UF recruiting news and notes for this week

So basically, this recruiting cycle is starting to look like an empty bag of fruit snacks

There seems to be a recurring theme here with recruiting out-of-state kids who choose the local school. Why are we spending so much time out of state? Many of Florida’s three and four stars can be all-conference anywhere in the country.

I think hunter is on NCSAsports.org web site and on http://www.hudl.com

Micah> LOL All i can say right now is if Champ and company were putting more effort in to Cook instead of other RB’s we wouldn’t be playing keep away now.

We’re coming off a disastrous season in which many on these boards and elsewhere derided the coach, giving him nicknames to depict him as stupid and a chill. The OC and OL positions are vacant in what figure to be Muschamp’s most important decisions of his career. Is it any surprise recruits might shun us ?

All of this negatism towards Muschamp could very well cost us the signatures of some of these recruits. Did anyone read the posting and the link by Carlos Alvarez a few weeks ago that addressed the need for Gator fans to stop the negativism towards Muschamp and stand by the team.

Muschamp has fired coaches Smith and Peace. Isn’t that enough for now? Changes have been made. Can’t Fla fans stand by and unite around the program now and quit the negative postings about Muschamp before more recruits possibly bail and decommit. If I was a young recruit I would probably keep away from a program with all this discord. If I could see a lynch mob and buzzards in the sky, I would probably go somewhere else. I apologize for this terrible analogy.

about gator basketball.
What the front court will look like in 2014-2015 season?

Gatormac don’t blame posters on this sight or any other, we had a Super poor performance on the field and that’s the caose of the poor recruiting if you want to call it that. It was ok last year to call Muschamp the savior or the genius and the greatest thing since football was invented. I twas ok to give him praise and credit, not when you get this horrible season and the posters complain, you blame it on the people not the fact that we looked like Sh.. on offense ALL YEAR and wore out an very good defensive team by leaving them on the field to DIE for twelve game in a row. The whole year we struggled against anyone we lined up against, recruits saw the same thing and many of them did not want to be associated with what we were presenting them with. Let’s be realistic about our BLAME GAME. GO GATORS!!!!

Even without Cook, this will still be a stellar recruiting class. It would be very optimistic to think we can turn Cook back around, but it’s still also very possible. He was a die-hard Gator recruiting for us a few months ago.

Look everyone . I dont think recruits are going to abandon UF becasue of one bad season. If anything it will help cause they feel they can contribute early. Idk that foruns blasting the coaches really matter either. Each one has there pref whether it be championships, early playing time, childhood fav, or just the coaches in general. Muschamp ,durkin and trob can recruit very well and we will still have a top 10 class even with the lower number of scholarships.

I didn’t mean to use the word “chill”. Auto-correct did me in. It ‘s calling our coach “chump” and other personally derogatory names that falls me. I agree with you all, that some of our “fans” have run off recruits and are likely doing more long-term damage than our team’s avalanche of injuries and 4-8 season have done. I was a classmate of Carlos Alvarez,
had a handful of buddies on the 1971 team. Not only was the victory over Tennessee memorable, but a 20-14 loss to Tennessee was followed by our home crowd sending our losing squad off with a standing ovation. I hope you guys above and others can set the tone for our program’s positive future .

Cook would be nice, but do we really need him that bad? IMO, no we don’t. Sharpe is a must get. Hopefully, he picks us and sticks. We need O-line guys more than anything.

I am not sure that the 4 and 5 star recuits take time to log on the Gainesville Sun’s website and see what the bloggers are saying about Gator sports.
Don’t think they give a rat’s behind about what I or you think.

I’ve been saying stop hating on the coaches and program for over 3 months, calling your HC out and makes these kids uncomfortable…Some spoiled fans need to control their thumbs and thoughts when dissing their favorite football program…#SUPPORTGATORS

I’m not so sure Cook is off the table for us….

Think about it from his perspective: He’s been getting an earful from SCum that he ought to stay home and play with the home-town team (also hearing it from his HS teammates who committed to SCum).

And, from halfassu he’s hearing that he needs to go play for national championships with a program that’s on the rise and (will likely) be fielding the He15man trophy winner.

From both of them, he’s hearing Florida is washed up and on the way down and out, the fans are all over their coaching staff and players, and that we can’t be satisfied with anything even knowing that so many players were injured.

And, it’s only been getting worse as the season has gone along.

