- Mar 22, 2016
- 394
- 697
My biggest positive about Mac is he is an excellent gameday coach.
1. Number 6 means little to me because if Mac doesn't hit some homeruns in recruiting this year, we'll have one of the worst defenses in the SEC in 2017.
2. We are NOT 2 deep when guys like Riles, Harkless and Mike are one injury away from significant playing time.
1) I guess it depends on what you think of as a "Home run" since recruiting stars, though definitely important in helping to assess potential talent initially for us fans, are nowhere near a real indicator on true value delivered. Otherwise Treon Harris (4 star) and Austin Hardin (5 star) would have delivered a great deal more value than say a Brian Cox, Jr. (3 star), Joey Ivie (3 star), Jarrad Davis (3 star), or Johnny Townsend (2 star). In fact there was a recent article that Coach Mac's most recent class may have several 3 stars who were underrated. (see https://www.seccountry.com/florida/...ommits-proving-to-be-better-than-their-rating).
2) The definition of 2-deep is having backups available at each position. Apparently you don't think those guys are viable options which I guess is possible, but I was referring to last year's offensive line where there were literally no backups for some positions except for platoons and using guys who to play completely outside their position (like when one of the Pouncey twins had to switch to D when Urban had a similar problem).
Ultimately I think we have far too few data points at this point to fully assess MacElwain on recruiting. Early returns, however, would seem to me to be way more positive than negative as evidenced by the article on underrated 3 stars referenced above, the large contributions from his new additions on last year's team (especially given the abbreviated recruitment period he had that year), and the very large class of early enrollees this year.
You are welcome to think otherwise if you want to (it being a free country and all) but I think your evidence is way too limited right now to be able to make a convincing case that Mac is failing in recruiting. For me the jury is probably still out but early signs look pretty positive especially when you consider that we had a solid recruiting class this year in spite of how awful we were the second half of the season last year (which is to be expected when you have a QB who can't throw and a kicker who can't kick).
P.S. I agree that Coach Mac seems to also be an excellent game day coach especially when his QB is actually able to play the position beyond being a glorified RB.