Jawaan Taylor and Dre Massey join Spivey Senses podcast

The Spivey Senses podcast is back to talk Florida Gators recruiting as the Gators hosted well over 100 prospects last Saturday for the Gators game against Florida State in the Swamp.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre were joined by two of the Florida Gators newest commits offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor and JUCO athlete Dre Massey to talk about their commitments and more.

Andrew and Nick ask Taylor and Massey what led them to be Gators, plus Andrew and Nick recap the big weekend that the Florida Gators recruiting weekend produced for UF.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? This is your man, Andrew Spivey, for Spivey Senses, and of course Nicholas de la Torre wanted to join the goat. I don’t blame him. I mean, sitting in my presence is always great, but he’s here. So guys, say hello to Nicholas.

Nick:                         It’s unbelievable. Send your prayers, or donations, my way for having to put up with Andrew Spivey all day, every day.

Andrew:                 All day, every day. Nothing but love. Nick, we got a jam packed podcast coming your way though. Juco athlete Dre Massey, and then Coco offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor. Both newest Gators. Jim McElwain, he loses on Saturday, gets pissed off, and is like, “You know what? I’m taking three commits on Saturday, and I’m going to say I’m going to fix the offense.” Guess what? He takes a quarterback. He takes an offensive lineman, and he takes a speedster, and says, my offense got better on Saturday.

Nick:                         Brandon Powell, if you read Andrew’s story, he talked to Dre after the commitment, and Florida’s telling Dre we want to use you in that Brandon Powell role. We’ll talk about that a little bit later. Dre might be faster than Powell, and he’s 6’, 180. Brandon Powell’s probably around 5’9”, maybe 180.

Andrew:                 Soaking wet.

Nick:                         Yeah. In pads, soaking wet.

Andrew:                 Massey’s played running back. He played quarterback in high school. Way over 1,000 yards, and it’s pretty split what they are as far as rushing to receiving. It’s interesting to see a guy. He’s a guy that Florida needs. We talk about Brandon Powell being kind of a disappointment. We’ll get in that in a little bit. Massey’s good. Mac, 25 commits after Jayvaughn Myers decommits. Myers isn’t a guy you wanted to lose, but at the end of the day he’s a cornerback, and Florida’s got some really good cornerbacks in this class. You no longer worry about a guy decommitting. You just replace him, and that’s the way it should be for teams like Florida and Alabama. You shouldn’t worry about a guy decommitting. You should just go find someone as good, if not better. It is what it is. It’s University of Florida, as Mac says.

Nick:                         Can you address real quick, I know you addressed it on Twitter, everyone wants to know what does Jayvaughn decommitting mean for Nate?

Andrew:                 My question is this. If they meant so much to each other that they had to play at the same school, why is Nate uncommitted? Why wasn’t he committed to Florida when Jayvaughn committed? Do I think it helped Florida today that he decommitted? No. It probably took a step back, but to say, “Nate’s no longer going to Florida, because Jayvaughn decommitted,” to me that’s a crazy statement, because Nate didn’t commit to Florida when Jayvaughn was there. Florida’s still in the running for Nate Craig. As I said on Saturday, Florida States’s coming on for Nate Craig, and it was going to be a battle. It’s still going to be a battle. Jim McElwain’s not giving up on Nate. He’s not going to give up on Jayvaughn.

It’s going to be a race, and if Florida gets Nate, then they will. I mean, it’s not going to kill their recruitment that Jayvaughn decommitted, and if Florida doesn’t get Nate Craig they’re going to go get somebody else. This receiver board is so deep one guy doesn’t hurt their chances. Benjamin Victor is a guy that is raising on Florida’s board. He’s no longer considered an Ohio State lean. If Nate Craig-Myers decides to go to Florida State, wish him good luck and go get Benjamin Victor. I’ve said it all along. Benjamin Victor’s the best wide receiver in the state, and I’ll continue to say that. Nick, you can back me up. I’ve said that from Day 1. I thought Victor was the best receiver. I still think Florida gets Nate Craig-Myers. I think they’re in good shape for Nate.

Nick:                         Something that stuck out in one of your stories when you talked to Nate after Jayvaughn’s first commit is he said that’s my brother’s commitment, and everyone kind of saying this is great for Florida, because Nate will follow his brother, and he said, “My brother’s doing his thing. I’m doing my own thing. Would we like to play together, sure.” I think the family would rather have the guys playing at the same school. You don’t have to choose which game you’re going to on Saturday.

Andrew:                 Remember, they’re half-brothers.

Nick:                         Right. This is the thing I was getting at, and he said Jayvaughn committing to Florida didn’t affect him, and I don’t think Jayvaughn decommitting from Florida will affect Nate. He’s doing his own thing, and when it comes down to it, yes, you’re family. Would you like to do it? Yes, but you have to find a situation that’s best for you in the offense, in school, or in the defense and in school, in a place that you fit.

