GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap how the MLB draft went for the Florida Gators baseball team.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what the baseball team will look like next year, plus we talk the recent news around the football team.
Andrew and Nick talk about how things are going since the football team has reported back to campus, plus we talk recruiitng.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: Guys, we’re back. Nick de la Torre, Andrew Spivey. Here with the Gator Country podcast. Nick, MLB Draft came, and the Gators did pretty well. For a split second, I thought baseball was back, Nick, but they took it away from us. You and I, we love our MLB Draft, even it’s only five rounds. It was cool by me. I think Sully was over there just sipping on some Kool-Aid saying, okay, okay.
Nick: Yeah. The Draft couldn’t have gone any better for the Gators than it did. If you look at it, heading into the Draft everyone knew Zac Veen, the #1 kid in the class, was going to get drafted in the top 10. He was going to go. You only lose one other recruit in Coby Mayo. Then you look at it, and you’re going to get Jack Leftwich back. You’re going to get Tommy Mace back. I had joked with Tommy before last season. I said, if you just redshirt this year, you can come back and open the new ballpark. He laughed and gives me a smile, like I’m not turning down millions of dollars.
Then, obviously, the way things work out with Coronavirus and everything and the season being cancelled, doesn’t have to redshirt. He gets to open up the new ballpark. If you look at it, with Jack and Tommy coming back and waiting to hear back from Austin Langworthy, you’re looking at getting back a team that started 16-0, with a top 2 recruiting class added to it. You’re looking at getting them all back. I’m ready for the baseball season to start now.
Andrew: Run it back, Nick. That’s what they’re doing. They’re saying, run it back. You know, on MLB the show, where you have a great game with your buddy, and you just want to hit that rematch button and go again. Listen, I’m the first person, and I am very, very biased, because this baseball team, in my opinion, Nick, was everything I love about baseball times 100. I love a scrappy bunch of guys who go out there, and if they’re down 10-0 in the ninth inning, they still have three outs to go.
I was so looking forward to watching this team, not only covering the team with you and talking about it, but honestly, I was looking forward as a fan, because I enjoyed watching this team night in and night out just be scrappy, be aggressive, and never be out of a game. It was just, for me it was fun. I’m looking forward to it, like you said. A couple of new additions, it’ll be interesting to see. Sully’s got his work to do. We’ve seen a signee and a couple transfers already leave.
But for me, if I’m Tommy Mace, I have the best of both worlds. I had the chance to go in the Draft. I had a number. You and I know that number, but we’ve been asked not to say that number. It was, in my opinion, very realistic. He had a number that said I’ll bypass my junior year to go to the MLB for this number. If not, I’m going back, and like you said, I’m going to open the new ballpark. I’m going to be a part of one of the best teams in the country next year. I’m going to be, he should be close to graduating then. Then guess what? I’m going to back in the MLB Draft and be right back in the same position, if not higher up. He’s a year older.
Nick: Absolutely. The way that it works is, we talk about it, but it’s when you are a senior, like he and Jack Leftwich get to come back as juniors next year. You still have that bargaining chip of I can come back to school again for another year. You’re going to be able to bargain and negotiate for yourself in terms of next year’s Draft, and you get to come back, and both of them are going to earn their degrees. Not only do you still get to go into the Draft as a junior, but you get that degree.
That’s something that we just saw Matt den Dekker, who played. He was a year older than me. He never graduated but played three years. Went and now he’s coming back after a 10 year baseball career, and he’s having to sit in classrooms as a 32-year-old man, looking around like, I shouldn’t be here, to finish his degree. Credit to him to do it.
But I think it’s probably the best of both worlds. Not what Tommy or Jack expected, but the best of both worlds. Now I’m going to graduate in the fall, or graduate in the spring. I’m going to get to pitch in a brand-new ballpark. My college career didn’t end on some weird crazy note. Really just the best of both worlds for both of them. Not what they wanted, but when times passes, you look at it, and you think, this probably couldn’t have gone any better.
