Dan Mullen

#76
#76
His former boss AD at Miss St had just been hired as the UF AD. Mullen had to wait if he was going to get a shot at being the UF HC. The rest is history.
 
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#77
#77
Jaws said:
And that will be back-to-back top 8 classes for Mullen.
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How much of your attrition last summer was from the 2018 recruiting class?

Would you still call it a top 10 class?

Or is it wishful thinking on my part, and most of the attrition wasn't from the 2018 class?
 
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#78
#78
MemphisVol77 said:
How much of your attrition last summer was from the 2018 recruiting class?

Would you still call it a top 10 class?

Or is it wishful thinking on my part, and most of the attrition wasn't from the 2018 class?
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There has been very little attrition from the 2018 class, Noah Banks left because of a medical condition and John Huggins left because he got into too much trouble off the field.

From the 2019 class, yes there were 4 or 5 guys that attritted from that class. But you can’t re-rank that class, and no I wouldn’t say it was a bad class because of those departures, here’s why; first, you’d have to re-rank everyone in front of and behind UF. Florida isn’t the only team who lost guys to grades, injuries, trouble, etc. Some teams had less, some about equal, some had more. So you can’t just re-rank Florida and only Florida. Secondly, i think nowadays if you’re only looking at ESD and NSD, and not taking into account the transfer portal, well you’re behind and you haven’t evolved with today’s roster building in college football yet. For example, Mullen added all-world Jon Greenard and consensus 5* Brenton Cox to the team in 2019. If you don’t think adding those two (especially Greenard because he’s already proven it on the field), offsets a couple unproven high school kids who didn’t academically qualify, then you’re misinformed.

Lastly, at least two kids from that 2019 class are on track to work their way back into the class. Wardrick Wilson is a 4* o-linemen who didn’t get in due to a visa issue leaving the Bahamas. Well, that’s resolved, he is enrolled now. How does he count in the re-ranking since he’s technically a 2020 enrollee? LB Diwan Black will be back in after this season.

So bottom line, you can’t re-rank without doing it for everyone and taking into account many things.
 
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#80
#80
Jaws said:
There has been very little attrition from the 2018 class, Noah Banks left because of a medical condition and John Huggins left because he got into too much trouble off the field.

From the 2019 class, yes there were 4 or 5 guys that attritted from that class. But you can’t re-rank that class, and no I wouldn’t say it was a bad class because of those departures, here’s why; first, you’d have to re-rank everyone in front of and behind UF. Florida isn’t the only team who lost guys to grades, injuries, trouble, etc. Some teams had less, some about equal, some had more. So you can’t just re-rank Florida and only Florida. Secondly, i think nowadays if you’re only looking at ESD and NSD, and not taking into account the transfer portal, well you’re behind and you haven’t evolved with today’s roster building in college football yet. For example, Mullen added all-world Jon Greenard and consensus 5* Brenton Cox to the team in 2019. If you don’t think adding those two (especially Greenard because he’s already proven it on the field), offsets a couple unproven high school kids who didn’t academically qualify, then you’re misinformed.

Lastly, at least two kids from that 2019 class are on track to work their way back into the class. Wardrick Wilson is a 4* o-linemen who didn’t get in due to a visa issue leaving the Bahamas. Well, that’s resolved, he is enrolled now. How does he count in the re-ranking since he’s technically a 2020 enrollee? LB Diwan Black will be back in after this season.

So bottom line, you can’t re-rank without doing it for everyone and taking into account many things.
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You can't precisely rerank the class for UF, but you can still get a general idea of where the class would've been ranked without them. While a lot of teams have benefited from the portal I'd think most would agree its not the way you'd want to build a program. Most of the players in there have limited eligibility and its a quick fix at best. On top of that most players are in there for a reason. You're either getting guys that couldn't crack the depth chart at their old school or guys with behavioral issues that now become your teams issues.
 
