Florida’s overall talent: Bad as we think?

Hey, member that one time that a first year coach broke a streak that had been in tact since 1939? I do. Urban Meyer losing to USC in 05, another team we thought we’d never lose to - even Zook never did!!!

Guess there's nothing left to do but to have Mullen walk into Strickland's office and say...

We are in the prime of McElwain's recruiting. His last class was ranked #9, but we already lost 3 of our biggest recruits in Robinson, Lemons, and Telfort. So we have a #23 class and a #14 class from Butters and Muschamp's #8 class (which all the good players have left early or are no longer here). Then when you add poor development from Butter's crew, you can probably drop those recruiting numbers down by atleast 10 spots, but probably more.

So I don't pin this on Mullen yet. They've instilled some discipline in terms of less penalties, but that doesn't mean that they've broken all the bad habit of mediocre players. I don't think Mullen will lead us to the promise land, but at this point i'd like to get back to winning 8+ games and being stable. Then let the next guy take us to the next level. Mullen may not have won the big games at MSU, but he left it better than he found it.

SeabeeGator said:

Hey, member that one time that a first year coach broke a streak that had been in tact since 1939? I do. Urban Meyer losing to USC in 05, another team we thought we’d never lose to - even Zook never did!!!

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deuce said:

Good Coaches develop players...

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Yes, they do, but not overnight.

G8RFAN16 said:

Guess there's nothing left to do but to have Mullen walk into Strickland's office and say...

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oxrageous said:

I just read this entire thread. What I find the dumbest are the people like Doug that are completely hung up on his freaking salary. Who gives a **** what is in his weekly paycheck? How does that effect anything? A lot of coaches are overpaid, some are underpaid. The argument that “he better perform in the top X because his salary is ranked in the top X!” is just stupid. Good for his agent for fleecing our AD. Management overpaid- that’s just what they do. Get over that part of it.

I refuse to discuss what his future is here because it’s way too damn early for that. We’re stuck with him for years whether we like it or not. I’m just interested to see how the team responds this week.

As for Donkey, I rolled my eyes at him through this entire thread because he’s just trying to get a rise out of people. I mainly skim over his posts now because they are all the same. He threatens to leave but would never miss a day here spreading misery. I suggest rolling your eyes at him like I do, and if you find he’s getting your blood pressure rising too often just put him on ignore. He is going to be relentless all season so prepare yourself.

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Not a chance. The Donk needs kick back and I will provide that every chance I get.

Put Omar in with Doug as being obsessed over his being overpaid.

alcoholica said:

We are in the prime of McElwain's recruiting. His last class was ranked #9, but we already lost 3 of our biggest recruits in Robinson, Lemons, and Telfort. So we have a #23 class and a #14 class from Butters and Muschamp's #8 class (which all the good players have left early or are no longer here). Then when you add poor development from Butter's crew, you can probably drop those recruiting numbers down by atleast 10 spots, but probably more.

So I don't pin this on Mullen yet. They've instilled some discipline in terms of less penalties, but that doesn't mean that they've broken all the bad habit of mediocre players. I don't think Mullen will lead us to the promise land, but at this point i'd like to get back to winning 8+ games and being stable. Then let the next guy take us to the next level. Mullen may not have won the big games at MSU, but he left it better than he found it.

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I doubt Mac's 14th ranked 2nd class could stay in the top 30 based on performance. Quite a few of those blue chippers are playing but more like 2 stars than 4 stars.

alcoholica said:

We are in the prime of McElwain's recruiting. His last class was ranked #9, but we already lost 3 of our biggest recruits in Robinson, Lemons, and Telfort. So we have a #23 class and a #14 class from Butters and Muschamp's #8 class (which all the good players have left early or are no longer here). Then when you add poor development from Butter's crew, you can probably drop those recruiting numbers down by atleast 10 spots, but probably more.

So I don't pin this on Mullen yet. They've instilled some discipline in terms of less penalties, but that doesn't mean that they've broken all the bad habit of mediocre players. I don't think Mullen will lead us to the promise land, but at this point i'd like to get back to winning 8+ games and being stable. Then let the next guy take us to the next level. Mullen may not have won the big games at MSU, but he left it better than he found it.

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Excellent post Alcoholica, deserved more than a like.

'78 said:

Put Omar in with Doug as being obsessed over his being overpaid.

