The Florida Gators are officially done with their bye week and they are now preparing for the Georgia Bulldogs in a game that will take place on Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre bring you the latest podcast where they talk about what happened during the bye week plus they get into talking recruiting during the bye week.
Andrew and Nick also breakdown a crazy week of football last weekend and start the talk for this weekend’s big Georgia game that could decide who wins the SEC east division.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? This is your man, Andrew Spivey, with my man, Nicholas de la Torre. We’re ready to go. We’ve had a bye week. We had a little time to get away. Batteries are recharged. Time to get to the Georgia Dome. Nicholas, are you ready to march toward the Georgia Dome, my good friend?
Nick: I am really hoping that we get to cover a game in Atlanta. That would be, as Jim McElwain says, that’d be pretty cool.
Andrew: That’d be another opportunity.
Nick: You know what? Everyone kind of laughed at Jim McElwain when he mentioned at Media Day, we’ve got 15 opportunities. Everyone kind of chuckled, but they’re not laughing anymore.
Andrew: No. He’s creating quite a stir, especially Friday night in recruiting. We’ll go to that here in a little bit. Nicholas, Nicholas.
Nick: What a day.
Andrew: What a day. What do you think the topic that has me so fired up today is? What do you think?
Nick: There’s several things that it could be. Butch Jones lost another football game.
Andrew: He did, and he choked it away like a sun of a gun. I tweeted when Alabama went up 14-13. I said, don’t worry, Bama fans, Butch will choke it away. Someone goes, what if he doesn’t? I said, we don’t have to worry about it. He’ll choke it away. Guess what? He choked it away. Butch, you suck. You knew you wasn’t beating Nicky Saban in Tuscaloosa. Get out of here.
Nick: Tennessee hasn’t beaten Alabama in Tuscaloosa since 2003. They did not change that on Saturday.
Andrew: Nine straight losses to Tennessee. Eleven straight losses to Florida. Last time I checked that wasn’t good, Volunteers.
Nick: What is that even like? Your two biggest rivalry games, and just every year for a decade almost. Every year, that’s two losses. When the schedule comes out you look at it, and you’ve got two losses already.
Andrew: You know what’s that like?
Nick: You’re 0-2 before you kick a football off.
Andrew: You know what that’s like?
Nick: What?
Andrew: I don’t know. I’ll have to ask a Volunteer.
Nick: Maybe someone will volunteer to give you the answer for that. Last night, Saturday night was wild. I thought Tennessee played Alabama closer than they probably should have. I thought that was a game that Alabama probably should have run away with. What about the FSU game? Utah loses. Miami gets blown out. What is going on? How does Al Golden still have a job?
Andrew: I feel like it’s like the Foley deal. It’s like we’re going to focus on the next opponent, and then it’s you lose again, we’re not focusing on the next opponent no more. That was awful. Even for Miami crowd standards that was bad. Guys covering their faces. That was bad. That was really bad for Miami. There wasn’t even in the football game.
Nick: They were never in that game. The game was way over before half time. There’s nobody in the stands, and the people that were in the stands soon left. That program is a mess right now, and you know what that spells? That is good news for Florida recruiting, because Florida should be able to, with Randy Shannon and the job that Jim McElwain’s doing, should be able to go down into Miami and get whoever they want, because of how bad Miami’s program is right now.
Andrew: That’s the thing. You look at people saying, you want Golden fired. No, you don’t. Golden doesn’t hurt Florida anymore.
Nick: Only Miami fans want Al Golden fired. Florida fans, FSU fans, USF fans want Al Golden to stay.
Andrew: It’s like fans last year. They wanted Will Muschamp to stay. It was an easy win. It was easy recruiting against him. You wanted him to stay, and that’s kind of how it is now. Going to that FSU game. Wow. That’s about all you can say. Florida State is just not very good offensively, and they’re just doing it defensively okay. Cook’s hamstring I would say is probably not even 75% right now. He has no top gear. Last night didn’t have a run over 20 yards. Didn’t get 100 against Georgia Tech. Jimbo, he gets the ball back, tied 13-13 with like a minute to go in the game. First two is run plays, and then he decides now I’m going to get it in gear and go. He kind of cost himself right there. Aguayo is a very good kicker, but even the greats don’t hit 56, 57 yarders in their sleep.
