This Gator Country podcast previews National Signing Day for the Florida Gators recruiting class of 2016 as we’re just one day away from the big day.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the last official visit weekend for the Gators, plus we look at who could be joining the Florida class on Wednesday.
Andrew and Nick also took questions from the Florida Gators recruiting fans as they wanted to know how the Gators will finish in 2016, plus how Jim McElwain and company are doing.
TRANSCRIPT
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? This is your man, Andrew Spivey, back. This is the last podcast before Signing Day, and Nicholas de la Torre is with us. Say hello to the people.
Nick: Signing Day is fast approaching. Letters of intent will be rolling in at 7 in the morning, and other than a few guys it’s kind of shaping up to be less than an eventful Signing Day, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Andrew: Yeah. Most of the class is over with. 12 of them are already in school. Should be a stress free for the majority of the part for the staff, still waiting on a few guys, and still trying to sure up a couple of commits in the class. For the majority of the class it’s pretty much over with, and that pretty much ended on Sunday when the recruiting weekend was officially over, and official visits are now over. This is it. No more in person communication. Now it’s only over the phone, where it’s unlimited phone calls now and through Wednesday.
Nick: Kind of to say, oh, it’s a dead period. It’s not a dead period. There’s just no face to face visits. Believe me, the phone lines will be busy, as coaches are trying to get kids to flip, to reconsider, and for a lot of these kids, especially some guys like Rick Wells, who has been committed for over a year, probably they’re really just looking forward to getting the process over with and to not have those phone calls anymore. I remember trying to get ahold of Nick Washington around Signing Day a couple years back, and ended up getting in touch with his mom, and his mom said between coaches, football coaches and baseball coaches, because Washington was an MLB prospect, between those two we got him a new phone, and a new phone number, because it gets a little overwhelming at times.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, it gets a little overwhelming for sure. It’s a deal where I think things will be a lot smoother for this staff. I don’t think there’s as much of a deal going on as far as these guys having to really work the phone lines, except for, like I said, maybe a couple guys. Maybe two or three guys, no I’d say maybe four to five guys. Not as bad, but it’s definitely a stressful time, and kids are really excited for it to be over with at some point, but also the attention now goes away.
Nick: Maybe that’s something that’s hard to deal with. You’re not getting the attention anymore. It’s funny, some kids feed into it and love it, and other kids shy away from it. I remember two years ago when we were going through Under Armour week, and it was the Dalvin Cook drama and the Ermon Lane, following Dalvin Cook drama. JC Jackson, who doesn’t really like the attention, kind of shied away from interviews and media throughout the whole process, kind of saw what they were doing, and how much attention they were getting, and he was like I’ll play that game. Then he realized that the media that came with it, and he quickly backed off. No, we’re going to get out of there. It depends on the kid. Some kids eat it up and love it, and other kids want no part of it.
Andrew: It’s a deal where a lot of people get upset about it, but it is what it is. The kids are going to have fun with it. You just have to understand. You have to wade through the bullshit that I like to call it, and know what’s up with it. I mean, at some point or another it’s a situation where kids should be able to enjoy it. They worked 18 years for it. They should be able to enjoy it, but there is a point in time where enough is enough, and stop playing. You are playing with a lot of people’s jobs at the universities, so you need to stop playing with that, but at the same time, let them enjoy their moment as well.
Nick: I kind of lean towards the players some here. Just because we’ve kind of seen how recruiting can be dirty with Michigan kind of sort of telling kids to kick rocks, telling kids to leave and sort of not. Kind of maybe just not talking to them and hoping that they get the picture, and it happened again with Alabama on Sunday, and really recruiting is the last time that these players kind of hold the power. As soon as your letter of intent is in, as soon as you’re on campus, you don’t have the power.
Coaches are allowed to quit or get fired and go somewhere else, and don’t have to miss any time. If a player steps foot on campus and goes to class, they’re locked in, and you can’t leave. I get it. I understand from a fan’s perspective where you don’t want to deal with it. It can be a headache. It can be annoying, and I see both sides though. Someone like a Duke Dawson, from a couple years back. Committed early, never wavered. That’s easy, especially for us following it. That’s easy, but I see both sides of it.
