Florida Gators/Miami rivalry hits an all-time low

The Florida Gators-Miami Hurricane rivalry hit an all-time low this week when several Miami football coaches reached out to Florida commits about rumor that was a lie.

On Thursday Miami fans posted a Facebook message accusing the Gators of a recruiting violation that was verified to be false by multiple high-level sources. Very quickly after the message was posted on social media, multiple Miami coaches reached out to Gator commits asking them to visit Miami in lieu of the rumor.

The message given from Miami coaches was that Florida was in trouble and that the commits should reconsider the Hurricanes, but the Gators commits declined the visit and told Gator Country that they let the Florida staff know of these allegations.

This, in my opinion, is an extremely dirty recruiting method by the Miami coaching staff about a rumor that they knew to be false.

No matter who started the rumor, or wherever it originated, for Miami to use this was extremely dirty. A joke by a fan base is one thing, but for the coaching staff to use said joke is another.

I have a feeling that the answers to the above questions are simple; it’s less than a week until national signing day and the Gators coaching staff was about to land multiple prospects in Miami’s back yard. The rumor was sure to spread and was sure to get back to parents so they would have doubt about Florida and the coaching staff. Miami also knows that Florida’s administration and coaching staff can’t address recruiting, so they have no way of putting out a public statement on this.

To expand further on this over the last few years Florida has flipped multiple commits from Miami and landed 10 prospects that the Canes were very high on. That, along with not producing enough on the field, was why Al Golden was replaced as a head coach and something Mark Richt pledged to stop other teams from doing.

Instead of fixing this issue with a usual recruiting pitch like Florida calling itself DBU, Miami went with a lie. If you’re Miami why are you not trying to sell your location or your beautiful weather? Sell something that is real, something that these kids will see and live for 3-4 years, not a lie.

These two schools both have great football traditions. To stoop this low to win a few recruiting battles is sick and an all-time low. I guess the saying desperate times call for desperate measures rings true in the situation.

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.