With defensive line coach Dan McCarney taking the head coaching job at North Texas, I thought we’d take a look at the impact it could have on Florida’s recruiting.
McCarney didn’t have the biggest responsibilities of the Florida coaches, but it’s never good for a school to lose a coach during the season. One thing I always noticed about McCarney was how interactive he was with players when he saw them. And kids loved his attitude and presence during camps. When he pushed guys, they actually looked like they enjoyed it. You don’t see that a lot.
McCarney was definitely one of the guys recruits loved to interact with, so his loss could be felt more there than maybe anywhere else.
Here are guys McCarney was personally responsible for in the 2011 class:
Commits
FB Hunter Joyer
WR Ja’Juan Story
CB Nick Waisome
Uncommitted
DE Anthony Chickillo (Tampa Alonso) Miami verbal
DT Darian Cooper (Hyattsville, Md., DeMatha)
OT Zach DeBell (Tarpon Springs) Georgia verbal
S Alex Dixon (Clearwater Countryside) North Carolina verbal
Florida’s current commitments who McCarney was in charge of aren’t jumping ship anytime soon. They are all very solid with their Florida commitments. Even though Waisome visited FSU this past eekend, he came back saying that he’s still committed to Florida.
Another current Gators commit, defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan, has been recruited more by linebackers/special teams coach D.J. Durkin.
Sunday, Urban Meyer called Chickillo, who is upset with the firing of Miami coach Randy Shannon, and told him that he’ll be personally recruiting him from here on out. That’s pretty big when the head coach makes you a priority. Meyer said after the Florida State loss that he plans to crank up the heat on recruiting, and going after a guy like this is definitely a way to show that.
One guy to keep an eye on is Lake City Columbia defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan. He’s still looking at Florida, but has LSU, Alabama, Florida State and Michigan as his top four schools. McCarney was a part of his recruitment, and whenever he’s talked about Florida he always mentioned McCarney as a guy he talked to a lot. Jernigan will be another guy whom Meyer puts the full-court press on. He was Meyer’s guy from the beginning, but Meyer’s interaction with him will only increase.
Would it make sense to go after Randy Shannon as DC. He’s a proven coordinator and he would be an asset as far as recruiting goes. Just an idea.
Thanks Ed.
losing dan is a joy to my hear what the hell has he donr with all of the good players that he coach answer nothing he spent most of his dam time trying to be a head coach and could not recurite are coach the line was under coach all year long by him leave i an glad as hell i hope he take some more of the shit of a staff
What do you think would be the impact on recruiting if there is a change in the Offensive Coordinator position?
Thanks.
Curious to know how you feel about Meyer’s involvement this year. Is he really as clueless as he seems as of late?
What was the deal with our shoes/cleats in Doak? Didn’t notice the Noles having any slippage issues, but it was quite obvious something was amiss with our footing.
Thanks, Ed. Of guys committed elsewhere, which other ones are most likely to receive the “full-court press” from Meyer? How about the uncommitted ones?
Anybody know when he’s going to be replaced? or Who were interviewing for the line position?
Ed, Thanks for the ongoing insight on everything recruiting. Given the disappointing season that culminated with the awful performance in Tally, I need some good news to get me through. Can you give us a realistic opinion on any of the key recruits out there that we might actually get?
Everyone is griping about our performance scaring recruits away but it might actually help since they can see playing time early
Our Dl has tsruggled the last two seasons under McCarney, and IMO, good luck to him at UNT, but good riddance too. McCarney has been placing his resume’ in the HBC’ing pot the last two years showing that he doesn’t really want to be at UF, and we’re better off without an assistant who isn’t focused on his job.
Interaction is GREAT and ned but what we need are coaches that coach. Top 5 recruiting classes for over five years. Somebody needs to coach these recruits. I feel like the WHOLE TEAM including coaches have grown comfortable. Urban said Addazio will definitely be back… So much for taking a look at Addazio’s performance and evaluating him at the end of the season. During the year,after a lose, Urban said, “… we have to work harder…” Maybe they need to work smarter. Coach ’em up Urban and let’s see these top recruiting classes pay off.
Did anyone on that defensive line get better over the last two years?
