Hey Gator Country brings you a new podcast as we preview the Florida Gators official visits for this weekend which is the last one for the 2017 recruiting class.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also discuss what’s going with the Gators recruiting and why they’re struggling this year with recruits.
Andrew and Nick also break down how the Gators could fix these problems and how they can finish this class.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we’re alive, but I don’t know about Gator Twitter, and I don’t know about Gator Nation.
Nick:Most of the sky fell last night, so if you’re listening to this consider yourself lucky that a piece of the sky didn’t fall and kill you last night.
Andrew:What a wild Wednesday night, my friend.
Nick:I was at the gym, so I missed it all.
Andrew:Lucky for you.
Nick:I was at the gym, so I wasn’t on social media. Had no idea that any of it happened until I got a text from you. Also, drove down to Orlando on Wednesday, had about an eight minute interview, seven minute interview, with Elijah Blades. Didn’t mention decommitting. That’s how quickly things change.
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:Changes in the time it takes me to get to and from Orlando.
Andrew:Well, it was a wild one, for sure. You look at Blades’ recruitment, and I’ll be the first to admit, I put out my insider report yesterday, and I thought he would stick, thought Henderson and Herbert would go to Miami. It was different. I was told that the conversation was more about his relationship with Torrian Gray compared to other DB coaches, and that’s something that’s there. Later on, Jordan Scarlett goes after him a little bit, and he says he wants to stay closer to home. Is it he wants to stay close to home, or he wants to have a better relationship with his DB coach? I don’t know. Who knows what it is. It’s an excuse, whatever it may be. It’s a reason, and he’s a kid. He has that chance to do that.
As far as Kai-Leon Herbert goes, he says the offensive line coach played a factor, not knowing that, and I agree with that, but I think a lot of it was also that Miami filled his head. Miami filled his head with a lot of stuff, and it worked. Nick, we talked about this off the air. You want to talk about this now, about kind of what we feel like is going on here?
Nick:Yeah. I think people want to hear that.
Andrew:I want you to chime in here as well, because you don’t have to stay in the day to day as much, and that’s nothing against you, Nick. You know what I’m talking about when I say this.
Nick:I tell you all the time. I don’t envy your job.
Andrew:You get to see a little bit of the broader of thing here. It’s mindboggling to me here, Nick. I’ve been doing this six years now, and I can honestly say that this is probably the worst. That was bad times Will Muschamp put it through. Nick, I just don’t know, man. I can’t figure this out. I told you this off the air. You can’t tell me these guys are just that bad of recruiters. You can’t tell me Chris Rumph just forgot how to recruit. You can’t tell me Torrian Gray just forgot how to recruit. Now, I’ve said it all along, he’s swimming in the SEC. He’s still trying to figure out how to recruit the SEC against the big boys, compared to when he was at Virginia Tech and wasn’t recruiting against the big boys. So, there’s a difference there, but you can’t tell me he just forgot. You can’t tell me Randy Shannon just forgot how to recruit. You just can’t. I just don’t know. You just can’t forget how to recruit, so I’m not sure.
It’s not all on the coaches, but I’m just not sure what the overlying problem is here. I said this to you off the air as well. You’re hearing about these kids. They’re talking to talk smack about Florida, kids that aren’t going to Florida. You usually have that a little bit, but they’re never in the ear of other guys talking smack. CJ Henderson talking trash about Florida to Blades. A lot of that is Miami filling the heads, but this bad mojo, this bad dark cloud that’s over Florida, I’m just not getting it. It can’t be just the coaches. It can’t be just the offense. Florida has been to Atlanta. You can discount it all you want to, they’ve been to Atlanta two years in a row. I mean, and I say this, and I say this tongue in cheek, but, damn, this is the Florida Gators. That should carry some weight, Nick.
Nick:Right now it’s not. Right now it’s not, and to me it’s kind of, here’s the thing. When were these kids born? These kids being recruited now are 17 years old, they were born in what? ’95.
Andrew:’97, ’98, ’99.
Nick:So they’re 10 years old is 2009. That’s the last time Florida was any good in football.