Andrew:                 Exactly. That’s the biggest thing is where does Nate Craig fit best. That’s where he needs to decide, and if he decides it’s Florida, then he goes to Florida. Again, I don’t think Jayvaughn affects Nate as much as people say. I do think it hurts Florida. I mean, Florida had the momentum, and then they had that ace in the pocket there, but it is what it is. Again, Jayvaughn Myers is a very good football player, but he’s a cornerback that Florida has a lot of cornerbacks already. To me it’s a loss, but is it a big loss? Probably not.

Nick:                         Yeah. Florida is definitely in a rebuilding mode at that position though.

Andrew:                 Right, but when you look at a guy like Chauncey Gardner, he’s going to play nickel. Then I’ll say it, and I’ve said it before. I said this to you, Nick. I think Aaron Robinson’s the best DB in this class.

Nick:                         That’s a strong statement, because there’s a lot of very good ones in the class.

Andrew:                 Yeah, but you look at his film. Let me rephrase this. He’s their best cover corner. He might not be their most athletic guy, but he’s their best cover corner, and I think that he is a guy that is going to be their best cover corner. He shut down Benjamin Victor. He shut down Sam Bruce and Treyvon Grimes at St. Thomas. You know that, because it was a field goal game that St. Thomas won over Deerfield. It’s a player that I think he’s a good player. Then you look at a guy like McArthur Burnett. He’s a guy that’s like Janoris Jenkins. He’s a fast guy. Maybe not as big as Janoris. He’s a fast guy, and Chauncey Gardner’s really good player. Then a guy like Tony Nelson. He’s a long athletic guy that’s going to grow into a good cornerback. Then you still have a guy like Christian Fulton that’s out there in New Orleans still on the table. We’ll see.

Nick:                         Yeah. Give me any cornerback from Pahokee. I’ll take that. I will take any cornerback from Pahokee. Those kids can cover down there.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Cover, run, and just love the game of football. They just love the game. We’ll see. It’s a big time. One thing is don’t piss Coach Mac off, because he’ll just go get recruits. Nick, Dre is ready for us. Let’s go to Dre real quick.

Nick:                         Here we go.

Andrew:                 Welcome back, Gator Country. I’m with the Gator’s newest commit, Juco athlete Dre Massey. Dre, how are you doing, buddy?

S3                               I’m doing good. I’m ready to get out there.

Andrew:                 You came down this weekend to Gainesville. How did Gainesville treat you?

S3                               Gainesville was fun. The fans were showing us a lot of love. I was with a couple other big recruits, Mark Thompson and the kicker from Miami, Eddie. We had a lot of fun down there.

Andrew:                 Eddie might be the most talked about kicker in the history of recruiting. What do you think about that, Dre? Is it becoming a new thing or what? Why is the kicker getting all the love?

S3                               I don’t know. I think it’s because kind of both teams down there in Florida really need kickers. There’s not many kickers making 72 yard field goals, or however long it was. That’s kind of crazy.

Nick:                         Now Dre, you’re from South Carolina. I’m from south Florida, kind of where Eddie is from. I saw some of his videos with Mark. He reminds me of every kid that I grew up with down in south Florida. What was he like to chop it up with, to hang out with?

S3                               Eddie’s real cool. He’s a real cool dude. He kind of like really in [clearing]. I think Florida opened his eyes a lot. I think it really did. We was trying to recruit him pretty hard to come on and join. He’s a real cool dude, though.

Andrew:                 You made big news this weekend. I say big news, I think me and you kind of knew what was going to go on this weekend, but you decided to commit to Florida. What really made that decision for you to go ahead and join the Gators class this weekend?

S3                               Just having talks with the coaching staff. I had a nice long talk with Coach Dixon and Coach Shannon. I was talking with them pretty well the weekend, but right before I was making my commitment we were really going over the film and just seeing the opportunities that could have been made. Just seeing what they need and what they’re missing, speed, explosiveness, playmaking ability. Just seeing all that and knowing what I can bring to the table. It was just like, why not?

Andrew:                 Just a quick look at your stats. You’re split. 452 yards rushing. 550 some yards receiving. That was through 9 games this year. I guess, where do you consider your best asset? Are you a better receiver? Are you a better running back? Are you just an athlete in general?

S3                               That’s a good question. I think I like to say I’m kind of a better runner, maybe, but I can catch the ball better than some may think. I’m pretty much just good with the ball in my hands. Any way you can get it to me I can just do.

Andrew:                 Dre, you got to see that offense on Saturday. It wasn’t pretty. We won’t make nothing up here about it. I guess, what was it that you saw that you thought maybe you could get in there and help? Do you like the offensive scheme? What is it about it that you liked? How do you think you can help next year?

S3                               I liked the plan that they have. I think that just a couple little things I could help out a lot with, like I saw a few passes across the middle where they were robbed, or where they would have the ball, and they didn’t know what to do, how to bring a couple moves and just be able to make a couple plays, couple big plays. The crowd was just waiting on something to happen. I just felt like I could provide that.

