What Other Message Boards are Saying-Post Signing Day (Florida)

[butchna]

JAWS is Floridas Andrew Ray of Georgia.

His life is on the line.

 

[gainesvol82]

But UF lost its top guy...

Now...you and I both know our top guy was also our 3rd best true freshman DB coming out of fall drills, despite his 5* ranking. Elam and Hill were clearly performing better according to those VERY close to the situation. And none of those guys were unseating CJ or Marco as starters. So our top guy was at best our #5 CB headed into the season.

All that said, UF still lost its top guy, so none of the UT fans critical of our 2019 recruiting class are wrong. And I’m more than okay with that.

I really doubt losing those 5 are going to impact UF much but it's not a good look. If similar attrition happens this year then we might have a different impact discussion. If that had happened to us, it absolutely would have been a big deal and is another reason UT fans can point to for not thinking Mullen would have worked out here.

He has done really well with transfers but is that something you hope to continue to rely on? Seems risky.

 

[butchna]

I said commit, I didn’t say “signee.” And Rivals included him and McBride in the total of 23. My point wasn’t to haggle over commit v signee, my point was net players. Florida netted 20 after attrition, UT netted 21 after attrition, or 20, but then later 21 when Solomon was offered?

Regardless, when you and Bass are re-ranking the 2019 classes for the good of America, please include Cox and Greenard in UF’s re-rank. Thanks.

But you know that’s not an announced CLASS...right? All of your other bluster aside, concede that? It’s not your committed list that counts as your class, but who actually signs. THAT is what gets ranked.

 

[Jaws]

What you're not getting is that we didn't want a lot of the supposed top players in TN. Several were severely overrated, were headcases that didn't fit what we wanted or just had no interest in us. We got the large majority of who we wanted in state and the kids we took over the ones we didn't want are better players.

UF absolutely lost out on a lot of the top kids in FL that you definitely wanted.

Of course UF loses GREAT Florida talent yearly, all the way back to the Spurrier days. First, you’ve got FSU and Miami, and then you’ve got Bama, UGA, Clemson, etc all trying to get a hand full from the state too. Mullen got more than his share and I’m good with that.

Tennessee missed on the 1st, 5th, 8th, 10th, and 12th through 15th best players in Tennessee, which should have been easy-pickings. Pruitt didn’t want any of those guys?

That seems hard to believe.

 

[orangejuice]

I agree, and the whole proposition of re-evaluating them is subjective. And more, you can’t just do UT and UF, you gotta do everyone. And without researching, I’d say every team in the top 25 lost between 1 and 5 guys.

At this point in the conversation, I think no one cares about anyone but UF vs UT, and it’s easy to compare the two without everyone else. I see no reason anyone else has any effect of UT vs UF comparison.

 

[njvols]

There is no doubt that if Currie would have hired Mehlen, we would barely be in the top 20 in recruiting if that. Dude misses all of his targets on ESD and NSD, and wouldn't have the benefit of all of that in state talent here that he does at Fl. 17 of their recruits in this class are from FL, and 4 of their portal players are also from Fl. So glad he isn't here. He's a good coach, but he isn't coaching 20th ranked recruiting classes to SEC championships. So glad he went to Fl instead of coming here.

Mullen may have been a challenge personality wise on the heels of Butch, but I was in favor of him at the time... if Kelly didn’t take he UCLA job, he’d be at FL and Mullen would be our coach.

 

[gainesvol82]

Of course UF loses GREAT Florida talent yearly, all the way back to the Spurrier days. First, you’ve got FSU and Miami, and then you’ve got Bama, UGA, Clemson, etc all trying to get a hand full from the state too. Mullen got more than his share and I’m good with that.

Tennessee missed on the 1st, 5th, 8th, 10th, and 12th through 15th best players in Tennessee, which should have been easy-pickings. Pruitt didn’t want any of those guys?

That seems hard to believe.

Hence me saying we got the large majority of in-state kids we wanted. Spurrier and Meyer never missed on so many of the top guys they wanted(maybe Spurrier early in his tenure when UF was a joke) and this is the standard you are hoping Mullen lives up to.

UF does have a good class and top 10-15 is good enough talent for Mullen to get 9-11 wins with but I don't think he ever gets a championship recruiting at that level.

 

[Jaws]

I really doubt losing those 5 are going to impact UF much but it's not a good look. If similar attrition happens this year then we might have a different impact discussion. If that had happened to us, it absolutely would have been a big deal and is another reason UT fans can point to for not thinking Mullen would have worked out here.

He has done really well with transfers but is that something you hope to continue to rely on? Seems risky.

