GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators recruiting weekend, plus preview the Gators that will be playing in the Senior Bowl this weekend in Mobile, Alabama.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down how each official visit went and who the Gators have a good shot with after the weekend.
Andrew and Nick also break down what happened to the Florida Gators basketball team last week, plus look ahead to this week’s games.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, little bit slower week for football, but recruiting still going. Got the Gators out at the Senior Bowl. Basketball, it’s on a downslide after we gave them props last week.
Nick: Certainly a rough week for basketball, going 0-2, and dropping one at home. You see a little slide. They remain in the top 25, but you get the expected slide after going 0-2.
Andrew: I said this yesterday, Monday, to someone. I was doing a radio, and I said, “It’s kind of common though that there’s always a little bit of a midseason drought, per say.” I don’t think it was a situation where they played terribly. South Carolina’s a really good defensive team, so I’m not too worried about that. Then I think they just let that carry over in the Vanderbilt game. Kind of as we said last week, this is a team that kind of has to click on all cylinders to win, and right now they’re not, but I’m not worried about it yet.
Nick: No. We kind of talked about it before. You need to win your home games, so that’s a little troubling when you look at Vanderbilt, and you got to start, if you want to separate yourself, you have to start to win those road games. That South Carolina, you look at it, it’s a great defensive team, but those are some of the games you have to win if you want to get back to being thought of in the same breath as a Kentucky when it comes to the SEC.
Andrew: Probably the bad thing for Florida was that they from #3 in the RPI to #10 in the RPI, so that was kind of a letdown for them. Once again, they got time. They got two matchups against Kentucky, and who knows what happens? Florida has to continue to shoot the ball well. It’s kind of when is this whole team going to play well together? You see one game where Kevaughn Allen’s playing really well. Then he has a couple games where he doesn’t play well.
Nick: He was on fire last Saturday.
Andrew: Yeah, but then the South Carolina game couldn’t hit nothing. Then you had Canyon Barry. He’s been playing well all year, but Kasey Hill’s had up and down days. Devin Robinson, Keith Stone. It’s just they haven’t had a team effort where they played really well together. Kind of looking to see when that happens how good this team can be going forward. A couple quick matchups for them.
Nick: Tough week. That’s what I was going to say. Tough week this week.
Andrew: Yeah. At LSU, and then at Oklahoma. I think this weekend’s big for the SEC out there at that SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The SEC gets still not respected, and I can understand that. Need to have a good showing, and Florida needs to find a way to beat Oklahoma. That’s a good road win.
Nick: Even though Oklahoma’s coming in, lot of losses this year. They’ve lost to Northern Iowa, Wisconsin, Wichita State, Memphis, Auburn. That was a four point loss to Auburn in the Basketball Hall of Fame birthday tournament. Had a long stretch of loss to Baylor, TCU, Kansas State, Kansas, and they’ve lost their last two to Iowa State and Texas. They’ll get off, they lost Monday, the 23rd, at Texas, and they’ll get off until Saturday at Florida, but certainly a team coming in off two losses, ready to right the ship. So, that will be a team that comes in hungry, ready to play, and ready to defend their home turf, their home hardwood, not turf.
Andrew: As I said, is it a good win as far as Oklahoma being great? No, but it’s a good win in that you went on the road against, I would still say, a quality opponent, and got that win. I guess it’s more of you don’t need that loss, maybe even more than you need that win. You don’t need that loss.
Nick: Yeah. I’d probably agree with that, more so you don’t need the loss. You need to not lose that game more than you need to win it.
Andrew: Exactly. You’ve got to find a way to win LSU. That’s just all it is to it.
Nick: Like I said, you got to find a way to win those games on the road, and LSU’s not a very good basketball team right now.
Andrew: No, not at all. Let’s talk a little bit. You got the Senior Bowl going on this week, after the East/West Shrine game. I guess we can recap that Shrine game real quick down in Tampa. You had Joey Ivey and Bryan Cox down at that game, and Joey Ivey reportedly had a great week all week, and then has a sack in the game. I’ll say this, and I kind of said this the last part of the season, and that is Joey Ivey, since returning from that injury, has been playing really good ball. SEC Championship, the LSU game, and that bowl game were really good games for him. It was good to see that he did well in the East/West Shrine game up against some of the top guys.
