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One of Tennessee’s prized recruits for 2016 hasn’t experienced the rivalry between the Gators and Vols yet, but he knows enough to know Florida’s 11-game win streak in the series is coming to an end.
Four-star defensive end Jonathan Kongbo, the No. 1 overall JUCO prospect in this past recruiting cycle, was just as confident as Gators CB Jalen Tabor that his team would win the Sept. 24 showdown at Neyland Stadium.
He made his proclamation to Rocky Top Insider Stephen Kasper in a story on Wednesday.
“Well I mean, I just kind of laughed at (Tabor’s comments) because I know we’re going to beat Florida,” Kongbo told Kasper.
Kongbo’s statement comes after Tabor took offense to ESPN picking Tennessee in mid-April to win the SEC East this coming season.
ESPN's Preseason FPI predicts the 2016 SEC East champs will be … @Vol_Football. pic.twitter.com/O2qNs0vCsT
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) April 13, 2016
“They’ picked UT to win the east the last 3 years,” Tabor tweeted. “I feel sorry for ‘they.’” Tabor later tweeted, “We’ll make it 12 years in a row this year.”
A pair of Vols with the first name Jalen — Tennessee RB Jalen Hurd and LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin — may have also been a target of Tabor’s twitter fingers.
O yea they got one but I forgot I'm the only Jalen they talk about in this conference ?
— Teez Tabor (@_31Flavorz) April 15, 2016
Hurd and Maybin both had something to say about that.
https://twitter.com/MrHurd_1/status/720990193029943302
PSA Can somebody please give this kid some attention. He's begging for it. https://t.co/Ovcsd5V42B
— Jalen Reeves-Maybin (@ReevesMaybin) April 15, 2016
Kongbo, after predicting a win over Florida, did the same for another rivalry game.
“I know we’re going to beat Alabama. We’re going to beat all those teams,” Kongbo continued in the interview with Kasper. “So I’ll say right now, we’re going to beat every team we play next year. I just really laughed at it, especially the comments that Jalen made. It was funny. We’ll see what Jalen Hurd does to him though.”
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