Andrew: Right. He still has his bargaining chip, like you said. You’re good. You’re not stressed about I’m going to be a 10th round pick, and they’re going to say, here’s $10,000, accept it or don’t go to the Big Leagues. You’ve still got all that. I said this. You and I have this conversation, I feel like, every year with fans. The MLB Draft is unlike any other Draft in any major sports, whatsoever. Period. The MLB Draft is all about signability. You don’t have to sign. Of course, in football and basketball you don’t have to sign, but where are you going? Once you declare, you’re there. Kids in school, they can go back to school, unless you’re a senior.
It wasn’t that Leftwich or Mace wasn’t good enough to be drafted. They knew they were going to be tough signs. I think that that’s a bargaining chip that they did well with. I think when you looked at this Draft overall, and you looked at the uncertainly of the Minor League baseball season this year, if you’re Mace or if you’re Leftwich, why not try to find a summer ball league to play in, go back to school, be great, come back and make that big dollar? Guess what? The money wasn’t there this year compared to past years. Even if you were a first round pick, the money wasn’t near as good as it is in past years, and you only get 20% of that money right now.
Nick: In doing an interview with Jack Leftwich, the story will be up before the podcast is up, he had a number in his mind as well. He made that number known. I think in his mind, obviously, his sophomore year didn’t go how he wanted it to with the blister issues he dealt with all year, until he finally missed a full month of the season to finally let that heal. He had a really bad sprained ankle that he was pitching on. It didn’t go as well as he wanted to.
Then when the season gets cancelled, he’s thinking maybe this thing will clear up, and I’ll be able to get some scouts to come watch me throw bullpens. Then that, obviously, it didn’t clear up, and that wasn’t the case. He’s thinking, it’s going to go on just my sophomore year, which wasn’t great, and then a handful of starts to begin this year. I think he had a number, and he told me, I’m not going to sell myself short. I’ll come back to school, earn my degree, and bet on myself, because I’m not just going to sign for anything just to sign, because my initial plan was to go pro after this year.
Andrew: Let me say this.
Nick: Bet on yourself. People will tell you that all throughout your life. Bet on yourself, because nobody else is going to. Make the best of your situation.
Andrew: Right. I was going to say this. I mean zero disrespect to Mace or Leftwich, because I think both of them are going to be MLB starters for a long time. But their season was cut so short, and because of how good the rotation is year in and year out for Sully, until you’re a junior you really don’t get to shine every night, or every weekend, in a Friday or Saturday role. Unlike Vanderbilt. Well, Vanderbilt isn’t very good, so I shouldn’t use Vanderbilt. But unlike Georgia with Emerson Hancock, where as a freshman you can be a Friday night guy. It’s very rare that you’re going to be a freshman at Florida and be a Friday night guy. Would you agree?
Nick: Extremely rare.
Andrew: Couldn’t even tell you the last one.
Nick: Yeah. Extremely rare. Maybe Logan Shore. Logan Shore, towards the end of his freshman year, but not walking in and doing it. That was only because guys weren’t getting the job done.
Andrew: Right. Logan’s pretty good in himself too. That’s no shame there. Nick, I guess, you’ve had the chance to kind of look at things here, do you see more movement coming? Does there have to be more movement as far as making this class, excuse me, not making the class, but making the roster work?
Nick: Yeah. I think there’s another kid, Tyler Shelnut. He’ll probably be announcing. I can say it now, as we record, because he’s going to do it today. So, it won’t be breaking news on the podcast tomorrow, but I think he’ll be announcing that he’s decommitting. There’s just really hard conversations that you have to have. Sully, it’s not, like we planned on having you come to school. It wasn’t a fake offer. We just came through these crazy circumstances where we didn’t think we’d have all these guys coming back. We’ve gotten some relief from the NCAA in terms of scholarships and roster limits, but we’re still way over. I think you’re going to be seeing that not just from Florida, but you’re going to be seeing it all over the place.
