University of Florida head coach Jim McElwain reacts to a play during the Florida Gators 24-10 win over the Georgia Bulldogs- Florida Gators football- 1280x852
University of Florida head coach Jim McElwain reacts to a play during the Florida Gators 24-10 win over the Georgia Bulldogs / Gator Country photo by David Bowie

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we break down what happened at SEC Media Days last week, plus much more.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain had to say, plus we break down Friday Night Lights and the big week of recruiting camps this week.

Andrew and Nick break down which prospects are visiting Florida this week and who to watch for.

Also we break down the Florida Gators baseball season and which players are returning to school and who went pro.

TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew::​What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, back with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we took our summer hiatus. You took a little vacation. I took a little vacation. Now it’s time. It’s time to go. The GC Podcast is back, and we’ll be going weekly. Let’s do this.
Nick:​Covered 70-some baseball games, so I took a little time off after that. Went on a cruise with the family. My liver is recovering, and I got a nice little tan.
Andrew:​That’s all that matters.
Nick:​Yeah.
Andrew:​That’s all that matters. I think I speak for you when I say that we will cover 70-some baseball games every year, if it results in a Natty.
Nick:​Yeah. That was my first time out there. My first time out in Omaha, ever, and being a baseball guy, being someone who played college baseball, that was always a dream, to see it. I never got to see Old Rosenblatt, but it’s such a cool experience. If you have the chance to go out there, it’s such a well-run event, and, obviously, if you’re a Gator fan, last year would have been the year that you’d like to go out, other than the first six trips that they made, 10 trips that they made. Last year would have been the one to do it, but it’s a great event, win or lose.
Andrew:​Did you get a chance to go see the little miniature Rosenblatt that they put up?
Nick:​Yeah. That’s over by the zoo, and I think, if I remember correctly, it’s like exactly where home plate was. It might even be one of the home plates that they used, and then it’s the miniature field. I didn’t go to the zoo. Everyone’s telling you, “Go to the zoo. Go to the zoo.” I’m not a zoo guy.
Andrew:​If I want to see animals I’ll just go to the woods.
Nick:​Yeah. I don’t want to go to the woods or see animals. You do you.
Andrew:​I’m just saying, if you want to see animals, don’t pay. Just go out to the woods and see a deer. Drive down the interstate. You’ll see a deer.
Nick:​Those scare the hell out of me. You were in the car, I think. We were driving through Alabama, I think Media Days or something. Driving with David Bowie, our photographer, I saw like 10 of them on the way home from FSU last year. Those things would wreck my car. Not even trying to see a deer on the side of the road.
Andrew:​We’ll go ahead. Let’s just go ahead and talk about that real quick, before we move into Friday Night Lights, Media Days, and everything. Let’s just go ahead and talk a little bit about that baseball team. We talk about this, and you and I are two of the guys that know baseball well. Baseball is a game of failure, a game of luck. I mean, let’s just call it what it is. You can have Texas Leaguers. You can have a ball that’s hit just a fraction not on the nose, and it’s caught.
​The pieces fell Florida’s way this year, maybe not the best team Florida’s ever had, and I think you would agree with me, but there was something different about this team. It was a team, I guess I can say that. It was a team, and it didn’t seem like there was one guy that strayed away from the others like in years past. Not calling any names, but even guys like JJ, who were the superstar, kind of seemed to build into that team aspect.
Nick:​It really was a team. At some point of the season they started talking about Mike Rivera called home, and him and his dad are going back and forth, and Mikey was struggling at the plate. He told his dad, “I’m trying my best,” and his dad responded, “You watch a fastball down the middle to strike out, and then call me and tell me you tried your best.” That kind of made Mike laugh, and he brought that back to the clubhouse, and that kind of became like their mantra. The whole team thought it was hilarious, and they said, “We tried our best.” No, this wasn’t.
​You look on paper, this team was the same team they had last year, minus four first-rounders, and six players in the top four rounds. So, was this team better on paper than they were last year? No. But you can’t argue with the results. I think, like you said, they just played like a team. They played like a unit, rather than a bunch of guys who knew they were going to be Major Leaguers.
