National Signing Day 2017

[jdh5484]

@Gator_Alum: Austin Perry out of Orlando accepted a preferred walk on offer today. Saw some Brandon James comparisons ..

That would be a fantastic pick-up. A real weapon at PR can be a threat every time and changes the way opposing teams call their offense. It would be nice to have "special" special teams again.

 

[gatorgrad'02]

Well photo bucket is not working so I will have to add it as an attachment. It's on the rivals website.

Odd this is how it shows up for me (and has for the last 25 to 30 minutes).

 

[GBHOR]

Nope. Not me. They want to win as much or more than anyone else here. They are two passionate Gators who have only been calling it like they see it. If they lost hope at some point that Mac could pull out a top 10 class... can you blame them? They had no reason to believe Mac could turn it around this year after he came up so short on NSD the last 2 years, and all the negative recruiting news that came out along the way this year. I didn't think he would close as strong as he did. Mac definitely earned some respect today. And some grace for next year's NSD results (if he's still here).

And can you blame them, or anyone else's, overall frustration with the program as a whole? Like most everyone else, I have a feeling they got tired of watching botched abortions pretending to be football games on Saturdays in the Fall for the last 7 years. I know I have. I'm ready to see us FINALLY turn the corner.

Is today a time to rejoice? Yep. Did Mac finally do something that resembles what a Gators head coach should do? Yep. Like I said last week, a top 10 recruiting class should be a given at The University of Florida. This is the standard. We should be pleased with this class, and satisfied that he finally lived up to the demands of his job. I have a feeling that Mac finally learned his lesson. Perhaps he won't be the last to the dinner table for next year's recruits, and maybe we can sign a class in the top 3. Hopefully today was a very good first step towards rebuilding the Gators into a national powerhouse once again. I'm still pretty nervous about what we see on the field next year, but like everyone else here, I welcome these young men into the family, and I'll always cheer for the Gators.

, the product on the field is where the rubber meets the road, so hopefully he can coach'em up, if not it's a good class for the next guy.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

That kid is a dooshenozzle. I sure hope we dont give him any last minite offers.

No chance we take him

 

[BMF]

Lots of positive articles out there about the class and the strong finish.

We need two good coaching hires.....and we need to see an offense & QB this year. It's "his" team now. Time for him to show us what he's made of. I'd also like to see Nord get his walking papers (can't believe that guy is still employed by us).

 

[GatorJ]

Lots of positive articles out there about the class and the strong finish.

We need two good coaching hires.....and we need to see an offense & QB this year. It's "his" team now. Time for him to show us what he's made of. I'd also like to see Nord get his walking papers (can't believe that guy is still employed by us).

This. I'm hearing Friday. Is that what everyone else is hearing?

 

[GatorStud]

Pleasant surprise and some off season excitement now. Like I said, we appear to be a kick returner and QB with some vision/moxy away from being quite formidable. Congrats Coach.

 

[BMF]

Pleasant surprise and some off season excitement now. Like I said, we appear to be a kick returner and QB with some vision/moxy away from being quite formidable. Congrats Coach.

Well, I wouldn't go that far. We still need depth on the DL - especially at DT....we need to replace 2 All-American CB's.....we need to replace an All-SEC LB. So, I expect we'll take a few lumps on D. I'm glad we got some playing time for our younger guys w/ all the injuries, so we won't go into the season totally green/inexperienced. But we're more than a QB and KR away....

 

[AugustaGator]

Well, I wouldn't go that far. We still need depth on the DL - especially at DT....we need to replace 2 All-American CB's.....we need to replace an All-SEC LB. So, I expect we'll take a few lumps on D. I'm glad we got some playing time for our younger guys w/ all the injuries, so we won't go into the season totally green/inexperienced. But we're more than a QB and KR away....

Agree. So we will see how well he coaches.

I have my doubts. Also had doubts on Mac's ability to recruit/close. I was wrong here. Let's hope I am wrong on his coaching ability too. I will say, the bowl game results give me much more hope than I have had in over a year. Mac has done a great job with the Team and keeping a clean program. He makes me proud here and overall glad he is here.