Nick: Yeah. That game kind of gets overshadowed by the Senior Bowl, but it’s still a nice exhibition of good talent. I think you and I have both been told that Ivey and Bryan Cox, both guys who were playing in the game, are kind of on the short list if anything were to happen a player as far as an injury during the Senior Bowl. That’s something that’s happened before. We watched, who was it? Jalen Watkins got hurt during the week, and they had to bring somebody in. Trenton Brown was a guy that played in the East/West game, and ended up filling in playing in the Senior Bowl due to injury.
Andrew: Solomon Patton.
Nick: Solomon Patton, and Solomon Patton was coming off of being the MVP of the game in the East/West Shrine game. Any opportunity for guys, these seniors, to play. It’s tough to go back to back weekends. When you’re in a situation like this, you’re training, and really you’re going from being a student athlete to this is your job. Everything from eating to working out to rehab, getting in massages, training table, all stuff like that, it’s your job now, but any time you can get in and get more exposure is good.
Andrew: Exactly. Down at the Senior Bowl this week Alex Anzalone is the only one participating. Marcus Maye’s in town for the interviews and such. We were told he didn’t get cleared to play in the game. That’s why he didn’t play. Jarrad Davis backed out at the last second, and there’s not really a lot of news as to why he backed out. Of course, it’s the injury is why he backed out, but why it’s taking so long for him to recover is something that is raising some red flags.
We talked about this over the weekend, Nick. Some people are wondering if it’s more than just an ankle sprain for Jarrad, now that he’s had off, really since the SEC Championship game he hasn’t done anything. A lot of people wondering really what’s going on, and really concerned. I think he got some bad advice not showing up for the meetings. The meetings might be more important than the actual practice and games for a lot of guys.
Nick: I’ve been a huge Jarrad Davis proponent ever since he was at Florida. Love him as a competitor, and as a player. To me this is a terrible decision. Terrible choice. You look at how important this week can be. You and I were there when Derek Carr was there, and we were both, I think, taken aback at how after every single practice Derek Carr would stay back, with usually Jordan Matthews, some other guys joined him, but stay back with the guys and throw routes, throw passes. There’s scouts that are there, and they’re doing their thing, but they see that. They notice that.
If you can’t play, I get it. You might say, “What’s the sense of going there?” Like you said, the interview process, getting to go through the medicals. Your medical might not be great right now, it’s not going to be the last physical you take for a team. To me, to be able to do something, Marcus Maye can’t go, but there’s 32 teams there. Thirty-two teams will have the chance to get to know Marcus Maye, to have a first impression of Marcus Maye, and it might even be easier to focus on that when you don’t have to worry about practice and learning the playbook and doing those other things. To me, if you’re not playing, I think Marcus Maye is taking advantage of the opportunity still, having been invited, even though he can’t play.
Those meetings, and the climate of the NFL, and how much trouble people are getting in on and off the field, teams don’t want to invest in people that they think are problems, people that they think are red flags. Red flag can be behavioral. It can be drugs. It can be we don’t think this guy is a competitor, because of XYZ. To me, not showing up at all, even just to get weighed in and go through interviews, that can come off as a red flag to a team, to a GM, to a potential employer.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, we both know that there is not a more competitive guy than Jarrad, and I guess that’s kind of why I’m a little taken aback as to why he didn’t show up.
Nick: That’s why it’s surprising.
Andrew: I don’t know. I’m sure it was an agent that told him that, and I’m sure the agent has a good reason. I just don’t know.
Nick: He’s already on agent #2.
Andrew: We’ve already heard from Senior Bowl people that there is concern as to why he didn’t show up. Not sure either. Trying to find out more about that this week. This is a big opportunity for Alex, as a guy that is probably going to be a mid to late draft pick, because of injury concerns. It is what it is, and I think that that’s something Alex is understanding, and something he’s like, “I’ll just go be a late round pick now than risk another injury next year.”