Nick:                         You and Andrew were kind of sharing a little laugh there. Coming into this weekend did you already have your mind kind of made up? When did you know that you were going to pull the trigger and be a Gator?

S3                               I kind of knew I was going to go there. Maybe right before Thanksgiving week, right before going to Oklahoma, I kind of already had the idea that when I got to Florida if everything went well then I was going to make my decision.

Andrew:                 Growing up in South Carolina you got to kind of see Percy Harvin, those guys at Florida. Florida’s lacking that explosive playmaker at Florida, and you’re a guy that runs a 4-3, 40, kick return, all of that. Is that something you plan to bring to Gainesville, just not on offense but special teams as well?

S3                               Definitely. I was talking to the special teams coach all weekend about the kick return. He kept bugging me about that. He’s real funny and cool. He kept coming up to me, “We need you back there. We need you back there.” I definitely plan on getting back there on kickoff return, bringing some explosiveness.

Andrew:                 Everybody talks about Coach Mac kind of being a goofball off the field a little bit, a weird guy some say. What was your first experience with Coach McElwain like?

S3                               Coach Mac is a real cool dude. He’s real laid back. He likes to have a good time. He’s a real cool dude. He don’t really pressure you into making a decision to come there. He kind of lays it all out there, and then kind of says, “What you going to do?” He’s a really nice guy. I like Coach Mac.

Nick:                         He’s from Montana, so he’s kind of got a quirky way about him, a different kind of sense of humor. How does that relate to younger guys like yourself, or even high school recruits who are 17, 18 years old? How does he kind of relate to you guys with that country sense of humor that he has?

S3                               I think he relates well, because it’s not all seriousness. It lets the guys know we have fun too. He’s real good players coach, and those are the best type of coaches, the coaches that have fun with the players and can relate to the players. Those are the best coaches.

Andrew:                 You got to hang around probably the biggest recruiting weekend in a while for Florida this weekend. What was that vibe like in that south end zone Saturday night? Was it a vibe of we got a lot of positive energy from recruits go? What was kind of that energy like down there?

S3                               There was a lot of positive energy. No one was like dogging them or anything like that. It was a lot of positive going on down there. Everybody was like, we could really come in and help, you know what I’m saying? Everybody knows that the game really didn’t go how the score indicated. Everyone down there was kind of excited. We really could come in to help. That’s why when Feleipe committed it wasn’t all too surprising to me and Mark. It wasn’t too surprising.

Andrew:                 That brings me to my next question. What do you think about Feleipe? Who knows? He may be a guy that throws you passes in the future. What did you think about him? I guess, what does it mean to have a big quarterback in this class?

S3                               It means a lot. That’s really something we needed coming in to play quarterback. That’s really what we need for the next year. Having him come in, he’s a tall guy. He’s really good, so I’m looking forward to working with him.

Andrew:                 Right. Last question. You told me. You’ve told the world. You’re done with recruiting, and you’re ready to go to Florida. I guess, what can fans expect next year from you? What are your goals for this spring?

S3                               Just to get down to everything. Learn offense and make sure I’m comfortable and get ready to go for the fall.

Andrew:                 Right. Any final message to Gator fans before we get you off?

S3                               Just payback. Payback on Florida State. We’re looking forward to getting back at them.

Nick:                         You’re going to earn a lot of fans with that statement right there.

Andrew:                 Yes. Florida fans do not like the Noles, Dre. That’s one thing I can tell you. Buddy, we appreciate it. Enjoy your holidays, and can’t wait to see you in Gainesville in a couple weeks.

S3                               Sounds good. Thank you.

Andrew:                 Thank you, buddy. Nick, that was the man right there. I think he may have earned brownie points with Gator fans.

Nick:                         Any time you’ve got something bad to say about that school out west, as a Florida Gator player, fans will find a special place in their heart for you.

Andrew:                 Definitely. Nick, real quick before we move on to our next guest, I want to get your thoughts real quick. You and I talked about this just a tad bit off the air for a second. Brandon Powell hasn’t had the year we all expected him to have. I think a lot of us forgot that he’s a running back by nature, played running back, played some DB as well. He’s not a natural receiver, and then kick returning’s just not had that explosiveness. I guess, do you feel like that’s been a big missing part is that explosive receiver. I guess, what do you think that struggle has been from Powell this year?

Nick:                         I really think Florida’s offense, defenses were really able to key in on the passing game, because you’re looking at really outside of the tight ends you’re looking at just Antonio Callaway and Demarcus Robinson. Then when you get a situation where Demarcus Robinson’s suspended, now you’re just keying in on Callaway. Florida really hasn’t been able to get the ball to Powell. 28 receptions for 364 yards, 14 carries for 31 yards. That’s not great. It’s just kind of like last year.