Andrew: Let me ask you this though. This is a question that I’ve kind of pondered in my head, trying to think about things. Does this hurt the longevity of a program in general? You’re going to kind of be top-heavy now. You lose some of your freshmen, so you’re not going to have the balance of classes. Do you see this becoming a long-term problem? Do you see what I’m trying to say here? I know I’m not saying it, I’m not explaining it the best. I just feel like because some of these freshman are leaving it may create some holes, because, let’s face it, next year you’re going to have a ton of guys go to the Draft. Juniors and sophomores next year. You see what I’m saying?
Nick: Yeah. I think when the initial thing came, when they were thinking about what to do and who to allow and stuff like that, I think they kind of got into a sweet spot. But yeah, you’re going to get a whole back jam, because maybe you’ve got guys that would have been juniors and guys you thought would be out of the program, now they have a full year. Baseball recruiting is different than football in that, like there’s a guy, Jordan Carrion, who’s a middle infielder. He can play three infield spots, but he committed to Florida. He was the first member of this signing class. He committed to Florida his freshman year, and then stays through that.
So, Florida’s got guys committed in the 2023 class, and they’re working on the 2024 class. It’s just the nature of baseball recruiting. It gets done way quicker or way longer down the line, down the road, earlier that football or some other sports. Maybe it works itself out in that sense, where you start looking at we’ve got this, and we’ve got that, and you can start figuring out the numbers now. Yeah.
You’re going to be looking at, if a senior, Kirby McMullen’s coming back, but if Kirby wanted to go somewhere else, he could go to TCU or go somewhere else where he wanted. Now TCU’s got an extra player. Only for a year, but there could be a back jam. I think that’s kind of why you’re going to see guys from this recruiting class who in other circumstances would have made it to campus will be decommitting, whether that’s their decision or a mutual decision. I don’t want to get into all that, but I think you’re going to start to see that across the country of guys from this signing class being like, I’m going to go somewhere else. Baseball also has, if you’re good enough, you can go to JUCO, play right away. If you go to JUCO, you can jump right back into the Draft next year or in two years.
Andrew: Right. Then it creates a little bit of a hole for Florida though, because are they going to have to reach for some extra guys next year maybe in the JUCO ranks? It’s just a wild, and that’s why Sully gets paid the big bucks, because he’s able to figure it all out. I’m cool, Nick. Let’s run it back. Can we just skip to February? Let’s run it back. I’m ready. I’m pumped to see the team.
For me, and you’re way closer than I am, and you know these guys a lot better than I do, but from an outside perspective, I wouldn’t want to face these guys next year, because they’re pissed off. A, a lot of these guys didn’t get drafted. They wanted to. B, they were having a very good year this year, and, C, they’re already a scrappy bunch. To me, that sets up for a good year.
Nick: Keep that same chip on your shoulder that we’ve been talking about. Don’t walk in being like, we’re that 16-0 team. Keep that same chip on your shoulder.
Andrew: Now you’re 0-0, buddy.
Nick: They’re going to be really good. You’re 0-0. That’s it. I don’t think it’s going to be a situation where Florida will be having holes or anything like that, but you could have a huge class that leaves next year, for sure. You might have a year where you’re young.
Andrew: Right. Well, that’s the nature of the business. Some good players that were picked though. I can say my Braves, I think, had a decent haul. Blue Jays, man. Blue Jays and Royals and Tigers, they dominated the Draft, my friend.
Nick: It was super weird. It was super weird watching it. It was fun to watch it, but I’m used to 40 rounds.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Used to have to cover the Draft while covering baseball games, so it was much easier covering it this year. That’s for sure.
Andrew: You’re used to having to Google, who is this kid that we just drafted? Okay.
Nick: I think also next year’s going to be, what, 20 rounds?
Andrew: They have not officially announced it, but it will be less than 40. The feeling is it will be 20.
