Florida’s 2018 class continues to see wide receivers drop out like flies.
Tyquan Thornton, a 6-foot-3, 170-pound pass catcher out of Booker T. Washington High, announced Saturday night his decision to flip his verbal commitment from the Gators to Baylor University.
..📝 #Blessed🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/QLbrnniys2
— T.Thornton4️⃣ (@Humble_Ty19) December 17, 2017
Thornton, ranked the No. 50 wide receiver by 247Sports, committed to former UF coach Jim McElwain in July following Friday Night Lights, and the transition to coach Dan Mullen apparently changed things for the four-star prospect.
With Thornton’s departure, the Gators have 11 commitments in the 2018 class, including a lone wide receiver in Corey Gammage out of Delray Beach Atlantic High.
Looks like Danny Mullen has been well received. Quite a spark!
Stunned, thought Mullen was our savior, wtf is going on? Will there even be anybody left to sign next week?
Is this all just a bad dream? Who’s got the Suicide Prevention Hotline number ?
Sounds like Homer Simpson…..”Quick, what’s the number for 911??????”. Come on men, slow down.
Dan Mullen and his first and hopefully last recruiting class are an embarrassment and laughing stock of the country. He is without question a terrible recruiter, but the AD and the UAA do very little to improve the image of this cancerous train wreck of a program. As an additional punch in the gut, Scott Starkville hates this job so badly, he is looking for the door. Mr. Starkville, go back to Cowbells and take your champion bell ringer with you.
Lol! Lol! I said moron Gator fans would run whoever we hired out of town in a couple years. This idiot wants Mullen gone before he coaches a game!! I hate being associated with these imbeciles.
Gary has some points, maybe a little tough but its his opinion. Recruiting is off to a rough start. Mullen may have been a desperate hire much like Zook, maybe not, time will tell. Everyone has their own opinion. Why all the personal insults sounds like a liberal arts student who can’t get a job!!!!!
LT, if you hate being associated c the imbeciles on this forum, I think most of us would encourage you not to be. Is your self esteem actually so low that you have to constantly refer to others as morons and idiots just to feel better? It’s either time to grow up, or time to see a professional about your apparent personality deficits.
Gary, I usually appreciate your comments very much, more often than not well thought out. But this ain’t one of ’em, son! Where is the actual evidence that Mullen is a terrible recruiter? Furthermore, please cite your source(s) for him “hating this job so badly already that he’s looking for the door”?
February is still 6 weeks away. Will hold off on the Kool-Aid for now. Mac people flipping. Look at QB play last year. Trask and Allen never saw the field. Frank’s, is what he is for now. Will gladly start next year with Allen maybe even Trask. Also Wyatt Rector would sign ASAP. Gerry Bohanon or Terry Wilson may flip. Jones is just show boating. Lots of options still on the table, across the board. This will not be an overnight turn around Dec 20th-22nd. Just Breathe.
Spot on correct, Skip. Besides, in medical terms the bleeding always stops. Disappointing, sure, but we have two each good QBs redshirted from the last class, a maturing defensive unit, and offensive players to step up c the right coaching. I believe if Mullen puts at least an 8-4 team on the board next year and a decent bowl win, the ship will right itself in short order for 2019 and beyond. Was anybody really believing we’d be back in the play-offs next year to begin with?
The headlines are always that the receiver flipped. Maybe these recruits weren’t all that great? Mullen knows what he has and what he needs and will put together a solid team. This is only the early signing period.
Wtf
You morons need to calm down. Mullen’s offense is specifically suited for certain players. He may have been up front and honest with these recruits to allow them to find a home where they fit in, because they weren’t the type Mullen wants in his offense. A lot of these flipping recruits were pro-style commits but things have changed. Personally if we lose WR now i think it it probably because they don’t want to be blocking downfield & if that’s the case, then Dueces!