This is a good post and I agree. 2019 was not a good look for Mullen. I’ve said that. After 3 classes at UF, 2019 looks like an outlier. Mullen lost 0 from his 2018 class, 5 from 2019, and so far nothing from 2020. And I also agree that Mullen was quick to negate his losses in the 2019 class with transfers. And I agree that continuing to lose a lot of players from future classes would be a problem for Mullen. So we’ll see.

*For clarification, 3 players from 2018 are no longer at UF. But these three all stayed with the program for a full season of eligibility. That’s why I pointed out 0 attritted from 2018 class.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I really doubt losing those 5 are going to impact UF much but it's not a good look. If similar attrition happens this year then we might have a different impact discussion. If that had happened to us, it absolutely would have been a big deal and is another reason UT fans can point to for not thinking Mullen would have worked out here.

He has done really well with transfers but is that something you hope to continue to rely on? Seems risky.

Mullen’s work in the transfer portal is paying off for now. It’s onky risky if we take guys who don’t produce. That hasn’t happened yet.

Barring a rash of injuries at corner, losing Chris Steele won’t affect UF at all.

However it’s legitimate discussion fodder for assessing Mullen’s recruiting skills, because Steele was the so-called jewel of our 2019 class and he never played a down for us.

 

[Jaws]

But you know that’s not an announced CLASS...right? All of your other bluster aside, concede that? It’s not your committed list that counts as your class, but who actually signs. THAT is what gets ranked.

Yes, I agree with that. I’m pretty sure I said that in an earlier post. UF’s current 2020 class is an example of that. Two players, Manuel and Britt, are currently committed but not signed. UF is presumably waiting on test scores. It’s my understanding these two are NOT included in UF’s current 2020 Rivals ranking. So same would apply to UT and all others.

I see your point, I’ll have to go back and re-read but if said the unsigned players were counted in to the rankings then I was wrong. That means my accuracy rating falls to 99.7%. I’ll do better.

 

[gainesvol82]

One last point on FL recruiting. UF missed on a lot of guys from traditional Gator hotbeds in Jacksonville and Lakeland. This is very surprising to me.

My expectation if I was a Gator fan would be to land about 1/3 of the top 10 guys(goes down to 25% if FSU and UM get right) and about 1/3 of the top 50.

Seems like Mullen was around that Mark for the top 50 but struggled with the in-state top 10. Surprising coming off a successful season.

I'm hoping UT can get back to cherry picking a couple of the top 25 in Florida.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

What gets me about the state of Florida recruiting is how many are leaving. 59 +4*s in FL. 35 are leaving the state. UF only got 10 of them.

1 of the top 12. And 3 of the top 22. That's got to sting.

BuT mEhLeN dId GrEaT iN sTaTe!!

 

[Jaws]

Hence me saying we got the large majority of in-state kids we wanted. Spurrier and Meyer never missed on so many of the top guys they wanted(maybe Spurrier early in his tenure when UF was a joke) and this is the standard you are hoping Mullen lives up to.

UF does have a good class and top 10-15 is good enough talent for Mullen to get 9-11 wins with but I don't think he ever gets a championship recruiting at that level.

Spurrier missed a lot of Florida kids because Miami and FSU were absolutely LOADED with Florida kids with NFL talent during his days. The difference in those days, nearly all Florida kids went to one of the big 3 in Florida. Nowadays, all the powerhouses get their share of Florida kids, including UT with Morvean Jospeh. He was a top 50 Florida kid.

Meyer had the state fairly locked up, but even he was losing the occasional CJ Spiller and Trent Richardson’s the the Bama’s and Clemson’s of the world.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

The only in state kid we "missed" on was Hardy..Pruitt doesn't give a about rankings...and Grimes is a f'n joke.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

Here’s where you are appearing to be ignorant. Although our instate talent is getting better by the year, it pales in comparison to Florida’s. So to get the top talent from TN isn’t as grand of an accomplishment as you’re making it out. Florida is like Texas. You could land a top class every year and NEVER LEAVE THE STATE. That’s not happening here. Winning is the greatest recruiting tool, period. Oh, and being a cuckold coach. That probably helps too.

Pruitt got everyone he wanted in state this year except for Hardy and Rybka. Mehlen missed on the vast majority of the best talent in Fl. And yet Mehlen still landed a top class because there is so much talent in Fl he can get whipped in state and still sign 17 players from there. Can’t even compare the two. It’s ridiculous.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

Pruitt got everyone he wanted in state this year except for Hardy and Rybka. Mehlen missed on the vast majority of the best talent in Fl. And yet Mehlen still landed a top class because there is so much talent in Fl he can get whipped in state and still sign 17 players from there. Can’t even compare the two. It’s ridiculous.