Nick: I think 40’s too many.
Andrew: You and I have talked about this. A lot of people maybe don’t know the whole realm of Minor League baseball, but Minor League baseball is losing 50-some teams next year. Instead of having your rookie ball, low A, high A, AA, AAA, and then your three or four rookie ball teams, they’re going to cut that down some. So, the need for 40 rounds, and I mean this to no disrespect, because I’m sure there’s some guys who’ve, Mike Piazza’s one, come from lower rounds, but if you’re picked in 30th, 40th round, teams are not expecting you to do anything except for fill organizational depth in the Minor Leagues. The feeling is to get away from some of those, because you’re not going to have to fill that organizational depth for a low A ball team or a rookie ball team or whatever it may be.
Nick: Yeah. No disrespect to the two guys that I’ll name, but when you have 40 rounds, that’s when a guy like Jeff Driskel and Feleipe Franks get drafted, and they haven’t touched a baseball in three years at that point. What are you even doing here?
Andrew: What you saying, Nick? They’re not no good?
Nick: I don’t know if they’re any good, because they haven’t played baseball since they were in high school. Jeff Driskel’s still collecting NFL paychecks.
Andrew: Yeah. Russell Wilson. He went. He actually went down there and earned a little bit of his money in spring training. I mean, he didn’t earn it, but he went down there and did some promotional stuff. Any final thoughts on the diamond, and then we’ll talk some gridiron?
Nick: No. They’re in a good spot. I’m looking forward to next season already now.
Andrew: I’m ready for the billionaires and millionaires to stop fighting. Just give me baseball, please. I need some Acuna in my life. What you think of the 30 for 30, before we move on? What’d you think of the 30 for 30 with McGwire-Sosa?
Nick: I loved it. You’re a year older than me. This was the first thing that I really followed super closely. I went to a bunch of Marlins games, but if the Marlins were on the road, I’m eight years old. I’m like, did they win last night? They did? Cool. Just like passing. This captivated America for an entire summer. I remember being nine years old and watching Sports Center, and if it wasn’t on Sports Center, on the way to school, and I didn’t get to see Sports Center, I’m checking box scores. Sammy hit one last night, or Griffey hit one. I was pulling for Griffey during that whole thing. I wanted him to be the one to break it. There was three guys in the race for a while.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Yeah. It was the first thing. Baseball almost died in ’94. People were so mad. I see them going down the same road right now. Greed almost killed baseball in ’94. I think Bud Selig knew exactly what was going on. I’m looking at Mark McGwire again, and I’m thinking, my goodness. He’s wearing a XX jersey and filling it out. These guys were larger than life. He knew what was going on. I mean, there were no rules. Then everyone says, they were cheaters. They weren’t breaking any rules. There was no steroid testing. You could do whatever you wanted, so they weren’t breaking rules. That’s why I think I would vote for them. If I had a Hall of Fame vote, they’d get my vote. It’s not like they were banging on trashcans and stealing signs. There weren’t breaking any rules by taking steroids.
Andrew: They still had to hit that fastball.
Nick: Hitting a baseball’s still the hardest thing in the world.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: It’s just trying to time up a 95-mile-an-hour fastball. It’s getting a second to figure out if it’s a fastball, slider, changeup, sinker, splitter. Then square it up, and then hit. Guys get 500, 600 at-bats in a year, and you think 70 homeruns. 70 only in 500. That’s not a great percentage. That’s how hard it is.
Andrew: Yeah. I remember we had a hurricane in Alabama when McGwire hit 62. Of course, with a hurricane your tv goes out all the time. I remember the tv coming back on right before he came to bat, and he hit it. I was like, thank God, I got that. To see Jack Buck and that. Listen, I don’t care if they were cheating or not. That was fun. Everybody was cheating for the most part. Clemmons was jacked up. Curt Shilling was jacked up. Pitchers were jacked just as much as hitters. I was cool with it. It really brought some excitement, and I think it brought a lot of fans in. I like it.