#82
#82
Atlanta917 said:
You can't precisely rerank the class for UF, but you can still get a general idea of where the class would've been ranked without them. While a lot of teams have benefited from the portal I'd think most would agree its not the way you'd want to build a program. Most of the players in there have limited eligibility and its a quick fix at best. On top of that most players are in there for a reason. You're either getting guys that couldn't crack the depth chart at their old school or guys with behavioral issues that now become your teams issues.
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I would love to see follow up rankings after 4 years to see the difference between what was expected and how they turned out.
 
#83
#83
Atlanta917 said:
While a lot of teams have benefited from the portal I'd think most would agree its not the way you'd want to build a program. Most of the players in there have limited eligibility and its a quick fix at best. On top of that most players are in there for a reason. You're either getting guys that couldn't crack the depth chart at their old school or guys with behavioral issues that now become your teams issues.
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I don’t agree with this at all, and I generally don’t think Mullen does either, which is why he seems to be far and away better than other programs at taking advantage of it. The guys he has added are neither dudes who couldn’t crack the depth chart nor behavioral issues. The three highest profile are probably Van Jefferson (Ole Miss probation), Tray Grimes (legit family issues) and Jon Greenard (graduate transfer). Then he’s added a whole bunch of dudes who were somewhere in between family issues and bad fits at others places. The only so-called behavioral issue was Brenton Cox from Georgia and that was a marijuana incident in a year where numerous Georgia players got into a trouble off the field.

I don’t think Mullen is using the portal to build the roster in lieu of traditional HS recruiting, I agree that HS recruiting is still by far the best way to build the program. But Mullen has been a master at supplementing his recruiting classes with portal players and filling in roster depth concerns with portal guys.

And in most cases, the portal players have been multiple-year contributors. The only one-and-done guy has been Jon Greenard, but his 1 year was borderline player of the year good. I’ll take that.
 
#88
#88
Jaws said:
I don’t agree with this at all, and I generally don’t think Mullen does either, which is why he seems to be far and away better than other programs at taking advantage of it. The guys he has added are neither dudes who couldn’t crack the depth chart nor behavioral issues. The three highest profile are probably Van Jefferson (Ole Miss probation), Tray Grimes (legit family issues) and Jon Greenard (graduate transfer). Then he’s added a whole bunch of dudes who were somewhere in between family issues and bad fits at others places. The only so-called behavioral issue was Brenton Cox from Georgia and that was a marijuana incident in a year where numerous Georgia players got into a trouble off the field.

I don’t think Mullen is using the portal to build the roster in lieu of traditional HS recruiting, I agree that HS recruiting is still by far the best way to build the program. But Mullen has been a master at supplementing his recruiting classes with portal players and filling in roster depth concerns with portal guys.

And in most cases, the portal players have been multiple-year contributors. The only one-and-done guy has been Jon Greenard, but his 1 year was borderline player of the year good. I’ll take that.
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Cox had a marijuana arrest, which isn’t a big deal, and he also had behavioral issues. Got into fights with the coaches because he didn’t want to switch positions, which he eventually did anyway.
It seems you agree that HS is the best way to build teams, which was my main point. They’re in the system longer and get developed by your coaches. Not saying transfers are always bad, just that HS recruiting is more important. I’d be more concerned about the fact Mullen had issues closing on recruits. Not sure if it’s personality issues or what, but he had a lot of misses at positions of need. Bowman, Rosemy, and smith to name a few. All Florida kids and positions of need that went elsewhere.
 
#90
#90
Atlanta917 said:
I’d be more concerned about the fact Mullen had issues closing on recruits. Not sure if it’s personality issues or what, but he had a lot of misses at positions of need..
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I think different cycles bring different things. In his two short years at UF, he was actually thought of as a really good closer. In the 18 and 19 cycles, he actually closed on several dudes on ESD and NSD. I think that’s why a lot of Florida fans were expecting at least one or two more on ESD this year. Set ourselves up for a disappointing close based off previous two years.

Also, timing was a little odd this year. He had a very solid class most of the cycle already committed, and every single one of them stuck. Additionally, two big flips from rivals (McDaniel from UT and Braun from UGa) occurred a few days before ESD. If those had happened on singing day itself, everyone would be talking about how great he closed again.