This shows that Matt Coral was a better recruiter than Mediocre Mullen. Now all of us who disagree with
Pat Dooley are the Lunatic Fringe and our comments are counter productive to gator football.
Yes, you are correct, you are part of the fringe, that jumps to conclusions and thinks the world is blowing up every day you wake up. How do you survive each day in life? SMH.
This was expected. Honestly, it should be pretty clear at this point. These kids were committed to Mcloser. Corral and Thornton went to programs that are much lesser than UF. I think they are flipping the way they are to actually hurt UF. Wait until the day before they are to visit and then flip. Ole Miss lost their starting qb and second leading WR because of their NCAA problems. Corral goes there even though their starting qb transfers to michigan and may not start? Think there is a possible competition issue here for a few of these recruits. Thornton flips to Baylor, another team that has had NCAA problems recently. Baylor is a mid level big 12 team at best even when they don’t have NCAA problems. Again competition issues. I would see it as a bigger problem for Mullen if they switched to Tennessee or LSU or Texas A&M. These kids may be very good to great players but looking at the roster and knowing what may be coming in next season I think is very important to them. Both knew coming to UF was easy because McLoser couldn’t recruit. That’s why everybody was so excited about this class because it was so different from his other 3. Neither of those 2 were originally committed to UF either so them flipping shouldn’t be that big of a surprise either. The only thing that Mullen needs to prove is that he can recruit his players and win, not sign McLoser’s players. McLoser’s players and his coaching is the reason why is he no longer coaching at UF.
Good points, David. I think you guys are blaming the wrong guy. I blame Mac for this mess. Either these young men were already planning to flip, or they wanted to be part of an offense that I can’t imagine a winner wanting to be a part of. Why would they go to the programs they are going to? Did Mullen do a better evaluation of them and then cool his recruitment of them.
I know this is always concerning, and I can understand disappointment with these announcements, but some of you guys need to lose the hysteria. Give things a chance to play out. It’s only a game. And why stress about it? You can’t change it, and win or lose, we are stuck with the new coach for at least 3 years, barring something strange. Why not at least get behind the new guy for a while, and give him a chance? Try being positive about sports and life. It’s much better for your health.
100% agreed. well put. calm down people….the sun will rise tomorrow, over the east coast no less.
These are expected developments with a regime, offensive and defensive scheme change in Gainesville. Welcome to yet another Florida football program reset. These take 3-5 years at best.
No surprise we’re reaping what was sown with a head coaching change after only 2 1/2 years with a mid-season firing. Little regard was given for throwing the season away for the current players. What does that say to recruits? That’s why it is a very rare occurrence.
It’s not reasonable to expect an instant turnaround when Mullen has only been on the job for a few weeks and is clearing a train wreck.
I got news for you, mtn. These season was thrown away by the head coach, his assistants and the players. Not the coaching change. It was a total lack of player development, player commitment and coaching ability.
That should have been ‘this season’. I can’t find an edit button.
Oh, so many Chicken Littles among the Florida fans. If these “commits” thought they were getting a coach in Jim McElwain that could be successful and develop their talents then they haven’t paid attention to McElwain’s anemic offenses while at Florida. No player on the team improved from their high school level under Jim McElwain and many regressed. Good Bye and Good Riddance to the players saying they’re going elsewhere.
This kid watched the smoking, sinking garbage scow that was Nussmeir’s offense and wanted to be part of that. He saw the deranged nut that was McElwain ranting and raving about how “these players are fun to be around” as if that was all that mattered, and no doubt heard from the players here that the strength and conditioning program was a joke, and he WANTED TO BE A PART OF THAT. He watched the Michigan game and WANTED TO BE A PART OF THAT. This kid saw Nussemeir screaming out, “hitch pass! Draw play! Wide receiver screen!!!!” every week, against every team, regardless of down and distance, and he WANTED TO BE PART OF THAT. Then, Mullen comes in and says, “You won’t put on a jersey until you earn my respect. You are going to have to work super hard in the weight room, and you are going to have to be a model citizen on and off the field and HE DIDN’T WANT ANY OF THAT. Good luck to him. He knows who he is, and he is not a Gator.