Andrew: This weekend was a big one. Had a lot of big prospects come on, probably the two biggest remaining prospects of the entire class in Tyrie Cleveland and Kristian Fulton. Both of those guys came on campus, and then you had the committed guys, Lamical Perine, CJ McWilliams, Quincy Lenton, Jeremiah Moon, Jawaan Taylor, Rick Wells. Then you had the Rhode Island transfer Tyler Catalina, come on campus. Overall very positive reviews from everybody that came on campus this weekend. Jawaan Taylor still says he’s got a decision to make. He may say he has a decision to make. He ain’t got no decision to make. Then the rest of the guys that are committed are pretty much there.
Then you had Tyrie come on campus. Right now I think it’s a battle. I think it’s a Florida, Houston, and maybe Arkansas in the battle there. Then back with Fulton. It’s LSU or Florida. The good thing for Florida is they got the parents on campus, and that was a positive. As far as the offensive linemen goes it’s more of if he can get into school he comes to Florida, if he doesn’t, then he looks to go elsewhere probably.
Nick: Right. Let’s get into each one individually here. Talking first about Tyrie Cleveland, had a big family meeting coming in. Also, a chance to meet Rick Wells. I think it’s something maybe you and I didn’t even know until kind of recently is how close Wells and Cleveland were, and how smart it is of Florida’s coaching staff. We’ve talked in the past about how do you match kids up when they come in? Who’s going to host them, and is it strictly geographical? Both guys are from Georgia. Two guys might be very different from Georgia, just because they’re from the same state. There’s a lot of matchmaking that kind of goes on there.
Good on Florida’s staff to realize the kind of relationship, how strong of a relationship Cleveland and Wells had, and to have them visit, both have the same official visit weekend, so that they can kind of hang out. I think both of us have heard that Wells put on the recruiter hat this weekend and was really helping the coaching staff in the recruitment of Cleveland, who we both agree is one of the best wide receivers and playmakers in this class.
Andrew: It was huge. It was no coincidence that it happened that way. The staff planned that a lot. They were very big in getting the two of them on campus together. Wells has done a good job. Florida lands Tyrie Cleveland, Rick Wells is the one to thank, not that Kerry Dixon and those guys didn’t do a good job, but it would be a lot of Rick Wells did this, or Rick Wells did that. It was big on that part, and also very good for Rick. He just celebrated his one year anniversary of committing to Florida back on last Tuesday. That was huge on that part as well. Cleveland’s a dynamic receiver.
The biggest thing for him is he has family in the Houston area, and he has family in the Jacksonville area. Most people say his family want him out of the Houston area, and that bodes well for Florida. The biggest thing right now that is going on is he’s so close to Houston there’s a lot of people at his high school that are either friends with people at Houston or are family members at Houston, coaching staff. It’s a big pull there. It’s one of those deals that’s probably going to go down to the last moment. I joke and say it’ll be a flip of a coin, but who knows really how that’s going to be decided? I’ve heard both ways. I do feel like, and I did put in my mock class on Monday morning that I thought Tyrie Cleveland was going to Florida. That could change, but I feel pretty good on that.
Nick: Obviously Florida’s locked up a big class, and I think people, the popular thing to say now is they’re not closing quickly, but you’ve got to remember, 12 guys are already on campus. Hit the quarterback spot. You’ve hit the playmaker spot at running back and at receiver already. Freddie Swain was a guy that I know Twitter went wild about, and there was a gigantic social media push for him, and they were all excited about the time, and he’s on campus. So you’re not going to see a hat dance on Signing Day and feel like, we just beat those four other hats, but that doesn’t mean he’s not in the class. I think some people forget that, but Cleveland would be a great prospect to get in.
Another thing that you touched on a little bit there was just talking about how Wells should get credit, and I think it gets overlooked when we’re talking about student athletes and football players on National Signing Day. When you made your choice to go to college you considered where your friends were going. Sure, these guys are athletes, and they’re trying to find a program and a coaching staff that’ll make them better athletes, but the people they’re going to be around the most are the players, and if you don’t like your teammates you can become an outcast in the locker room, and it doesn’t matter if you have a great relationship with the coach.
The coach has a family and a wife, kids maybe. You’re not around the coach that you like, your position coach, the coordinator, the head coach. You’re going to be around and living with these teammates. To be able to have connections with guys in your class, to be able to have connections with guys in the class ahead of you, is something that’s important, and maybe not talked about as much.