Cook is one smart cookie, he’s going to wait until he hears who we hire as OC to ensure it’s a system that fits his running style, then he’ll want to know who the OL coach is going to be so he knows the philosophy of the guy who’s teaching his “protection plan.”

Who is going to be the center next year?

For BSJGator, Since Cook is supposedly an early enrollee, him waiting until the Gators have new coaches is not encouraging for UF since Muschamp has made it known that the hiring will not be done until after bowl season. I don’t know when Early enrollees must sign, but the delay in knowing who the coaches will be is not helpful to the Gators holding onto him.

Lots of good posts today. I agree with the overall theme — the negativity is unnecessary and a waste of time/effort, if for any reason because these posters are having absolutely ‘0’ impact on the AD’s decision to keep or fire the coach. If Muschamp turns in another 11-1 or 10-2 season next year, these same posters will deny they authored any of this junk. As far as recruiting, Nole Al is right, these kids aren’t basing their decision on what a bunch of corporate time stealing weasels are posting on message boards like this.

Wow the negativity has reach epic proportions of ignorance. Are we seriously gonna try to paint this as a terrible class when we’re going to finish with a top ten class including the likes of Grier, Lane, Sharpe, and Adoree Jackson! That’s a pretty darn good class if you ask me. Seriously guys! It’s OK to hold the coaches accountable and expect the best, but there’s a line between that and just blindly hating and finding a way to trash the team on every post. When you do that you become an extremely terrible fan. Yes this season was bad. No everything is not lost. Start acting like Gators and stick by your team instead of trashing them every 2 seconds. Glad I’m not the only one getting frustrated by over negativity.

I might be concerned more about Ermon Lane closing at this point…..

I think that we all need to concentrate on the recruiting class coming in as well as the upcoming season. I’m telling you guys that my gut says that DC stays on board. Period, point blank. He won’t let his fellas down i.e. Lane, Quincy, Grier, & Lammons. Those guys are tight & he wants to play with them so there-my 2cents. The field is now wide open, especially if Saban goes to Texas that could open the door for some defections to the side of UF. I think he has an OC in mind but for some reason is waiting, which I don’t agree with. All in all it will be a great haul once again for the orange & blue. GO GATORS!!!

Somehow get the word out for the Gators to take a look at RB Matt Colburn of Dutch Fork highschool in Columbia, SC. He lead the team to the state championship this year and will lead them again next year as a senior. Already has speed, strength and moves and should get bigger next year.

Glad to see there are lots of folks out there that are also tired of all the repetitive negative posts from some people. Count me as another Gator Fan that is looking forward and pulling for WM to succeed!

Folks, Muschamp said that he was waiting until after the bowl season to announce a new OC. He never said he was waiting until after the bowl season to hire one. As far as we know, the ink is dry. That would also enable him to let Cook and Lane know so that they could make educated decisions.

All great points, we had one bad year, move on. I’ll take what we had this season and our awesome history over what FSWho and whatever the team from South Florida who play in the Almost Competitive Conference have right now. Two NC under Meyer and back to back in basketball are once in a lifetime. WM is awesome and I’m proud to have him as coach. FSWho will be good this year and next year and when Winston goes pro they’ll be average again. We all get the occasional Tim Tebow. /// All the haters and illiterate fans go someplace else. /// Jim Horsen, you’re a moron. This is a football blog and basketball just knocked off Kansas. You’re the most confused person of all on here.

Doesnt matter fsu has the greatest football team in history of the sport we’ll take any player we want,Georgia Southern says hi.Just deciding out of Bo, Dalvin,or Fort,they are fighting to be noles.Uf will never win more than 7 games a year your through as a program.

why do we go for so many out of staters when we live in the best state for athletes. not trying to be negative , it seems nothing muschamp does make sense.

Muschamp is going to have to first prove that he can score points with the players he already has (and we have a lot of good ones, at least they were when recruited, but that’s off point). Freshman instant starters like Timmy and Percy Harvin aren’t coming through the door. Muschamp will pull in some players by virtue of playing time, which may be his only carrot until they announce the OC. It’s doubtful we’ll sign a top-10 class, maybe even not top-20, but probably not much worse than that. It’s doubtful we’ll get some of the explosive skill players we need (although I do think we land that TE, and Grier is certain). It’s 100% in his control, and if he and a new OC can just get the offense to something reasonable — how about trying for a top 40 offense — then they’ll have some selling points for the following year. In fact, we’re probably going to lose some offensive transfers, and of the injured guys there’s no doubt going to be some who don’t rehabilitate as hoped. And I agree with people who think we should focus mostly on FL and GA players. Yeah, Percy and Hernandez and some other gems came from out of state, but you could field a championship team almost exclusively from South Florida alone, let alone the whole state.