Lets get a recruiter, teacher, who wants to be a gator, not ride the gravy train…. and throw in o coordinator that gets receivers the ball in space.. and a QB coach.. the 4m/yr clock is ticking…
When you are behind in the 4th quarter 31 to 7 with under 10 minutes to play, you have to be able to throw the ball to the end zone or at least 20 to 30 yards down the field ..don’t think you should be running the ball EVERY down…geez
I’ve been wanting to ask for a while and it seems that with Pagan decommitting it’s timely: Does the UF staff perhaps emphasize too much recruitment out of state? It just seems like when you’re already dealing with not fully matured 18-year-olds (note I didn’t say immature, although some may be) it increases risk going out of state. It’s hard enough dealing with kids at college for the first time, let alone homesick ones. It seems to me that we could do just as well recruiting nothing but FL and GA players (like Spurrier used to) and we’d be just as fine. I’m not talking about grabbing the occasional superstar like Harvin from Va. Beach, but we go out of state a lot.
Why not bring in a bonifide offensive co-ordinator…one that is very versed in the vertical passing game as well as the spread option…let Addazio coach the offensive linemen…
Pagan’s decommitting looks like a blessing. From the sound of it, he seemed more interested in getting back to the recruiters fawning over him to feed an ego problem, and as we’ve seen from this season, the Gators already have a good share of those. Besides, with the knee surgery, he could be damaged goods. I’d like to see more focus on guys like Trey Burton, regardless of how many stars they have. Burton is a kid who absolutely wanted to be a Gator, and loves to play winning football. Put 22 of those guys out on the field, and you might have some fun and win some games.
Congratulations and good luck to Dan McCarney! I always enjoyed his “attitude and presence” which came through during interviews. He struck me as a “people person.” I guess that’s why he’s such a “player’s coach.” North Texas has acquired a gem!
ON ANOTHER NOTE:
FYI, Gator Nation —
Lest we become unreasonably infatuated with Urban Meyer due to his early success – and acquire a blind spot – let’s see how he stacks up to The Ole Ball Coach’s stats.
Meyer’s winning percentage at UF is presently 81.01% (as of 11/28/10; after the “Joke at Doak”). If he wins the upcoming Bowl game, his winning percentage will be 81.25% (six full years, including Bowl games).
BEHOLD, S.O.S.’s Gator stats (per Wikipedia):
>Spurrier’s 12 year UF winning percentage (incl. Bowls) was 81.67%!
>Playing one less game per season than now, he NEVER won less than 9 games!
>He’s one of only two Coaches to have won 10+ games six years in a row!
>He averaged 10.21 wins/year. [again, playing 1 less game/year]!
>With the exception of his very first WEEK as the Gators’ new Head Ball Coach, he was NEVER ranked outside the top 25 at any point!
>He NEVER finished any season ranked outside of the top 15!
>He finished in the top ten 9 times!
>Had 5 top five finishes!
>His AVERAGE end-of-season rank was 6.8!
>Of his 6 SEC Championship victories, four were consecutive! [his longest “dryspell” was three years].
>And, he was SEC Coach of the Year 5 times!
For Urban Meyer to merely MATCH Spurrier’s number of SEC Championship victories (in 12 seasons), he will have to WIN 4 of the next six!
Urban, you’ve got your work cut out for you!
Gator Nation, I’m just sayin’,… for perspective sake.
IGTBAG!
Ciao
PS: As much as I disliked his two quarterback system in his latter seasons with us, and the way he abruptly quit, reading Spurrier’s Wikipedia profile REALLY “took me back” to those glory days, and reminded me of just how good we had it. We grew complacent, and perhaps even Steve did, but at least he lasted 12 years.
As the sayings go, hindsight being 20/20, you rarely realize what you had until it’s gone.
THANK YOU, STEVE SPURRIER!
@Edward Aschoff —
Please explain Red-shirt rules. Can Mack Brown (still) be Red-shirted?
Thanks!
IGTBAG!
Ciao
Come home Kerwin!!
I think Pagan will be back in the fold as soon as we get a new DL coach. That said, Meyer has taken on the recruitments of Pagan and Tim Jernigan personally.
