I understand that Florida is reaping the reward of being in the limelight and also having the appearance of needing an infusion of new players due to some departures after this season. This article supports that: http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/from_scrimmage/posts/86462-gators-grab-socal-star-what-does-that-mean-for-usc-trojans?eref=fromSI
I wouldn't think this year would be any different than the previous years. Meyer has the UF program positioned much like USC, they should get top players every year and have top 5 type of recruiting classes no matter what. Players come and players go, it's the way it works in College Football.
What a dumb article!!! This guy is obviously clueless. Of course, players from California will want to go play in Gainesville. Why wouldn't you? What does it mean for Southern Cal and the rest of the country? How about nothing!?! Tennessee has a long history of taking players from the West Coast. Southern Cal also has the ability to go into the deep South to pluck recruits. Who cares? Congrats to the Gators on getting a guy who should be a contributor but, in the grand scheme of things, it means very little and to assert it as being some sort of defining moment is simply a hard up journalist grasping at straws. It's been a slow month or two for recruitniks and this article proves it.
HAHAHAHA what a fanboy jerkoff article that was. The Gators are currently starting a RB who couldn't crack the 5 deep at USC. What does that say for them? Nothing.. They are both great programs. They both recruit nationally. It isn't like there's only a handful of kids in Southern California who play DI football. Check the rosters, you'll see guys all over the place.. BTW, Palmdale is a a desert city that is NOT USC's back yard. You want to talk about picking people out of someone's back yard? From USC's roster: 1-T.J. Bryant-CB-So.-1V-6-0/180 Tallahassee, FL (Lincoln HS) 29-Jawanza Starling-S-Fr.-HS-6-1/190 Tallahassee, FL (Lincoln HS) You can see the rest of their roster by clicking here and you'll notice a few things... they're pretty young... they have kids from many, many 'back yards' and you'll notice there's no shortage of SoCal kids..
Not sure who you are referring to......Demps.....Rainey? From what I understand this is shaping up to be Urban's finest recruiting class while at Florida.....and that my friends is saying a lot.
Wow Corey, now the Gators start a running back that couldn't crack the top 5 at USC. Then of course Tebow couldn't make 5th string QB at USC a couple of years ago. With players that bad Meyer must be a genius at turning this team into a winner. I'll tell you what is ridiculous, Corey's and Aquila's reactions to the article.
jesus bill... I guess you missed the part where I said... You know full damned well who I am referring to as well.. play coy if you'd like but it's a fact. Moody was never going to play at USC.. he plays in the regular back rotation for the Gators.. He's been out the past two games which means he missed playing against the 2 worst defenses you faced all year.. Too bad for him.. somehow it did wonders for Tebow's Heisman candidacy. That article, and the entire premise behind it, is pure fanboy ********. That was the basis for my post and its tone. The fact that it is even considered 'big news' that you landed a kid from So Cal who also happened to have an offer from USC shows just how 'new money' your fan base is.. The Big12 has regularly stocked up on kids from the deserts and inland empire of SoCal. Michigan, Miami et all have taken kids from the area for years. Now Florida nabs one and it is cause for celebration? Act like you've been there before, even if you haven't.. Like the great state of Florida (no sarcasm there, Im serious) it really isn't big news if a kid leaves So Cal for other areas. There's just too much talent in the area. Years ago, JOCO and I begged and wished for ND to recruit 3 players who played at our high school alma mater... ND recruitnicks and other 'power players' in the recruiting game would (and some did) scoff at the notion that ND be bothered with the kids. Good grades, good kids, high character... One of them (Sheldon Jackson) went on to be a captain at Nebraska playing TE and won 2 national titles.. The other two were a few years apart, but both won Big10 titles at Northwestern.. One (Casey Daily) was an integral part of the defense that led the Wildcats to the Rose Bowl and the other (Rashidi Wheeler) was the starting SS making 88 tackles his junior year and was poised to be team captain for that squad when he collapsed and died on the practice field. Tragic story. Still, all 3 fine young men.. They aren't even exceptions though.. these stories go on in California, like Florida, every single year due to the amount of talent in the state and piss poor quality of people doing talent evaluation. So hats off.. you guys got a kid from the desert of California.. But try reading that article without the blue and orange tinted glasses. It's really not as big a deal as the writer makes it out to be..
I disagree the article was about Florida's "newness" to the big time. It clearly states that Urban in the past has found enough 5 star type talent in his home state or close to it......good enough talent to win 2 national championships I might add. I think the article is saying that Urbs is not only getting that same talent from Florida but now West Coast kids are interested and that only adds to the overall quality of talent he is gathering. Tenn has always recruited nationally because they have to.....can't build much of an SEC competitor with just kids from the state of Tenn. USC getting kids from Florida is mostly because there is so much talent available and because so many teams have recruited Florida that a precedent for leaving the state has already been set. Now....as the article implies.....if local Cal talent similarly looks at out of state options like Florida more than they did before then Petey's job becomes that much more difficult.
