October 1st edition of the Florida Gators recruiting mailbag

Florida Gators recruiting is doing well and this week’s recruiting mailbag had a lot of great questions about how prospects liked the Florida Gators big win over the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday night, plus we preview the Ole Miss versus Florida Gators recruiting list.

As you have noticed Gator Country and Andrew Spivey have mixed things up and we have taken our recruiting mailbag to podcast form, as well as continuing the written of version of the mailbag.

Make sure to listen as Andrew answers everyone’s questions from this mailbag and don’t forget to get your questions in every week so he can answer your question next time on all things Florida Gators recruiting.

Here’s the written version of this week’s Florida Gators recruiting mailbag:

MrB-Gator: Do we get a Juco LB in this class?

AS: Honestly I don’t think so. Right now the only one with a scholarship offer is Tyree Horton and he isn’t going to qualify, so he’s out of play.

Brainstorm: Can you revisit our DL board – who are the players the staff really want the most and how many do you think we end up signing if the gods smile on us? We have a lot of DL on the current roster – do we still sign a large class?

AS: I think Florida signs a semi-large class, yes, because of Jonathan Bullard graduating, plus Alex McCalister potentially being gone after this year. The ones to look at are Shavar Manuel, Dexter Lawrence, Janarius Robinson, Ben Frazier, Jordan Woods, Brian Burns and Antoneous Clayton. Florida would like to get four to five of those guys.

2xgator: Do you expect any more in season officials to UF?

AS: Isaiah Johnson says he’s taking an official this weekend, but I think it will be bumped back. I do think and know that several guys will be taking officials visits for the Florida State game in November though.

Okcgator: With FSU playing at Wake Forest and Miami playing at Cincy is there any likely hood that we have another big instate prospect list for the Ole Miss game? I know it’s probably not an ideal game to have people visit but with FSU/UM being away should we expect anyone to come down for it?

AS: It’s going to be a semi big weekend for Florida, but not nearly as big as last week’s game was. You will see some big names like Marcus Tatum, Freddie Swain and Jordan Woods potentially come in for the weekend. I’ll have a full list up on Friday.

SVSqueek7: Dumbfounded with LB recruiting regardless if it’s a down year in state. Instant playing time available, can CMac, Shannon, D staff and support staff pull a couple of rabbits out of their collective hats?!?!?

AS: Truth is that the prospects just simply aren’t there for the instate guys at the position. I think Florida is working hard on Miami commit Zach McCloud but the rest of the good players are out of state. I think it will take a miracle to get one of those Texas guys in but they are working hard.

Juggernautz: > Any guesses on who will be our next commit?

AS: I’ll stick with Marcus Tatum, but I honestly have no idea when they can be. He says that he will commit when he thinks the time is right, but who knows when that will actually be.

Juggernautz: Will Jordan (Scarlett)’s riding the bench have any influence on Sam Bruce’s decision?

AS: If Scarlet becomes unhappy then yeah it could hurt, but right now I don’t think Scarlett is unhappy with Florida, or at least not from what I’ve heard he isn’t. I think things will work out here.

Juggernautz: Will Jake Allen be taking any other “official” visits?

AS: Well, he can’t take officials until his senior year, but I would lean towards him not taking any official visits other than Florida unless something goes wrong. Allen is one of the most solid Florida Gators recruiting commits.

Gator_champs1: Are we still in good shape for WR’s James Robinson and Donovan Peoples-Jones?

AS: Florida is trending up with Robinson and battling Clemson there. Peoples-Jones likes Doug Nussmeier a lot but Florida needs to get him back on campus again this spring to continue moving forward on the right track.

Gator_nica: How is the board looking for DT’s and how many do we take?

AS: Shavar Manuel and Dexter Lawrence are the top two targets there and I think Florida is in good shape with Manuel and made up ground on Lawrence.

Gator_nica: How many WR do we lose after this year and how many do we sign?

AS: Demarcus Robinson likely goes pro and Latroy Pittman is graduating and I think some other guys will leave the program. I think Florida signs between five and six this year.

Lilro: Andrew do you think last week’s game will help Florida finish real strong for UF?

AS: It will help for sure but one game won’t make a break or a class. The one thing is that it will do is be in the back of kids mind for the reminder of the process.

Lilro: I know we don’t lead for Victor anymore but what if he starts back feeling UF and we get him?

AS: If Binjimen Victor wants in then he’s a take because you don’t turn down a great player like Victor.

RVG: Now that Florida is four games in and approaching the most difficult stretch of the schedule, how affected will recruits be by wins and losses? Is it more about how the offense and defense look, or is it W’s and L’s?

AS: Recruits want to see the team get better on the field and see a true identity for the offense more so than wins and losses. No doubt though that 4-0 was a good start for the Florida Gators recruiting efforts.

 

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.

4 COMMENTS

  1. AS

    The coaching staff has ‘X’ # of scholar ships for 2016. If the success continues and many of the top tier prospects commit, and it’s more than the total available, does the staff honor the ‘lower’ tier commits if they decide to stay come NSD? How does the staff navigate from there?