Recruiting UF Number Five on Rivals

[GatorJ]

Still don't.. The numbers are general population from the last 15 years. But when it comes to raw data that is in most cases already in a format that can be pumped into excel, it is easy to process and kick out.

They are for the number of athletes graded who signed LOI's.

My point was that since that is a general average you're comparing us against the general population. If you compare the general recruiting class against previous recruiting cycles for UF there is a stark difference.

And I'm not saying that that is the case with this class. Just in general. I don't have an issue with this class. I think it's pretty damn good. The majority of our three stars are DB, OL, and DL. Personally, I think Polite and Bailey are going to be stars. Bailey has been a terror off the edge his senior season. And as far as OL, it's all about depth. So as long as you sprinkle in a couple four and five star kids it's all worth it. It's a crapshoot anyway with that position. Lack of numbers at that position has forced us to put too many young kids in the line before they were ready.

DB is a bit different. Historically if you are not elite at DB you're not elite later at DB. Now maybe he found a bunch of diamonds in the rough that position. But history (and I'm not saying Mac's history, since we have none to review…) doesn't say that. Gardner is elite. But other than that, I think we are pretty mediocre at DB in this class and DBs should be clamoring to come here. One thing that I do like about the DB class is their length. Maybe the evaluation process has changed. Perhaps the NFL and their focus on tall corners is changing the evaluation and preparation side of college and Mac is ahead of the curve. I don't know.

But to your point, Chump never recruited enough bodies. We were always significantly below the scholarship numbers. Mac has done a superb job with that.

He will be closing with some big four and five star talent.

 

[TheDouglas78]

My point was that since that is a general average you're comparing us against the general population. If you compare the general recruiting class against previous recruiting cycles for UF there is a stark difference.

And I'm not saying that that is the case with this class. Just in general. I don't have an issue with this class. I think it's pretty damn good. The majority of our three stars are DB, OL, and DL. Personally, I think Polite and Bailey are going to be stars. Bailey has been a terror off the edge his senior season. And as far as OL, it's all about depth. So as long as you sprinkle in a couple four and five star kids it's all worth it. It's a crapshoot anyway with that position. Lack of numbers at that position has forced us to put too many young kids in the line before they were ready.

DB is a bit different. Historically if you are not elite at DB you're not elite later at DB. Now maybe he found a bunch of diamonds in the rough that position. But history (and I'm not saying Mac's history, since we have none to review…) doesn't say that. Gardner is elite. But other than that, I think we are pretty mediocre at DB in this class and DBs should be clamoring to come here. One thing that I do like about the DB class is their length. Maybe the evaluation process has changed. Perhaps the NFL and their focus on tall corners is changing the evaluation and preparation side of college and Mac is ahead of the curve. I don't know.

But to your point, Chump never recruited enough bodies. We were always significantly below the scholarship numbers. Mac has done a superb job with that.

He will be closing with some big four and five star talent.

I'm saying in the general population there are on average only 29 5* players. We aren't going to be able to get a 5* star player every year, because only 1.1% of players sign an LOI. And these athletes choose their colleges for different reasons. With 128 other D1 FBS colleges, they are the premium and we can't complain if we have a recruiting cycle were we don't have one. It's just a law of averages.

For 4* with only roughly 340-350 in each group. We have 11 of those currently at the time I look. That's pretty good. Could we do better, of course, and we still have spots available.

Most of our class is going to be 3* just due to shear numbers. Especially with the number of holes on our roster. If we didn't have so many holes we probably wouldn't have so many 3*'s.

I like the class, and their is still room to improve it. But like all things, athletes are a finite resource. And it's December.

 

[GatorJ]

I'm saying in the general population there are on average only 29 5* players. We aren't going to be able to get a 5* star player every year, because only 1.1% of players sign an LOI. And these athletes choose their colleges for different reasons. With 128 other D1 FBS colleges, they are the premium and we can't complain if we have a recruiting cycle were we don't have one. It's just a law of averages.