Andrew:​That’s a damn good LSU baseball team.
Nick:​Oh, man. They were so much fun to watch all year. A school like Florida, we talk about it all the time, doesn’t have a lot of seniors. LSU’s the same way, but up the middle they were a junior in Papierski, and then two seniors in Freeman and Robertson. I know people give Kramer Robertson a hard time about that ESPN likes to show his mom, Kim Mulkey, who’s the Baylor women’s basketball coach, and he’s got the long hair. He’s kind of flashy and brash, but he plays the game the right way. He played hard, and I love watching him play. Cole Freeman is this little 5’4” kid, 120 pounds soaking wet. When he turns two from the bag, he has to put his whole damn body in it just to get it to first base, but he’s the same way. Plays hard, and they were just a fun team to watch.
Andrew:​Yeah.
Nick:​And they can hit. That team could hit. Papierski, Deichmann out in right field. Deichmann hit some of the most majestic and awe-inspiring homeruns I’ve seen all year. To beat them, Florida beat them four out of five this year. To beat them four out of five is impressive.
Andrew:​You have a guy like Kramer that is just an energy bug, man. An energy bug. A guy that is kind of your Mike Rivera, but not. Not your catcher, but just a guy that is an Energizer Bunny. A guy that just plays the game with what you and I call the right way. That’s running out every play, making the pitcher throw strikes. If it’s two strikes, he’s choked up. Just playing the game the right way. I know, me personally, I enjoyed watching him play. That was good pitching staff as well.
​Let’s wrap this up real quick, but give me a quick recap. Which guys left. Which guys are coming back to school. Just give me a quick recap of who’s playing where this summer. I know I threw a lot at you.
Nick:​Yeah. Alex Faedo signed. He signed for $3.5 million. That’s $285.4 over slot. Mark Kolozsvary signed. He signed for $147. Sam Carlson, who was a recruit—actually, let me get all the guys first. So, Faedo, Kolo, Guthrie, and Rivera signed. Guthrie is a Philly. Rivera is an Indian. Kolo is a Red, and Faedo’s a Tiger. Sam Carlson, who was a big arm as a recruit, signed for $2 million. That’s almost $800,000 over slot. Zach Johnson, who’s a catcher, he signed. Again, over slot. Sam McMillian, he signed for a million dollars, another catcher. That’s almost $700,000 over slot.
​I didn’t get the numbers on Rivera and Guthrie, but from the Faedo, Kolozsvary, Zach Johnson, and Sam McMillian, they signed for $1.849 million over slot, which is just a great recruiting tool, when you think about that. Sully gets to say, “The guys that played for us signed this much over what they were projected. The guys that we recruited, signed for over a million dollars over slot on their own. People know our program. They know that we evaluate talent well.” It’s just a great recruiting tool.
​The biggest thing you get coming back is Deacon Liput. He was a Draft eligible sophomore, because he turned 21 the month of the Draft, which made him eligible this year. He’s coming back. He’s playing in the Cape Cod League this year, with the Falmouth Commodores. He and Austin Langworthy are on that team together.
​And you get JJ Schwarz back. At no point at any point in this season did I think JJ Schwarz would fall to the 38th round and make it back for his senior year. He was always a three and done guy. JJ was a guy that was projected to be a first rounder out of high school, and you weren’t sure if he was going to make it to campus at all. To get him back, I know I talked to Kevin O’Sullivan out in Omaha, and he was thrilled to have JJ coming back.
Andrew:​Let me interrupt you real quick, for a second, Nick. First of all, let me put out the disclaimer here. I’m a JJ fan, as far as his personality goes, that kind of stuff, but I’ve never been high as far as JJ’s ability at the next level. Did not want my Braves touching him, but when it got to the 20th round, the 21st round, and he’s still there, I’m sitting here thinking to myself, “Okay, let’s let my Braves take him.” Just did not make sense for him to slip that far. I don’t care how bad he struggles with the off speed. Somebody should have took him.