Nick: Yeah. That was the big thing. We talked about it a bunch. I think, to me, he’s not getting rid of the red flag of being injury prone, no matter what. He could have come back to Florida next year, gone through the whole year injury free. He’s not getting rid of that red flag. He’s not getting rid of it this week. He’s in a big position where, make it through this week, don’t get hurt. He’s a smart kid, very smart kid. Graduated on time. Comes from a great family with dad’s a surgeon. He’s going to do well in the interview process. Just manage yourself. Don’t get hurt this week, but also you can’t think about getting hurt. You have to go out there and attack it, and show teams that you’re not worried about your shoulder. You’re not worried about your arm. You’re just here to play football and compete.
Andrew: What I was going to say was I think that the biggest thing that Alex can do this week is show people that, “Yes, I do the red flags, but I’m still a very talented player.” I have been one that said all along that I thought Alex was a special linebacker, because he can do it all. He doesn’t have to come out on passing downs, because he is an athletic guy. He is a guy that is able to get a pass rush on the guys. He’s able to fill the gap. I think it’s more this week about just showing that while there is a lot of red flags, him saying, “I’m still talented enough to play in the League.” Let people see that he is a potentially four down linebacker.
Nick: He measures in at 6’3”, 240 pounds. That’s kind of prototypical weak side linebacker size.
Andrew: Little bit bigger than I expected. I didn’t expect him to be 240. I was thinking somewhere in the 235 range, but looks like he might have been hitting the weights lately.
Nick: It’s always super interesting to see how guys will bulk up for this, and then lean out for the Combine.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: You might see him at the Combine at 225, just to make sure that 40 time is good.
Andrew: Then it’s always interesting to see what the heights are. One of the Michigan cornerbacks comes in this week, and instead of being 5’11” he’s 5’10”. You think, “Well, that’s only one inch.” Playing cornerback that’s a big deal. As we call it, the underwear Olympics, down in the weigh in, is very important for these NFL GMs, scouts, all these guys. They want to know which team was fudging their listings a little bit.
Nick: Credit to Florida. Florida has always been pretty spot on with theirs, pretty honest with their listings. Alex Anzalone was listed at 6’3”, 241. A pound difference is nothing. That could be had a big breakfast, or didn’t have breakfast.
Andrew: When I said I thought he would be a little lighter, I thought maybe he was cutting weight to get ready, but it look like he stayed on the weights. That’s kind of what I was thinking, like you said about the Combine, I would have thought he would have, not got off the weights, but I thought he would maybe have gotten on to cut a little bit, to get a little leaner to run a little bit, but credit to him for staying at weight.
Nick: Yeah. Like I said, this week is a week when you’re thinking about going through the practices that they go through and meeting with teams and going through. I remember when we were there with Jon Halapio. Halapio had had the pectoral injury, and he was talking about he was getting shuttled back and forth to the hospital, because each team wants to see. “We want our own doctors. We want our own people to look at your injury.”
Andrew: Right. Exactly.
Nick: That’s what Anzalone’s going to have to do. He’s going to be going back and forth. He’s got the arm and the shoulder, the shoulder one being maybe more chronic than the others. It’s something that he’s going to have to deal with, and he knows he has to deal with it. He should be prepared for that.
Andrew: That’ll be especially true when they get to the Combine in Indianapolis, where they go through everything. If you have a broken toenail they’re going to examine that broken toenail to make sure it’s not something that’s going to come back every week.
Nick, let’s go into recruiting. That’s where we’re at. You guys are listening to this one week until Signing Day. We’re taping this on Tuesday, so a week and a day. It’s getting crunch time. This weekend’s the last official visits coming in, and then it’s sit on your hands and wait.
Nick: Kind of like that hurry up to wait.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: It’s a huge rush until Signing Day. As soon as that curtain lifted, and the dead period was over, it’s a rush to get to everybody you can. It’s a chess match with we’re not going to send our head coach, he only has one visit. We need to see when we’re going to go see a certain player. Do we need to get there early, because the relationship’s not great? Do we need to get there late, so that we’re the last person? I think, to me, that’s a big deal. Like you said, you’re still kind of waiting for things. At this point, what are we? Just over two weeks till Signing Day?