Nick: Shoot with him you never kind of say no, you know what I mean? He’s not a typical college kicker. I do want to know what he was doing on that attempted tackle. We talked a couple weeks ago about Jorge Powell being a little speed bump, as Jim McElwain called him. What was Aguayo doing on that pretend tackle at the end of the game? My man, the game’s about to be over. Just throw yourself at him. Don’t throw an arm. Throw your back at him. Do something.
Andrew: It was funny, because it looks at the beginning like the Georgia Tech guy doesn’t know where the ball is. Then it looks like he’s about to just go flat on the ball. Then you see guys hollering. Then you see a wall getting built. As that wall’s getting built I’m getting memories of the Alabama vs. Auburn game. I’m like, this is about to get wild. Then it happens, and I’m like, that is awesome.
Then Paul Johnson, I’m going to make up a new award. Every week somebody’s going to get the Andrew Spivey cool points, and this week Paul Johnson gets that. I love that man with that bobbing the head with the tongue out. He’s just basically like, I got you. I got you. Somebody told me last night on Twitter he did Sarkisian. If there’s any time to Sarkisian it is that time, after you win off of that after bobbing your head. Then real quick, Jimbo, what are you doing in your post game, buddy? It’s not all about winning. Last time I checked it is all about winning, Jimbo. You may need to ask your AD again if he’s okay with you losing football games.
Nick: FSU’s lost what? Two games in the past two years? I think it’s like you said, Dalvin Cook is so much of their offense, and so much of what they are as a team, and he just doesn’t have it right now. I know how Florida fans feel about him. I think Dalvin’s a very good kid, very tough upbringing. To me, it’s pretty cool to see him trying to gut it out on a hamstring that’s definitely, like you said, not close to 100%. Man, without him that’s a Florida State team that could lose a couple more. They could come into that Florida game with another loss to Clemson. They could come into that Florida game after Thanksgiving with two, maybe three losses already.
Andrew: If you’re a team that is playing against them, are you not just licking your chops and saying, I’m going to stop?
Nick: You want to play Florida State soon, before Dalvin feels any better. It’s a hamstring, so it might feel better the rest of the season.
Andrew: In my opinion they should have set him. You know as well as I do hamstrings just don’t heal themselves unless you just completely shut off. In baseball it’s 15 days. You hit the DL for about 10 days, and then you go hit a few games in rehab. That’s totally different than a running back who’s running every play, stopping and starting like that. It’s different. If you’re playing Florida State you just sell out. You make Golson beat you. I haven’t seen Golson being able to beat anybody, and that’s bad. That’s really bad.
Nick: I don’t know what FSU fans expected from him. You saw what Golson was at Notre Dame. He’s a very average quarterback who turns the ball over.
Andrew: Didn’t you expect him to throw the ball a little bit better? I expected him to throw interception. I guess this is my question. Maybe I should word it this way. Is he being too cautious now? Is that maybe what he’s doing? He doesn’t have the same zip on his balls, and he just doesn’t look anywhere like he did as a Notre Dame quarterback, and that wasn’t good in the first place. He was still able to move the offense running the ball.
Nick: I don’t know. I’ve always been really down on him.
Andrew: I have too.
Nick: Probably too much. I’ve gone like too much to one side. I don’t know. I don’t know what Florida State fans expected. I feel like they expected that they would just go through season undefeated again. That’s not the same football team, not even close.
Andrew: No. The talents on offense is gone down a lot. It is. You look at the offensive line, banged up as well there. Defensive line played well, but they’re lacking at the linebacker position, and that was kind of exposed last night. Then their DBs are pretty good as well. That’s a big loss for them, because Clemson’s going to be favored, probably by a touchdown or so. In that game it’s going to be a big game for Florida State. They almost have to win that if they want to even be in contention to possibly get into a playoff, which in my opinion they don’t, even right now I think they’re done. Even with a win over Clemson I think it’d be tough for a one loss ACC team to get in.