Nick:​Yeah. There’s just so much projectable power. He came so far defensively as well. I asked a bunch of players when I was out in Omaha. That play that JJ makes to get Kramer at home, when he backhands a ball at first and fires, and the ball had to be a strike. It had to be perfect. Credit Mike Rivera for getting the tag there, but JJ doesn’t make that play in February. He might not even field that ball in February, or March, or April. He came so far defensively.
​For me, I looked, and he had some of a down year, but it’s projectable power, probably think he can hit for average as well. Going to be a guy that hits right around .300, with projectable power. Maybe a 30 homerun guy, and a solid defensive player. To me, 20th round, yeah. Yeah, I’ll take a stab. If we don’t sign him in the 20th round, okay, we lose a 20th rounder. No big deal.
Andrew:​Exactly. Is that everything you wanted to talk baseball?
Nick:​Yeah. People just keep asking, so I’ll run through it. Five guys are playing the Cape Cod League. Jonathan India, he’s playing with the Harwich Mariners. It’s the second year in a row he’s playing with them. I mentioned before, Liput and Langworthy are playing with the Falmouth Commodores. Michael Byrne and Blake Reese joined the Massachusetts Kettlers for the remainder of the summer.
​In the Northwoods League, Andrew Baker, Nate Brown, Tyler Dyson. They all joined the Madison Mallards in Wisconsin. Austin Bodrato, Nick Long, and Billy McKay will play with the Kenosha Kingfish. Billy McKay’s a kid that I’m very interested in. He’s not the biggest guy, under six foot, but Sully moved him from normal arm slot to a low three-quarter sidearm slot, and it’ll be interesting to see. He took a redshirt last year, didn’t pitch, while making that transition. I’ll be interesting to see how he works him out of the bullpen from that slot, kind of like a Frank Rubio kind of guy.
​Keenan Bell and Cole Maye went to Virginia. They’re playing with the Charlottesville Tom Sox in the Valley League. Kirby McMullen and Cam Weinberger, Weinberger was a freshman pitcher last year. He also took a redshirt. They joined the Olean Oilers in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.
Andrew:​Awesome. That’s the rundown of that. Let’s go into Media Days, Nick. SEC Media Days was last week, and nothing. It really turned into nothing. There was nothing big.
Nick:​Is it because I wasn’t there to stir the pot?
Andrew:​I’ll be honest, our great lines of coaches are starting to narrow down. We lose Spurrier. We lose Ed. All we had was Brett. That was it.
Nick:​Bert. How was Bert’s shoe game? I saw Mullins. He always brings it.
Andrew:​Nothing. There was nothing from Bert this time. He’s a dad now, so he was rocking the dad shoes.
Nick:​Those white New Balances.
Andrew:​The funny thing with Bert was he did butt Facetime the Commissioner.
Nick:​Did he?
Andrew:​He did. He butt Facetimed the Commissioner after his baby was born. That was funny. Sankey said he never had that happen before, so that was interesting, to say the least.
Nick:​How was your boy, Butchie?
Andrew:​Lied some more. Talked about how the season wasn’t a disappointment. I mean, maybe not. He was life champion, so maybe not. Did say he thought he had a team that could win the SEC and get into the playoffs this year. Did he forget that the alien left Earth? I mean, he’s not in Knoxville no more.
Nick:​Who are they going to rock with this year? Is it Guarantano, whatever his name is?
Andrew:​That sounded like what he was going to go with. I don’t know. I don’t know what you do up there. I think more people are starting to realize what we’ve talked about on this podcast for so long, and that is Butch is fake. He’s a really fake person. He was bad, and then Orgeron, he talked for a solid 20 minutes, including breaking down his depth chart, and breaking down his analyst.
Nick:​You know what I would have missed, if he would have been there, I would have missed the Les Miles update about where he went during his off week, or his off season. Les always had those good stories about hanging out with the grandkids by the lake.