Andrew: A week.
Nick: People are listening on the 25th, one week till Signing Day. The day of no sleep for us. At this point you’re not going to get many, if any, kids to commit one week before Signing Day. They’re going to wait and have their moment.
Andrew: That’s something that is out there is that they’re kind of waiting to see what goes on with things there. They have a better feel for things. There’s always going to be that one guy, or that couple of guys, that have you guessing, but for the majority of the guys they know. We can pencil John Doe in the class. He’s told us he’s coming, but Johnny over here is saying he’ll let us know at Signing Day, when he announces to the world. It’s kind of how that goes.
The one thing for Florida is they’ve got probably their biggest recruiting weekend coming up this weekend. We’ll preview that on Friday, like we did last week, but let’s break down what happened this past weekend, Nick. It was a weekend full of guys that were committed. They had six of their commits on campus, and then they had four of their targets. It was two of their really big targets in Elijah Conliffe and then CJ Henderson. Then they had TJ Slaton, and I’m drawing a blank here. Why am I drawing a blank?
Nick: Zach Carter.
Andrew: Yeah. I’m sitting here drawing a blank of who the other uncommitted guy is. CJ Henderson. You had Elijah Conliffe. Hold on. Let me pull up the list. I’m just drawing a blank. Too close to Signing Day, too many flipping names that are going on here. Hold on two seconds. Let me pull up this visitors list. You had Slaton, Nick Smith, linebacker Nick Smith. God, how did I not know that?
Anyway, it was those guys that were on. Nick and Henderson had all been on campus a ton. Elijah and, good grief, I am just drawing a blank. Elijah and TJ Slaton, this was kind of their first time on campus in a long time. When you look at Slaton, he’s a guy that is a four star guy, but grades are an issue, and have been an issue for him. They’re better now, so Florida’s just now getting in on him more. Conliffe’s a guy that was thought to have been going to Alabama. Alabama filled up, so Florida is there with Tennessee on him. Then, Henderson and Nick Smith are guys that have visited before. Henderson’s been on campus probably more times than any uncommitted prospect out there. Nick Smith was on campus a lot, despite just now picking up the offer in December.
Those four guys with the six commits was a good thing, because those six commits were able to work on those four. It kind of balanced it out. Florida didn’t have to really recruit the six commits very hard, so they were able to spend more time on that. Contrary to what’s coming in this weekend, where it’s all targets, except for one commit. So, this weekend coming up Florida’s going to have a lot of work to do.
Nick: Let’s get into a little bit of how is this coaching staff, and how do other coaching staffs, handle kids who may or may not, or who may have some grade issues?
Andrew: The biggest thing for them is that it’s something they look at. It’s something they monitor when they go on these school visits to check on these kids. They go in and see, and they say, “Are they close? Are they far away? Where are they?” That’s something that I personally don’t know how they get that. Do you look at, for instance, if it’s an ACT score, how can you look at the ACT score and say, “Okay, Nick’s going to get five points higher”? That’s something that they have to look at.
Nick: That’s something that goes back and forth as well, because if the ACT score doesn’t change, that might not matter if you can go ahead and raise your GPA, because it’s a slider. If you have a great GPA, you can have a lower test score. If you have a really great test score, your GPA can be a little bit lower.
Andrew: Right. It’s a situation too where if it’s more than three points going up, then you have to say, “We have to be careful, because the NCAA is going to flag it.” A big jump, and guess what? That NCAA says, “Well, something’s fishy here.” They’re going to flag that. That’s something they have to remember as well.
It’s a guessing game. When you think about guys like Jonathan Bullard, he was a guy that didn’t come in until late August, early August/late July, because of that. You have time, but it’s a question of how close are they. Are they really far away, and it’s just a crap shoot that they may get in, but the chances are higher they’re not? Then they have to pass on it. A guy like TJ Slaton is a guy that it’s more of he’s right on the borderline, so they feel like, “Even if he was to have to take a summer class and come in in late July, we think we’re going to get him in.”