Andrew: Absolutely. All these guys are trying to find roommates and those kind of things. The Alabama boys, they’ve done a good job of that, and they’re kind of sticking together and kind of going at wanting to be roommates there. Then probably the guy that’s getting the most attention right now is a guy like Kristian Fulton, and he’s got the full court press on for him right now and is getting pushed by a lot of folks.
Nick: The players are getting involved. I’ve seen Jordan Scarlett, Quincy Wilson, Jalen Tabor, Duke Dawson, all these guys are getting heavily involved on social media with Fulton’s recruitment.
Andrew: Huge. Jalen Tabor and Quincy Wilson are both pushing that big time on Instagram on Monday, and those were two guys that were hanging out with him a lot as official visitor host. I was told Jalen Tabor has never hosted an official visitor, and said he would host Kristian this weekend. So that’s huge. That should speak volumes to Kristian. Everything I’ve heard about that visit is things went extremely well. Kristian, in my opinion, wants to go to Florida. Right now it’s about convincing dad that’s it’s all right for him to go to Florida. Dad is a guy that is open to letting Kristian make his decision for himself, but is also going to try to work with him on the decision, and we’ll just see what it is, what is the final decision. I think the Fulton household is probably going back and forth over this decision, but in my opinion there is no doubt that Kristian wants to go to Florida. He told a lot of people during the visit Florida was where he wanted to go. I feel pretty strongly that Florida can get him as long as they can get dad to come around.
Nick: Kind of an interesting mix here. You’ve got the kid. You’ll talk to parents who say I want what’s best for my son, but it’s not my decision, because I’m not the one that’s going to go have to live there four or five years. My son’s going to have to. There’s also an aspect of my son’s only 17 years old. Teenagers can make mistakes. I want to be able to help him with this decision, and it’s kind of a balancing act, and we talked last week when we talked to Coach Holly about Ken Handy-Holly. He said it’s important to be able to trust the coaching staff, because you’re really giving your son, who you’ve raised from birth until 17, 18 years old, when they’re ready to leave for college, giving your son to other men and saying, I’ve raised him to this point, you’re going to be an integral part of raising him for the next three, four, five years. There has to be a trust level there.
Andrew: Exactly. There’s a big trust level there. It’s huge, because it’s a situation where the coaching staff changes so much. There’s so many changes that you really just have to be comfortable with the environment around there, with everything that is that part. It’s big. It’s huge for them to say I trust the University of Florida, Jim McElwain. I think that’s the biggest thing is trusting not only so much the assistant coaches, but the head coaches with these guys. It’s big. Things with Kristian Fulton are that way. They feel very comfortable with Tim Skipper and those guys out there, but it is a difference of time from Metairie to Baton Rouge and from Gainesville to Baton Rouge. Again, we’ll see where things go on these last couple days, because I can pretty much feel assured that things aren’t going to be worked out until Wednesday or maybe even Tuesday night.
Nick: Right. Then we’ll move onto Tyler Catalina wine mixer. He had a visit. I ran into him with Mike Summers at the Florida Gators basketball game, as the Gators beat #9 West Virginia. Ran into them. You spoke with his brother, who’s kind of been handling things since he’s decided to transfer from Rhode Island. What’s the sense that you got from speaking to Tony, Tyler’s brother, and where is, there’s been a lot of jokes. That’s what we need, another Mason Halter, because people see Mason Halter get beat, but don’t realize everything that he was able to do. What do you see for our graduate transfer, and how could that help Florida looking into next year and kind of solidifying the line?
Andrew: It’s a risk you take. I guess that’s the best way to say it. You never know exactly how these guys are going to turn out to be once they get into SEC ball. You get some guys that are very good, and then you get some guys that struggle, like Mason Halter. He struggled. There’s no way to go about it. He struggled in game situations. He was good in the locker room and in the film room, and in the meetings and stuff like that, but he struggled. It’s a situation where it’s a risk with Catalina. It’s a risk Florida’s willing to take, and again, he said he really liked the environment there. The brother said they were honored that Florida was after them, a good program like Florida. They got family in West Palm Beach. The biggest thing right now is can Florida get him into school? If they can get him into school, then I think Florida has a great shot with him. It’s just that all important getting him into school. Can the transcripts match up? Does he have everything he needs to have to be ready to go? If he does, again, I just feel like Florida will be fine for him. Just kind of if he can qualify more to say.
