Dan Mullen walked off of Florida’s practice field and directly into a press conference to discuss his signing class — 22 strong — on Wednesday night.
Mullen was tired. He looked it and sounded like a coach that has been burning a candle at both ends but he signed a good recruiting class, one that is better in reality than in perception.
The Gators are the only school in the country ranked top-10 in the football polls, in recruiting and as a public university — a fact Mullen pointed out.
“You’re looking at a school that obviously not just a premier athletic school in the state but the premier academic school in the state, and a school that is not just one of the top 10 football programs in the country, but the only one of those schools that’s also a top 10 academic school,” Mullen said.
The Gators’ class is currently ranked top-10 by most recruiting services. They have three players already enrolled and participating in practice (QB Anthony Richardson and OL Richard Leonard & Josh Braun). They also play to have nine players enroll early. They added 13 four-star players including big recruits like Gervon Dexter and Derek Wingo.
The Gators needed to bolster the defensive line. They added four players and talented ones at that.
They needed to replenish the defensive backfield. They added six players, including a late flip of safety Mordecai McDaniel, as well as another talented safety in Rashad Torrence. The class is deep and it hit on several positions of need
It isn’t perfect. Florida got a quarterback for the future and a good one at that.
“He is a stud. He is going to be great for this university as well,” senior Jon Greenard said of Richardson on Monday. “He has only been here a couple of days but I can’t say too much, but my first impression is that he is really athletic and he has a very strong arm. He is a very talented kid.”
They missed on running backs and receivers, however. Florida is losing four senior receivers and junior Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes could leave early for the NFL. Mullen continues to say he doesn’t see that happening but it’s a possibility (junior have until January 20 to declare). They have nine on the roster when you add Ja’Quavion Fraziars but that number could be seven. There’s still time, but Mullen and his staff needed to get more than one receiver. They have several weeks to add more before this signing period is finished. They need to do so.
The Gators should have added a running back in this class and with a talented player like EJ Smith, who has a Gator Great father in Emmitt Smith as a possibility, most felt good about landing him.
When Smith chose Stanford it could have felt like a punch in the gut but you can’t blame a young man for wanting to forge his own path and get out from the shadow his legendary father casts.
Emmitt said it best.
Great speech from @EmmittSmith22 when asked about his son choosing Stanford over Smith’s alma mater, UF. Best of luck to EJ! Stanford is a great school. pic.twitter.com/J0Tj8pwMv7
— Nick de la Torre (@NickdelaTorreGC) December 18, 2019
The perception on Wednesday isn’t as kind as the things we’ve just laid out. The perception is that Florida whiffed on Tim Smith (Alabama), EJ Smith (Stanford), Sam Brown (West Virginia), Donell Harris (Texas A&M) and Clyde Pinder (UNC).
Florida did make a late push for Tim Smith and Clyde Pinder and the two would have pushed Florida into top-5 territory in terms of class ranking but the reality is the Gators’ defensive line class is already strong. Could it have been stronger with those two? Yes. Does not landing those two make it a bad class? No.
Ultimately Mullen will be measured by wins and championships. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football and you’re not going to win enough games or championships if you don’t get it done on the recruiting trail.
Are the Gators there yet? Are they recruiting at a championship level?
We’re certainly getting there,” Mullen said when asked if he has a championship-caliber roster. “But I do, I certainly think we expect to go compete for championships, and we’re building the roster to be able to go do that. And we want to do that on a consistent basis, not just one year to the next.”
Right now, as I see it, Florida has a very good class. They hit some major needs and they added, in my opinion, two dudes in Dexter and Wingo. However, if they want to compete with Alabama and Clemson and Georgia, you need to start winning some of these high-profile battles. You need to, every cycle, get a guy that can come in right away and not just play or have a role but be an impact player. There are only a handful of those guys that can do that in any given recruiting cycle but the University of Florida should be able to attract those kinds of players and the coaching staff should be able to find them and get their fair share of them to commit.
The perception on Wednesday night didn’t match the reality. I get it. This is college football and it’s recruiting. There will be knee jerk reactions and anger when classes don’t go the way some expect but Florida has a very good class. It’s arguably better than the first two Mullen signed and probably the best since 2012 or 2013.
There is still work to be done and Mullen will need to finish strong before this cycle ends, but rather than look at what was missed, look at what was gained and how much better those players make the Gators.
Wednesday might have been a flop but the past year and building the class with 21 signees and one transfer wasn’t a flop.
Yep! I was happy with the class. There was way too much expectation for these potential flips. This late in the cycle, those perceived “misses” should not have been a factor. Let’s go Gators!!!
The reality is this staff for whatever reason cannot recruit the elite talent at the same level as the teams we have to beat to win the SEC let alone a National Championship!!! The numbers do not lie, you have to have get at least an occasional 5 Star recruit not only to have that level of talent to win the SEC, but to attract the other high 4 Stars and other 5 Stars that can get you to the level to compete for National Championships!!!