 

[GatorStud]

Well, I wouldn't go that far. We still need depth on the DL - especially at DT....we need to replace 2 All-American CB's.....we need to replace an All-SEC LB. So, I expect we'll take a few lumps on D. I'm glad we got some playing time for our younger guys w/ all the injuries, so we won't go into the season totally green/inexperienced. But we're more than a QB and KR away....

No, I hear you... guess my take is on the O-side in my head... a weapon on the transitions and a QB that can see the opens we had running around free last season should bode well or at least better entertainment. Agree, the agony may come more from the D next season, but with the absolute pleasant surprise in moving up in the rankings today... hell, I'm throwing out some kudos and pumping bravado for the day

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

I'll take the Florida kids all day every day. If we did this 2 or 3 classes in a row, we'd be sitting pretty.

 

[BMF]

Are there still reports that we may add another recruit??

 

[TLB]

http://www.hudl.com/profile/3963517/austin-perry

Twitter handle is @Gator_Austinp23

I'm thinking he was a Florida lean hoping we had room

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Therefore, they have a lot more invested in being correct. When you insist that you are absolutely correct to the point that everyone not with you is the enemy, then you can never fully admit that you were wrong. If you did, by definition, you would be one of the worthless morons.

Please, your list of predictions for this signing class was worse than The Bowl's. I know he got less than 10% correct.

This is a mehhh class, below average by UF standards. I don't think we ever finished 5th in the SEC prior to Butters except in years we fired a coach. Sadly this is his best class. It would be the worst class for the last four coaches.

I'm glad we got some nice, talented DL with size. I hope Jrob and Lemons can qualify and remain eligible bc they might be special if they do.

This reminds me a lot of the lowered expectations of the program in general. Now many view 4 losses as acceptable and finishing behind 5 rivals in recruiting acceptable.

With Mac it's always one step forward, two steps back. Or one step forward, one step back and two steps to the side.

I don't play the lowered expectations game. Jim Donnan land isn't where the Gators should be.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Twitter handle is @Gator_Austinp23

I'm thinking he was a Florida lean hoping we had room

We will have room. At least we are being honest with him.

We also need to be honest about some of the kids on the roster that shouldn't be here.

 

[Gator2222]

Please, your list of predictions for this signing class was worse than The Bowl's. I know he got less than 10% correct.

This is a mehhh class, below average by UF standards. I don't think we ever finished 5th in the SEC prior to Butters. It would be the worst class for the last four coaches.

I'm glad we got some nice, talented DL with size. I hope Jrob and Lemons can qualify and remain eligible bc they might be special if they do.

This reminds me a lot of the lowered expectations of the program in general. Now many view 4 losses as acceptable and finishing behind 5 rivals in recruiting acceptable.

I don't play the lowered expectations game. Jim Donnan land isn't where the Gators should be.

Thank you for confirming my point

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

All in all, this was a good class on paper. We finished n the top 10, right within the top 10-12 range I referenced earlier this week as being the minimum acceptable range for us to be competitive. Not a perfect class but still solid and I'm not going to nitpick a lost player here or there. We hit on many of our needs and landed quite a few in state guys. If we can replicate or exceed this class next year and these kids play up to expectations and keep them in the program then we should correct our talent deficiencies pretty quickly. The coaches now need to show us they can coach, too. If we can put an exciting product on the field, we'll start to see our recruiting trending upward even more to where we are making a play for top 5 classes like I previously mentioned. The negatives, as Gator J and Alcoholica mentioned earlier in the thread is that we were scrambling at the end to pull this class out. Glad we did it but I'd like to see us have more elite players locked up earlier in the cycle. The process definitely appeared to be a shyt show, to borrow Alky's comment. Mac also needs to get the staff right...no excuse to still have vacancies on the staff at this time of year and he also needs to make some tough decisions on a few guys still on staff. All in all, though, it was a strong finish and a good class.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Thank you for confirming my point

Have a virtual beer on me, old pal.

 

[NavetG8r]

http://www.hudl.com/profile/3963517/austin-perry

Looks like he's taller, and more physical than Brandon James. He's got good wheels, but I really can't tell if he's got BJ speed or not. He does run down a few guys and stop TDs in a few of those highlights.

 

[Gator2222]

Have a virtual beer on me, old pal.

Going to get a real one soon. You should be in Gainesville to celebrate a good signing day with us. The scenery at night in Gainesville is something to be seen.