But overall, I don’t think we’re too far off on our thoughts. Signing classes are critical to building programs, but the portal can be used to plug holes, and nobody has done that better than Mullen. Also, in recent years, too many great Florida kids are getting away. You mentioned a few. Missing on guys like Trey Sanders and Bowman and others, drives Florida fans crazy. Mullen and staff have to do better there. But #7 with a good shot at moving up another spot or two on NSD is an excellent class.
 
#91
#91
Jaws said:
I think different cycles bring different things. In his two short years at UF, he was actually thought of as a really good closer. In the 18 and 19 cycles, he actually closed on several dudes on ESD and NSD. I think that’s why a lot of Florida fans were expecting at least one or two more on ESD this year. Set ourselves up for a disappointing close based off previous two years.

Also, timing was a little odd this year. He had a very solid class most of the cycle already committed, and every single one of them stuck. Additionally, two big flips from rivals (McDaniel from UT and Braun from UGa) occurred a few days before ESD. If those had happened on singing day itself, everyone would be talking about how great he closed again.

But overall, I don’t think we’re too far off on our thoughts. Signing classes are critical to building programs, but the portal can be used to plug holes, and nobody has done that better than Mullen. Also, in recent years, too many great Florida kids are getting away. You mentioned a few. Missing on guys like Trey Sanders and Bowman and others, drives Florida fans crazy. Mullen and staff have to do better there. But #7 with a good shot at moving up another spot or two on NSD is an excellent class.
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Maybe close was the wrong word. Not sure if Braun really counts since he went to UF solely because of Pitmann leaving. He definitely has a solid class this year, but seemed to strike out at positions of need. Mullen is known more for coaching than recruiting, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just means he’ll have to develop and find more diamonds than say a Saban, Smart, or Pruitt. I see UF having the opposite issue of UGA in that UF needs an elite recruiting DC while UGA needs a play calling OC.

Again, not saying you shouldn’t take transfers. The last 3 heisman winners have been QB transfers. I just think you shouldn’t rely on transfers because it’s just a bandaid for a problem.
 
#92
#92
Atlanta917 said:
Maybe close was the wrong word. Not sure if Braun really counts since he went to UF solely because of Pitmann leaving. He definitely has a solid class this year, but seemed to strike out at positions of need. Mullen is known more for coaching than recruiting, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just means he’ll have to develop and find more diamonds than say a Saban, Smart, or Pruitt. I see UF having the opposite issue of UGA in that UF needs an elite recruiting DC while UGA needs a play calling OC.

Again, not saying you shouldn’t take transfers. The last 3 heisman winners have been QB transfers. I just think you shouldn’t rely on transfers because it’s just a bandaid for a problem.
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Gators.....not a single QB in the league.

NFL Players by College - F - National Football League - ESPN
 
#94
#94
Jaws said:
There has been very little attrition from the 2018 class,
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Jaws said:
From the 2019 class, yes there were 4 or 5 guys that attritted from that class. But you can’t re-rank that class, and no I wouldn’t say it was a bad class because of those departures, here’s why; first, you’d have to re-rank everyone in front of and behind UF.
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I did mean to ask about 2019 and not 2018.
Thank you.

Thanks for expounding as well. I was looking for a gator perspective as to the talent gap.

I would argue our 2019 class would rate better if they were re-ranked.

I haven't looked at your 2018 class enough to compare.

I don't need to re-rank 15,16, & 17 to know you squashed us. I don't care how close the final star & composites rankings were from those 3 classes. By the results on the field the last two years you've out talented us.
 
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#98
#98
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#99
#99
Jaws said:
The weirdest thing about this is UF has a who’s who of former/transferred QB’s in the league; Will Grier, Cam Newton, Jacoby Brisett, Jeff Driskel. And I think I’m missing someone else. And you can include Franks too after this year as I’m pretty sure he’ll get a shot at least as a backup in the NFL.
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Hey look. We have something in common
 
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