We have the number 11 class right now, according to ESPN, and we’re going to sign more great players like Sharpe and Adoree Jackson. Barring any major signing day gets for other teams, we will most likely be a top 10, or at the very least very close to top 10.

I for am excited! We have our head coach who is one year removed from going 11-2 (yes Will Muschamp did this). We have damn near our entire offense coming off a year of rest and rehab which is something other teams would die for. And we are already in the too 10-12 in recruiting. <– this and there are a TON of recruits considering us! Most recruits are waiting till the UA game, or later, to announce so we will use the excitement of a new OC right before the game to get some momentum back our way. I hate losing like the rest if you but we have to loosen up a little but and come back down to earth. Yes these kids might not read these comments but the do hear the people yelling negatively in the stadium and experience the atmosphere before/after as well. I'm not saying give Champ a pass but I am saying quit booing the coach(es) and start cheering for our team.

I’m a Gator fan living in MD, not nappy how the season went this year…hell I even spent quite a bit of $$$ to fly down for opening weekend! But nothing negative here to say from me! I will be a Gator fan for life, been rooting for the Gators for 36 years now & there have been some rough years & great years….we will be back!! It’s beating a dead horse….but injuries killed us, if someone has an answer for curing injuries…then step up!! If a recruit is gonna sway away…good luck somewhere else, we need guys who WANT to be a Gator!

Last year Auburn was 3-9 and Bama had just won back to back national championships. How did Auburn’s fans do it? How did their recruits actually believe they would turn the corner? Some of you don’t have any future vision of what it takes to get there.

Hey fsu20 whatever-try a little grammatical tact next time you’re trolling around. The crimmies are gonna get trucked by the Malzahn express next month & I can’t wait to see the pain on wimpston’s & bimbo’s face when it does. Go away & come back when you can’t stay longer. GO GATORS!!!!

Muschamp should be chasing more home grown talent. Go back and look at the success Spurrier had – he primarily offered FL kids. Remember when UGA had all the higher rated classes and couldn’t beat us on the field?

I know it’s tempting to chase the stars (especially with so many so called fans – criticizing every move), but the fact is RS & develop the home grown kid – who will go through a wall for the Gators and his state.

That’s one of the key elements to getting back on top.

I wonder how good Sharpe is? If it is true that UGA and FSU have backed off him. Is there a reason for that? He’s very highly rated, but it seems there is more interest in Kelly from Havana, who is not rated highly, with offers from LSU, UF, FSU, etc. Offensive line is UF’s top priority, especially with the possible transfer of two scholarship offensive linemen. The numbers at offensive line are getting alarmingly thin. Will there be Juco’s signed? It seems that would be a high priority as bodies that can play now are desperately needed. Is there any idea who will be the center next year? To have a good O-line, I believe ythe most important psition is center.

For BRGF, you have been delusional all year. If you had been even close to being right at any time, you would be taken seriously. Please come down to earth and quit drinking the Kool-Aid. I can always count on you to be wrong, I feel confident that whatever you say, the opposite will happen. I expect that you will tell us that Jeff Driskel will be an All- American next year, etc.

@Harold – agree 100%. As for the injuries, my neighbor is an MD that does shoulders, hips, and (some) knees. I got some input on the connective tissue injuries we were plagued with this year. He said there is nothing you can do from a training perspective. If these guys were part of the general population one could make the argument that they happened because the guys were not in shape, however, these are young guys that are the best of the best as far as being physically fit. Bottom line, there is nothing the S&C coach could have done to prevent this — it was all just dumb (bad) luck.

GATORMAC, recruits, for the most part, could care less what fans on internet message boards think. They see relationships with coaches, playing time, and how many kids go to the NFL through a particular school. Bad talk doesn’t run most of them away.