Nick: I think so. Clemson right now is ranked sixth, obviously the polls come out as we tape this today. Clemson will be favored in that game, and I think if Clemson runs through undefeated they’ll jump into the playoff. Maybe even if Clemson has one loss, I can see them getting in. They’ve been playing really good football.
Andrew: I’m going to go ahead and say this. Are you ready to hear this?
Nick: Are you making a prediction?
Andrew: I am making a prediction, a declaration. Florida State beats Clemson, loses in Gainesville. Clemson loses to Florida State, and then loses to the Gamecocks.
Nick: Really?
Andrew: You heard it here first. You heard the hot take from Andrew.
Nick: They’ll play on November 7. That’s the week that Florida has Vanderbilt. That’s a great week for football.
Andrew: Alabama vs. LSU. Absolutely.
Nick: November 7 is a great week for college football.
Andrew: Florida gets a homecoming against Vanderbilt as well. That’s it. Nick, I feel like it’s time to turn the page.
Nick: It is time to turn the page. Andrew has a new focus of all of his hate, of all of his jokes this week. Butch Jones is in the rearview mirror.
Andrew: He’s safe.
Nick: Andrew Spivey is focusing his attention on Mark Richt this week.
Andrew: The 9-3 Mark Richt. That’s what I’m going to start calling him, 9-3 Mark Richt.
Nick: 9-3 is not bad.
Andrew: 9-3 is not good every year, buddy. I would rather my team go 13-1, win a national championship, turn around the next year and be 8-5 and not go. Then turn around the next year and win a national championship, than go 9-3 every year. 9-3 every year. He is the New Orleans Saints of football, and I say that because the Saints used to be really like that. They’d play really good ball in the regular season, and then they would like fall out. That’s where they are. I’m going to use that comparison. Mark Richt and the New Orleans Saints, two teams I can’t stand.
Anyway, the Gators did get healthy this week. The Gators did get healthy on the bye week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday was practice. Someone asked me, does Florida focus on Georgia that week? No. Florida focuses on Florida. It’s almost like spring practice, fall practice. It’s no game planning. It’s simply we’re going to run our stuff, versus Florida’s going to run their stuff. It’s Florida vs. Florida almost, like a spring game. A lot of drills. A lot of fundamentals. Very good for the young guys, guys like Chris Williamson, Cronkrite, Scarlett, even probably Luke del Rio and Josh Grady getting a lot of reps. The young guys getting a ton of reps in this bye week, and then mainly getting healthy. I think Florida, with the exception of Alex Anzalone, should be at full strength going into Georgia.
Nick: That’s a huge thing. Obviously both teams are coming off a bye. It does seem that maybe even Georgia needed the bye more so than Florida did with Jordan Jenkins being banged up, Joystick, Isaiah McKenzie being banged up. Both teams having the bye, being able to get healthy, but the bye week is exactly what you said. Florida didn’t turn their attention, and won’t turn their attention to Georgia, until today when them meet on Sunday night for team meal. Most of the players are allowed to go home for the bye week. Kind of focus on yourself, clean up some things. Moving forward now you get into Georgia. Last week was, like you said, like a spring practice, and I think it was good.
Specifically I wanted to talk about one guy that I think it is good for, and that’s Jordan Scarlett. Somebody who hasn’t really been getting any carries. To the point where you thought maybe there was some kind of injury, and they would try to get a redshirt. He gets in against LSU. Why have you only run the ball one time with him though? Is my question. What I think is Jordan Scarlett kind of refocusing, seeing what he does in practice, and the coaching staff being able to say, “This is the effort. This is what we need from you. Here’s an example of you doing it. Here’s an example of you not doing it. Can you tell the difference?” It’s part of a growing up process. You might go to a practice on Wednesday and feel like I gave 100%. Then you watch it on tape, and you see, I don’t think I left it all out there.
Andrew: That’s exactly right. We had this on the message board the other day. I think it was Thursday or Friday, one of those days. We do. We expect him to get a lot more carries going forward. He did kind of had some sit downs with Skipper, with McElwain and the other guys and really just refocused, like you said. See what they needed to do going forward. This is how you practice. This is the result you get. You play in LSU. I think that’s going to help him. This is where Florida needs that second back going the rest of the season. Now you don’t have a rest. You have no more bye weeks.