Nick: What is the process? Who are coaches going to? Is it advisors? Is it the clearinghouse? What’s the process that they have to follow? If you recognize, let’s say before a player’s senior season, their junior summer, you recognize that there might be an issue here. This is a player we want, but you get into a numbers game of if he’s not going to be able to qualify, how much time are we wasting not talking to somebody else?
Andrew: Yeah. They have to fill out their clearinghouse paperwork anyway, all the prospects do. You definitely go to the counselor. You go to the coach, that kind of stuff, and get the transcript. That way you’re able to see, so-and-so needs to do this. Then, if it’s a guy you really want, then you say, “Okay. Hey, Nick, you need to do this next year in order to qualify, so do this.” Or they go tell the counselor, “In order for him to qualify, he’s got to have this class.” They’re able to work with that. Some of it is recognized as juniors.
Some of it is we think he’s going to be okay, and then he has a piss poor spring semester of junior year, then it’s bad. That’s the case. Then, a lot of these guys don’t take their ACTs until summer of their senior year, and that’s a terrible thing. If you can start taking it your junior year, work it all the way through, then you got six, seven, eight, nine chances, and if it just slowly goes up by one point, guess what? Not getting red flagged.
Nick: Are they checking in weekly? Not weekly, but by semester. Is that something you’re checking in? Like, “We need you.” I guess my question is would they put somebody on a program, like “We want you, but there’s grade issues. You know there’s grade issues. We need to see what you’re doing.” If there’s a progress report before semester grades come out, quarterly grades, however the school does it, is that something where it’s, “We need you to send us that stuff?”
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, I think it’s a thing where the coaches more do that, the high school coaches. They’ll have one of the quality control guys, or one of the recruiting assistants, just asking the coach, “Send me Johnnies transcript here, so we can check it.” Then when they go back in the fall, that kind of stuff, then they’re able to continue to check in on it. It’s something they have to check in on, and it’s something that they have to continue to work on. A guy that is borderline is something that they have to continue on, and then if it’s a case where you can retake art and get a better grade in art, then they may say, “Hey, you may want to take art your senior year to redo it, so that you’re able to bring that grade up that you had a terrible one in your freshman year.”
It’s always a guessing game, and it’s something that it takes the work of a lot of people. It’s not just one person. Once they sign, then it becomes a situation where it’s all on Florida then, because they’re the ones that are working to say, “We have to have this paperwork, and you have to do this.” Until they sign it’s more on the coaching staff at their school, the counselor at their school, with the help of colleges. There’s a lot of teams in the mix. There’s a lot of different opinions being thrown at you.
Nick: Okay. We got that out of the way. Maybe went a little longer than some people wanted there, but it’s good information. Getting back into the weekend. What is the overall sense from recruits that you’ve talked to, from high school coaches that you’ve talked to? What is the overall sense and feeling coming out of this weekend, this past weekend?
Andrew: I think it’s a positive one. We’ll just break it down from the beginning. CJ Henderson, a guy that’s been on campus, like we said, a ton, the feeling’s good on it. It’s going to be a battle between Miami, Alabama, and Florida for him. I personally think it’s a Florida/Alabama battle here for him. He’s really close to Shawn Davis. He’s really close to Kemore Gamble. He’s really close with Marco Wilson. Then this week he’s rooming with Elijah Blades down at the USA Under 19 game. So, it’s a feeling that Florida’s in a good shape, but it’s never over. That’s where they are with CJ. Commits on Signing Day, so you have to play that guessing game. He says he’s going to tell them before Signing Day, so that’s a good thing for him.
Then you go to a guy like Elijah Conliffe, the defensive tackle from up in Virginia. First ever visit to Florida, like we said. Florida offered him late December, early January, and it’s a situation of did you do enough? Did you show him enough on his first ever visit to Florida? Did mom see enough? Does mom feel comfortable sending her boy on a long plane ride from Virginia to Gainesville, Florida to go to college? Tennessee’s had him on campus a couple times. Florida had him on there. So, it’s a balancing act there.