Andrew:​Yeah. That was always good. We’ll talk Florida now. Of course, the big news was Mac wasn’t never going to let you know about Callaway, and I don’t think that a decision’s truly been made yet on the guy, on whether or not he will play or not play in Week 1. Then, James Robinson still not being cleared to enroll. Maybe enrolls in the fall, but, once again, we didn’t expect that. Then, of course, nobody expected him to announce his quarterback at SEC Media Days.
Nick:​No. I wrote about that the day before they announced who was going to be coming. Listen, a quarterback’s not going, because if you bring a quarterback, you’re naming the starter. That’s just how it is. How many quarterbacks were at Media Days?
Andrew:​Four maybe, three maybe.
Nick:​Yeah. You’re naming a quarterback, so that was never going to happen.
Andrew:​Hell, Alabama didn’t bring their quarterback, and their quarterback is pretty much locked into starting.
Nick:​Locked in. That was never going to happen. I think the guys that did go made total sense. A little disrespect to my boy, Johnny Townsend. Little disrespectful not bringing him.
Andrew:​Here’s the thing, and Mac does this all the time. He kind of brings the guys that are the leaders, and from that standpoint it did make sense. When you look at a guy like Marcell, Marcell’s a little bit more vocal of that. Duke’s probably your quiet leader, and you reward Duke for coming back to school. Then Martez is by far your leader on the offensive line, even though I think he’s more of a quiet leader as well.
​Something I got from Martez, and it’s something we talked about before, but, at the same time, haven’t talked about a lot lately, and that’s Martez was healthy for the first time since really his junior year of high school. He talked about when he gets to fall camp now it’s going to be more about him just getting in there and working, not trying to get his strength back, not trying to make sure he’s healthy. Now he’s full go. I think that’s something that will help Martez. Martez, in my opinion, always looked, not hobbled. Hobbled some, but maybe a step behind. That’s something, I think, that’ll be different this year.
​When you look at what he was talking about with Brad Davis, and that’s that there’s a different energy in the room. Nick, I don’t know how many times I’ve been on this show just preaching about how the offensive line comes out. I mean, we used to predict games by how the offensive line came out of the tunnel, because it was so bad. To see that being a different story was just great, in my opinion. I mean, once again, you can’t have your offensive line coming out looking like they were just asleep.
Nick:​No. Let me say something though. Florida’s getting a lot of love along the offensive line, and I’m not going to say that I disagree with it, but I’m not going to say that I’m buying in as much as it seems like the national media and some of the SEC media are buying into them. Yeah, they return a lot, but …
Andrew:​I think you have three solid pieces.
Nick:​I just go back to the spring game, and that second team offensive line got worked. They got worked over. And if Martez has had shoulder injuries, shoulder problems, someone gets rolled up on, and you have to throw in one of those backup guys that I watched in the spring game, that’s rough.
Andrew:​Yeah. I’ll say it as well. I think you have three solid guys. That’s McCoy. That’s Jawaan Taylor, and that’s Martez. I think your two guard positions are up for grabs. I know Brett Heggie came a long way and is that guy. Then I think it’s time we see that, as far as we kind of got to see what he does in game situations. I think he’ll be fine there. So, then you’re left with your other guard position, and just not sold on who that will be. I will say this, and that’s something that even Martez said. That’s that an offensive line that’s tough, mean, and hungry can affect the entire team.
​That’s exactly what he said. He said that the defensive line practices harder now, and the defensive line is more hungry, that kind of stuff. Just is a different mindset when you have an offensive line that is actually playing hard. Let’s just call it what it is. They’re supposed to be the mean SOBs on the team, not the grandpas of the team.
Nick:​Supposed to be.
Andrew:​That was that. Marcell and Duke, of course, talked about the whole DB thing. Of course, the thing that did take over, and when I say take over, it really was the talk for the first two days, and that’s about Florida and LSU, that Homecoming game, Nick. I mean, that was just crazy.