While the schedule is easier, still later part of the season bumps and bruises there. It’ll be big to have Scarlett back. If he’s able to get in there and give productive minutes, then it’s definitely great, especially against teams like Georgia, Vanderbilt, South Carolina. Teams that I think Florida should run okay on these teams. There’s a lot of teams that’s run decently against Georgia. Florida should run decently against them. It’s not LSU. It’s not Ole Miss.
Nick: Florida ran the ball 50 times last year against Georgia. That game, the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party, that game is always a crazy one. You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know what you’re going to get, but I do think having another running back, we’re not taking anything away from Jordan Cronkrite either. I think Florida has three very good backs, but I’ve said it since before the season started, and I’ll continue to say it, even though he only has 13 carries this year, and he didn’t have a carry at Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, or Missouri. I still Jordan Scarlett is the best running back on Florida’s roster.
It’s all part of that natural maturing and growing up process. Learning what it takes. I think you get a little reward by you’re back in against LSU, because you practiced better. Now we need you to continue doing this. I think it can be hard for a freshman. It can be hard for any player, but it can be hard for a freshman to get a little taste. First game he carries the ball 8 times I think, scores a touchdown. His carries drop in half the second game, and he doesn’t play for a month. No freshman at Florida is used to not playing football for a month.
Andrew: A lot of that is, like we said, bad practice. That’s nothing on Scarlett. That’s just a young guy that is not used to going full speed like that. In high school practice you don’t have to go full speed. You’re better than everybody at half speed, and that’s kind of where it is. I think it’s big that he comes back. I also think it’s another week that this offensive line is able to gel together. Another full week of practice, and this time it’s working on just them. Don’t think that’s not going to help the team as they go forward with Treon now. I think it’ll be good. I think that you’ll go in, you’ll see a good game plan from Mac, as he’s had two weeks to get this game plan in. Don’t forget, he’s very familiar with Jeremy Pruitt. Jeremy Pruitt’s a guy he worked with at Alabama, and he’ll know the defense Georgia’s bringing on Saturday.
Nick: Yeah. I think that’ll be an interesting matchup. It’s always cool when guys have some history with each other, and they coach the opposite side of the ball. It’s almost like I know what he’s going to run. Let me see if I can get away with this. I think I can hit him with this. It’s almost like a jab, like they’re winking at each other. You know what I mean? Kind of like, I’m going to hit you with that. I don’t think you can stop it. It’s always interesting to see coaches who have coached together on opposite sides of the ball, but for the same team, go up against each other. I’m interested to see what Jim McElwain has up his sleeve for Georgia this week. The Georgia game, with Tennessee losing and Kentucky losing, the Georgia game now is for Florida basically a play in game for Atlanta.
Andrew: Yeah. Exactly. All the marbles are there.
Nick: A win over Georgia would make Florida 5-1 in the SEC. Worst case scenario, if they lost to Vanderbilt and South Carolina, come on. They would finish 5-3. A win would already mathematically eliminate Missouri and South Carolina, because they cannot get to 5-3 in the conference. Then Florida would have wins over Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, who all have three losses, or would have three if Florida wins. Florida wins a two way tie breaker over all three of those teams. If Florida beats Georgia, you can pack your bags. Book that ticket. Get the hotel room. If Florida doesn’t beat Georgia this week, things get dicey.
Andrew: It does. It’s what you want. It’s the opportunity that’s there. As Mac says, the next game, the next opportunity. I think that’s what it is. It’s what you ask for. You want the opportunity to go in and clinch. You got that opportunity to go in and clinch against your biggest rivalry, be the best of the world. Maybe somehow get that SEC flag and smear it up in Richt’s face. That’s a different topic for a different day. I’m trying to save my rant for the next one. I’ll keep some things in the pocket. It would be awesome to do that. I think that Florida matches up really well here. You have a quarterback in Ramsey who you’re not scared that’s going to hurt you. There is some talk that maybe they go to their duel threat guy behind them, and if that’s the case then you have a little bit of a Tennessee in Josh Dobbs there, where that run can hurt you a little bit. If Bryce Ramsye’s there, you have to make that guy beat you. So far this season he hasn’t been able to beat anybody.