We didn't miss on Rybka..that kid hates UT for some weird reason...he didn't even give Pruitt a chance to "miss"...but yeah we missed on Hardy and that sucked.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

It’s hilarious that none of these gator fans understand the argument. It isn’t that Mehlen won’t recruit fine at fl. He will. Because he can miss the majority of top guys and still land a top class because of so much in state talent.

HE COULD NOT DO THAT IF HE WERE AT TENNESSEE.

If you’re not responding to that argument then you are wasting your breath and showing the tiny size of your IQ

 

[Jaws]

One last point on FL recruiting. UF missed on a lot of guys from traditional Gator hotbeds in Jacksonville and Lakeland. This is very surprising to me.

My expectation if I was a Gator fan would be to land about 1/3 of the top 10 guys(goes down to 25% if FSU and UM get right) and about 1/3 of the top 50.

Seems like Mullen was around that Mark for the top 50 but struggled with the in-state top 10. Surprising coming off a successful season.

I'm hoping UT can get back to cherry picking a couple of the top 25 in Florida.

That’s fair, but if you go back and look at Jim McElwain’s recruiting in the state of Florida for his 2.5 years, you’ll see why most Florida fans are petty happy with Mullen getting 16 of the top 54 this year from the state, including 5*’s Dexter and Wingo (Rivals). McElwain wasn’t even in that hemisphere. Which, by the way, Florida being down during Muschamp and Mac years has opened the door for Bama/UGA/Clemson/Ohio State to raid the state. Mullen is fighting to reverse that. It’s no coincidence those teams who raided the state are perennial playoff teams.

 

[rgvol]

The only in state kid we "missed" on was Hardy..Pruitt doesn't give a about rankings...and Grimes is a f'n joke.

True story. 100%

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

The sooner you come to the realization that losing Chris Steele will doom UF’s football program for the next 15 years, the sooner you will find peace.

Never been the argument any of us are making. But if you think it’s not a bad sign that your top signee bolted and blamed the coaching staff before playing 1 game, I don’t know what to tell you.

The only reason the 2019 class was brought up was my making the point that since that happened to you last year, it could again this year, and thus we should wait and see if everyone actually arrives at Fl. But carry on with whatever narrative you want to respond to

 

[Jaws]

The only in state kid we "missed" on was Hardy..Pruitt doesn't give a about rankings...and Grimes is a f'n joke.

So all those top Tennessee guys who went to Auburn and Clemson and TexasAm and Oklahoma and Kentucky are all trash? Pruitt got it right, Dabo and Jimbo got it wrong?

 

[LouderVol]

After your blood pressure goes down and you stop gnashing your tooth, look at the “ghetto service” known as Rivals. He’s listed as a commit and when you count them up, he’s included in the 23 total. In fact, so is Kenney Solomon. I didn’t catch him the first time, what’s his status?

I was wrong in one post, I said attrition took UT to 19, it actually looks like 21, unless Kenney Solomon comes out, then it’s 20.

Look, why are you and a couple others so hung up on UF’s 2019 class when y’all have your own “he didn’t sign, he did sign, he’s hurt, he’s at JUCO, he blueshirted” crap going on too in your 2019 class.

So Florida has 2 or 3 more guys who attrited in that class, who cares? I didn’t hurt UF on the field last year obviously and it won’t hurt them in 2020 according to preseason rankings.

Kenney Solomon played for UT this year.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

Pruitt landed 6 of the top 10 in state this year. Of the 4 who went elsewhere, the only one he wanted was Jay Hardy. He did not want Grimes, Tucker, or Darrin Turner. Everyone here knows that. I understand if you Fl fans don’t because why would you?

But, Mehlen landed 1 of the top 10 in Fl. How many of the other 9 that went to Clemson, Ga and elsewhere did he want? I honestly don’t know, but I have a hard time believing he didn’t want all of them. That’s the difference.

Saying Pruitt only landed so many of the top 40 in TN means nothing when he didn’t want 80% of those guys. Mehlen wanted a lot more than 10 of the top 50 in Fl, I would guarantee that.

But regardless, Mehlen will recruit fine at Fl because of so much talent. He would not recruit well at Tn. That is the only argument anyone has made.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

So all those top Tennessee guys who went to Auburn and Clemson and TexasAm and Oklahoma and Kentucky are all trash? Pruitt got it right, Dabo and Jimbo got it wrong?

The only guy we "missed" on was Hardy.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

I really doubt losing those 5 are going to impact UF much but it's not a good look. If similar attrition happens this year then we might have a different impact discussion. If that had happened to us, it absolutely would have been a big deal and is another reason UT fans can point to for not thinking Mullen would have worked out here.

He has done really well with transfers but is that something you hope to continue to rely on? Seems risky.

It affects depth, no way around it