We asked Brandon Powell at SEC Media Days, the coaching staff kept saying that you were a player they needed to get the ball to. What happened? He said, “I don’t know. This coaching staff says that they have a new plan for me, and I like it. I like what they’re doing with me on the offense.” I think we’re all asking, everyone in the media room, we’ve actually talked about it. Where has that been? It’s kind of Groundhog Day where you asked that question last year. You’re promised more things again, and it doesn’t come to fruition this year. I thought Brandon Powell would get more than 28 receptions. When you look at him and his skill set he’s a guy that those stand passes, just get the ball in his hands on one on one situations, and see what he can do. Florida just hasn’t been able to manufacture those situations for him.

Andrew:                 That’s what I was going to say. I think it’s a lot of pieces here. Real quick I think, A, they haven’t been able to get him the ball, but also he hasn’t done a lot when he got the ball in his hands. Florida’s got him some speed sweeps. They’ve gotten him the ball from in the back field a little bit, and he just hasn’t done a ton. Kick return as well. I don’t know. I don’t know what it is.

Nick:                         I think the kick return can also somewhat be on the return team as well.

Andrew:                 Oh yeah, it’s on the return team as well, but I also say some of that is on Powell, but then I go back to the receiving. Outside of the Ole Miss play he really hasn’t had a lot of YAT yards. That’s something that, from a guy like Powell, you expect him to get a lot of YAT yards. He’s not going to get the physical yards. You expect him to outrun some guys and that kind of stuff, but we’ll see. Next year he’s got competition. Nick, we’re going to move onto our next guest real quick. It’s a big ugly. It’s a big offensive lineman. Gators I think kind of need some of those guys. Let’s go to Jawaan Taylor from Coco real quick.

Welcome back, Gator Country. I’m with the newest commit, besides Dre Massey and Feleipe Franks. Coco offensive lineman, Jawaan Taylor. Jawaan, how’s it feel to be a Gator, buddy?

S4                               It feels great to be a Gator. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. It feels good to become a Florida Gator.

Andrew:                 Jawaan, you had kind of an interesting recruitment a little bit. You liked Florida a lot. You committed to Miami. Then you visited Florida last week and decided to be a Gator. What really made you decide to be a Gator? What was that one point that you decided I want to be in Gainesville?

S4                               It was mainly a relationship thing with all the coaches and players. I got along with them very good, and it’s always been a big dream for me to become a Florida Gator. Every time I came in they showed me a lot of love. It’s always been a good time to come up there to Gainesville and see everyone and come to the games. It’s mainly the relationship. I can see myself playing there on Saturdays.

Nick:                         I have a question for you. Andrew told me a story where Florida’s coaching staff asked you to drop some weight. Can you tell me how much weight you dropped, and how determined you were to do that to earn the Florida offer?

S4                               I lost somewhere around 52 pounds. I worked out three times a day every day. I was very determined to lose the weight. Some of the Florida camps with Coach Summers and working out with him. He told me that I needed to lose weight, so I was like, all right. I’ll lose the weight. I came up for a camp early in the summer, and I was around 375, 380. Then I came back later in the summer I had lost about 40 pounds. After that I lost another 10 pounds. I was determined to be able to lose the weight so I could be a playing weight for college, and I could have a great season.

Nick:                         How do you feel at the lighter weight? Still strong? Do you feel better? How does it feel? Have you gotten used to it?

S4                               I feel a lot better, a lot stronger, faster, a lot lighter on my feet. It helped my game tremendously.

Andrew:                 Jawaan, you turn on your tape, and you’re a road grader. That’s simply how I can describe you. I guess, you’re just a guy that you want to run behind. How important was that for Coach Mac? What did he tell you? Coach Mac likes big offensive linemen that are road graders. What did he tell you about you and how you’ll fit in? How excited was he?

S4                               It was a little bit exciting for me to be a Florida Gator. He’s seen loads of people up on film. He said I look a lot better than I did last year from the weight loss. He’s says I got more physical on the field. He’s very impressed with my performance. It was great to hear from Coach Mac. I’m just going to try my hardest to be better every day.

Andrew:                 Nick, I know you want to ask him about his relationship with Chauncey.

Nick:                         Yeah. Chauncey’s a guy that Florida fans know well, because he’s been committed for so long. You’ve known Chauncey for a pretty long time. Can you tell us how long you’ve known him, and kind of how cool, how special it is that you guys will graduate from Coco this year and still be able to continue that relationship, go to the same school, play on the same team?

S4                               I’ve known Chauncey all my life. Me and Chauncey are actually cousins. We’ve been playing football together since were around four years old. It’s always been great to be able to play football with Chauncey. Playing through high school and little league and stuff. It’s great just to be able to go into my next few years of college with Chauncey. It’s always been great to play with Chauncey. We’ve got a good relationship.

Andrew:                 Jawaan, we all know Chauncey as loud mouth Chauncey. He’s loud. He’s crazy. Was he always this way? Was he four years old and loud?

S4                               Yeah. I’ve been around and playing with Chauncey. He’s always been that way. It’s funny. It’s fun to be around Chauncey.

Nick:                         Who talks more, you or Chauncey, on the football field?