Nick: Yeah. I love the Florida vs. Georgia game. This would be a pretty big win for Mark Richt.
Andrew: Here we go.
Nick: That hasn’t really been something that he can do.
Andrew: So what? He gets one win. Then he’s going to do what? Fail in the SEC championship game? Come on. Let the real man go ahead.
Nick: When was the last time a Florida coach led their first team on their first year to an SEC championship game?
Andrew: No clue. You tell me.
Nick: I don’t know. Urban didn’t do it. It’s before. You and I are in our mid, late 20s. I think it’ll be the first time in our lifetime that it’s happened.
Andrew: Did Spurrier do it his first time against Alabama in ’92?
Nick: It might have been. That’s when it first started. Florida was part of the first team, but Spurrier got to Gainesville in 1990.
Andrew: So his first season would have been ’91.
Nick: They didn’t have an SEC championship game in Spurrier’s first season.
Andrew: That would have been his second season he would have got there, which is the same thing Urban did. Urban got there his second season when Leak and them won that one. Yeah. I don’t know. It’ll be good to see on that. Got a couple of big days of practice here. Be putting the game plan in. Most of the game plan’s probably already in by the staff. They probably started working on that late in the week. It was a huge, and I mean huge, week for this staff in recruiting. They made big time news on Friday with the Friday night with all the coaches all around. They were in their blue polos doing the Gator chomp everywhere. That kind of took over social media Friday with the Gator chomps everywhere. That was big on that.
Also it was just the positive momentum that’s been created. After you start 6-1 with Mac, and a team that you think this might be an 8 win team. They’re 6 wins already with that opportunity to go to Atlanta. That Gator logo is very powerful right now. Mac sees Nate Craig-Myers, Eli Stove, the Auburn commit. Sees Phillipe Franks. Doug Nussmeyer goes to see Dwayne Haskins. The updates are still coming in for us at Gator Country, but there’s a lot of positive news for the Gators. I told someone, this could be one of their better classes since that Tebow year when they had a great class with Tebow, Spikes, and Harvin. If Florida can continue doing what they’re doing, this class is setting up to be absolutely unbelievable.
Nick: To me the interesting thing is Florida is so far under their scholarship limit that how big can this class really be?
Andrew: It could be big. The number I continue to hear is 28.
Nick: I think they have room if they wanted to take 30.
Andrew: It could go, because they have 9 nines that can count back. They have 9 guys that can count back, and then they have 25 they can actually sign. That’s 34. They can technically sign 34. That would mean some Nick Saban talk of you’ve got to leave the team.
Nick: There would be some moving and shaking going on.
Andrew: It’s all part of business. That’s my opinion. If you’re not cutting it, get on out. There’s an opportunity Florida may sign six receivers. To me that tells me that some receivers on the current team may be bye-bye.
Nick: I think there will be. Obviously we thought there would be a couple guys that transferred before the year, and we really did that kind of movement. It normally happens with coaches where a new coach comes in, kids see how things are going to be run, and then they leave. We didn’t get that kind of movement, but I think after a year some guys might see there might be a better opportunity for me somewhere else.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: I do think we’ll get some movement after the season.
Andrew: The biggest thing that you can look back on to this bye week is you get the guys that maybe haven’t visited campus that you want to visit campus. You’re able to get that logo in front of them, get them to visit campus for the Vandy game, the FAU game, and the Florida State game. The FAU and Florida State game, believe it or not, are going to pretty good. The FAU game they’re bringing in several guys for official visits, because guess what? They’re going to have time there. They’re going to have time to focus on those. Probably be an 11 or 12:00 game. They’ll probably be able to focus on that, and that’ll be good for them.
That is probably the biggest thing is setting it up. Florida’s not had a home game in close to a month. It will be a month when they do get back. That’s big that they’re able to get that in. It’s just a positive momentum. That positive momentum. Keep the positive momentum rolling. Nothing better than to say, we’re going to the Dome. We can’t recruit you the first week, but you can watch us on Saturday night win the SEC championship.