@TJ: Positive is good. But temper expectations. Espn has us 11 but Rivals is at 16 and Scout 17, so there’s a lot of play and interpretation in the numbers. Plus we’re counting chickens before they hatch. My point is whether we get a number 10 class or number 20 class matters a heck of a lot less compared to what Muschamp and the new OC do with the talent we already have. Grier is the critical need along with QB development. We can pencil in a Driskel injury in 2014 given that he’s yet to go a full season healthy, so the new OC will have to make Murph, Staver, Mornhinweg or Grier a solid #2.
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Sgatorade7: “How did Auburn’s fans do it? How did their recruits actually believe they would turn the corner?” Well, they fired their coach… So I’m not sure if your argument is meeting the conclusions you intended.

snowprint-ur an absolute idiot and eveytime you go to type something on your grandma’s basement typewriter it shows. I don’t live for the negativity of you & whoever else feels it necessary to constantly blast guys for not doing whatever it is that you want or expect them to. Champ does what he does to the best of his ability & if I feel as though Driskle will pan out then that’s my opinion. Positivity works & we need less negative joes like you patrolling these sites. At least my posts are positive and uplifting towards recruits and our returning players. Stop all of the bashing-don’t you think theyve heard enough of that already w/o you piling on from the basement?? Go troll om the noles sight or something. Geeesh…GO GATORS!!!!

now-before I was so rudely interrupted by snowprint & his erratic rants…lets see what the next couple of weeks holds in the recruiting situation. After that there should be a better idea of what kind of team we should expect on the field for 2014. GO GATORS!!!

Muschamp needs to prove his closing skills with Dalvin. However, even if he chooses to go elsewhere Taylor, Jones, Brown, Showers and Lane doesn’t sound so bad.

Just heard that UF picked up Sharpe as well as Moral Stephens. Welcome to the fold fellas! You two are great additions and with hard work you can definitely see the field soon. Glad you’re on board. GO GATORS!!!!

What a nice birthday present for me to learn that we got 2 more commits
Now if WM could just announce whom our new OC & OL coaches
are then this would be a more fabulous day.

Any new news on Cook?

I want to know if UF is going to land any Juco offensive linemen. Today UF lost three scholarship linemen. To think that any freshman is going to come in and play right away is improbable. I think Tunsil was able to at Ole Miss, but that is a rare occurrence. I think Sharpe may develop and become a great player, but, as of now, has a long way to go to reach that point. He says he doesn’t want to redshirt, it looks like he may get his wish because UF was thin at offensive line before today. It’s particularly disturbing to see a player that is going to be senior with a lot of experience leave. Even if Silberman did not ever live up to the recruiting ranking out of high school, he would still be better than someone out of high school. I think UF is down to less than ten returning scholarship offensive linemen. Time to grab Juco or switch defensive linemen, but the numbers are not good on that side of the ball as well.

No coincidence none of those guys couldn’t find the field (with the exception of Silberman). We all forget that recruiting is an imperfect process. Being on the winning end of it year after year is extraordinarily difficult. Over time the odds catch up with all the great coaches…Bobby Bowden comes to mind. Best of luck to all those kids. I’m sure they will find a place at other programs. It’s a shame they didn’t work out here.

could NOT couldn’t…..it’s double negative Thursday, YEAH!

Max Staver’s departing comments indicate he wouldn’t fit with the new offense. It seems all the more likely Muschamp has clued in his team about major changes ahead for the offense. Sorry to see Staver leave– big, strong-armed, supposedly fairly mobile back at Brentwood Academy. On the other hand, our team has to move out of the moribund O of the last three years. Let’s all pull for much success in 2014.

Wishing the very best of luck to all the guys who have decided to transfer. Its unfortunate but as you have decided, it’s in your best interest. We appreciate you choosing UF over the other programs that offered you and we’ll keep an eye on the bright future ahead of you. Once a Gator, always a Gator! Thanks you and God Bless our Gators!

As long as it includes your teams a$$ all of those years fsu2014-17bcschamps I will be fine with 8 wins a season.

Great Last post TCZZ, We were delighted when those Kids signed with us and I think all of them are making intelligent choices. The situation has changed (drastically) since most of them signed and the transfers are warranted. Best of LUCK to all of them and to be honest there should be atleast three more to re-evaluate their situation here at the UF. Again, Thanks to the young men that did choose us when the clock was in their favor. Silberman was a bit puzzling to me but I’m sure he knows his situation (MUCH) better than all of us. GO GATORS!!!!