It sucks that we had to get a pandemic to get some of these stories out, but give me some more of those stories. The Jordan special was awesome. That was awesome. Give me some more. I’m all for it. I love those 30 for 30s when it’s stuff that I’m interested in. I guess it’s a little, I don’t know. Whatever.
Nick: That whole summer was probably, I mean, I was already playing baseball, playing travel ball, playing Little League, but that’s probably when I fell in in love with baseball the way that I did, for sure.
Andrew: My whole life I’ve worn #10 for my man Chipper Jones. I remember the year after McGwire broke it, I decided I was going to wear 25 for McGwire. Got back to 10 quick. I wasn’t Mark McGwire. I wasn’t jacked.
Nick: Big Mac. I wore 24 for Griffey. I had my backwards hat and wore 24. That was so much fun to live through, and then so much fun to relive with the 30 for 30 on Sunday.
Andrew: I just remember when they brought Big Mac Land. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world, at the time. That was 2000, so I was 13 years old. I just thought it was cool that they had a big old area out there after McGwire. He was hitting bombs up there. That’s for sure.
Let’s go to football, Nick. Football’s back. No guys have tested positive for the Coronavirus. They’re doing it in the IPF, having all workouts over there. Everything seems to be getting a little bit back to normal. Most of the freshman, I believe Mordecai McDaniel and Fenley Graham are the two we’re still waiting on them to arrive. They’re going to arrive either this week or this weekend onto campus. No problems whatsoever. They just didn’t have an official report date, so they kind of left it up to them, and those two guys elected to come a little later than everybody else. Those guys can’t workout. They’re staying in a hotel. They’re able to kind of get to know each other. They’re getting their school stuff ready for Summer B and all that other stuff. It seems like things are going well. Much better at Florida than Houston.
Nick: Yeah. That’s for sure. I think it almost might be kind of a blessing. I think that’s why you like to get kids on in summer, because it’s not as hard in summer in terms of academics. If you’re listening to this, and you’ve been to college, you know that first just getting to college. Classes are harder. You’ve got this freedom, and you want to make friends, and you want to go out. You want to do things, but the classes are harder. Then throw on top of that you’re going to be working out twice a day, or a practice and a workout on top of that. Then you’ve got meetings. Then you have to go to all this other stuff. You’re learning a new playbook. I think it’s nice to be able to you’re on campus, you’re going to be talking to your advisors and your tutors, and you’re kind of getting into the flow of being a college kid without having to be all that other stuff.
Andrew: Don’t forget having pool parties with Dan Mullen.
Nick: Yeah. Have them at Dan Mullen’s house. Don’t go to the damn pool parties that the apartment complexes are throwing, because you’re not trying to bring the ‘Rona. Don’t bring the ‘Rona into the locker room. We’re trying to keep the ‘Rona out of the locker room, so we can get some football in the fall.
Andrew: How dumb was Houston not to do the testing? It’s just common sense. They’re like, we were told we didn’t have to. Okay. If I tell you you don’t have to take a shower at night, do you still take a shower at night? It’s like telling a kid. Come on, bro.
Nick: I’m going to shower.
Andrew: Yeah. Come on, man.
Nick: Yeah.
Andrew: I think, like you said, it’s a good thing for everyone. I think that the biggest thing is to keep everybody healthy. It’s an opportunity to get everybody ready. You and I have talked about this. I don’t know what the fall is going to bring. I really don’t. People continue to ask me, how many fans are going to be in the stadium? I don’t know. I don’t think Scott Strickland knows. I don’t. Seems like the virus cases are going up in a lot of areas, so maybe it’s zero. I don’t know. I’m cool with zero. Just give me football. Give me baseball. I don’t know what it is. I just know that it’s a lot better to have the guys on campus and getting ready to start training than it is not, because if they’re starting to train, that means they’re planning to play football.
