Best of luck to all Skyboxes, may you get all the recruits your want today. Unless of course there is one I want to go to the Gators.
Well the Longhorns got Ryan Newsome a highly regarded WR from Texas to flip from UCLA, and lost RB SoSo Jamabo to UCLA. Somebody tweeted that SoSo liked all the Asian chicks he saw at UCLA on his offical visit. But not to worry we finally got Chris Warren a RB who probably fits what Charlie wants to do better any way. Also we flpped a DB from Oregon, but he was only a 3 star so no biggie. The two guys who would really make this class are still out there, Dylon Mack and DeMarkus Lodge....Mack is a TCU/A&M/Texas battle and Lodge is supposedly a Ole Miss/Texas/A&M battle. I hope we get them both! But of course we could come up empty as well. If Mack doesn't go to Texas I hope he goes to TCU.
It's not known as The University of Caucasians Lost in Asians for no reason. It was that way in my day, it's that way now.
#1 national recruit Byron Cowart signs with Auburn...bet that doesn't happen if Will Muschamp isn't the new DCoord for Auburn.
Yeah Cowart to Auburn. But CE CE Jefferson is still to announce and the Gators have a great chance at him.
Bill.... I am sure you have read on the Gator message boards and other comments that reflect a general euphoria amongst Gator fans with the way McElwain and his coaching staff finished up on NSD. We seemed to get some guys that can really help and I don't think anyone thought early on when we lost Cowart and Davis to Muschump that it would turn out so well for the Gators. A top 20 finish given where we were a week ago is outstanding and unexpected. It's not often at all that in the same recruiting season a new coach is hired he finds himself going against the recruiting efforts of the previous coach at a major power rival conference school within close proximity. If Harbaugh thought it was already tough this year it would have been extra tough if Brady Hoke was hired at MSU back in December. But then again I'm not sure Hoke is the recruiter that Muschamp is.
There was a lot of angst early on MCG. However if the worried folks had listened to the people on GatorCountry they could have relaxed a bit. Most of the people who seem to have some inside info pretty much said don't get upset early, let it play out. And it played out well. Also I am not so sure that Davis was a loss, I had heard we withdrew our offer to him. I am ecstatic with our two 5 stars, Jefferson and Ivey. Not getting Cowart hurt but not as much as losing Ivey on the offensive side of the ball.
I agree because Jefferson may be just as good or better than Cowart on the D-line. Ivey is the consensus #1 rated OT in the country.... a guy who can probably contribute immediately. Whatever new offensive approach McElwain has can benefit from that immensely.
Hoke was/is a good recruiter. Things went south for him and he was a dead man walking this year though and that killed any possible momentum for UM in recruiting. Harbaugh was even later to the game than McElwain and had been out of recruiting since he left Stanford, where as McElwain had only been away from Alabama a few years and was while CSU is not a recruiting hotbed, I'm sure it gave him a greater insight into college recruiting.
What McElwain benefitted most from was something I alluded to before in that UF sits in the middle of one of the hottest recruiting states in the nation. The 5 stars he did get were lifelong Gator fans as was Cowart. In fact...Armwood Seffner where Cowart is from is on the east side of Tampa and has been a good feeder school for UF for many years. Muschamp must have done a hell of a number on the kid to get him to eventually sign his LOI with Auburn. The thing is Muschamp could be one or two and done at Aub if the right next job comes along. In any event location the in-state rep of UF gave McElwain a chance to salvage a decent class out of a disaster and he did a very fine job.
No doubt there were kids who were wanting to be Gators but didn't want to sign on to a unknown situation. That's the same here in Texas, there are kids who just want to be Longhorns or Aggies, just need to feel confident that the programs are going forward. One thing it's hard not to notice. That despite all the recent success on the field at Mich State, Wisconsin, TCU, Baylor, and some others...they still can't get a toe hold in bringing in highly rated classes. Given how well TCU has done, esp on defense and Gary Patterson's reputation for defense you would think he'd start getting higher ranked players. Same thing for Dantonio. Yet MSU is #22, Wisc #34, and Baylor in the 30's and TCU in the 40's.
I have wondered about that also Terry and it's certainly a tribute on the one hand to the coaching staffs at those schools to continually get their programs up to high levels of performance on the playing field and on the other hand a statement perhaps about recruiting rankings. I do think that there is a boost to a degree from the very top rankings in recruiting enough to propel those very top teams like Alabama and Ohio State to the top championship levels of college football. Just enough of an edge in talent to push them consistently toward the top. However.... then there is this: http://andreu.blogs.gatorsports.com/11174/muschamp-left-some-holes/?tc=cr Muschamp always had UF at or near the top in recruiting but he consistently didn't see the whole picture. Maybe the guy is just not cut out to be a head coach.
uh oh, looks like the Gators have a drama llama on their hands http://www.alligatorarmy.com/2015/2...a-gators-gainesville-sun-somewhere-else-quote
Seems like there is one of those every year, a couple of years ago it was some kid who wanted to go to Mich State and his mom wouldn't sign. I don't remember what ultimately ended up happening. I remember a WR from Penn a few years ago that wanted to go to USC but his Dad wouldn't sign again don't remember if he relented or what. I'm not exactly sure why his dad though, a big Gator fan, doesn't want his kid in Gainesville? Is he afraid of the cops? Dave has implied that he thinks Gainesville cops have it out for UF football players, seems rather odd.
John O'Korn who was the starting QB at Houston in 2013 as a true freshman and had a good freshman year, but later fell apart as a soph and was painful to watch, he could see DB's or LB's they were invisible untill they batted down or picked off his throws. He lost his job of course and the backup came in and did much better. He was rumored to be transfering to Texas, or to TCU or even Baylor. But he's now headed to Ann Arbor. He's got good size and his style probably fits with what Harbaugh wants to do, but he's a long way from Andrew Luck. I don't know if he'll ever be a player at UM, but if he's smart he'll go to class and not let them pidgeon hole him into some sports management major and get a real Mich degree, that'll be a whole lot better than a Univ of Houston degree...not that there is anything wrong with UH, but it's not exactly a national university.
I'll be suspicious if his Dad steers him to a specific school..... sort of Cam Newton's Dad suspicious. Something definitely doesn't feel right about this one.
You don't think maybe the Auburn bag man called and wants his money back and it's already mostly gone, or that he's already moved to Auburn and taken that job they arranged for him and now they are telling him they don't really need him? Nah ...never happens. :roll:
Nah ...never happens. :roll: I know..... right? His Dad is like.... uh.... hmmm.... no good reason..... I'm a Gator fan.... but.... no way he is sending that LOI.... can't tell you why.... just no way.... clears throat.... shifts eyes to the ground.... :wink:
Ce Ce made several tweets today saying he is solid to Florida and the LOI will be faxed. The people at GatorCountry who do have some handle on what is happening still expect him to be a Gator. I will pass, at least for now, on any comments from the father.