Sunday’s news of Jim McElwain being fired caught very few people by surprise after last week but still many recruits and commits of the Florida Gators were shocked.
Defensive back commit Randy Russell (5-10, 180, Opa Locka, FL. Carol City) was one of those surprised by the news on Sunday.
Shortly after reports came out Russell spoke to the rest of the Gators recruiting class of 2018 and they quickly got on same page.
“Everybody is on board and everybody is on the same page,” Russell said of Florida’s class.
Russell who is in a group text with the rest of the commits said the message was very positive about remaining with the Gators.
“We said we have to remain together because we have something special coming our way,” he said of the message on Sunday morning when news broke. “We’re not going to let that go away because of this.”
Recruits say all the time that they don’t commit to coach but a school but a lot of times that is just a saying but Russell says these guys committed to the Gators for those reasons.
“Overall we just love Gainesville and we love the Florida logo,” he said of why he feels Florida is the best place for himself and this class. “We love the Gators, all of us committed to the logo of the Gators.”
The defensive back commit believes that with this news, the strength of the class could improve due to this sudden news of losing the head coach.
“We’ve always been close but I think this is going to make us stronger,” Russell said of the family feel of the recruiting class. “This is going to build us close together and make us stronger together.”
Shortly after the news came out, most of the commits put a similar message saying they didn’t want to talk about the situation but Russell says that’s because of the respect they have for McElwain.
“No, Matt [Corral] tweeted then I tweeted and it went from there,” Russell said of the tweets from the commits on Sunday. “We love Coach Mac, we support him 100 percent but the decision was made and I just really respect that guy.”
Russell also wants to make sure that Florida fans around the country know where this class stands.
“Don’t worry, no need to worry about the class,” he said on his message to Florida fans.