Nick: That’s the plan. Cases, I think we had more cases here in Alachua than we had in the week previous, so who knows? It’s day by day, week by week kind of see where you’re at.
Andrew: Right. It changes. It’s like you said. Had you asked me in mid-March if guys would be back on campus by now, I’d have probably said, probably not, but they are. If you’d asked me in mid-March is there going to be fans, I’d have said absolutely not, because at the time it looked like there was going to be no way possible there was. Now if you ask me, I think there’s a decent chance that there’s at least some. I don’t think you’re getting 100,000 folks in stadiums this fall. I don’t. I may be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. That’d be nice if we found a vaccine, and we could go back to normal. I’m all about normal. I just don’t think so.
I think that getting those guys back on campus was big. Call me dumb. Call me whatever you want, but I feel like the guys are safer on campus than they are at home doing their own thing, because in my opinion, Florida’s going to take every precaution possible to make sure these guys don’t get sick.
Nick: They’re going above and beyond. There’s no University of Houston mentality at Florida. The guys are going to be tested, shoot, more than anybody probably.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: They’re going to get a positive test, and they’re preparing for that. It’s not a foolproof system. Guys are going to get a positive test, and they’ve got systems and things that they’ll go through and handle when they do get that. It’s trying to limit the number of positive tests you will get by being as careful as possible.
Andrew: Right. It’s the same thing. MLB and NBA are coming back. Guess what? There’s going to be a positive test. The NFL’s coming. Guess what? There’s going to be a positive test. Nature of the business. There’s going to be. Period. There’s going to be that situation. Nick, I say this, and I laugh. I shouldn’t laugh. You and I have joked about it. This fall, I don’t know if we’re going to do the injury report. It might the Covid-19 report. Does so-and-so’s star player get to play, or does he got Covid-19 this week? I laugh about it, and I shouldn’t laugh about it, because it’s not funny at all, but it’s just the world we live in now that that’s what it is.
Nick: Making the best. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
Andrew: Right. You know what I mean. We’re not laughing about this, by any means whatsoever. There’s a lot of people who’ve been affected by this. Like you said, trying to make light of it, and that’s that. So, anyway.
Nick: Yeah. What’s going on in the recruiting world?
Andrew: That’s what I was going to get at first. I wanted to have this conversation. It’s a conversation that I think some people are going to get agitated by. It’s a conversation that we got to have. Another Florida signee is going JUCO.
Nick: What? People are getting agitated about recruiting?
Andrew: For real.
Nick: No.
Andrew: No way. No way. Not Florida fans. Johnny Brown, defensive tackle out of Tampa, is going JUCO for academics. People are upset about it. It’s like you and I said, there is some problems that Dan Mullen needs to fix in recruiting, and I don’t know that he can continue doing this, having these guys, but he’s continued to show that he’s willing to take a risk.
Nick: What’s the risk reward of it? You’re looking at a guy like Diwun Black. Diwun Black will be on campus sooner or later, and that’s a player that I think you’re happy about when you sign him. You’re happy about when he shows up, whether it’s that day or two years later. Florida fans are going to enjoy Diwun Black for a year or two.
Andrew: He’s been pumping the recruiting again for Florida and all for them and everything else. There is some risk reward there. The issue is in the world we live in with the transfer portal it’s almost like you could fill those needs in a way, but at the same time are you losing depth there? I don’t know that there’s a wrong or right answer on this. I don’t. I think in a way it does kind of hurt you that you’re always playing a little bit under the scholarship limits because of that. I don’t know. I don’t know, Nick. I don’t know if I have a full-on 100% stance one way or the other.