Nick:​I don’t know what it is, because, to me, LSU is a rivalry. Some, I guess, older fans might say it’s not, or this or that, but I see it as a rivalry. For my lifespan it’s been a rivalry, and it’s been a great game. So, I love it. I love it. There is a wet blanket comes out and says, “The football had nothing to do with the scheduling of that. It was this board for the university, and it’s not the UAA.” I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to hear that. It’s fun. Football’s fun.
​We talk about Media Days and there not being a lot of headlines and stuff like that, football’s fun. These teams are run like Fortune 500 companies, and they’re so scared of creating any kind of controversy that might hurt them with boosters or somebody. “I don’t like the way that player reacted or said something. He was having too much fun on the field. I’m not sending that same check that I sent last year.” They’re so scared of that. Playing a game, man. We’re supposed to be having fun.
​To me, that’s fun. That’s something both teams can play off of. Florida says, “We went and won a home game in Baton Rouge last year, and we’re going to win Homecoming this year. That’s what we think of you.” Because your Homecoming opponent, I know it works differently, maybe in some colleges, but growing up, Vandy was Homecoming for a long time. That’s the kind of team you schedule for Homecoming, and it’s a little disrespectful.
Andrew:​Yeah.
Nick:​If LSU had scheduled Florida for their Homecoming, Florida would have been playing that up too.
Andrew:​Here’s the thing, and I’m like you. Florida-LSU’s always been a rivalry. I mean, I remember going to Baton Rouge several times and talking to LSU fans, and they’re like, “We want to beat Florida. That’s the game we want to win.” It’s always been a rivalry. Do I think the rivalry got heightened a ton last year? Hell, yeah, it got heightened a ton. There was a ton of disrespect that went on with that. It was a national headline over and over again. Yeah, I think it does. Why not schedule it for Homecoming? I said this, and people disagreed with me. I don’t know how you disagree with me. That game in Gainesville was going to be huge whether it was Homecoming, whether it was on Thursday afternoon at 1:00.
Nick:​You could play that game at noon on Wednesday.
Andrew:​Yeah. That game was going to be hyped. That game was going to be something else. That game was going to be sold out. Let’s not act like that game wasn’t going to be a big game. I mean, it’s not like trying to stir up something with UAB to make that a big game. The game against LSU was going to be huge. If LSU thought they were going to come to Florida, and that game wasn’t going to be noisy, they were crazy. People are saying, “Now you just add fuel to the fire.” If you thought LSU wasn’t coming to that game with pissed off fire in their hair to win, you’re crazy. Did it hype the game more? Yes.
Nick:​Good. Hype the game up more. No, it’s not going to affect the outcome.
Andrew:​Yeah. That’s what I’m saying. Did it affect the outcome? No. Is it going to make one team more ready to play? No. If it does, something was wrong with you.
Nick:​Exactly. You know what needs to happen?
Andrew:​What’s that?
Nick:​A Florida baseball team needs to get their National Championship rings at some point during that LSU Homecoming game.
Andrew:​100%.
Nick:​That’s what needs to happen.
Andrew:​100%. I’m thinking JJ Schwarz and Deacon Liput are Mr. Two Bits.
Nick:​Maybe Brady Singer. Brady Singer absolutely carved up LSU every time he faced them.
Andrew:​Instead of Two Bits, it can be Two Ks, Four Ks, Six Ks, a dollar.
Nick:​There you go. That’s it.
Andrew:​Do something like that. I mean, like I said, was it a great headline? Sure. Did it give me something to write about? Sure. But, at the end of the day, it is what it is. It doesn’t make that game any more, any less, or anything. That game was going to be nuts. I think, when it came out that LSU was coming there two years in a row, everybody put a gigantic blue Sharpie, black Sharpie, around that day, and said, “I’ll be there.”
Nick:​Yeah.
Andrew:​The other thing that was big was some goober, and I call him a goober, because he could not have had all of his sense. Decided he was going to try to make a funny joke with the shark thing to Mac. Mac did not take it as funny at all. I see your buddy, Clay Travis, Nick, and he took a shot at Mac. Saying Mac handled it wrong.
Nick:​Not my buddy.
