Aazaar Abdul-Rahim doesn’t remember exactly how many interceptions Jalen Tabor had during his freshman year.
Eight or nine, at least.
“Every time he came in, he would just grab an interception,” Aazaar said, laughing.
So, the following year, Aazaar — Tabor’s high school coach — made Tabor a starter. He played him in a nationally televised game on ESPNU against Taft High and told Tabor to shadow Taft’s best player — a 6-foot-5 wide receiver and Oregon commit.
Tabor shut him down, and even made a one-handed interception while covering the receiver along the sideline.
Aazaar said Tabor finished with two picks. At least.
“He has an inner drive,” Aazaar, now the defensive backs coach at Maryland, said. “He just wants to be the best.”
Tabor is the next corner in a long line of talented defensive backs at Florida, a school that has earned the name D.B.U. (Defensive Backs University) because of its knack for producing some of the best pass-defenders in the country.
There’s been Joe Haden, Jaylen Watkins, Janoris Jenkins, Vernon Hargreaves and several others, all currently playing in the NFL.
And then there’s Tabor, a corner entirely in his own class.
“I knew when he was (in high school),” Aazaar said. “This 10th grader is gonna be special.”
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The side most people see of Jalen Tabor is the cocky, confident, trash-talking cornerback who thinks he’s the best player in the nation.
Then there’s the side that Aazaar sees.
“He is nothing like what he’s perceived by media, by Twitter and all that,” Aazaar said. “He is nothing like that.”
Tabor is often outspoken on social media and has used his Twitter presence to host live Q&As through Periscope.
He has also used it to voice his opinions and frustrations, like after he was suspended in August for the Gators’ opener for fighting with teammate C’yontai Lewis in practice. He tweeted that he didn’t know he could get suspended for a “scuffle.”
And after the Southeastern Conference’s Media Days in July, he was amused at the national media predicting Tennessee to win the division and said he didn’t understand “why people thought that someone else was running the East.”
“I’m gonna keep it honest. You know what I’m sayin’?” Tabor said. “It gives y’all something to write about.”
Aazaar said Tabor’s confidence is necessary for the position he plays, but that he’s a different person outside of football.
“People assumed because how he is on the field that he’s just a rah-rah, real loud person,” Aazaar said. “He’s really not. He’s a really chill person. He sits in the house more than anything.”
Aazaar got to know Tabor while training with him almost every day for four years during high school.
Sometimes it would be at practice, and sometimes they would train outside of school.
And while Aazaar praised Tabor’s natural talent and his innate ability to read opposing offenses — a characteristic he said he saw Tabor exhibit as early as a high school freshman — it’s his personality that stands out the most.
Aazaar said he texts with Tabor regularly. Tabor calls his former coach on his birthday and even on Father’s Day.
“I look at him as my son,” Aazaar said. “I would say we’re thick as thieves.”
And the coach can’t keep from smiling when he receives text messages from Tabor’s mom, Merri, about her son’s play this season.
Through seven games, the corner leads Florida with four interceptions — the same amount he had through 13 games last year.
And, five years later, the same player who impressed Aazaar as a high school sophomore is as confident as ever.
“He has an inner confidence about himself. I think you can attribute that a lot to his family,” Aazaar said. “They infused confidence in him that he could do whatever he set his goals out to do.”
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Jalen Tabor returns an interception for a touchdown during Florida's 40-14 win over Missouri on Oct. 15, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