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:A lot of them might not be watching that. They don’t remember Tim Tebow. They know who he is, but they don’t remember him as a freshman. They don’t remember the jump pass, and Chris Leek in 2006. They don’t remember that stuff. So, when you say, it’s still the University of Florida, is it to these kids? FSU’s come out of that. FSU fans will talk about the lost decade, and it got to the point where the last time FSU was good the recruits didn’t remember it. That might be something you have to look at is you can’t rest on that laurel. When Jim McElwain says, “When I walk into a recruit’s house, that Gator logo on my chest means a lot,” maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it doesn’t anymore.
Andrew:Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it doesn’t.
Nick:To you and I, I was a senior in high school, and then an undergrad in college during the years when Florida won back to back basketball championships, two out of three football championships. Those are vivid memories to me. I remember stuff when I’m 10, but not like when I was a freshman in high school or a sophomore in high school.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:It’s only four years, five years difference.
Andrew:Right. I’m with you. Again, that’s some of it. Some of it’s the coaches. Some of it’s the offense. It’s a crap shoot. I understand this. People continue to ask me, “Andrew, what’s going on? Tell me the one problem.” There’s not one problem. There’s not one problem. It’s an overlying issue. People say, “Don’t throw facilities out there.” Well, that’s a little bit of the problem. I said this to someone yesterday, and I think it rings true, Nick. All these small problems that have been continued to be brushed under the rug, they’ve become one giant big ass problem.
Nick:There’s no magic elixir. It’s not we’ll do this, and everything’s fine. It’s, like you said, not one thing. It’s multiple things, and if you’re a coach, and you’re getting paid six figures, getting paid seven figures, it doesn’t matter if recruits are telling fellow recruits, “Hey, don’t go there.” You should be able to overcome that. Your job is to overcome that.
Andrew:No, I’m with you. I’m with you on that, but what I’m saying to you is this. When did this, how did this start of this overlying massive problem of this? I’m confused, Nick. Maybe I’m not understanding it. I don’t know. I’m confused as to what is continuing to be this huge issue of disconnect here. I mean, we can talk about winning all you want to. Will Muschamp didn’t win. He gets recruits. It’s like I said, you can talk …
Nick:Well, everyone said that Muschamp was a bad recruiter.
Andrew:Shit, top 10 classes three out of the four years.
Nick:Florida, a top 10 class at the University of Florida should not be the goal.
Andrew:No. It shouldn’t be.
Nick:Seven, eight, nine, ten.
Andrew:Top 10 is top 10, Nick.
Nick:That’s not cutting it. Not when Alabama’s getting the best class. You’re chasing Alabama, so when Alabama is six years in a row the #1 class in the country, you can’t be happy with being the ninth, because you’re not catching them.
Andrew:No. I’m with you, but what I’m saying to you is this. We can talk shit about Will Muschamp all we want to. At the end of the day, he did recruit well, with bad football teams. Jim McElwain is a hell of a football coach, a hell of a football coach. I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t know the answer. I know there’s several things that are going on, and they’re swept under the rug. We can talk about he didn’t hire his coaching staff, this, that, and the other. Does Jim McElwain need to be more aggressive and cutthroat? Yes, he does. I’ve said, and I’ll continue to say it.
To the assholes that are on Twitter, and excuse my French for saying that, who say, “We haven’t been critical of this class,” it’s wrong, for one, because we’ve been very critical of this class. My line has been this will be a good, but not great class. This is going to be a class that does not have a headliner. This is going to be a class that could have changed with the wind had Alex Leatherwood flipped, had a Jared Steadman flipped. It could have changed. There’s no headliner in the class. It is an okay to good class, but not great. That’s not good enough for Florida. I’m with you on that.
My thing is there’s just no real one answer as to what the problem is. Someone told me this yesterday, and that is, “Jim McElwain really has to look at himself in the mirror, and look at his guys in the mirror, after February 1st, and say, ‘How do I regain it for 2018?” because, let’s face it, recruiting’s a momentum battle here, boys and girls, and there’s no way to fix this momentum on the field until next August. 2018 class is halfway done by next August. Something’s got to be done now. I’m saying now as in after February 1st, or right now to salvage 2017, because guess what? 2018 class is make or break. You got to go 2018. Another outside of the top 15 class in 2018, ain’t cutting it, boys.