@ Richard – Excellent analysis and I believe that you are hitting the nail correctly and driving it home. These kids don’t want to be a part of excellence, but instead wanted Coach MacThreat and butter tooth in charge, and telling them to have fun and steal. I would rather they leave now and we get the players that Mullen wants and will use.
Maybe it is the cup of coffee I slammed 10 seconds ago but reading your post has me fired up! Heck yea! Go Gators!
The Big 12 must be more suitable than the SEC for a this guy. He is a typical 17-18 yr old kid who has no idea what a commitment is all about. Maybe he’ll stick this time. Or, could it be that Mullen’s offense is too intimidating?
A 6′ 3” 190 lb. W.R., Gammage, over a 6′ 3” 170lb. W.R., Thorton, going to Baylor (good luck there!) doesn’t break my Gator heat at all! Come on to Hogtown, Grammage! And make a name for yourself! And hopefully, up there with the likes of Chris Collingsworth, Ricky Nattiel, Ike Hilliard, Reidel Anthony, Jacquez Green, Dallas Baker, Percy Harvin, etc… Can Baylor compare to those W.R.’s? Didn’t think so! Go Gators!
It is kind of ironic that not long ago McElwain was blamed for not being a very good recruiter, but the decommitment of his recruits is seen as a huge negative. If McElwain was really bringing in such a stellar class, then the “bad recruiter” excuse for firing him should be tempered a bit, right?
More likely, it is because McElwain’s pro-style quarterbacks and wide receivers are not the best fit for Mullen’s spread offense. Obviously. Mullen is probably honestly telling them that, so understandably these guys are going to go to places more suited for their preferred play style/skill set.
(Though I too would like to see some news about “Mullen-type” players switch to UF, rather than all this news about losing recruits.)
Corral’s defection is a big disappointment because the kid would have had nearly no competition here for the QB position next year, unless Allen or Trask turn out to be diamonds from MacYet’s rough (unlikely). I believe Corral would have started in 2018 if he kept his commitment, spread or no spread. Toney is a wild man but he’s already been hurt in limited action I don’t think he will stay healthy as a running QB. These kids that are bailing on us are going to lesser schools with smaller chances of making the NFL later on; it makes no sense what is happening right now. Sooner or later this wasteland of stupid decisions will be in the rear view mirror and we’ll get our share as the program improves from the raging dumpster fire that McYet and Nuss lit and kept throwing gas on.
And it all maybe going according to plan, Tuna. I doubt Mullen encouraged any of these kids to play. He is recruiting some tougher kids that fit his style of offense, not these soft kids McBBQ recruited.
Think 2006-2009 Gators and how much tougher that team was than the group of quitters and softies on the field the last few years.
Why do any of you respond to troll Gary??! He’s already degrading CM in his 3rd week as HBC, already hoping this is his last year.
And you take her seriously???? I’d be ashamed to call her a fellow Gator fan, but I’m comforted knowing she is no such thing. Time will prove she is a worthless loser trolling our site to tarnish the Gator Nation. Couldn’t be happier with new coach. Florida NEVER offered (ie wanted) Kelly, as he stated himself. Frost was never going anywhere other than Nebraska. We are damn lucky to get Mullen and every word and action by him so far should have us jumping for joy. So excited for our Nation!!
It’s sometimes hard to know just where Gary is coming from, JRGATOR. Sometimes he’s the voice of reason, calling for calmness, and other times he’s ranting and raving doom and gloom. I suspect “she” is a “he” though. One thing about him, however, you sure as hell can’t deny that he’s colorful! I get a kick out of some of his comments–not that I agree c them–and I do appreciate that he doesn’t personally attack others on the forum, just states his piece.