From everyone we talked to, they feel like Florida’s right in the mix with Elijah. He’s going to visit Louisville this weekend. They’re not in the mix. It’s Florida or Tennessee. Penn State will be the other, had on the table, or whatever he does on the 31st. He’s committing on the 31st. Right now I feel good about Florida. I think Florida’s in good shape with the defensive tackle, and Florida needs defensive tackles. When you look at those two guys that are targets, you feel good.
Then you go to a guy like Nick Smith. He’s a guy that comes out of the visit saying he may not take any more visits. If he doesn’t take any more visits after your visit, you have to feel really good. Just decommitted from NC State. Is from Dr. Phillips in Orlando. Had visited Michigan State. Was going to visit LSU this coming weekend, now probably doesn’t visit LSU. Going to shut it down till Signing Day. You have to feel good about that visit, because he doesn’t take it, and he’s an in state guy.
TJ Slaton though is a different one. He’s a ghost, Nick. He’s one of those guys that I call you, and I’m raising hell about, because you can’t find out any information on him, or you can’t get a hold of him. He’s just a different guy. Doesn’t have a cell phone. Doesn’t talk very much. Can play offensive tackle or defensive tackle. Going to go to Georgia this weekend for a visit. The feeling is Florida’s still the leader there. Going to Georgia though, so you have to worry about does Georgia get enough? That’s his first ever visit to Georgia. You like Florida’s chances there, unless they can persuade him on that. Kirby Smart’s really good with his defensive tackles. The good thing for Slaton is his two best friends and two teammates are Marco Wilson and James Houston, both Gator commits that are recruiting him hard. Also, another Signing Day guy.
Then, like we said, there was six commits on campus. All of those guys came out still commits, which you wouldn’t expect anything different.
Nick: No. Shouldn’t expect anything different. Those guys are probably helping the cause all week as far as recruiting goes. Where does Florida sit, I know there’s been a lot of talk with Elijah Blades, where does Florida sit with him? Is Elijah a guy, you mentioned is rooming with CJ Henderson, is a guy that would potentially be recruiting for Florida, or is he not that kind? It takes a certain kind of person, and not everyone is outspoken. We talked to guys, Quincy Wilson was very outspoken when he was a recruit, but we’ve talked to guys that it’s kind of like, “I know what it is, and I got stressed out by the whole situation. I don’t want to add to somebody else’s stress.”
Andrew: Yeah. His brother, Marco, is one of those guys. He talks to guys, but he’s not as outspoken and, I don’t’ want to say pressure, because I don’t think Quincy ever pressured guys, but outspoken and maybe pushy a little bit, as a guy like his brother was. Marco’s not that guy. The thing with the Henderson/Blades thing is Blades has still got to make a final decision. Florida feels good. I feel good that he’s going to probably stick with Florida when it comes time to make his final decision between Florida and Nebraska on Signing Day.
So, it’s a situation for those two guys to get closer, and maybe CJ and Elijah influence each other. Elijah’s definitely a guy, if he knows he’s going to Florida, then he’s definitely a guy that is out there and going to recruit CJ to Florida, because Elijah’s a California kid. He doesn’t mind letting you know about his thoughts and where you should play, and all that good stuff. I think that relationship there might end up being a relationship that helps each other.
I wanted to go back to real quick the six commits being on campus. I think the thing that is good for that is two things. A, those six guys were able to bond together, get that family kind of feel together, start DMing each other, texting each other, group chats. Start building that bond for once they get on campus. Also, those six guys were able to spend a lot of time with those four other targets, so they’re able to text those guys and say, “Hey, this is TJ, or this is Marco, from the official visit.” They’re able to kind of chat it up a little bit, and help each other that was as well. I think it’s a good thing.
People say, “Florida should have split their commits over a couple weekends.” I disagree with that, because I think it’s something, Nick Saban does this a lot. Alabama does this a lot. Florida State does this a lot. They bring their guys in together, so that they form that bond together, so they start to build that family. This is nothing against past classes or anything, I mean this is nothing against this class compared to past classes, but the past classes have been filled up earlier, and they were a close-knit group for so much longer. This group is kind of coming together in bits and pieces, so I think that’s why it was even more important for them all to come in together and really bond and grow together.