Andrew:​My thing is this, and I’m going to say something that’s maybe not going to be popular with some people, but the world we live in now, with animal rights, animal activists, we really don’t know what Mac went through, because some of the Twitter stuff that was sent his way was just downright hateful. I mean, people get in more trouble now hurting an animal than you do a person. So, am I trying to make excuses for Mac? No, but at the same time, I do think Mac was sincere when he said that he received a lot of hate mail, and people were calling the university about that. It’s run its course.
Nick:​I can tell you this. It’s not going to be the last we hear of it.
Andrew:​No. I don’t think so.
Nick:​LSU fans might bring posters. You’re going to see posters. You’re going to see stuff all year long from rivals. At first thought, if you don’t think about any of that stuff, it’s funny. It kind of looks like him, and that’s funny. When you think about all the stuff that you said, and now you have your daughter calling you and saying, “Dad, are you naked on a shark?” You have family that could see it, and close friends, and just the fact that you have to come out and say, “No, that’s not me naked on a dead shark in the middle of the ocean.” It’s embarrassing.
Andrew:​It is. What I think is that people should probably let it go. I say people, not fans. Fans are going to continue to talk about it. I’m saying from a media standpoint. It’s over with. Then to try to make a joke about it was just dumb.
Nick:​Yeah.
Andrew:​That’s really, Nick, you followed along a little bit. Anything else you want to talk about from that before we go on to recruiting and football camp?
Nick:​No. Let’s get into Friday Night Lights.
Andrew:​It’s going to be a big list already. When you start to look at it, it always builds up. It’s a Thursday, Friday event now, where Thursday’s the underclassmen event. Nick, last year was a good underclassmen event, when you look back at some of the names that was there. It was a good event. You and I talked about it. It was a good event, and I like breaking it up, because we’re able to see some younger guys that are going to be the guys this time next year, and then you get Friday night that’s focused on just really the elite of the elite kind of guys. Having it in the indoor was awesome too. It just kind of set that atmosphere overall. I thought last year was great.
Nick:​It was that whole split last year where you had the quarterback throwing event. Then you had the lineman challenge, and the underclassmen. I liked how they split it up. I thought that brought a different vibe to it.
​Now, it’ll be interesting to see this. The first year, I think last year was kind of like a whatever kind of deal with the spring game, like the first two years they did it at that Friday night spring game it was like, damn. This is an entirely different environment. Last year was kind of down. Will it still have that same excitement this year? You know what I’m saying? Once that new shiny thing wears off, is it still a well-run event, and it was last year. It was really well-run. For doing something for the first time, they kind of had everything down, and they were well practiced and ready to go.
Andrew:​The thing that always makes it better or not is when you have elite guys playing, participating. Last year, the Jared Judy play that’s on Twitter of him jamming the 2019 kid and just pushing him down and running was the highlight. Several years ago, it was Stefon Diggs. I’m trying to think of the other big names that’s kind of came and participated. Anyway, you’ve had big names come in and participate. That’s always the thing.
​This year, you got Matt Corral, the five-star quarterback out of California, coming in to participate. You can bet your money that Twitter is going to be fire that night with hot takes about that, with video of him. I’m excited to see him throw. Heck, how many times do you get to see a quarterback just throw in camps like that? It’s exciting to see.
​Again, I think it’s going to be a big event. The list looks good, but, before we get to Friday Night Lights, Nick, could be a big one on Thursday as tight end Kyle Pitts decides to go ahead with his announcement. Florida, Georgia or Virginia Tech. Never say where a kid’s going, but I’ll just say, great shape for Florida. Expecting good news. That is a guy that brings a whole different aspect to Florida. He’s probably, if not the best, one of the best, Florida’s signed under McElwain in Kyle Pitts. Just an athletic guy who did really well out at the Opening out in Oregon. A guy that’s 6’5”, 230, coming out of Pennsylvania. Just a really good player. Comes from the same high school that our buddy, Colin Thompson, went to as well, Nick.
Nick:​I thought I was going to get to sneak that in.
Andrew:​No.