S4                               Definitely Chauncey talks more than I do on the field. We try to keep him quiet, because he’s real competitive and loves to win. He’s more talkative than me.

Nick:                         Who’s more talkative off the field?

S4                               He’s more talkative then too.

Andrew:                 Jawaan, before we get you out of here, do you have any message to Florida fans? Do you have anything you want to share with anybody?

S4                               Just excited and ready to come in, help the team as much as I can and be able to come in and play early. Get ready on this off season to be able to come in and play. I’m just excited to be a Florida Gator.

Andrew:                 Definitely. Jawaan, we definitely appreciate you joining us. We’ll see you in the future. Good luck. Happy holidays to you, buddy.

S4                               Thank you. Happy holidays.

Andrew:                 Nick, we got the road grader to block for the Juco athlete, Dre Massey. Pretty good pickup for the Gators on Sunday I would say.

Nick:                         Yeah. First off, road grader, for anyone that doesn’t know, that’s just an offensive lineman who excels at driving a defender off the ball on running plays. They get off the line and kind of like a grader, like a truck that clears the road, that’s what a road grader is as an offensive lineman. Very high compliment, by the way.

Andrew:                 Yes. If you’re Mark Thompson, if you’re Lamical Perine, you’re going to be taking this guy out to dinner, because he’s going to be paving your way for multiple yards. You start to look at this, Nick, and this is something that me and you talked about when Coach Mac came to Florida. That’s that he likes those 300 plus offensive linemen. A guy like David Sharpe, then you have Martez Ivey, Fred Johnson, a guy like Jawaan Taylor. You have guys like Tyler Jordan. You’re starting to up your mass on the offensive line, instead of having a 5 yard offensive line, you’re starting to get that 8, 9 offensive linemen. It’s big.

Nick:                         Yeah. It’s really what you’ll see on Saturday from Alabama. When you look at Alabama’s offensive line, and you compare them to Florida’s, that Alabama line is what Jim McElwain wants, and what he is building right now in Gainesville. It might take a couple years, because despite getting contributions from Martez Ivey, Tyler Jordan, and Fred Johnson, all freshmen, it’s really hard to play freshmen. Those guys, a lot of them, have had to play this year, because of Florida’s depth. It might not be next year. I do think Florida’s offensive line will be better next year, and then the year after, but it’s still a building process. This class, this first full recruiting class, is going to be kind of the foundation for the offensive line for years to come for Jim McElwain.

Andrew:                 That’s exactly right. It’s a deal where Florida had transitioned to recruiting more spread linemen, and now they’re back to recruiting more pro-style linemen. Which really Muschamp didn’t recruit linemen, so I can’t really say too much about it. It is. It’s big. A guy like Taylor is going to be a guard, and he’s going to be a massive guard. He’s going to be a guy that at 330 pounds is going to be a big boy to move. It’s going to be a guy that Caleb Brantley or Joey Ivie, those guys, they don’t want to line up against. Those are guys that get their paws on you, and you’re not going nowhere.

Nick:                         Massey is the kind of, not Massey, sorry. Getting our guests mixed up. Taylor is the kind of guard that it’s like you said. Joey Ivie and the defensive tackles don’t like going up against it. They’re not fun to play, because they’re big. They’re strong. They’re hard to move. That doesn’t matter how big you are as a defensive lineman. Guards like Taylor are not fun to play against, and really what you want is five of those guys where every defensive lineman you play you look and say, “I don’t want to play against any of these hogs down there.”

Andrew:                 You can start to say that about some of these guys. Martez Ivey, and I’ve been critical of Martez Ivey. He’s struggled this year. Martez Ivey is going to be a good football player. David Sharpe is turning into a good football player. Tyler Jordan, I’ll say it. Tyler Jordan probably played the best of the five offensive linemen on Saturday against Florida State, and he’s a guy that’s still learning the position of guard and center. He played a lot of tackle in high school. He’s a guy that’s going to get better. Then you look at a guy like Fred Johnson. When he’s been in he’s looked good. He’s looked bad at times, but those are your what I want to call the centerpieces of the future of this offense.

Nick:                         Right. That’s what they’re building around. Then you’ve got guys, Nick Buchanan is a guy that I know the staff is very high on, and someone that we haven’t seen this year, but can probably come in and compete this spring. There’s guys that we even haven’t seen this year who will be redshirt freshmen next year. You can’t say enough for what Trip Thurman, you and I probably back in our first podcast said, “Good luck to Trip staying healthy this year.” That left shoulder of his, it’s being held together by bubblegum, and he has been able to play this entire season. You can’t say enough about his toughness, but those younger guys are really the future for Florida. You’ve seen a couple of them this year, and guys like Taylor, the guys that are coming in, will only continue to build on that and give Florida the depth that they need where you’ve got a backup left tackle and a backup right guard. You’re not saying, “If the left tackle goes down, we have to move the right guard over there, the center’s got to play guard. Then the backup guy’s got to play center.” You’re not shuffling pieces around like that.