Nick:I think when you say, “Well, we’re in the SEC Championship two years in a row, that should mean something.” What does it mean when you’re getting blown out in that game, and then you’re going to Orlando and Tampa after?
Andrew:What is Georgia selling, Nick?
Nick:Whatever Georgia’s selling, they’re buying, because Georgia’s recruiting circles around Florida.
Andrew:That’s what I’m saying. That point is moot in my opinion. You can say, “Well, what does it mean for Florida to go to the SEC Championship game?” Obviously, I mean it’s better than what the rest of them are doing, except for Alabama.
Nick:Apparently that means nothing. If you look at it. Should it mean something? Maybe, yeah, probably. Does it? It doesn’t seem to be. That’s the point that I’m making. I’m saying it doesn’t seem to make a difference, because of what you’re seeing. How would you rate last year’s class?
Andrew:I said last year’s class was really good. Again, it wasn’t great, but it was really good. You look at what they had. Headlined by Chauncey Gardner. Headlined by Antonneous Clayton. Headlined by Tyrie Cleveland. Headlined by the two quarterbacks. That was good. It wasn’t great, but the thing for me is to be great you got to have headliners, and I mean headliners like a Leatherwood. Next year like a Jacob Copeland, like a Emory Jones, like a Trevor Lawrence. This year, Leatherwood, those guys. Those are headliners. You’ve got to have a headliner to make it great, and I hate stars. I am the world’s worst with hating stars. Cannot stand stars, but it’s a headliner. It’s guys that attract other guys. That’s what I’m saying.
To go back to the point of getting to Atlanta, my thing is this. Okay, you tell me it matters what happens on the field. Obviously, it don’t, because we just proved that point was wrong. Alright, we talk about the staff. Like I said, you can’t blame it all on the staff, because these guys just didn’t all forget how to recruit. You can’t blame it all on facilities, so what is it? I don’t know. I personally can’t answer the question as to what the full disconnect is. Can you? Can you answer it?
Nick:No. It’s kind of like you said, I don’t follow it the same way you do, same way a lot of guys do, so to me it’s shocking. I look at it from a perspective where I’m not into it, so I can kind of give an outsider’s perspective on the recruiting. Also, I’m not going to get angry about recruiting. I’m not going to get angry about a bunch of 17 year old kids I have no control over. I don’t know what the issue is.
That’s kind of what I was getting at before. To me, and to you, in our formative years, in the years where we really started watching football and understanding what we were watching, Florida was that deal. It was the end of Steve Spurrier. You had four down years with Zook, and then Myer took it over, and then there were a couple down years with Muschamp. Really, to us, Florida is, when you say it, yeah, the University of Florida. It is what the coaches are trying to say that it is and sell to these recruits. I just don’t know if the recruits, who are much younger than us …
Andrew:What is Georgia selling, Nick? Georgia’s not, when has Georgia ever done anything? Never. Never, ever, ever have they done anything. You know what I’m saying?
Nick:You got to look at the guys they’re recruiting then. It’s got to fall on them.
Andrew:That’s what I’m saying. I mean, it does. It falls on it. I’m agreeing in that. I’m just saying it can’t be all of them. Guys like Tim Skipper, he’s recruiting well. Chris Rumph didn’t forget how to recruit. He didn’t forget how to recruit. Randy Shannon didn’t forget how to recruit. You know what I’m saying? Those guys didn’t forget how to recruit, so what is it? Yes, I think they all need to be more cutthroat. I think they all need to be more aggressive.
I understand what Jim McElwain’s trying to do with hiring his coaches. He wants to get the best, but go get the best now. That’s, in my opinion, where it is. Nick Saban’s not waiting, because, guess what? He don’t give a shit whose feelings he’s hurting. He could care less, because at the end of the day, next January, when he’s walking up holding his crystal ball and holding his championship trophy, everybody’s coming to him.
Nick:Send your suggestions as to what’s wrong to @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter.
