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Quarterback Jalen Kitna, son of former NFL QB Jon Kitna, committed to Florida on Tuesday choosing the Gators over Tennessee and others.
Who is Kitna?
Kitna is the 17th member of the Gators’ 2021 recruiting class which 247Sports ranks sixth in the country.
#ChompDown21 🐊 pic.twitter.com/Sr9WOLmIGZ
— Jalen Kitna (@KitnaJalen) May 26, 2020
He is 6-foot-4-inch, 200-pound, pro-style QB who passed for over 1,500 yards to go along with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions his junior year. 247Sports ranked him the 27th-best pro-style QB to go along with his 3-star rating.
Kitna draws a lot of comparisons to current Gators QB Kyle Trask in more than one respect. Starting off with the obvious, they share the same number. But also, Trask was a 3-star pro-style QB coming out of Texas who had a lot of untapped potential. Kitna could do the same with the right coaches.
A couple of clips of #Gators 2021 QB commit Jalen Kitna.
The #Gators have taken two QBs – one from the southeast and one from Texas – in the same class before 🔎🕵️🤔 pic.twitter.com/Q6aOmK73Uz
— All Gators (@AllGatorsOnFN) May 26, 2020
Future Outlook
As already stated, the Gators are on track to have another strong recruiting class for the 2021 season. Kitna is the second QB Florida picked up as he joins 4-star recruit, Carlos Del Rio.
247Sports ranks Del Rio as the 11th-best pro-style QB and No. 17 player in Georgia in the 2021 class. He is also the second highest-rated player in Florida’s class. Defensive end Tyreak Sapp is the Gators’ highest-rated player to date.
Since coming to Gainesville, Dan Mullen has improved Florida’s recruiting ranking each year. With many of the top players still uncommitted, there’s still plenty of room for this class to get better.
Football staying in the family
Jalen’s father, Jon, spent more than a decade in the NFL making a name for himself as a backup. He threw for nearly 30,000 yards with 169 touchdowns, 165 interceptions and 141 games played between the Seattle Seahawks, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.
Since retiring in 2013, Kitna has coached at three different high schools. He most recently served as the Cowboys’ QB coach this past season. Jon is now the head coach at Burleson High School where Jalen will play his senior year.