Andrew:                 This is something interesting. Going to have this Marcus Tatum story by the time you guys are listening to this you’ll have that. He said something interesting to me. He said that Mac wants to have guys that can play all five positions, and that’s something you and I talked about. I think it was in the fall camp when Mac said he doesn’t want to have a backup left tackle. He wants to have guys that can play everywhere. To me, that is good, because that means if your best five offensive linemen are there, and your next best two offensive linemen are backup tackles, they can also play guard. You’re not going to go to your 9th best offensive lineman to play guard. You can go to your next best guy. For me I think that’s what’s in particular key.

Nick:                         Yeah. It’s all depth and having guys who are versatile helps. Trip Thurman’s played two different guard spots and center this year. You’ve seen Martez Ivey playing right tackle, left tackle, guard. It’s those guys, those versatile guys, kind of like a Swiss Army knife there on the line, even though Max Garcia and I disagree with you.

Andrew:                 I don’t say it’s not difficult, but I’m saying it’s a thing where in the NFL they carry eight offensive linemen. They want guys that are versatile. It’s like Marcus Tatum said. It prepares you for the NFL, and it is what it is. I’m not going to say it’s easy. It’s not easy, but it’s something that is now becoming more ordinary than maybe five years ago or six years ago, or 10 years ago. It’s becoming more ordinary.

Nick:                         That’s true. I still think it’s difficult, but offensive linemen, some of the smartest guys on the field. If anyone can handle it, changing technique back and forth, even back and forth through a game at times, it’s probably them.

Andrew:                 It’s exactly what it is. You look at a guy like Trip Thurman. I don’t want to downgrade anybody else on the football field, but that’s one of the smartest guys on the team.

Nick:                         And Mason Halter. Came in right away and coaching staff was shocked at how well he picked up the playbook and how quickly he picked up the playbook.

Andrew:                 Exactly. It is what it is. I did want to hit on something before we get out of here real quick. That’s something that Dre said about Eddie Pineiro, however you say his name. Eddie, just hit me up and tell me I suck, because I know I’m mispronouncing your name. He’s getting a lot of attention, but notably so. The kicking situation in Gainesville is so bad Florida has to have a kicker. Someone said, “Why are they looking for a kicker? They should score points in the red zone.” Sure. Every team’s not going to score touchdowns. Florida needs those three points. I take it back to Saturday. If Florida makes the two field goals in the first half, and you go in at half time and instead of 13-0 it’s 13-6.

Nick:                         Completely different game.

Andrew:                 Completely different game, a pick six now ties the football game. A punt return now turns the football game. Eddie may be getting a lot of attention, and I laugh about it and say it’s south Florida, and I’ll tell him all the time same thing, but it’s deserved. Jim McElwain didn’t let him ride in his car around town for no reason.

Nick:                         Yeah. I joked with Chad Wilson, who I do his radio show every Thursday. I joked last week that the most watched recruit in town last week might have been the kicker, which just shows where fans are with Florida’s kicking situation. Will Muschamp, Will Muschamp. I’m bringing up Will Muschamp after this. Jim McElwain, that’s why my little slip there, Jim McElwain kind of threw Hardin under the bus. Asked about Hardin and the way he struggled, Mac simply said, “We’ll find a kicker.” That doesn’t sound like a vote of confidence for Austin.

Andrew:                 I think he’s given Austin every opportunity.

Nick:                         Absolutely he has.

Andrew:                 It just hasn’t happened. I think he’s gotten to the point where he’s just like, I’m sick of this. It’s over with. I’ve got to score points. If I was able to score points, it’d be different. It is. You look at the FAU game, and it could have cost them the football game.

Nick:                         Almost did.

Andrew:                 You look at the South Carolina game, you’re not panicking as much if there’s some there. There’s several games where you’re not panicking if they go in. You look at the Tennessee game. That was another missed field goal. Georgia, another missed field goal. It’s becoming a habit where it’s like if you don’t score a touchdown you’re not getting points.

Nick:                         Yeah. That should never be the case. It’s easy to say Florida should just score down there and this and that, but you forget how much a good reliable kicker can help an offense. Caleb Sturgis, when Florida got to the 40 they knew they were getting 3 points.

Andrew:                 Look at Aguayo.

Nick:                         That opens the playbook for you.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         If Florida gets to the 40 now they’re not even thinking if we get 10 more yards we’ll be in field goal position. No. A 40 yard field goal, that’s not guaranteed. If we get 20 more yards we’ll be a 30 yard field goal. That’s not guaranteed right now. With Caleb Sturgis being able to hit from 45, 50, 50+ reliably that opens up the playbook for the offense, and that makes you more dangerous offensively. It’s not you don’t need a kicker, because the offense should be scoring the points. A reliable kicker helps the offense in more ways than you know by just watching the game and watching the Gators right now.