Nick: How about that? That is not something Florida has been able to say since 2009. You miss out on a recruiting weekend, but it’s a pretty cool recruiting tool to be saying, we’re one of two teams in the SEC that are playing football this Saturday. Tune in and watch.
Andrew: Exactly. That’s the biggest thing. I don’t know. It’ll be big. It’ll be interesting to see if the guys that say they’re going to visit are going to actually visit. Probably the biggest name guy that is now on the radar is Michigan linebacker David Reese. He’s a big monster guy that is trying to early enroll, but Michigan doesn’t have the room. Florida does. Michigan is not able to let him early enroll. That’s setting up really big for Florida, because he’s able to come in. He’s already 6’2”, 240 pounds. That’s a guy that’s probably instant playing time at Florida and going to come in for that Florida State game.
Nick: How does the coaching staff, this staff, differ from the previous staff as far as official visits during the season and wanting to keep them till after the year?
Andrew: I think the biggest thing that is different is this staff has not really said, if you’re an in state guy they’re not letting you come in early. A guy like Dexter Lawrence who wanted to come in for the Tennessee game, they obviously let him, because they wanted to get him on campus and set up that momentum. So if it’s an out of state guy they’re more likely to let him come in, but in state guys they’re just not. They don’t want official visits during the season, because as Mac says, as soon as the game is over he’s ready to focus on the next game. Doesn’t want to spend that 48 hours with an official visitor and not have 48 hours of time there. It’s the Nick Saban rule. That’s what it is. Saban doesn’t bring guys in in official visits unless they’re out of state. That’s the same way it is with Mac. I think it’s a great thing. You load up that December, January with your commits and with your targets coming on official visits, and that creates momentum to signing day.
Nick: That makes a lot of sense. There is something to be said for getting that environment, getting a kid in to see the Swamp. You can’t say enough about what the environment was like against Tennessee and against Ole Miss, and the kind of impact that makes on a high school prospect. A high school kid being able to see that and envisioning yourself on that field is huge, but you really don’t get that one on one time with the coaching staff. They can’t focus on you like they would if you were able to come in after the year. They’re not game planning, and they’re not going through a game day. It’s just one on one time. You’re completely focused on if you take your visit after.
Andrew: I think the thing that is key there is Florida’s still done a hell of a job of getting guys on campus for unofficial visits. Go through the list. If you’re an in state guy or right in the close vicinity of Gainesville, you’ve been on unofficial visits. The New Mexico State game was loaded with recruits. ECU game was loaded with recruits. Tennessee was loaded with recruits. Ole Miss was down a little bit, because it was after the Tennessee game, but it still had quite a few. You look at their big name targets. Nate Craig, Sam Bruce, Benjamin Victor. No, excuse me, Victor has not visited. Sam Bruce, Freddie Swain when he was uncommitted. Shavar Manuel. You name them, they’ve been on campus already. Why waste an official visit when you can get them on campus for an unofficial? Let them see that. Then when it’s official time then you can wine and dine them in December, January.
Nick: That is true. I really feel like Florida has built really powerful momentum in recruiting through this start, through the coaching staff really just hitting the road. Kissing babies and shaking hands. Putting in the groundwork and getting out there and doing it. Florida has really changed the tide in the state for recruiting, and it’s cool to see how quickly it’s changed.
Andrew: I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t sit here and say that the work that Mac’s staff and Drew Hughes and his staff have done on creating this bye week was unbelievable. Nick, you saw the list. Every day 40, 50 guys everywhere. Planning that stuff out, that doesn’t happen overnight. That goes to Drew Hughes and his staff of Marquel Blackwell, James Rowe, all those guys that are on his recruiting staff. Little Callahan, Speedy, those guys. They did a great job of doing that combined with Mac and his staff of getting out and doing that. That’s big. There’s probably nothing prouder than a guy like Mac who’s 6-1 going on the road and saying, “Eli Stove, I told you. I told you I was going to get the ball to playmakers. Nate Craig, I told you I was going to get the ball to my playmakers. Guess what? We’re 6-1.”