Andrew:Please don’t.
Nick:That cracks me up.
Andrew:Please don’t be doing all that. My Twitter is on fire. I told you I had to turn the phone off, not because people were bitching at me, but were bitching to me. I’m sitting here thinking, “Do I just look like the venting machine here? Vent to me, my friends, vent.”
Nick:The venting machine. You should trademark that.
Andrew:Exactly. I don’t know, Nick. Here it is. You got 14 commits, heading into the last week of official visits. It’s go time. I mean, you and I can bitch. The fan base can bitch. Everybody can gripe. Everyone can complain, but at the end of the day the staff has no time. You’ll have to lick your sores afterwards, after Signing Day. It’s go time, Nick. It’s a big week of visitors, some very, very good visitors coming in this weekend. Some backup plans coming in this weekend. See what you got.
Nick:You mentioned headliners. Who’s the headliner this weekend?
Andrew:The headliners are a couple guys. LaBryan Ray, that’s a headliner. How did we say we were going to say this? Chaisson. How did we say we were going to say this?
Nick:I think Chaisson.
Andrew:Okay. Let’s go that. He’s your other headliner. Brad Stewart, in my opinion, is a headliner, just because he’s that dude. He’s that dude at safety. The Gaddy twins are headliners. Those are your headliners.
Of course, LaBryan Ray is going to be the big dog. In my opinion, if he commits tomorrow, he’s your best player in your class. He’s that guy. He’s a guy that in a couple years you’re going to be watching in the NFL Pro Bowl, and I fully believe that.
Nick:That’s pretty high praise.
Andrew:He hails from Alabama.
Nick:Who’s Florida recruiting against there? Big dogs.
Andrew:Alabama, and he’s an Alabama kid.
Nick:What would it mean for Florida to go head to head with Alabama and win a recruit? You’re talking about guys last year, who did Florida really go head to head against with Chauncey Gardner? That was kind of wrapped up pretty quickly. Who did Florida go head to head against with Tyrie Cleveland? It was Houston. You’ve got to start competing, not with Houston, not with Maryland, not with South Carolina. You’ve got to start competing with Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, for these kids, and you have to start winning.
Andrew:No. You’re right. You’re right. To beat Alabama for LaBryan Ray is that momentum you’re talking about. To get off subject real quick, to beat Florida State out for Levi Jones, to land the Chaisson kid, however you say his name. If you were to win that battle, that’s your momentum. That’s your momentum. Brad Stewart’s a great football player, will be one of the best players in the class, but a lot of people have already kind of figured he was going to go to Florida, whether that’s fair or not. They’ve always thought he was a lean to Florida, the fan base has. It’s not as big. The Gaddy twins, it’s not as big if they go. LaBryan Ray, Chaisson, those are big.
Nick:Bigger if those guys, Stewart, the Gaddy twins, bigger if they come, or if they don’t come?
Andrew:Don’t come.
Nick:I think that’s another perception issue, where in the past Florida hasn’t had great days on Signing Day, but if you are assuming, I’m assuming this guy’s already in the class, so now I’m looking at these other five guys who I’m not assuming are in the class, there’s a reason for that. The reason for that is that Florida’s probably not strongly in for them. Then you get to Signing Day, and those guys who Florida wasn’t strongly in for anyway don’t come, and now you’ve got a perception issue where even your fan base, and that’s where it starts.
It doesn’t start with Florida State fans. Florida State fans aren’t the ones doing it. It starts with Florida fans being angry about it and voicing their opinion about it. More power to you. You’ve got an outlet to do it on social media. If you’re not happy, let them know you’re not happy about it. Don’t let me know about it. Let everyone else know. It starts there, and that’s where the perception starts. Then it just builds with the other classes, but it starts with Florida fans being upset. I think there’s situations, people last year. Somebody asked me, who was the safety that went to Virginia Tech?
Andrew:Devin Hunter.
Nick:Devin Hunter. Someone asked me about Devin Hunter, and I said, “I think he’s going to Virginia Tech.” People were getting mad about that. It’s like, Florida was never the favorite here. You were in the running, but you were never the favorite, so why are you getting upset about losing a kid who’s staying close to home, that you were never the frontrunner for?