Andrew:                 You look at Ricky Aguayo from Florida State, and I know he is the best kicker in the country, and will go down as one of the best ever, but look at how much of a weapon he is for Florida State. There’s no question. You get inside the 35, you get to somewhere around in there, and it’s like we’re kicking. We’re going to make this. It’s 3 points. It’s almost, was it the South Carolina game? What game was it that Florida had 6 possessions start inside the 50? Was it the South Carolina game?

Nick:                         I think it was the South Carolina game.

Andrew:                 Where you had 6 possessions. You’re almost guaranteeing 3 points there. I believe Florida walked out of there with one touchdown. That’s not good. Anyway, it’s there. Real quick, I know you want to talk about Muschamp, and I want to do that as well. Real quick, this week, starting yesterday, Sunday. You’re listening to this on Tuesday, so starting Sunday there was the ability to go out and start recruiting. Coaches are out on the road doing in home visits, that kind of stuff. Florida has opted not to start until next Sunday, so they can prepare fully for the SEC championship game. That kind of puts Florida a week behind things in recruiting, but you can’t replace being on TV. That’s why you won’t see Florida out on the road, but you can expect coaches to leave straight from Atlanta to hit the road visiting these early enrollees next Sunday.

Nick:                         Yeah. It is a great recruiting tool to say, “I know Coach So-and-so was in your living room today, sorry I couldn’t do that. I have a game to prepare for, and he doesn’t.”

Andrew:                 I’m practicing.

Nick:                         Coach from the school out west, I know he visited you, but he doesn’t have a game this Saturday, doesn’t have practice. I had to handle our team. You can watch us on Saturday, maybe even invited the coach from the school out west to watch us play on Saturday with you, because he doesn’t have any plans.

Andrew:                 FSU was talking smack on Twitter fans, just simply reply by saying where are you playing Saturday? Their rebuttal will be, you don’t deserve it. They’re there. They’re in Atlanta. Nick, you and I are in Atlanta Friday.

Nick:                         Hotlanta.

Andrew:                 Hotlanta. The greatest city in the world. Nick, hot topic today, on Monday.

Nick:                         What is going on…

Andrew:                 In Columbia.

Nick:                         What? Will Muschamp, multiple sources are putting out that South Carolina is seriously considering Will Muschamp to be their next head coach. What?

Andrew:                 Are you buying that? I’m telling you it’s true. They are.

Nick:                         Why?

Andrew:                 I don’t know.

Nick:                         Why? Florida was left in shambles. Auburn’s defense got worse.

Andrew:                 It sucks. Let’s be honest. It sucks. Then I think what’s even more surprising is the rumor that T Rob will be defensive coordinator.

Nick:                         You know what? God bless. T Rob wanted to coach Chris Lammons at Florida. If he goes to be the Gamecocks defensive coordinator he’ll get that opportunity.

Andrew:                 Yeah. He wanted Chris Lammons really bad. Now he gets to go and lose with Chris Lammons up there. People bash me, Nick, and you and I have had this conversation a lot. Everyone says T Rob’s a great recruiter. T Rob’s a really good recruiter. Is he great? No. I can’t give him great. I’ve done this with a lot of people. Nick, I think I’ve even done it with you. I’ve asked everybody that’s told me that to go look and find me five recruits that were solid recruits that were his responsibility alone. I’ve come up with three, Jeffrey Holland, Jalen Tabor, and Duke Dawson.

Nick:                         Jeffrey Holland would have been a Gator if T Rob was still in Gainesville.

Andrew:                 I think Duke Dawson was a Gator whether T Rob recruits him or not.

Nick:                         I know Duke, and Duke was very interested in both Florida State and Alabama as well. T Rob was very close with Duke personally, and with Duke’s family as well.

Andrew:                 Right. Nick, I’ve asked you this. Have you thought of anybody else?

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 He doesn’t get credit for Vernon Hargreaves. Will Muschamp does, and Vernon Hargreaves was coming to Florida whether I was the cornerback coach. Vernon Hargreaves was ready to go. It is what it is. He’s in the past. The Gators have got a great football coach in Jim McElwain, and a tremendous cornerback coach in Kurt Callahan, who I have the utmost respect for. I think he’s a very good football coach. One quick note though. Florida did kind of dodge some news. UCF has reportedly got a football coach, so it means Geoff Collins and Randy Shannon won’t be leaving. It’s kind of bittersweet I guess you could say. You want those guys to go out and get a good job and get a head coaching job, but it’s also nice to have them back for another year in Gainesville.

Nick:                         They’ve got good jobs.

Andrew:                 Yeah, but you know what I mean.

Nick:                         Obviously if they had a head coaching opportunity, I think Jim McElwain kind of takes the Nick Saban approach where as long as you don’t let it affect us having a game and our game plan, as long as you’re all in for the job you have right now, I’m going to support you furthering your career by going from a coordinator to a head coach. Absolutely. I think Jim McElwain would support any and all of his coaches if they were to get a head coaching job, as long as they didn’t let interviewing or anything like that affect getting ready for Alabama.

Andrew:                 I have one question. I have one statement actually.

Nick:                         Okay.