Corey, don't give me the crap about my orange and blue glasses, it has absolutely nothing to do with the comment I made. But if you want to talk about glasses, it sure seems to me that any article about the Gators are read by you thought your anti Gator glasses. And actually I thight you were talking about Demps not Moody. By the way Moody started one game for the Gators and has been behind Demps and Rainy in carries and yardage all year before his inury. The article seems innocent enough to me and the point I pulled out of it is that the Gators are hoping to cherry pick a few good players out of California much like Carroll has done in Florida for a while. I sure didn't expect the two rants that I saw. Disagreement, sure but you would think according to you this wirter is the worst ever and not worth reading. But I get the picture, our third string running back couldn't be 5th string at USC. However I do believe he gained more yardage as a freshman at USC than he has either season for the Gators.
So what if anything does a coach do about those he recruited if he's let go by a school? Here's an interesting article about what Weis did about one of ND's recruits. http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20091203/SPORTS13/912039927/1021/Sports
I'm sorry, Bill, but I don't see anything ridiculous here especially with my reaction. I think you suffer from some sort of "everybody is against the Gators" syndrome. I think it's great that you got a good recruit. I simply don't think it really means anything near what this writer makes it out to be. I think its significance is quite miniscule in fact. I see nothing in my post that even takes a jab at the Gators. Not sure what the problem is. Maybe I should just get in line and agree with every Gator homer out there. It is my opinion that this particular writer is overestimating the significance of one recruit. I don't read anywhere that the guy was committed to the Trojans and reneged on his commitment. Maybe he's always been a Gator fan. I'm sure Florida has a national following as a result of their recent success. I don't find it the least bit surprising that they are able to get kids from southern California. I also don't find it at all surprising that USC secured a commitment a few years back from Patrick Turner from Nashville. They are a well known school and they were very HOT at the time. Another reason I think this guy is a bit green when following the recruiting battles is that he asserts Tennessee's presence in California is due to Lane Kiffin's connections there. Sure his connections help but, as I said, Tennessee has been recruiting California for as long as I've followed Tennessee recruiting. Kevin Simon, a 5 star at the time of his recruitment, was a key contributor for Tennessee. That's not to mention guys like Casey Clausen and Arian Foster. Tennessee recruiting California is old news.
That's a nice gesture by Weis. Can't believe Clausen was not named All-American. In my view he is the best QB is college football. The NFL will substantiate that in a few months. Mel Kiper has him #1 at QB and #4 overall pick in the draft. It's a beauty contest.
OK, let me revise my statement. In my opinion it is a completely stupid idea by this particular writer that the commitment of one recruit from California choosing the Gators over USC represents some sort of monumental shift in the recruiting balance. It is also idiotic to suggest, in my opinion, that this one kid's decision signals some sort of end to the USC era under Pete Carroll. In my opinion, it would be a much better argument to suggest that the end of that era is dawning based upon the fact that USC can't seem to consistently beat Pac-10 opponents on the road as opposed to one kid declaring he is going to sign with the Gators. Maybe I'm the dumb one but the entire premise of this guy's article seems severely flawed. Recruiting is important in college football but I hardly think that one kid is going to shift the balance of power in the college football world irreversibly in any direction. When you've won 2 out of the last 3 national titles, why does this even matter?
Clausen is the best Pro prospect right now in college. But he would have had to had silly numbers to overcome a 4 game losing streak (that was not his fault of course). Colt McCoy has had an excellent year and his team is undefeated, no suprise that he's the 1st Team guy. The suprise to me is that Golden Tate was named 1st team AA, and not Jordan Shipley. Golden is a worthy 1st teamer no doubt, but I would have thought that the poor year by the Irish would have affected him as much as it did Clausen. Also on the crawl line below the Oregon/Oregon State game last night they showed the top 5 Heisman guys right now, and Golden was #5, also suprising. After watching that very entertaining game last night, I will say that Ohio State will kill either of those teams in the Rose Bowl. No Defense.
I guess it sorta matters to me Aquila like conjecturing after last season that UF would be the hands down #1 ranked team heading into the season this year. That was disputed by some and some said who cares and why did I want to enjoy that kind of conjecture. If they were a Gator fan they would understand why.......it's a fun thing to do at the moment. Same thing for this article......just a fun thing to think about if you're a Gator and possibly relevant to the next few years in college football.
Mack Brown rarely leaves the state of Texas for talent. For a number of reasons, 1) there is so much talent in Texas he really doesn't have to do it and 2) he has a built a great relationship with Texas HS coaches across the state and all things being equal he's always going to take one of their boys before he goes out of state. I'm suprised that Urban doesn't have the same philosophy. Fla boys first.
You know, it could be a simple as neighborhoods. As I recall Palmdale is north of LA. SC is in a part of town that is pretty "rough." While LA might be "Hollywood" for kids in othe parts of the country, for some locals it's the gang infested city. Maybe the kid and his family thought that be going to a school in a college town back east, he could find a better environment to live and learn in. ( I use the "learn part a little loosely since apparently some student athletes there are out partying at 3:30 am on "school nights.") Some parents, like Mary and I want their kids to go away to school, learn to live away from home, meet new friends etc. It could be just a simple as that. Or it could be a monumental shift in the structure of college football.