Andrew:It goes back to …
Nick:It’s that negativity. When I was talking to Elijah Blades yesterday, finished the interview, and we’re walking away, and I’m talking to him, because he’s, even before last night, has caught so much flak from people on Twitter. He’s just like, “It’s exhausting.” He hates it. Elijah wasn’t smiling in a picture with Florida coaches, what is this? It’s just like, whoa man.
Andrew:Twitter is bad. Twitter can be really good and really bad.
Nick:I love Twitter.
Andrew:I’ll say this. I love Jordan Scarlett. He’s a great player, great kid. What he said to Blades about, “You didn’t want to be a part of DBU.” It’s great to say, just don’t say that on Twitter. It’s something everyone sees, and I think everyone sees that negativity, and it feeds over in the momentum.
Let’s break down this recruiting visit weekend. Let’s try to get some positivity out of here. I’m feeling like I’m heading to a funeral here.
Nick:Positivity. One commit coming into town this week, Zeke Byrd.
Andrew:That’s my dude, man. Good guy. Great tight end prospect. I think he’s that C’yontai Lewis kind of guy. I think he has a higher ceiling than C’yontai, even though it think C’yontai can still be a better player than he is. The only thing about Zeke is Zeke’s not a big recruiter guy. He’s kind of a quiet guy, so don’t expect him to be doing a lot of recruiting this weekend.
Nick:Okay. Kind of just going to do his own thing.
Andrew:He’ll be doing his own thing.
Nick:Here’s one that I want to talk about.
Andrew:Okay.
Nick:Adarius Lemons.
Andrew:Okay.
Nick:Coming in for an official visit. That recruitment has been rocky, to say the least.
Andrew:Disneyworld rollercoaster.
Nick:Yeah. Islands of Adventure.
Andrew:I still don’t think he qualifies. I think this is a visit of you’re a good player, we like you, come on and enjoy a free weekend. If you qualify, great, but we ain’t going to sign you right now. I think that’s kind of the mindset that the staff has taken with him. Maybe he works out and makes it in. I don’t think he will. I just don’t think he will. I don’t think Florida signs him. Great player, just off the field. That word student athlete comes into play here big time.
Nick:That’s a huge loss, because that kid’s a player.
Andrew:Yeah. I’m a big fan of him as well. I want to talk about another guy, Nick.
Nick:You go, let’s get to something positive, and the first thing I bring up.
Andrew:Yeah. Let’s go to this guy, and I’m about to butcher this name. Poor kid. Abule Abadi. Did I say that right, Nick? Probably not.
Nick:Abadi.
Andrew:Abule Abadi. Is that how we want to say this?
Nick:Possibly.
Andrew:Okay. Abule, hit us up, and let us know how bad we just destroyed your poor name. Poor guy.
Nick:Sorry.
Andrew:He’s a guy that is one of those guys, again, this is about to be bashed, because he’s a sleeper kind of guy, but 6’7” 245, D end, coming in. Big player, big player. Long athletic wingspan. Kind of that Alex McCalister kind of guy. Very interested to see how that visit goes this weekend, Nick. He’s a guy that could very well end up being a guy you take, red shirt, and then he ends up being a really good player. I know Alabama and Florida State is starting to sniff around on him. They were trying to have a spot for him to come in. Doesn’t look like they’re going to have a spot for him, so maybe Florida is able to steal this guy that has really just came about late.
It happens a lot with these guys that transfer in, that come in from different areas of the world. You see guys now coming in from Brazil. You always see guys coming in from Nigeria, that kind of stuff. These guys coming in like this. We’ll see what happens with these guys. I mean, you’re starting to see more of these guys that are coming in that are ending up making names for themselves, so I think Florida may have landed on a good one here.
Nick:That was an interesting picture that he had with Mac.
Andrew:Yeah. It was. Coach Mac was standing on a stool.
Nick:Was he really? Twitter told me that this kid couldn’t be 6’7”, because looking at him and Mac.
Andrew:He had a little stepping stool that he was standing on.