Nick: I like it. You can make an argument for both, right?
Andrew: Right.
Nick: If you’ve got guys that are strong, Zach Carter seems to be a guy that is also very vocal and strong in saying, “Come and join us.” To me, I think you make a strong point. You said that Alabama likes to do that, having guys come in and build that bond, especially guys, we’ve talked about before, where it’s hard to come in as a freshman if you’re not an early enrollee, and make an impact right away. You really don’t have a lot of time, but coming in and having that strong bond with at least the guys in your class can be so beneficial. You come in with a bond. Going into college is so new. Everything’s new. You’re away from home for the first time. Everything is faster, harder. School is tougher. To be able to have at least guys that you’re coming in that you know really well, I think that can help in that process and make it easier to settle in and get used to things.
Andrew: It’s a little bit different for everyone. You got the Tampa trio of Zach, Malik, and Daquon. They know each other. It’s kind of like the guys that came in last year, guys like Jawaan and Chauncey. They knew each other from Cocoa. Then you have the other Jawaan, Perine, Moon, Quincy Litton, those guys knew each other. You always have a group that kind of knows each other. Like Marco, Marco knows a lot of guys because of his brother, because of where he’s from. He’s able to interact with those guys, like James Houston, those guys. As far as those guys interacting, growing closer together, it’s huge.
A guy like Malik Davis, just came in in October in the committed class, he said he knew Jake by his name. He knew TJ Moore by his name, but he didn’t know their faces. So that was big for them to really sit down and get to know each other, that kind of stuff. It builds that bond to help the newness when they get in in June. You kind of have your friend. You kind of have a familiar face you’re able to talk to.
Nick: Right. Like that. It’ll be big to see who comes in this weekend. This weekend’s visitor list is still up in the air, to be determined, but I did want to bring up one guy. I’m probably going to butcher this name. Sorry. K’Lavon Chaisson.
Andrew: Yeah. Coming in this weekend.
Nick: Big ESPN 300 guy. I think he’s like a four star player, whatever the stars. Outside linebacker, defensive end, a pass rusher, long, lean. What does it mean for him to cancel that visit out to Southern California? Listen, the podcast listeners know my feelings. My visits would be like USC, UCLA, Stanford. I would just be all up and down California. What does it mean to cancel that USC visit and to come in? How long has Florida been recruiting him? How far behind are they? Who’s recruiting him? Who is this kid?
Andrew: Florida’s way behind on the kid. They just started recruiting him a couple weeks ago, but something is very interesting. When I throw this out there it’s going to make sense why this visit’s happening. Come to find out, Kerry Dixon and Chaisson, however you say his name, Kerry Dixon and his father actually grew up around each other. They knew each other a little bit. Dixon and his father actually had houses close to each other growing up. They still have houses close to each other, because Dixon has a house in Texas. That’s where the relationship started. LSU/Texas are the favorites here for him. To me, it just seems like it’s a free trip, but with that connection, we’ll see.
Personally, I don’t see it happening. We’ll see, but he is one of the dominating guys at the Under Armour game. Is that guy that can play kind of like a Vic Beasley for the Falcons or kind of like an Alex McCalister kind of guy, that could drop back into coverage, but is more of a hand on the ground pass rushing specialist, but could play that outside linebacker. That’s kind of what he is. Again, LSU/Texas is the favorites. We’ll see where it goes. Personally, think it’s a free trip. Any time you get them on campus, you got a shot though.
Nick: Any time you get them on campus you got a shot. That’s true. What kind of finish is Florida setting themselves up for? Zach Carter tweeted last weekend when he was on his visit that “Gator fans will be very happy when Signing Day rolls around.” Is that just a player being optimistic? Is there maybe some weight to that?
Andrew: I mean, you and I talked about this off the air one day. Mac’s trying to set up a huge National Signing Day. He’s trying to make that splash. I get that. I get that, because right now the class as a whole, it’s a solid class. People continue to ask me, “How do you grade this class?” I grade this class solid. Is it special? Maybe. Is it great? No, but I think it’s a solid class. It lacks a couple headliners. If Alex Leatherwood and Jared Steadman are in this class today, we’re talking about how great this class is. So, I can’t say two guys make or break a class, because it’s not fair. I think it’s a good class. I don’t think it’s a great class. I think it’s a solid class with a lot of really solid players, guys that are going to be good contributors.