Nick: That’s always an issue with getting kids in. Some people might be angry at Florida for the academic standards that Florida has. Others might like it. I think it’s good. We often forget that it’s student athlete. You put the student in front for a reason. I guess we’ll go to some Twitter questions. I have one question for you before we do that. Where would you rate this class at face value? Let’s say from what Florida has committed currently. Where do you rate as far as talent, filling holes, and kind of how this staff has been able to meet needs that they had?
Also, throwing into consideration that they’re still behind in this class. We talked about it last Signing Day how they were super behind, only had a month, and we even touched on it back then that they’re going to be behind in the 2016 class, because like talking to Trevon Grimes. Ohio State’s his leader because they’ve been recruiting him since he was a freshman. Jim McElwain hasn’t, because Colorado State’s not going to get Trevon Grimes. So they’re still playing catch up even a little bit in the 2017 class, but less so than this class. Where do you see this 2016 class as it stands right now?
Andrew: I mean, I think it’s a deal where I always kind of like to rate the class on do they meet the needs they have. When you go into this recruiting class you say Florida needed a quarterback. They needed quarterback depth.
Nick: Got one quarterback as a graduate transfer, immediate depth, and two other guys possible redshirt, playing maybe, so check that off.
Andrew: Yeah. Then you go in and you say they need to get some receivers that are big play receivers. You check three of those off as early enrollees, and then you have at least one more coming in in Rick Wells in the summer, possibly two with Tyrie Cleveland. Once again I give that a check mark. That’s success. When you look at Massey, Hammond, and Swain, that’s success.
Then you go to linebacker. You say they need to add depth there. They got David Reese to early enroll. For me that’s a success. Then they got Vosean Joseph and Jeremiah Moon in the class right now for that position. Once again, I see that. Now, I see that as somewhat a success. I say they should have gotten, they needed another big middle linebacker type of guy for the class. I do think Vosean Joseph can end up playing there. I do think they would have liked to have four. I kind of say that’s a success, but not fully a success there.
Then you look at the DB position. They needed to add some big time players there and add depth there, and they got Chauncey Gardner, and they got McArthur Burnett already enrolled in school. Then they got Taylor and Quincy Litton at safety coming in in the spring. Add that with a guy like Aaron Robinson, who in my opinion is probably the best pure corner in the class, with the possibility of Kristian Fulton. Once again, you’ve got to like where it is.
Maybe the thing that people are saying right now, and I understand it, is you maybe didn’t lock up some of the bigger name guys that you wanted to make the class go from really good to great, but a lot of that is a product of Florida not having good quarterback play right now, and there’s still some Florida playing catchup on these guys with some of them.
Nick: How much did the end of the season affect recruiting?
Andrew: It took the momentum away. That’s the thing. You can talk about everything you want. Momentum is something you can’t make and you can’t break, and it’s something that happened. You get waxed by Michigan in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, there’s nothing you can do about it. You got waxed. Michigan has that as ammunition for the recruiting cycle, and Florida didn’t. It’s something that is definitely there that didn’t help. It didn’t hurt a ton. Just some of the bigger names fell. You look at a guy like Nate Craig-Myers. There’s so many factors that got in the process with him. You look at that. Florida didn’t want Benjamin Victor. They decided to pass on him. They decided to pass on Sam Bruce. Would they have loved to have a guy like Nate Craig-Myers, a guy like Marcus Tatum? Sure. They missed on those guys, but they’re trying to fill on that for there. When you look at the class as a whole you have to say it was a successful class with a lot of really good players that maybe are forgot about because they committed so early.
Nick: Yeah. That’s a thing is the guys that commit early they get their love in June and July, and then they’re all but forgotten by the time February rolls around. I think Florida did do a good job filling holes, especially necessary holes. The biggest one being at quarterback. You needed to get at least two, especially with the Will Grier transfer. All in all a good class. Could it have been better? Yes. Every single recruiting class on Signing Day you can say it could have better if this, this, and that happened. We’ll get into your questions, and Andrew will have a must read thread after Signing Day. I know he enjoys doing it. His behind the scenes recruiting. That will not be on the free side. That will be on the premium side, so as Andrew told you earlier today, now is a pretty good time to sign up for Gator Country.
Andrew: Great time. Those behind the scene things are very good.
Nick: I know you’re looking forward to that one.