For 4* with only roughly 340-350 in each group. We have 11 of those currently at the time I look. That's pretty good. Could we do better, of course, and we still have spots available.

Most of our class isn't going to be 3* just due to shear numbers. Especially with the number of holes on our roster. If we didn't have so many holes we probably wouldn't have so many 3*'s.

I like the class, and their is still room to improve it. But like all things, athletes are a finite resource. And it's December.

Okay. I agree with most of your post, but not the 5 star argument. Yes, if we were Vanderbilt we may not get the 5 stars. Yes, there are only so many 5 stars. But the reason we've been on top of the football universe is because we land these guys. Yes, we should land 1 or 2 every year. Here's a breakdown of our 5 stars since 2002. We've averaged 2 a year and that's with 2 years of ZERO 5 stars due to coaching transition. BTW, that really reflects on Mac that he was able to pull down TWO 5 stars in a transition year.

2002: Ciatrick Fason
2003: Andre Caldwell, Joe Cohen
2004: Derrick Harvey
2005: NONE - Coaching Transition Year
2006: Carl Johnson, Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes
2007: Torrey Davis, Carlos Dunlap
2008: Matt Patchen, Will Hill, Omar Hunter, Carl Moore
2009: Gary Brown, Andre Debose, Jelani Jenkins
2010: Dominique Easley, Matt Elam
2011: NONE - Coaching Transition Year
2012: Dante Fowler JR, DJ Humphries, Jonathan Bullard
2013: Alex Anzalone, VHIII
2014: Jalen Tabor
2015: CeCe Jefferson, Martez Ivey - Coaching Transition Year

 

[TheDouglas78]

Okay. I agree with most of your post, but not the 5 star argument. Yes, if we were Vanderbilt we may not get the 5 stars. Yes, there are only so many 5 stars. But the reason we've been on top of the football universe is because we land these guys. Yes, we should land 1 or 2 every year. Here's a breakdown of our 5 stars since 2002. We've averaged 2 a year and that's with 2 years of ZERO 5 stars due to coaching transition. BTW, that really reflects on Mac that he was able to pull down TWO 5 stars in a transition year.

2002: Ciatrick Fason
2003: Andre Caldwell, Joe Cohen
2004: Derrick Harvey
2005: NONE - Coaching Transition Year
2006: Carl Johnson, Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes
2007: Torrey Davis, Carlos Dunlap
2008: Matt Patchen, Will Hill, Omar Hunter, Carl Moore
2009: Gary Brown, Andre Debose, Jelani Jenkins
2010: Dominique Easley, Matt Elam
2011: NONE - Coaching Transition Year
2012: Dante Fowler JR, DJ Humphries, Jonathan Bullard
2013: Alex Anzalone, VHIII
2014: Jalen Tabor
2015: CeCe Jefferson, Martez Ivey - Coaching Transition Year

I would agree in most years, we should pull at least one. But if we have a year where we do not, it's not something to say the sky is falling. It comes down to the what the kid wants and what they view as important. In the years of more than average, we should be landing multiple, in the years where the number is below average if we don't land one, the pitch forks shouldn't be out. Our average of landing 5* should always be over one. I didn't include this year in my numbers, since LOI's haven't been signed, but in the little bit I have read (which only was when I was grabbing numbers) this is a low year for 5*. Some have it under 20 players. To grab one of those is an excellent job by the staff.

 

[westflgator]

Same people who complained about lack of numbers under Muschamp, now complain about getting numbers under McElwain.

Lets look at some data...

The average number of 5* athletes the last 15 years, 29 (1.1% of players who sign LOI)
The average number of 4* athletes the last 15 years, 352 (approximately 12.7%)
3* are 43.0% of the the LOI signers athletes over 1300 on average
2* Athetes are 43.2% of the the LOI signers almost 1400 on average

So since it's so easy to get the 5* and 4* in mass. If we have approximately 32 scholarships due to limited roster. And 128 D1 FBS schools and each having their own fanbase and needs. As far as a numbers game but with 11 4* currently (composite rankings) and a few spots available it could be a pretty decent class.