Nick:​I thought I was going to be able to sneak that in, Archbishop Wood.
Andrew:​You know me and Colin are boys. We love Colin Thompson. Good dude. Great dude. We wish him the best of luck.
Nick:​You got all the way to the end, and I was about to sneak that in on you.
Andrew:​Oh, no. I got my boy.
Nick:​Huge position of need.
Andrew:​Yeah.
Nick:​After this year, I mean Goolsby’s a senior. C’yontai’s a redshirt junior. So, after this year you’re going to have a redshirt junior and probably a sophomore in Kemore Gamble, and that’s it. Huge position of need for Florida.
Andrew:​I think, and I mean this with all due respect to the guys that’s on the team right now, it’s just been a position that has totally disappointed. I mean, Mr. One Yard Goolsby. C’yontai’s up and down career. We’ll see what Kemore does. You have Camrin Knight, who transfers out after being moved to linebacker. Morel Stephens hasn’t done anything. When Mac first got here, we all talked about how the tight end position was going to be that position. Now’s your chance with a guy like Kyle Pitts. Florida in good shape after him and his mother visited in June. Could start it.
​You and I talk about this all the time, it seems like Florida has a string of commitments that happen. Usually it seems like they try to build momentum. Thursday at 2:00 pm could get things started.
Nick:​Thursday at 2:00 pm. You’ll be in town. Me, you, Zach. We’ll probably get Baileigh out there as well, and David Bowie with some pictures. That’ll be jam-packed all week long, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Then kids start leaving on Saturday, Sunday. Stories rolling out.
Andrew:​That’s right.
Nick:​That’s a welcome back from vacation, Nick.
Andrew:​Yeah. That’s, alright, Andrew, time to get rid of baseball and get back into football action. Let’s run through a couple of the names, Nick. Big 2018 guys coming in, Matt Corral, quarterback. Let’s just face it. Quarterback position is the position that is haunted Florida since Tim Tebow left.
Nick:​The last good quarterback Florida had is playing single A baseball now. That just tells you.
Andrew:​But doing well.
Nick:​No, he is. Nothing against him. I’m saying the last great quarterback Florida had is now playing baseball, which tells you how long it’s been since Florida’s had a great quarterback. They might have had a great quarterback in Will Grier. That’s a different story for a different day. I’m not trying to get yelled at.
Andrew:​That needle was a little too much. Corral comes in. They’re still battling for Johnson Fields and battling with Corral. Here’s the thing. Both five-star quarterbacks, both are impact guys. If you can get a guy like Corral wrapped up, you take it. You finish it up. You wrap it up. You go into the season with a quarterback. You don’t want to go into the season without a quarterback, so you get Corral.
Nick:​No. That’s kind of what happened last year. No, you had Jake last year, but you needed two.
Andrew:​Yeah. Big arm quarterback there. Jacob Copeland, big receiver, probably the biggest receiver target Florida has. Mac personally recruiting him. He’s coming in. Doesn’t plan to work out. We’ll see. Copeland’s a guy that when he starts seeing action fly, he may throw the cleats on. Wouldn’t surprise me at all. Corral’s throwing those. We’ll see what Copeland does.
​Got another receiver that’s interesting one to me, and that’s Jamar Chase, the receiver out of Louisiana. He’s the guy that the NFL Network didn’t have time for his commitment, so he didn’t commit. Now he’s reopened his recruitment. Doesn’t make sense to me at all. My thing is this. I understand you got disrespected and didn’t get to commit, but now you’re basing your future off a five minute TV spot, or a two minute TV spot? Doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe it works out for Florida. We’ll see if he works out as well.
​I’m trying to think of who else I was going at. Tight end, Dante Lange, coming in. That’s another tight end. Could be the tight end opposite of a guy like Kyle Pitts, if he decides to commit. He plans to work out, so we’ll see how that works out with him. Got a couple offensive line, William Barnes, Ed Montilus coming in. Both of those guys are big time offensive linemen. Couple of big, big 2018 guys coming in, and there’s always a surprise. Always a surprise that comes in.