Andrew: There’s a couple things I’d like to…
Nick: You kind of have to bite your tongue all year long, and then once the dust settles you’re able to kind of go back and say this is how it really happened.
Andrew: Yeah. There’s a lot of Alabama tidbits there. Some other maybe not so cool stuff that happened, but it’s always fun. That’s a fun time. It’s tough to do that kind of stuff during the middle of the season, because you don’t want to get anybody fired up. You don’t want to hurt anybody’s chances, but after the ink is dry all bets are off, and you can kind of say a few things that maybe you didn’t want to say during the season.
Nick: All right. We’ll jump into it on Twitter. Thank you everyone for your questions. Hope we get to them all. Brian Burrage wants to know. I think I know where this is coming from. Do you think there will be any Dalvin Cook esque trolling for the Gators this year?
Andrew: No. I don’t think so. Everyone wants to make the Shavar Manual thing more than it is. I don’t see that. I would say no. Most of that’s over with for Florida right now. Eddie Pineiro tried to play that little crap, but it didn’t work. I don’t think so. I’ll say no.
Nick: All right. Moving on. Ben Bobish, most entertaining recruit to interview this year?
Andrew: There is a couple. I really liked Chauncey Gardner. That one was really fun. Pineiro was awesome as well. Eddie Pineiro was really cool. Trying to think. There’s so many. There was a lot of really good ones in this class. You know what? I’m going to go with Antonneous Clayton. Antonneous Clayton was a guy that I respected the hell out of, because of the way he was just a straight shooter. There was no guessing games with Antonneous, and another thing with Antonneous is this. He’s kind of like myself in that he doesn’t mind spitting the tongue out on Twitter at some rival fans. Clayton was probably one of my best, but there were several of them.
Nick: I’ve got one for you. I think you missed him.
Andrew: Who’s that?
Nick: Joshua ‘Hot Sauce’ Hammond. If only for the nickname Hot Sauce.
Andrew: Josh was good. Josh was also very quiet in what he did. There was nothing wrong with Josh at all. Josh was a great guy every time I met him. I got to talk to him and change messages, Twitter, stuff like that with him. He was very polite and very good. He’s just kind of shy. I wouldn’t say he was my favorite. I still got to go with Clayton, and Chauncey Gardner was pretty good as well. Little Prime Time was good.
Nick: Absolutely he was. Jay Hester wants to know, who are the later announcing recruits, or when do you think all the names will be in?
Andrew: This is kind of a mystery right now, because Fulton hasn’t set one up yet, a time yet. Tyrie, to my knowledge, hasn’t set one up. John Simpson’s at noon. So I would say noon is when most of them go, but I don’t know. Kristian Fulton is a different thing out in Metairie. They may do something at 9:00 at night after a big crawfish boil. I don’t know.
Nick: Crawfish boil. Is it crawfish season?
Andrew: It’s always crawfish season in New Orleans.
Nick: Nawlins.
Andrew: Nawlins, but I think noon would be it. Check back on Gator Country on Tuesday night. You guys are listening to this Tuesday, so Tuesday night check back. I’m sure by then we’ll have a final answer of when all those guys are announcing. A lot of that has to do with local TV, when the local stations are able to get there and that kind of stuff. I would say by Tuesday.
Nick: Tuesday. Here we go. PN wants to know how many of our committed recruits do we end up losing?
Andrew: Losing.
Nick: I think a lot of this is a couple of the Alabama boys, Lamical Perine and Jawaan Taylor, kind of came away like I’m going to be picking between Alabama and Florida on Signing Day. I think it riles people up a little bit after they leave their official visits.
Andrew: Lamical just needs to relax. Take a lap. He needs to take a lap with all that mess. I don’t think, I’ve said before I think McWilliams, either McWilliams or Tony Nelson, one of those two are out. So we’ll see which one it is. Either one can really be out in the class. I don’t think both of them are. So one of those two are out, and I think the rest stick. Manuel, he’s been sold on Florida for a while. Florida State was more about an uncle that wanted to go see it. Jawaan Taylor is not going anywhere but Florida, and Perine’s not going anywhere but Florida. All stick except for one of McWilliams/Nelson.
Nick: Okay. DJ Riffenburg, assuming Florida flips Tyrie, and they get Fulton, is there any other way National Signing Day can get better for Florida?