Nick:That’s funny. Red shirt, could be somewhat hard to get excited about someone you already deem as a project.
Andrew:Yeah, but they work out. They work out, for sure. Let’s move on to Brad Stewart, Nick.
Nick:I love his game.
Andrew:I love his game as well. One of my favorite players.
Nick:Love his game, and that’s a guy you look at safety for Florida, and you’ve got two seniors this year, Quincy Litton and Jawaan Taylor waiting in the wings, but Taylor will be a sophomore, and Litton will be a redshirt freshman. So, getting another freshman into this class is big. It’s important.
Andrew:Exactly. Brad can play corner too, that’s the thing. He’s kind of a Chauncey guy who can play a little bit of both. I’m telling you, people always tell me, “You come from New Orleans, you got that dog in you.” He’s got that dog in him. He’s a player, man. He is a big time player. Tim Skipper’s done a great job on him. Florida, Arkansas, TCU, Arizona State are all in there. Florida looks good, but I love this guy as a player. I think that this is one of those that if Florida’s able to get him what a pickup. What a pickup. This guy could get in there to see some action next year on special teams, and to give Marcell and Nick a breather. He’s a guy that could get on the field next year. He’s a dog. He’s a player.
Nick:Do you agree with me thought that people already kind of assume he’s already in the class, so when that happens, if it happens on Signing Day that he comes to Florida, it’s almost like you look over it, and you don’t think about that impact?
Andrew:Yeah. That’s exactly what it is. It sucks that way, but it’s perception. Social media and Twitter has killed things. Yeah. I mean, it’s like let’s move on, we’ll talk about the Gaddy twins, same thing. Most people think they’re going to flip, and it’s not going to be good. Breyon’s a really good player. Brandon is a little bit of a guy that he’s a good, but maybe not as good a player as his brother, Breyon. Both of them are tackles, defensive tackles, and I think both are good players.
They’re committed to Maryland right now. The question is qualifying. Both schools think they can get them in now, so that’s a good thing. I think that it’s one of those things where you pick them up, and people should be excited. You pick up a four star prospect, and everybody likes them four stars, it should be good. I think Florida’s got a great chance this weekend. Just need to make sure they can qualify, and make sure they’re comfortable and everything like that. Boom. You got two good defensive tackle prospects.
Nick:Talking about the Gaddys?
Andrew:Gaddys. Breyon and Brandon.
Nick:Breyon and Brandon. That was who I wanted to bring up next, so we’ve talked about Abadi, Lemons, Stewart, the Gaddys. What about Brian Edwards?
Andrew:He’s a little bit of a different guy. He’s a little bit of a taller corner, come in for, I think it was June camp, either June camp or July camp. Right off the top of my head drawing a blank, but one of the camps this summer. Randy offered him immediately. Was committed to Miami. Backed off that commitment to Miami. Florida had him as a little bit of a backup plan to CJ Henderson, because of Henderson’s speed. Now it looks like Florida will take him.
It’s one of those that he was a backup plan, but he was a good backup plan. He’s a taller corner, something that Torrian Gray likes. Nick, you know. You and I have talked about this a lot. Torrian likes those taller corners. That’s what Brian Edwards is. Florida is battling Miami and Louisville here. Need a good visit, but the big thing here is him and his family really like Randy Shannon. Heading into the visit, Florida has a good shot with Brian Edwards.
Nick:That’s important. Got to continue to restock. A lot of DBU talk, got to continue to restock that position.
Andrew:That’s right. Got to. Marco Wilson going to lead that brand.
Nick:I think he is your possibly Day 1 starter.
Andrew:Agreed.
Nick:Or a major contributor, if not a Day 1 starter.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:You touched on him a little bit. LaBryan Ray.
Andrew:Yeah. Can play D end, can play D tackle.
Nick:You said Pro Bowl kind of player down the line.
Andrew:Yeah. Looks like an NFL player already. Is a 2017 kid, so he was born, I think he’s 17 right now, so to be as physically gifted as he is, to be a younger guy, is impressive. Can play D end, play D tackle, played D tackle a lot at the Under Armour game, and did really well. I think he is a potentially Day 1 player for Florida to get in that rotation. It’s a Alabama/Florida battle here heading into the visit. Alabama has a slight lead. Florida’s got to go in.