This belly aching sounds a lot like last year, where everyone was saying that McElwain couldn't close last year and our recruiting class would be in the 70s. What happened then. It's not even January yet. Some people on here like to complain to complain.

Great post... coach Mac showed me early on that he sees the big picture. He and his "support" staff started their own evaluation process from day 1. They started targeting the kids that they thought they could get a commitment from quickly, building momentum and filling needs, while at the same time putting on a full court press for the higher ranked guys. However, coach Mac knows that the 4 & 5 star guys usually commit later in the process. His ability to evaluate talent is showing up in the fact that many of our recruits have either been heavily recruited by other top programs, or and some of their rankings have gone up. It truly is a numbers game as much as it is anything else. We have just about as many 4 stars as anybody else, very few teams have any 5 stars, and most of the ones who do only have 1. So to fills needs we have to take the 3 star guys as well, and the numbers you laid out show the reality of that. We will close strong picking up a few more 4 and 5 star guys. But even if we don't Mac is doing a fantastic job so far!

 

[ergator920103]

Nation’s No. 1 outside linebacker releases an all-SEC top 3

Keith Warren/Special
Nation's No. 1 outside linebacker, Lyndell Wilson

Chris Kirschner
SECcountry staff
Latest from Chris Kirschner

Three SEC programs received a special gift on Christmas Day from the nation’s No. 1 outside linebacker.

Lyndell Wilson, a 5-star prospect from Carver High School (Montgomery, Ala.), announced on Twitter that Florida, Alabama and Georgia are his final three schools, and that is in order. He will take official visits to those three colleges in January, beginning with Georgia on Jan 15., Alabama on Jan. 22 and Florida on Jan. 29.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder has had Florida at the top of his list for a couple of months now with Alabama remaining a close second. UGA recently joined his favorite schools list after the hiring of coach KirbySmart, who has personally recruited Wilson since his ninth grade year.He told SEC Country what he likes about each program.

On Florida — “Florida is my No. 1 for a reason. I feel like that’s a place where I can see myself playing for the next three to four years. That’s why they are my No. 1. I feel comfortable when I go down there. I’m comfortable with all of the coaches. I’m building a relationship with them now.”

On Alabama — “Bama is still one of those dream schools I grew up dreaming about playing football for. I feel like they still have the best program in college football.”

On Georgia — “(Kirby Smart and I) have a great relationship. He has been one of those guys that has been recruiting me since ninth grade. The chances of me going to Georgia could be pretty good. It just depends on how my recruitment goes with him. I’m just going to wait and see how it plays out.”

Wilson is rated as the nation’s No. 13 overall prospect and No. 2 prospect in the state of Alabama.

 

[ergator920103]

Five with UF leading on the Crystal Ball

http://247sports.com/Article/Five-with-the-Florida-Gators-leading-on-the-Crystal-Ball-42270604

 

[ergator920103]

Nation’s No. 7 DT dishes on new top five that includes three SEC schools
Posted : 13 hours ago
Chris Kirschner

SECcountry staff
One of the nation’s top defensive ends has a new top five list.

Aubrey Solomon, a 2017 4-star defensive tackle from Lee County High School (Leesburg, Ga.), told SEC Country that he has a top five of Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Ole Miss and Georgia, and that’s in order. Tennessee was on his recent list, but it dropped out of the top five.

The 6-foot-3, 305-pounder told us why each school was standing out.

1) Ohio State — “They just came at me the right way. My mom and I think their academics are pretty amazing. I just feel like I can call that place home.”

Solomon also said that the Buckeyes have recruited him the hardest of the five schools.

2) Florida State — A big reason why is family (his sister attends Florida State). They also “breed d-linemen.”