Andrew: Sure. Get the big guy, John Simpson, from South Carolina. The big names are definitely Fulton and Cleveland, because they’re at the skill position, but I think maybe the biggest guy is John Simpson. He’s a guy that can potentially be the second best offensive lineman to commit to Florida outside of Martez Ivey, if you were able to get him. I really like Simpson a lot. So getting those three would be great, and, of course, getting all your guys to stick would be even better as well. Get those guys, and get Simpson, and call it a day. Get ready for an incredible 2017 class.
Nick: All right. I kind of don’t like these questions, but they’re very popular questions. I don’t even know what says. Will Florida finish with a Top 3 class this year?
Andrew: I don’t pay attention to those things. So I don’t know.
Nick: You can’t. It doesn’t matter what the class is ranked on Signing Day. Rank them four years later after they’ve done something.
Andrew: Yeah. I rarely pay attention to it. I know, is it Rivals that has them 6th, something like that? I would say probably not Top 3. Yeah. I don’t know, but I don’t know what they’re ranked in any of the other things. I don’t pay attention. I mean, it’s a situation where why am I going to look at some site that has guys that don’t know the game trying to build these…
Nick: There he goes.
Andrew: It’s just it is what it is. You got to give me some substance as to why these classes matter. That’s the way I look at it.
Nick: Do I know the game?
Andrew: I would say you know it better than a lot of the others. I would say that.
Nick: I guess I’ll take it where I can get it.
Andrew: That’s right.
Nick: KHC, we’re not ignoring you, but you asked the same question, commits that you think Florida might lose? That was answered. Defensive tackle recruiting, Tan Carter says, I don’t know if this is even a question. DT, defensive tackle, recruiting as concerning as offensive line under champ for the last two cycles. If you can find a question in there, I guess you can answer it.
Andrew: I mean, he kind of is answering the question for me. How many defensive tackles do you want on campus? Florida hasn’t lost any defensive tackles. We still got a butt load of them on campus right now. You’ve got Shavar Manuel, and guys like Jachai Polite probably moves inside. I said before I think Cece Jefferson ends up moving to the Jonathan Bullard role. Yeah. Call it what you want to call it, I guess.
Nick: All right. Joel Asavido says, which EE has the best chance to play early that is currently committed? I think there’s four, and I think we agree on them. Dre Massey, Mark Thompson…
Andrew: I think he says which non-EE.
Nick: Oh, non-EE.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Okay. We’ve already talked about the EEs before. Who do you think there then?
Andrew: That’s tough. I would lean towards Manuel or maybe Antonneous Clayton right now, but I’m going to throw a curve ball. I’m going to say Jawaan Taylor out of Alabama. I think they need him to play safety and be ready to go. So I think he gets into that two deep next year. I’m going to go Jawaan Taylor, but it’s followed very closely by Antonneous Clayton there. If they get Fulton and Tyrie, those two bump right up to the top.
Nick: Yeah. I think both of those guys would jump into the top. I think Josh Hammond’s a guy that can get it. Of the non-committed, or the guys that aren’t on campus yet, I think that’s really tough. I’m not sure. Maybe I would go with Jawaan, but there’s a big jump in the mental side at safety from high school to college. So kind of handling that would be the big test. I’m not sure. I will give an answer at some point, but I’m not sure yet.
Andrew: I don’t know. There’s a couple guys that, it’s always a guy that surprises you out of nowhere.
Nick: Right.
Andrew: That comes about. A guy like Brett Heggie, a guy like Jawaan Taylor, both of those guys could be a two deep. I don’t think none of the guys that come in late start. There’s not that many spots open to start. There’s several guys that could play roles. Florida plays umpteen guys on defense, so any of the defensive guys that are worth a crap could very well slide in. Again, I think Clayton and Jawaan Taylor are two guys that should.
Nick: Who do we think would be the more important pickup, Kristian Fulton or Tyrie Cleveland?
Andrew: Tyrie Cleveland or Kristian Fulton. Tyrie Cleveland. Name the last big time receiver Florida got that was 6’3”. I mean, is it Dallas Baker? Is it Riley Cooper? Who is it? I can’t name it. You just can’t name it. So for me, Tyrie Cleveland for me is a difference maker. You get Tyrie Cleveland and this class goes from good to great, and that’s with one kid. I don’t give a damn what anybody says. He’s a five star receiver that was the best at the Under Armour game. For me it’s Tyrie.