Nick:Tennessee not in the mix there a little bit though?
Andrew:No. No. They can say what they want to, but Tennessee ain’t getting LaBryan Ray. If he don’t go to Florida, he’s going to Alabama, he’s staying in state.
Nick:What does Florida have to do? What does Florida have to do to get him? Is distance not a factor? What does Florida need to do to land a LaBryan Ray? They’ve recruited the state of Alabama very well.
Andrew:I think you got to get that stink of the bad momentum off of it, for one. You got to convince LaBryan Ray that he’s going to play, and that he’s going to be taken care of. I mean, you just got to do what you got to do in getting him to feel comfortable at Florida. I know he likes Drew Hughes, and I know he likes Rumph a lot. It’s just a thing of convincing him that coming to Florida and playing from Day 1 is better than going to Bama and sitting the bench for a year or two. That’s the perception they’ve got to battle, and the stink they’ve got to get off of this last week is what they got to do with Ray.
It’s going to be dead close. I don’t mix anything that I think it’s closer than a lot of people say. I do think Alabama comes into the weekend leading, but I do think Florida’s a lot closer than many people are giving them credit for.
Nick:Real quick, I don’t even know if Florida can offer more playing time than Alabama.
Andrew:Alabama’s loaded, my good friend.
Nick:Alabama, at that position they had Alan and Buggs last year, or Alan and Buggs this year, recruits, but you had four seniors, four senior defensive linemen last year.
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:At that position you’ve got two players, and two commits.
Andrew:Yeah. I mean, I don’t know.
Nick:Florida had that big class where you’ve got … Never mind.
Andrew:I was about to say. There’s nobody.
Nick:You’ve got Keivonnis Davis. You’ve got Jabari Zuniga, and you got Cece Jefferson. Justus Reed was also in that class, but that’s whatever. I think Jordan Smith is another year away, if not more than that.
Andrew:Antonneous Clayton.
Nick:I don’t think he’s ready, and then you’ve got Clayton. So, right there. There’s Jefferson, Zuniga, Davis, Clayton is four. Zach Carter’s another one. Then you’ve got Jordan Sherit, who’s going to play next year. Jordan Sherit’s going to start next year. Florida might have more depth than Alabama at defensive end right now.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:I don’t even know if you can sell playing time.
Andrew:Yeah, you can sell playing time. Don’t worry. You can sell playing time. Don’t worry. He’s coming in and getting in that two deep. The next guy, though, I wanted to do to was the Chaisson kid. Five star kid out of Texas. Dixon has a little bit of a relationship with him, with his father, that’s the reason for the visit this weekend. Makeup time. You got to make it up here and get in, and like you said, try to sell that playing time there as well. You need that speed rusher. Really Florida doesn’t have that really speed guy. Cece’s more of a physical guy, so you need that speed guy. Clayton’s a guy like that, but you need another guy. You can sell that with him, and, like I said, you got to win that distance battle. Texas and LSU are thought to be the favorites there. You got to win that distance battle.
That’s the same thing with this guy, receiver Charleston Rambo. Committed to Oklahoma out of Texas. You got to sell that, “We got Tyrie. We got Antonio Callaway, but outside of that we don’t have anything.” If you’re Coach Dixon, that’s what you’re saying. You’re preaching, “We need you.” That’s what you’re preaching if you’re Dixon, if you’re Nuss, if you’re McElwain. It’s a situation where you have guys, but you don’t have any studs. I mean, you don’t have any guys that have stepped up to be that stud, outside of those two guys. I think Hammond and Swain are going to be really good players, but if you’re Dixon, you preach that. “We have two guys. That’s it.”
Nick:That should not be hard, that’s not a hard point to get across.
