomore and couldn’t, and then they tried to triple team him last year and couldn’t. I don’t know what they are going to try and do this year.”

Nor does Howard know where Jernigan is going to wind up playing college football. Or if he does, the coach isn’t saying.

Jernigan isn’t either, and says he has not set a timetable for his decision. After much thought, he has however narrowed his choices to defending national champion Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU and Michigan.

He said he could choose to commit to one of those schools in a matter of days, or it could be that he doesn’t make his intentions known until National Signing Day next February.

“I don’t want to make the wrong decision,” Jernigan explains, when asked why he chose not to commit to anyone prior to his final season as many players do these days. “My mom told me once you make a commitment that’s a commitment. I want to be a man of my word and don’t want to make that decision until I feel it in my heart what I really want to do.”

Speculation is Jernigan will end up at Florida. He grew up a fan of the Gators, who along with Florida State offered him a scholarship the summer before he started high school.

“I’m going to do what’s best for me, though,” he said when asked about the decision he has to ultimately make.

Jernigan offered the following on the five schools still in the running for his services:

· Florida: “I like The Swamp,” he says. “The stadium, just the atmosphere, they’re great.”

· Florida State: “I like the coaching staff. They’re all real down-to-earth people, real laid-back. But when they get down to work, they get after you.”

· Alabama: “The coaching staff, I like them. And they win. You can’t go against that.”

· LSU: “The coaching staff, I like, and I like the players. They have a lot of five-star guys, but it’s not all about them. They are just laid-back, too.”

· Michigan: “I like (head) Coach (Rich) Rodriguez. I haven’t had a chance to go up there yet, but I want to go check out a game this year. I’ve heard a lot of stuff about it.”

While everyone anxiously awaits Jernigan’s decision, that isn’t the most important thing on his mind right now, he says.

Instead, he’s focused on getting ready for his final high school season and perhaps helping his team to another district championship and a deep run in the Class 4A state playoffs in Florida.

“For someone who might not be used to it, it might be hard to handle,” he said when asked whether the recruiting process might wear on him and become a distraction during his final prep season the longer it goes on. “But, I’ve been dealing with it since middle school and have grown into it. It’s not going to be a distraction for me.”

Wherever he winds up, Jernigan is going to make someone a dandy football player, said Columbia defensive coordinator Dennis Dotson, who played defensive end at Purdue from 1985-89, serving as team captain as a senior.

“He has skills that are probably better than anyone I ever played with at Purdue,” Dotson said. “He has the skill set to be a guy playing on Sundays. He’s probably one of the best defensive linemen I have ever been around since I started playing and coaching football.”

He’s also one of the best players Howard said he has ever coached, and the veteran coach compared Jernigan’s recruitment to that of former Florida and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow, who played for Howard at Nease during his high school days.

“He’s one of those players who attract the attention of the head coaches, not just the assistants,” Howard said, noting that Alabama’s Saban was one of several high-profile coaches to fly into Lake City in recent months to recruit Jernigan.

“He’s about 280 pounds, but he looks like he’s 200 or 220. He plays with great passion, and everyone at those BCS schools wants him because he plays defensive line like a linebacker with his hands on the ground. He can move from sideline to sideline and is a great pursuit guy. I’ve seen him run down guys with 4.5 speed.”

Jernigan is also a humble person who doesn’t necessarily relish the spotlight that has been cast upon him based on his football talents, his coaches point out.

“He’s a real good kid,” Dotson said. “He stood up in a team meeting one day and told everyone he lived in 17 different homes growing up living with his mother and father.

“That’s got to be tough on a kid, but he’s real level-headed. He wasn’t doing really well in the classroom when we first got here three years ago, but he’s doing a good job there now. He takes to coaching really well and is a leader on the field, too. He helps coach the younger kids, so he’s a real leader for us that way also.”

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JT Bennett – Handles all of the communications for Southern Pigskin, booking interviews and working with sports information departments across the ACC, SEC and SoCon. Has had one-on-one interviews with Bobby Bowden, Vince Dooley, Houston Nutt, Tommy Tuberville, Jim Grobe, C.J. Spiller and Chris Weinke, among many, many others. His “Pull up a Chair” interview series has become very popular throughout the southeast. Bennett is a member of the National Guard.