Nick: I think the anger comes from, to me, and maybe I’m wrong. Who knows? It’s just my opinion. I think the anger comes from where we are right now as a culture is you want that immediate rush of happiness. You want instant gratification. When a guy decommits, you’re not getting that. You see a pattern. They keep taking these guys that aren’t getting into school. Then when they don’t get into school, I’m not getting that. I think maybe that’s where it’s coming from. To me, if you’re getting a good class, if you’re winning football games, there’s not a lot to be angry about. Maybe that’s the new thing to be angry about. It used to be mad at losing games on the field, and now it’s I don’t like this recruiting tactic. I’d rather be angry about a recruiting tactic than angry about going 4-7.
Andrew: Yeah. Winning helps everything. That’s that. I just don’t know that you can continue to do this every year, you know what I’m saying? I just feel like you’re at the point …
Nick: You don’t know if it’s sustainable.
Andrew: Yeah. Do you want to continue to lose a guy every year, and then you’re playing under? That’s where I think it gets people. Overall, we’ll see. Some recruiting news out there. Dakota Mitchell, big time safety that committed to LSU that’s out of that Orlando area, decommitted from LSU. Got a top five. Florida in good shape there. July 4th is when he wants to make another commitment. I like Florida’s chances there. Christian Leary still back and forth on where he’s going to go, all that good jazz. Back and forth on is it Alabama today? Is it going to Auburn today? Is it going to be Florida today? When he’s going to commit, we’ll see on all that.
The big news, Nick, and we talked about this a couple weeks ago, Florida can benefit from the likeness legally now.
Nick: Yeah. That’s going to go into effect, I think, July of 2021.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: So, a year from now it’ll go into effect. In terms of the players being able to do stuff like that. I think Florida has been, even before it was, taking a proactive stance. I mean like Dan Mullen and the staff, recruiting staff, people in the building, taking a proactive stance of educating themselves. What can we do once this is passed, and then once it goes in? How can we hit the ground running? Not wait until June 27th and be like, that new thing’s happening next month. What is it?
Andrew: Right. Exactly. You got to be proactive in it. Florida’s already starting to do that. You see some edits from our former Gator Country guy, Kevin Camps. Doing some cool edits with that. Listen, you’re one of the few. Is California’s legal yet, Nick? It’s been signed in, correct?
Nick: Yeah. California’s will go into effect before Florida’s will.
Andrew: Right. But those are the only two states, right? Am I missing one?
Nick: I think those are the only two right now.
Andrew: Yeah. So, you’re one of the few schools in America that can benefit from it. Start taking advantage of it. If you’re, like I just said, a Christian Leary, start pushing that, because by the time he gets to campus, he can start benefiting from it. By the time his freshman year rolls around, he can benefit from it. Start pushing that message and using it against Alabama. Not that I don’t think Alabama will just say, we’ll just throw you a check for it, but that’s beside the point. Start using it to your advantage and start working that. Like I said, you’re one of the few schools that get to do it, so start using it.
Nick: Yup. That’s an awesome recruiting tool. When you start talking about this class coming up, like you just said, by the time they get on campus it’s going to be in effect.
Andrew: Exactly. Any final thoughts before we get out of here?
Nick: Real quick. What’s going on with your favorite recruit of the cycle, Kamar Wilcoxson? What’s going on with him and Tennessee and Florida? I see some social media buzz happening. Throw you on the spot.
Andrew: Apparently he’s taking everything out of his bio about Tennessee, and there’s some rumors about him flipping back to Florida. Listen, I’m all for the drama. It’s whatever. It’s what pays my bills. I don’t have no disrespect towards Kamar. He’s a kid and wants to do all this, but wake me up when he signs. Wake me up when he signs. I’m so tired of having to write the same story. Again, he’s a very good player. Very good player. It’s one of those things. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, it’s on me. I don’t know. If Florida gets him, great. Good player. Can play corner or safety. Kind of a Trey Dean kind of guy.
Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone next week, and hopefully we’ll be talking some good news for the Gators.
Nick: Hopefully. www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: There you go. Guys, we appreciate it. We’ll see you guys next week. As always, go Braves and chomp, chomp.
Nick: You stay class, Gator Country.