Having a Signing Day splash where your name’s popping up on ESPN all day long, guess what? Fans now think this is an awesome class. I’m just throwing some names out there, but you got guys like Kai-Leon Herbert. He’s going to announce on Signing Day. LaBryan Ray is going to announce on Signing Day. Chris Henderson. That’s just the top three names that are on my little sheet here that I’m looking at. If all three of those guys pop up on Signing Day, and they say they’re Gators, people are going to be like, “Damn, Florida just picked up three guys on ESPN. Their class is great.” No longer do they think about a couple weeks ago we thought it sucked.
I understand Mac’s thing. I think it’s a risky plan, because if they don’t go your way do you have time to get backup plans? It’s tough. I’m just skeptical of it, but understand the plan.
Nick: We almost cautioned against that last year. You remember?
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: How big was the class last year? 26? 25?
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Those were all kind of locked up before Signing Day.
Andrew: You had the big surprise of Cleveland.
Nick: Right, but you get to Signing Day, and it’s like, “The hat’s on the table, and they’re not going to Florida. They’re not going to Florida.” It’s like, those would have been like cherries on top. You didn’t really have a great shot. Just to get the hat on the table was probably the good recruiting job. To me, it’s kind of it’s not going to change though. To me, I don’t know if it’s the right thing, but it’s not going to change. It’s that perception of finishing strong, and on Signing Day, because this becomes such this giant spectacle.
Andrew: Yeah. Like I said, if everything goes as planned, and they get the guys, then it’s great. Here’s the thing, Mac’s not going to into this stupid either. He knows that Johnnie over here that visited first week of January, he knows. They’ve either told him, “Coach Mac, I’m coming to Florida, or I’m pretty sure I’m coming to Florida.” He has some idea of that. He’s not going to into this completely blind.
Now, there’s always going to be that one guy, aka Tyrie Cleveland, that you’re just guessing on on Signing Day. So, it’s a risky decision. I personally don’t fully agree with it, but I like it in that it gets perception. Florida had to gain some momentum somewhere. This is a way to do it. Props to Mac if it works out. I tend to believe that it will work out. I just, I do, I have some concern a little bit of what happens if one or two guys lies to you. It wouldn’t be the first time in recruiting.
Nick: Would not be the first time. I think you need that perception though.
Andrew: I think the reward is greater than the risk.
Nick: The juice is worth the squeeze.
Andrew: Exactly. Nick, let’s get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Friday. We’ll preview this massive official visit weekend. If you haven’t checked us out, check us out on Gator Country. Got a lot of news up on Senior Bowl, baseball, basketball, softball’s about to start. Tons of recruiting. If you haven’t joined yet, hit us up. Let us know you want to join. We’ll see if we can get you a good deal. Last week we got six brand new members out of it. Don’t wait. Come on and join us. Get a month over here, and come check out the latest coverage. Tell everyone where they can find us. We’ll get out. We’ll see everyone on Friday.
Nick: www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is on iTunes. Search @GatorCountry. If you are an Android use, we’re still working on getting over there whatever the Android play is called. Also, you can find the podcast on the website in transcript and audio form. Follow Gator Country on social media. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. Follow myself, @NickdelaTorreGC, and follow him, @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: I’ll have Senior Bowl updates. Nick is going to be down in Orlando seeing Elijah Blades and CJ Henderson practice in the Under 19 game, so we’re having a little role reversal here. Nick’s going to take recruiting coverage, and I’m going to go do Senior Bowl. Then Nick will probably be throwing recruiting back at me by the end of the day.
Nick: Probably. Hand it back off.
Andrew: There you go, and I’ll probably be giving football back. Love the game. Don’t give a crap about covering the day to day. As always, check us out. If you haven’t become a member yet, let us know. We got cool things planned for Signing Day. As always, we appreciate it. Chomp, chomp. Go Braves.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.