Nick: I’m going to go with Fulton. There’s a lot of talk about DBU, but you’re looking at a situation where both starters next year in Jalen Tabor and Quincy Wilson could be gone. I mentioned it after DeAndre Porter’s arrest and dismissal. Florida came into this season, came into the 2015 football season and we said that they had too much talent at corner. Then you lose JC, and you lose Porter, and now all of a sudden it’s, we’ve got three, and now Vernon’s gone. So I think being able to keep that defense running at a high level you’re going to need those corners, and Fulton’s the kind of a guy that allows the defense, kind of like Vernon did and Jalen does and Quincy does, having a corner like that, a lockdown corner, really allows you to do more on defense, take more chances, be more aggressive on defense. I’m going to go with Fulton, because Florida, you still don’t have an established quarterback. The offense is still learning and making strides. You need the defense to continue to play at that elite level.
Andrew: Yeah. Good point. We’ll see, that’s for sure. I don’t know. I don’t know that you can make a case that’s against either one of them.
Nick: Right.
Andrew: It’s a good point. Very good point for both of those guys.
Nick: Then we’ve got last one from Chris Black, getting in a couple here. Who are Florida more likely to get, Catalina or Pridgeon? I don’t know if I’m saying that right.
Andrew: Pridgeon can’t get into school. So it’s not happening. He’s not getting into Florida. Catalina, like we said before, if he can get into school I think it’s Florida. I guess if you’re asking which one’s more likely it’s Catalina, because he still has a chance.
Nick: Maybe get in.
Andrew: He still has a chance to get into school. Pridgeon is sitting on the front doorstep of the Swamp trying to get in.
Nick: Right. Chris Black also asked about the signing times for Simpson, Cleveland, Joseph, Taylor, and Perine. You’ve got all of those up on GatorCountry.com.
Andrew: Yeah. Say his name one more time.
Nick: Which one?
Andrew: It’s not Perine.
Nick: Perine.
Andrew: There you go. Let’s get that straight. We’ll get all that up on Tuesday night. Let’s see. I believe Jawaan Taylor is going at 9:00. I know that Lamical is going between 9:00 and 11:00. They’re still trying to figure out the final details on that. There is no Signing Day with him. It’s putting on the Florida hat, sending in the LOI, and same thing with Jawaan Taylor, in my opinion. He will definitely go at 9:00AM, according to his mom early this morning.
Nick: That is fluid, as most things are in recruiting.
Andrew: Yeah. Exactly.
Nick: We did get to see a little sneak peek of our new chat room that we’ll have up and running for Signing Day. You and I will both be in there, along with other Gator Country insiders, all day long. Chopping it up, making sure everybody knows when letters start rolling into that fax machine. It is looking good, and it’s formatted to work on mobile too, which is a nice little added benefit there. We have a ton of pretty much around the clock coverage. I will be hooked up to a coffee drip directly into my veins. So I will be awake, and it’s going to be a fun day. Then Andrew will finally go to sleep sometime Wednesday night or Thursday.
Andrew: Yeah. We’ll see. It should be a good week. It’s always a fun time. It’s Christmas for these guys. Coaching staff finally sees three years, four years’ worth of work pay off, or they have a heartbreak hotel. We’ll see. 2017 starts very quickly, as Junior Day was this past weekend. No sleep for it. Recruit daily or die.
Nick: That’s it. Recruit daily or die. 2017 as soon as the ink is dry and the faxes are in hand on Wednesday. It’s 100% already looking towards 2017. You can take a nap, but you can’t take a sleep. You can nap though.
Andrew: For real. No sleep. The phone continues to go off. Tell the people where they can find us. We’ll get out of here.
Nick: As always, NickdelaTorreGC on Twitter, @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter. GatorCountry on Twitter. @TheGatorCountry, the flyest edits in the game, thanks to Kevin and our guy, GatorEdits. They’ll be up on our Facebook page. Just search Gator Country on Facebook, as well as Instagram. It’s TheGatorCountry on Instagram. Stay tuned. It is going to be a mad dash to the finish, and hopefully a good day for the Gators on Wednesday.
Andrew: Good day it will be, whether they get anyone else or not. 2017 is going to be fun. Butch, Mark, you know the drill. Chomp, chomp. Go Braves.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.