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You are supposed to get what you paid for, we paid for a top 10 coach, so did FSU... Did you see top 10 coaching adjustments on Saturday? He are two years (at least) away talent wise. But look at the decisions in game, what adjustments did you see?

I think this team will improve over the course of the season...how much is the question. Most of these players are having to adjust to having real practices and accountability when they miss assignments and don't give 100%. That's my hope. Our talent level is what it is and won't change until we do a better job of recruiting, particularly on the LOS.

We better show more of a commitment to running the ball with multiple backs including Pierce and having Franks work in practice with hitting quick slants to Grimes and Jefferson.

oxrageous said:

I just read this entire thread. What I find the dumbest are the people like Doug that are completely hung up on his freaking salary. Who gives a **** what is in his weekly paycheck? How does that effect anything? A lot of coaches are overpaid, some are underpaid. The argument that “he better perform in the top X because his salary is ranked in the top X!” is just stupid. Good for his agent for fleecing our AD. Management overpaid- that’s just what they do. Get over that part of it.

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Says the man who complained about what Butters and Muschamp were paid.....

My wife says the Gators are like dancing with the stars. Even after a season of practice, the “stars” are not in the same league as those practicing for years.

Thanks Mac

Here are the recruiting rankings of the players we fielded against UK both overall and at their position level.

QB Feliepe Franks: #54 overall #5 pro style
RB Jordan Scarlett: #117 overall #12 RB
RB Malik Davis: #436 overall #26 RB
RB Lamical Perine: #493 overall #28 RB
WR Van Jefferson (Mullen): #106 overall #11 WR
WR Tyrie Cleveland: #34 overall #3 WR
WR Trevon Grimes (Mullen): #41 overall #6 WR
WR Josh Hammond: #165 overall #35 WR
TE Cyontai Lewis: #889 overall #40 TE
TE RJ Raymond: unranked
OT Martez Ivey: #2 overall #1 OT
LG Tyler Jordan: #389 overall #7 OG
C Nick Buchanan: #1475 overall #158 OT
RG Fred Johnson: #1360 overall #140 OT
RT Jawaan Taylor: #941 overall #46 OG

Defense

DE Jabari Zuniga: #636 overall #37 SDE
DT Elijah Conliffe: #310 overall #18 DT
NT Tadarrell Slaton: #69 overall #3 OG (switched position)
DE Jachai Polite: #741 overall #33 SDE
CB CJ Henderson: #139 overall #16 CB
CB Marco Wilson (injured early): #183 overall #25 CB
DB Trey Dean (Mullen): #195 #17 S
Star Chauncey Gardner-Johnson: #42 overall #4 CB
LB Rahshad Jackson: #1665 overall #110 OLB
LB Vosean Joseph: #643 overall #42 LB
LB Jeremiah Moon: #307 overall #20 OLB
LB James Houston: #648 overall #43 OLB
S Jeowan Taylor: #357 overall #17 S
S Donovan Stiner: #767 overall #57 S



We're in for a long season boys. If you throw out Ivey's ranking, our OL average is #1041 and with him it's only #830. I'm not saying Mullen is or isn't the guy; I think a lot of people have made cases for each side in this thread, I'm just trying to honestly evaluae where we stand at this exact moment, and it's not pretty. It's not an excuse to say that Mac left the cupboards bare, it's just an honest evaluation of where we are at as a program.

The key for the rest of this year is seeing if Mullen and the staff can develop what they have, even if the talent isn't there. We need to temper our expectations and look for improvements throughout the year and a top 10 recruiting class to back fill the lack of talent. If Mullen can show improvements with the current roster, it will give me confidence in his coaching ability so that we can develop future talent.

TL: DR version; We don't have a lot of talent and Mullen is going to have to recruit his ass off to make us competitive, but it's going to take at least 2 years even if he knocks it out of the park.

David Wunderlich at GC does some Fine Works ....

Florida football film study: defense against Kentucky | GatorCountry.com

Nomadigator said:

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LoL!! Let me grab my bottle of scotch first, definitely gonna need it!

TheDouglas78 said:

You are supposed to get what you paid for, we paid for a top 10 coach, so did FSU... Did you see top 10 coaching adjustments on Saturday? He are two years (at least) away talent wise. But look at the decisions in game, what adjustments did you see?

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Again, I think he's hemmed in by the OL and a quarterback who's still searching for himself. We couldn't get anything going consistently on the ground, so he went to the air. But, no, I've never thought of Dan Mullen as a great in-game playcaller.