Nick: He might not even have to say it. He kind of just walks in with a grin on his face, because he already knows. I don’t even know if Jim McElwain thought that the team would play as well as they are right now. I think at the beginning you were kind of selling guys on a vision of what you wanted it to be and saying, “It might not be exactly what I’m telling you right now, but you’re a guy that will help get it to that.” I really think that Jim McElwain has to be happy with where this program is right now. You’ve gone from selling kids on a vision to realizing that vision and being able to show them those things you talked about in July and June and August. Now they’re seeing it for themselves. The biggest thing is that Jim McElwain can still tell them, “You’re a guy that can help us do more. We don’t have everything we need and everything we want right now.”
Andrew: That’s exactly right. I think the main thing is you look at some of the position it needs. Linebacker, Randy Shannon goes to see Vosean Joseph. Collins goes to see Jeremiah Moon. Then you go to Michigan and get a guy like David Reese. Michigan doesn’t have a spot for him as an early enrollee, so guess what? The Gators are in there to swoop him in. They’ll get an official visit, and they’ve got a good shot to flip him. Going up against Charlie Strong in Texas. For me that is the ultimate you’re a freaking player when Charlie Strong and Randy Shannon both want you at linebacker. Something tells me you’re a pretty good football player.
Nick: Listen, Randy Shannon knows his defense, and he knows his linebackers. Florida is in a pretty tough spot numbers wise. Getting linebackers, three, maybe four, it’s unfortunate that the linebacker class isn’t that great this year, or as deep as it has been in past years, but Florida needs to do a good job. There might not be a better coach in the country to have recruiting linebackers than Randy Shannon.
Andrew: Yeah. Florida’s trying to go to Alabama to pick off Mack Wilson. If they do that’d be the biggest stick your finger, flip you off, to Nicky Saban that there ever was. That’s enough of recruiting talk. It is on to Georgia week.
Nick: It is going to be a good week. We have a bunch of stuff planned already for this week. Andrew Spivey will be going absolutely ridiculous on the podcast, because his hate for Mark Richt is only matched by his hate for Butch Jones. He has been fired up about this game for two weeks.
Andrew: Absolutely. I have a few little tricks up my sleeve. I’m still looking for jokes on Mark Richt, so if you got any shoot them to me on Twitter @AndrewSpiveyGC. I’m always looking to get Mark Richt. Here is the ultimate Mark Richt joke. Gators walk out of Jacksonville on Saturday with that SEC championship bid. That speaks for itself. Real quick, what is that scenario to get the Gators to Atlanta? Florida needs a win this week, obviously. What happens if a lose? Give me that quick scenario real quick.
Nick: If Florida wins it’ll move them to 5-1. That worst case scenario if they melt down and lose to Vanderbilt and South Carolina, they’ll finish at 5-3. 5-3 would be their worst case scenario. That would eliminate Missouri and South Carolina already, because neither of them can get to 5-3. Florida does have a win, if they win this week, would have wins over Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. So they win a two way tie breaker against any of them. Really for Florida win on Saturday, and that’s it. It would take some incredible, truly incredible, melting down to win Saturday and then not be the team that represents the SEC East in Atlanta.
Andrew: Just win, baby. Just win. That is it. Nick, we’re running out of time on this bad boy here. I promise this week is going to be heated. I am sure I will have to get on Nick’s case for taking up for Mark Richt. I may need some extra blood pressure medicine, and I don’t even take blood pressure medicine. I may need some this week. It’s going to be a fun week. As always, Gator Country is the place to be.
Nick: It is. You will find us. We will have our podcast back up and running. We will have a guest on, I think Wednesday, and maybe even Friday. We’re trying to get a former player back on. It’s an exciting week. Florida vs. Georgia is a big game. There’s a lot on the line. It’s the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party. Maybe we’ll even have a couple cocktails.
Andrew: Never a bad thing. Maybe Mark Richt should have a few of those to make him call a better game.
Nick: As always, you can follow me @NickdelaTorreGC on Twitter. @NickdelaTorre on Instagram. Hit up TheGatorCountry on Instagram and @GatorCountry on Twitter. @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter. That is all for me. You stay classy, Gator Country.
Andrew: I’m about to ruin your stay classy. Butch, you and Mark Richt both suck. You can be mean when you look this clean. Hit me up. @AndrewSpiveyGC as always. Go Braves.