We need at least 3-4 more offensive linemen in this class. Those guys couldn’t find the field because they were projects and/or young. That’s pretty much all this staff has signed on the offensive line (projects) other than Humphries and Dunker (who is now gone). Taylor is the most significant loss because it shows how bass ackwards the (hopefully) previous offensive approach was that we redshirted the #1 TE in the country to play 2 converted DEs and then subsequently lost him to transfer. He may end up being a star in a different system. On Starver we just gotta hope that Grier is the real deal but I don’t think he projected to ever be our starter. The other guys just clear some space to sign more guys provided we get some good ones.

UF is in a hole that was created by injuries, poor coaching, and even some poor play by our players. If we believe that the negative postings of the team by Gator fans has cost us recruits, we are wrong. Everybody with their own eyes could see an offense that stunk at best, this year and last year. We just had a better defense and a little better offense last year. We all thought the offense would improve this year. Great recruits all have different reasons for choosing the school they pick. The number 1 reason is playing time on a good team that will get them exposure for the real job that they want: the NFL. Number 2 is feeling comfortable. They want to fit in and have fun. Winning mostly is fun. WM has not proven he’s a great coach yet, he will have an opportunity next year. However, he will need a good recruiting class to make that happen and he will need to install confidence and a winning spirit into the entire team. Recruits have to believe Will is capable of doing this in order to take a leap of fate with Will and the Gator program. How many of you out there would be willing to put your entire future in Will’s hands while looking at other programs? Fans did not create Will’s problems, Will did. Telling all fans how they should feel and react is not the answer. The answer is on the field and how many kids buy into the new approach.

The time has come to put the prior season behind us. The way I see it, there is nowhere to go but up. We will have a young team next year, and will have some growing pains, but I can see us getting back on the winning track in 2014, and being a top 10 contender in 2015 and onward. Putting together a successful offense is key, but I believe Muschamp is going to pull the defense back together into an elite unit, and if that happens, an offense in at least the 40’s will bring us a lot of wins.

I think this season would have been a lot different if we had beaten Miami and if Driskell had not gotten hurt. I think he will be the starter next season. Everyone got down on Driskell after Miami because of the turnovers, I think the fact remains is that all QB’s turn the ball over from time to time. Last season 11-2. I think we will be in good hands next season with a healthy Driskell. I think sitting out the rest of this season he learned a lot watching everything. Anyway, if he had played I think we would have been better than 4-8. Think about it before you start bashing my comments. GoGators 2014.

@GoGator – not kicking field goals when we had the chance was what lost the UM game. We knock through 2 FG’s, we win. Coach had no choice but to put it all on Driskell’s shoulders deep in UM territory, something he didn’t have to do in 2012.

So, a winning record is acceptable next year? That’s ridiculous, this is the University of Florida. Five years ago we were the top program in the nation. Now we just want to be as good as Vanderbilt? So, the way to earn your 2.8 million dollars is to be sooooooo atrocious that the bar gets lowered so far that just being bad is good enough. We were a top 10 preseason team that lost to Georgia Southern. A team that got hammered by Furman. Give me a break. He either wins the SEC East next year or he needs to go away. Keep giving him a pass and we turn into Tennessee. No thanks. Go Gators.

fsu20 is funny, I’ll hand him that. This year’s fsu team is the greatest team that has gone undefeated against a #70 ranked strength of schedule with a rapist QB.

Always interesting to see how “win at all or any cost” is all that is important to them.

For Gator Todd, Why so bitter? FSU plays the SEC champion, surely there is no chance they can win. As far as the comment about Winston, that is childish and reflects badly on you. He wasn’t even charged, much less convicted. How would you like someone to call you a child molester and have people believe it when there is no proof that it is true. Give Winston his due, if you were at UF’s last game, you have to be a fool to not realize how good the kid is. He may be the best to ever play the game, time will tell, but I’ve seen nobody do what he has done so far in their career. If he dominates the SEC champion, you will look very small or unintelligent. I don’t know which way to categorize you now, but I suggest getting a dose of reality, Don’t go off the deep end if Winston doesn’t have a bad game, he hasn’t yet.

Dustin that was a great post and I agree with you whole heartedly. Some want to sweep a horrible season under the rug and gets offended when someone criticizes Champ. But I agree with NOT accepting mediocrisy. We are and have built over the years a much better history of a GREAT program, and if Will doesn’t get the job done next year under whatever circumstances, “hit the road”.
GATOR TODD, I respect you and most of your posts, “BUT” PLEASE read SNOWPRINTS (whom I usually don’t agree with) post carefully, this time I think he is “SPOT ON”. GO GATORS!!!!