Andrew:                 Win the now.

Nick:                         Win the now.

Andrew:                 That’s what they have to do is win the now. I think you and I both agree. I think Geoff Collins is going to be a really good football coach. He’s got very high energy. He’s very good with the kids. Very interactive on social media, and is a very likeable guy. Nick Saban spoke very highly of him as well. It’d be interesting. Coach Mac said that there’s several guys on staff that could be head coaches one day. Geoff Collins is one of those guys that’s up there that could be a really good football coach as a head coach one day. Randy Shannon, of course, has already done it. Then you start to look at some of the assistants, and there’s some very good assistants as well, some very young assistants as well.

Nick:                         Yeah. Jim McElwain said that much. Said there’s a lot of coaches on my staff that are going to be great head coaches, and I think that’s true. They’ve put together a staff that is relentless on the recruiting trail. They’re relentless in the way that they prepare the team, and their all, it’s a group of player’s coaches.

Andrew:                 Not player’s coaches that get walked all over either.

Nick:                         No. There is a lot of respect from these guys. To me, I think the hardest part in coaching is kind of relating to people. Mike Summers is 40 years older. Mike Summers is old enough to be some of his players grandfather, and he relates to these guys. They love him as a coach, as a father, and some of them would tell you he’s almost a friend even more so than a father figure. I think, to me, the hardest part is relating to those coaches. Jim McElwain from Missoula, Montana is relating to Eddie Pineiro who is from Miami and sounds Miami as hell. He sounds like every kid that I grew up playing baseball with in Miami. Missoula Mac is relating to him, and I think that’s just a credit to McElwain and to the coaching staff for the job they’ve been able to do recruiting and as well in the locker room with the team they have now.

Andrew:                 I’ll say it for Coach Mac. I don’t know how he does it with those south Florida guys like you, Nick. It’s a headache to put up with. I hope Eddie doesn’t have fashion problems like you do.

Nick:                         Listen, I’m sure Eddie has as much swag as I have.

Andrew:                 As much swag. Nick, I think we brought the heat tonight with some championship edition, with Dre Massey and Jawaan Taylor. Nick, it’s the last week of the season. Recruiting’s going to be hot, and I guess that means you’ve got to put up with me on this podcast for recruiting.

Nick:                         Yeah. We even kind of talked about this a little bit. First off, I will be a fixture on the recruiting podcast and on every podcast, except for your mailbag podcast. I have no interest in that. Florida losing to FSU kind of kicked them out of the Sugar Bowl contention. It looks like Ole Miss, who won’t play again until the bowl game, will be ranked ahead of Florida, unless Florida beats Alabama this week, and that would lock them into the Sugar Bowl as the SEC champion. It will be good for recruiting, because Florida will probably play in an Orlando bowl game, looking like it will be the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl, formerly the Capital One Bowl, which lines right up with the Under Armor game.

Andrew:                 Exactly. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a lot of fun. That means you and I will get to cover both, and I know you won’t admit it, but covering the Under Armor game is fun.

Nick:                         I love the Under Armor game. I loved talking to Dalvin and Quincy. I missed it last year, because I was in Birmingham, but the previous two years had a great time in Orlando. It’s a very well run event. Some of the best players in the country, and it’s good to see them compete, even though sometimes the games can get lopsided. Seeing them compete in practice and on the field each week, on the practice field, is really cool to see.

Andrew:                 Watching Bryon Cowart last year, Malachi Dupre a couple years ago.

Nick:                         Byron Cowart was throwing people around like he was playing against toddlers.

Andrew:                 Malachi Dupre, I remember sitting there telling you. I was like, this guy right here is going to be one of the best in the country, and you were like, he’s pretty good. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us for championship edition, because, quite frankly, we are champions.

Nick:                         Championship edition, www.GatorCountry.com. @NickdelaTorreGC on Twitter. Got a new avi on Twitter. Thank you GatorEdits. You’re the man. @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter. It’s going to be a fun week leading up to Atlanta. Looking forward to the game. We’ll have a ton of stuff. I know Andrew’s got a ton of recruiting updates. I got a couple stories up today. Couple more up tomorrow. We’ll talk to players. I put in a request, Andrew, with the UAA.

Andrew:                 What’s that?

Nick:                         I asked to talk to my boy, Johnny Townsend. I don’t know if we’ll talk to him this week, but I’m hoping to get punt man for a story this week. He’s having a great season. Anyway, championship edition, championship week, thank you for joining us. Thank you for sticking around. Andrew, thank you for allowing me on the recruiting podcast.

Andrew:                 The goat has to allow his minion on every now and then. It’s good. No. For real though, Nick’s helped me out a ton. Sunday was wild for me, and Nick was my right hand guy helping me out, as always. We do teamwork at Gator Country. Championship week. Mark, sorry that you had to go, but I don’t feel bad. Butch, you still suck. Atlanta, see you Friday, because go Braves.

Nick:                         Teamwork makes the dream work. As always, stay class, Gator Country.

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.

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