Ed,
I was wondering if you have watched ESPN’s latest 30 for 30 film documenting Marcus Dupree? I have often thought that the recruiting process these days is nothing but a clown show. It probably is, but after watching this it made me realize that recruiting 30 years ago was even worse. There just was not the coverage and access to all that took place. I have watched many of these films and this was one of their best so far. In your lifetime who would you say is the best overall recruit that you have watched?
Ed,
Should Pagans’ decommitment be something to fret about or do you think he will recommit in the end and does McCarneys’ departure play a role in his decision being that he is the DL coach? Also, what other top D-lineman, besides Jernigan, do you believe UF has a pretty decent chance of landing? possibly Ray Drew out of Ga?
Great article Ed!
quickenedspirit, I’m not sure what bringing up SOS has to do with recruiting, but your last comment in the PS is EXACTLY what you will be saying about Meyer if he were to leave. Spurrier came into the SEC when offenses were slow and played 3 yards and a cloud of dust – it was the perfect storm. The SEC is much different now and harder to obtain championships. Which is why people should be thankful we have a coach that has not only brought us two SEC Championships but two NC’s. No, we’d rather think about how he stacks up against a former coach or talk about how wonderful it would be to have someone else. As you said, I’m just saying….
If Urban wants to “rebuild” and compete in the SEC I think he will need to run more of a pro style offense. By doing so he will be able to attract a bigger type running back and big time wide receivers. As it stands now…these recruits look to other programs
Ed, are we still in it for Pagan, or has he completely dropped us from consideration? Thanks.
With all due respect Todd, Right about now, I dont feel that Meyer’s coat tails are as large as they were a couple years ago. I do not think that him talking to Jernigan will convince him to commit to UF after the DL coach who had the most contact left AFTER he had already dropped UF out.
“Doug” A better question would be what is the impact if Urban does NOT make a change at offensive coordinator. Would you want your kid IF you thought he had any chance of all to move on to the pro level to learn under Adazzio’s tutelage?
I wonder how many recruiters for our offense will be getting doors slammed in their face with Adazzio in control of this offense?
I bleed gator blue and orange, but i was embarrased by that offense this year!I hate tenn, but they had alot of true freshman playin and they got better and better. Steve adazzio has got to go , period end of storey!Even with tebow, our offense struggled at times, and tebow bailed us out time after time! We are getting worse instead of better, time for urban to take control of his team!
Ed,
Not specifically Pagan, but if a player de-commits how often does the staff let him go or do they still recruit the player?
With the earlier comparison of Meyer and Spurrier by quickenedspirit we need to take some things into consideration. First, Spurrier only won one national title and Urban has won two. Second, Spurrier was not coaching against 3 or 4 other national championship coaches. I know this is a down year, but gator fans show some loyalty and support!! Is there any other coach you want besides Meyer? He is the only one with 2 NC in the last 5 years. I agree that Addazio needs to go, or at least stay on as OL coach and not at OC but show some love for Coach Meyer!!!
LOGICAL, Jrenigan most definitely still has UF in his choices, but from what opthers are saying now, that DL recruit Chikillo who was leaning to Miami is open now because Shannon was fired, and now Meyer is working on him more than Pagan.
are you people serious? this was a rough year for urban and it started before last years bowl game and i think it is over, you people who bitch about the way things are are so fair weather it is insane. geez give the guy a break, we thought he was god year before last so go smoke a cigarette or something and let the man do his job. your identity should not be wrapped up in this crap anyways and I was a walk on in the early 90’s so i can say whatever …
Randy Shannon would not be a bad idea for Defensive Coordinator. He has the experience, and he could easily lockdown the Miami area for recruiting. This would be a great catch for the GATOR NATION…
Addazio should go…and maybe Urban too….Come on Foley…do something…never should have talked Urban into that ” leave of abscence”….
was a FB coach at Hayesville, NC and summer camped at APP State where we were lead by the BEST teacher/coach, motivator, recruiter, DL coach we have ever been a part of!!! he was hired last year by South Carolina and I’m sure he would be interested in UF job…the App coaches often came down to UF and watched, learned from UM…please pass on the info to those seeking the new DL coach…thanks, Coach DeWitt ‘UF 69’