​I’m trying to think of the big 2019 guys. Really, let me go back to 2018 real quick. Randy Russell and Tyquan Thornton are two big guys. Randy Russell a nickel. Tyquan Thornton the receiver out of South Florida. Both of those guys are big, big targets for Florida.
​Maybe the big ’19 target is Marcus Stripling, out of Texas, defensive lineman. Florida’s had terrible luck out of Texas, outside of Tyrie Cleveland and Donovan Stiner, but to get that topnotch guy to commit early hasn’t been there. They’re going to try their luck with Stripling.
​Then, another guy, Nick, that I’m interested in watching throw is 2020 quarterback, Harrison Bailey. Let’s just face it. Quarterback recruiting’s heating up quick. By this time next year, Bailey’s probably committed. Interesting to see him throw as well. That’ll be a big one to see throw, and then you got all your commits pretty much coming in for the ’19 class and the ’18 class. Iverson commit kind of leads that way. Should be jam-packed. Should be a lot of good interesting storylines, and it’s always interesting to see who ends up working out. They all say, “I’m not working out.” Then when it gets to time they work out.
Nick:​Interesting that Corral’s working out?
Andrew:​No, not really. Every school, not just Florida, every school wants to see their quarterback throw. Florida hasn’t had a chance to see him throw in person yet, so no. But yes at the same time, because it is three weeks before they get their season rolling for practice. It is, but at the same time, no. He gets a bad rep for one pop on Wayne Gretzky’s son, but everybody else I’ve talked to said that outside of that he’s a really good kid. We’ll see. It works out great for us.
Nick:​Yeah. Going to like to see that. Last year we were watching Sitkowski.
Andrew:​And Dorian Thompson Robinson, and Jake. Jake was throwing.
Nick:​Where is DTR?
Andrew:​He committed to UCLA.
Nick:​Okay. He went to California.
Andrew:​He’s a Vegas kid, was at Bishop Gorman. That’s that. It should be interesting. We’ll be there. We’ll have a lot of good stuff. Have a thread flowing, have the Twitter going. We’ll have photos, like Nick said. We’ll have stories rolling out. Nick and I will be out there as they arrive in the hot afternoon sun on Friday. If you’re out at the Swamp, say hello to Nick and I. We’ll be out there.
Nick:​As always, we’ll be out there. Hopefully, no rain.
Andrew:​If it rains, we’ll go in the indoor.
Nick:​Then the fans can’t go.
Andrew:​Yeah. Never mind. I hate it for the fans, but at least it’s cool in the indoor.
Nick:​It is. It’s super cool in the indoor. Are we wrapping up?
Andrew:​Yeah. Wrap it up. Tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. If you haven’t joined us on the site yet, a lot of good things going on. Hit us up. We’ll get you guys a coupon code. Like I said, Nick and I will be back now weekly heading into the season. Once the season goes, we’ll be back to our three times a week. We’re back. We’re ready. Let’s go.
Nick:​www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. Follow us on social media @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. Podcast is on iTunes. Andrew and I are going to work on getting it up into the Google Play Store for you all before football season starts, in case you have an Android. For now, you can find the podcast on the website in transcript and audio form, if you don’t have iTunes. You can follow me, @NickdelaTorreGC, and him, @AndrewSpiveyGC, on Tweeter.
Andrew:​By the way, got to give our guy Zach a shout out on basketball recruiting.
Nick:​Absolutely.
Andrew:​Dominating that stuff. Something we haven’t had in a long time, and, Nick, I know you and I both can say this, that’s not easy. That is not easy to do. I’ll be the first to admit, definitely a different animal than football recruiting. As always, guys, we appreciate it. Hit us up. Like us. A comment, whatever it is. We appreciate the support on Twitter. We’ve been missing, and we appreciate you guys telling us that you missed hearing the podcast. Appreciate that guys. As always, Butch, you suck. Go Braves. Chomp, chomp.
Nick:​You stay classy, Gator Country.
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Transcript by Five Stars Transcription

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.