One of the biggest concerns for most in the Gator Nation is how the 2018 recruiting class will shape up or stay together now that Jim McElwain has been let go as head coach of the Florida Gators.
There is no for sure answer to that question at this time because the fact of that matter is that a new coach will come in and shake things up and that could change a recruits mind.
In the mean time, the Gators coaching staff will continue to recruit guys and try and ensure the committed guys that Florida is a great place for them no matter who the head coach is. That process will start on Monday night as Randy Shannon says he plans to start calling guys.
“I haven’t, I haven’t talked to one recruit yet. I’ll talk to a lot of recruits tonight [Monday], I’ll talk to about maybe 11 recruits that are tagged,” Shannon said on Monday. “About 11 or 12 that were tagged and just communicate with them that the reason why you come to the University of Florida is because it’s Florida and a lot of times student athletes recruiting get involved in is the coach, but it’s the school, it’s the academic presence that Florida brings, it’s the athletic presence that Florida brings, it’s the family atmosphere that Florida brings.”
“Those are high quality things that I think that every parent and every student athlete want. They want to have a family, they want to have great academics and they want to be able to compete at a high level and have people that care about them and that’s what the University of Florida is about.”
When a new head coach does arrive in Gainesville, he can help himself out with this recruiting class by keeping a few current Gators assistants and staff members. Most head coaches do keep at least one staff member from the old staff to help with the transition.
Keeping linebackers coach Tim Skipper and running backs coach/recruiting coordinator JaJuan Seider on staff would be a smart move for the new head coach due to their relationships with the current class.
Not only are these two guys good for recruiting but they have also done a good job on the field coaching their position and they bring versatility as well as these guys can coach multiple positions.
Those two coaches as well as director of player personnel Drew Hughes would be huge in helping with this class. Hughes is the guy that communicates with these prospects on a daily basis and is the guy that sets up most of the visits.
Outside of keeping those guys, the new head coach also must come in ready to recruit himself and set an example for his assistants to be aggressive.
Jim McElwain is a fine person and not a bad recruiter but he wasn’t aggressive enough for the University of Florida and that’s something that cost him, The new coach must bring that aggressive nature with him to Gainesville because that’s what gets you on top in recruiting.
The new coach will inherit a great class already and while he will have to re recruit those guys, him being aggressive and showing these commits that the same opportunity is there for them now could go along way.
Once he solidifies the commits, he must go out and fill some holes that are in this class like linebacker and defensive line but for the most part this class fills many holes.
But before he does any of that, the first call he has to make is to Matt Corral who is the quarterback that the Gators are missing and he’s the leader of this class and he himself can help the new coach keep these guys together.
Last thing that I have to add here is that this is the University of Florida, which is one of the top academic and athletic schools in America and you should recruit like that. You can’t be scared or nervous of other schools when you’re Florida, you should recruit with confidence.
Early signing periods should available for EE’s only. I think any other way you implement it will be detrimental to coaches and more importantly the recruits.
Of course NCAA is often late t the party when comes to positive legislation for their athletes and institutions.
SEC Commish needs to check out the possibility of allowing an additional by weeks for its members. We are the Conference most impacted by severe weather storms. The modern trend of keeping people off the roads and not tying up 1st responders is the proper one. However, when you implement that policy combined new legislation that you must play all conference games to go to the championship is bad combination for the athletes.