3) Florida — “I like their defense a lot. They really get after the ball. I like that a lot.”

4) Ole Miss — “I don’t know much about them. I need to do more research.”

Ole Miss once a co-leader with Georgia, but it dropped because Solomon has not had a chance to look into the school more.

 

[Yankeetown]

Okay. I agree with most of your post, but not the 5 star argument. Yes, if we were Vanderbilt we may not get the 5 stars. Yes, there are only so many 5 stars. But the reason we've been on top of the football universe is because we land these guys. Yes, we should land 1 or 2 every year. Here's a breakdown of our 5 stars since 2002. We've averaged 2 a year and that's with 2 years of ZERO 5 stars due to coaching transition. BTW, that really reflects on Mac that he was able to pull down TWO 5 stars in a transition year.

2002: Ciatrick Fason
2003: Andre Caldwell, Joe Cohen
2004: Derrick Harvey
2005: NONE - Coaching Transition Year
2006: Carl Johnson, Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes
2007: Torrey Davis, Carlos Dunlap
2008: Matt Patchen, Will Hill, Omar Hunter, Carl Moore
2009: Gary Brown, Andre Debose, Jelani Jenkins
2010: Dominique Easley, Matt Elam
2011: NONE - Coaching Transition Year
2012: Dante Fowler JR, DJ Humphries, Jonathan Bullard
2013: Alex Anzalone, VHIII
2014: Jalen Tabor
2015: CeCe Jefferson, Martez Ivey - Coaching Transition Year

That's an interesting list to study, because it shows that even 5-star rated players aren't a sure thing. In 2008 & 2009 we landed 7 seven 5-stars, but none of them became truly dominant players; two (Willl Hill and Jelani Jenkins) were very solid, a couple (Hunter and Brown) didn't stick around long, Patchen was always injured, Debose for whatever reasons never progressed, Carl Moore had some good moments but wasn't consistently top tier per my recollection.

On defense especially, there's a case to be made that the critical issue isn't how many 5-stars you have, but how many guys who are playing like 1- and 2-stars you have in your two-deep. Because offenses attack weaknesses, and there's only so much you can do schematically to try to hide the softness. (Nowhere more so than DT, IMO.)

Of course, being solid everywhere with some 5-star playmakers sprinkled in is where you want to be. At least Mac clearly understands that. I'm optimistic we'll get back to that level of talent. And that the coaches will take incoming talent and make it better.

 

[T REX]

We are down to #7 on Rivals

Michigan is now #3

 

[GatorJ]

We are down to #7 on Rivals

Michigan is now #3

If we close the way we should, we should finish Top 5.

 

[2ndAmend]

Robbie Andreu latest article pretty much told the recruiting non-sunshine pumpers that they are stupid... pretty much let it known 3 stars recruits will pave the way to UF's success/rise.

 

[NavetG8r]

Robbie Andreu latest article pretty much told the recruiting non-sunshine pumpers that they are stupid... pretty much let it known 3 stars recruits will pave the way to UF's success/rise.

In a sense, he's most likely correct. First off, the Offense at UF has been, well, offensive for several years now. One main reason is lack of recruiting on both the OLine and at QB. Neither have had the depth a div 1 team needs to make it through a season without significant drop-off in performance when somebody gets injured. As people have alluded to in other threads, WRs aren't exactly jumping on board because they'd much rather go someplace where a QB is already established and success has been consistent. I'm not exactly sure why this hasn't seemed to affect JMac getting stud RBs and OLine so much as QB and WR. It's an odd phenomenon, but real none the less.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I imagine a scenario where JMac went after many of the top 4-5 star WR recruits and got a lot of "we like ya coach, but we're looking at other places" answers so he went out and started looking for some of the lower tier 4 star guys and some of the project, yet skillful types of 3 stars figuring he probably could get some more firm commitments from guys like that until he can get a consistently successful offense going to attract more of the game changer types.