Andrew:Yeah. Show the numbers. Let’s go to the guy that just got offered, Nick, Donovan Stiner out of Houston, out of Texas, committed to Houston. Backup plan for CJ Henderson. Looks like that’s going to be now a go. He got the offer. Got a visit this weekend, first ever visit. Was told that he has a really good frame, is a guy that is continuing to improve at the position. I think it’s one of those that Florida get him. It’s just about really making that guy feeling comfortable at Florida away from home.
Nick:Is this a point where you start to see backup offers, the guys that you’ve kind of been stringing along start to get offers? Then how do you judge, do we want to take someone just to have someone in the class? Not particularly about who you were just talking about, do we want to take somebody in this class, or do we want to save a spot and hope we can do better next year?
Andrew:You’ve got to fill numbers first. You got to see, we need to hit this number at the position, and if it’s a player that we think can play. When I say we, I’m speaking as the Florida coaches. You have to say, “Can this guy play? Will we use this guy, or will he just be a number that rides pine?” If that’s the case, he’s just going to ride pine and be a number, then you wait till next year. You save guys. A guy like Brian Edwards is a good player that maybe wasn’t as good as the top guy, but is still a good player. You take him.
That’s kind of like the next guy I want to talk about, Zalontae Hillery, the offensive lineman that’s committed to Miami. You’re bringing him in this weekend. You have to figure out, we missed on Kai-Leon Herbert, so do we go with this guy? You have to think, is this guy good enough to play, or is he just a number? If he’s good enough to play, you take him. If you think he’s just going to be a number for you, then you probably wait till next year when it’s a bigger offensive line class. Hillery comes in this weekend. Been on campus before. I think that’s a question they have to answer. Is he good enough to play, or is he just a number?
Nick:That’s important. Any 2018 recruits coming on campus this week?
Andrew:There’s a few. Hadn’t confirmed everyone yet. There is one place you’ll get that news, Nick.
Nick:That’s GatorCountry.com.
Andrew:There you go. Last visitor we need to talk about, before we can round this bad boy up, is Devonte Wyatt, the Georgia defensive tackle commit. Looks like South Carolina and Georgia are the favorites right now. Florida has put in some time with him. He’s a beast on the field, but does have a little bit of academic issues there, and that scared a lot of teams off. A lot of teams though now are thinking they can get him into school, so that’s why they’re kind of going after him a little bit more.
For me it’s going to be interesting to see how they work out the defensive tackle positions with guys like Elijah Conliffe, the two Gaddy twins. You wanted four. You’re starting to get several guys you’re feeling good on here, so you have to start working that out. This weekend’s visit with Wyatt will be interesting. How comfortable do they feel he will qualify, and then how comfortable they feel on other guys, and can they make the move past Georgia and South Carolina for him?
Nick:All big questions. Signing Day less than a week away.
Andrew:Less than a week away. Yes, it is. Nick, like you said, there will be some 2017 guys on campus. Stay tuned. We’ll have all of it, all the coverage, and we won’t be trying to be negative. We will be bringing the positive side of things as much as we possibly can, while keeping it real. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us, and we’ll get out of here and see everyone on Tuesday.
Nick:www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is on iTunes. Search @GatorCountry. It’s also on the website in podcast in audio and transcript form. On social media, @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. You can find me @NickdelaTorreGC, and you can find him @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew:There you go. As always, guys, follow along with us this weekend. We’ll be bringing you the latest on everything. Be doing a little Senior Bowl talk as well. Basketball, big win over LSU. Record 19 three pointers in the game, after going 0-17 a couple days ago. Going to play Oklahoma in a big road matchup.
Nick:Mike White said he didn’t really mind having this big road game, the Big 12/SEC showdown challenge, in the middle of SEC play. Good for him.
Andrew:Good for him. Good way to get some momentum going. As always, guys, we appreciate it. If you haven’t joined yet, come on and join us. There will be plenty of news with 11 spots still to go in the class. Promise I’ll be brining you the latest news and getting the best of it. Junior Day coming as well. Lot of things coming, so come over and check us out. Let us know if you want a nice little deal to come on. As always, guys, chomp, chomp. Go Braves. See you guys soon.
Nick:You stay classy, Gator Country.
Last Official Visit WeekendPage 12
Transcript by Five Stars Transcription