A lot of the so called experts here on GCMB seem to think it's the end of the world because we're recruiting more 3 stars than we've recruited in the past, but they also imho are ignoring the fact that offense and UF have not been used in the same sentence for about a decade unless it was negative talk. The end of the Urban Meyer era, and the WM (I can't say his full name anymore without getting sick inside) era put UF in a bad place with the WRs around the country and the only thing that will fix that is consistency. You can get consistency with skillful 3 star, and 4 star WRs if their skill sets align with what you want to do on offense. Unlike the Chicken Littles of GCMB, I believe JMac has an eye for talent and will bring in the types of guys that may not wow the recruiting experts, but will fit well into his system and generate the kind of buzz we so desperately need to once again start attracting the attention of some of the more elite WR talent.

Again, it's just speculation, mostly based on my orange and blue glasses and sunshine pumping heart, but I truly believe it. It's sure better than drowning in an alcoholic abyss of misery.

 

[T REX]

247 now dropped us to 6th
Rivals is now 7th

 

[WobbleGator]

247 now dropped us to 6th
Rivals is now 7th

I am sure you are celebrating.

 

[URGatorBait]

 

[GatorJ]

In a sense, he's most likely correct. First off, the Offense at UF has been, well, offensive for several years now. One main reason is lack of recruiting on both the OLine and at QB. Neither have had the depth a div 1 team needs to make it through a season without significant drop-off in performance when somebody gets injured. As people have alluded to in other threads, WRs aren't exactly jumping on board because they'd much rather go someplace where a QB is already established and success has been consistent. I'm not exactly sure why this hasn't seemed to affect JMac getting stud RBs and OLine so much as QB and WR. It's an odd phenomenon, but real none the less.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I imagine a scenario where JMac went after many of the top 4-5 star WR recruits and got a lot of "we like ya coach, but we're looking at other places" answers so he went out and started looking for some of the lower tier 4 star guys and some of the project, yet skillful types of 3 stars figuring he probably could get some more firm commitments from guys like that until he can get a consistently successful offense going to attract more of the game changer types.

A lot of the so called experts here on GCMB seem to think it's the end of the world because we're recruiting more 3 stars than we've recruited in the past, but they also imho are ignoring the fact that offense and UF have not been used in the same sentence for about a decade unless it was negative talk. The end of the Urban Meyer era, and the WM (I can't say his full name anymore without getting sick inside) era put UF in a bad place with the WRs around the country and the only thing that will fix that is consistency. You can get consistency with skillful 3 star, and 4 star WRs if their skill sets align with what you want to do on offense. Unlike the Chicken Littles of GCMB, I believe JMac has an eye for talent and will bring in the types of guys that may not wow the recruiting experts, but will fit well into his system and generate the kind of buzz we so desperately need to once again start attracting the attention of some of the more elite WR talent.

Again, it's just speculation, mostly based on my orange and blue glasses and sunshine pumping heart, but I truly believe it. It's sure better than drowning in an alcoholic abyss of misery.

Off the top my head I don't think we have any 3* offensive skill players committed. We have Trask as a 2*. I believe all the rest are 4*.

 

[NavetG8r]

Off the top my head I don't think we have any 3* offensive skill players committed. We have Trask as a 2*. I believe all the rest are 4*.

Well, what the hell is everybody complaining about then?

 

[GatorJ]

Well, what the hell is everybody complaining about then?

They're bitching to bitch. I don't like all the 3 star DB recruits. The other 3*s are LB (We needed depth so we had to do what we had to do and I trust Shannon to coach them up) and OL. OL is the hardest to project anyway and we need bodies.

The class is solid. Not spectacular. If we grab Fulton and Wilson we will have an elite QB, RB, LB, and 2 elite DBs.

Next year Florida is stacked at WR again. It's also stacked at LB and OL - which it was not this year.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Misleading title is misleading. Should say 7th and falling fast.