GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators recruiting class after national signing day on Wednesday.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down how the Gators finished so strong on signing day and who they finished the class with.
Andrew and Nick also talk about Jim McElwain’s press conference and what he said about the Gators class on Wednesday.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, my oh my, what it means in a couple of days for Gator Nation. Go from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs.
Nick: A little awkward. I had to tell Coach Mac, when I saw him at the press conference yesterday, I said, “Coach, I don’t know why you’re here. You were fired a couple weeks ago. You’re not supposed to be here anymore.” Quite a finish though.
Andrew: I’m going to be honest, Nick.
Nick: You didn’t see it coming.
Andrew: I eat crow. People give you and I shit all the time. I do feel like we’re very fair, and I’ll be honest. I said I thought it would be 15-18, that would be the finish. I admittedly was wrong. They finished 8 in Rivals, 10 in the rest of them. I don’t recognize the rest of them, but 8 in Rivals. What a finish. It was a good finish. Had you told me they’d have finished with Henderson and Edwards, I’d have probably told you no. I thought they would probably split those guys. Then, to get Robinson and Lemons in, we’ll talk about that in a second. Props to Mac for that.
It was a finish, and, Nick, I’m going to really say this. I think we’re all going to look back to January 28th as the day the Coach Mac era turned around. You say, what is January 28th? That was the days the lies on Mark Richt were discovered. That was the day that everyone rallied against Miami, and things changed. I really think in a couple years we’re going to talk about January 29th as the turning point for Jim McElwain at the University of Florida.
Nick: Mac took a little shot at them yesterday as well.
Andrew: Oh, he took after me.
Nick: He took after you.
Andrew: I mean, people can say what they want, now. There was only one guy that was willing to go after Mark Richt, even when he was at Georgia, for being a sleazebag.
Nick: Yeah. I still, I hadn’t believed it, because there’s the whole he’s a good, God fearing, Christian man and all this. There’s a certain narrative out about Mark Richt, and everything you said didn’t jive with that. Right?
Andrew: No.
Nick: You know what I’m saying. The perception of Mark Richt is that good, Christian man, does everything the right way. That’s the general perception, not yours, but the general perception of Richt.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Everything that you said to me just flew right into the face of that, did not agree with it at all.
Andrew: But now.
Nick: So, Mac was asked about the negative recruiting yesterday, and he said, “It’s something we’ll never do. Something that we just don’t believe in. Here’s interesting stuff. Some of that catches fire, and then all of a sudden the truth comes out. Who looks like the idiot?”
Andrew: That was powerful. That was powerful.
Nick: I chuckled. I laughed, because that’s pretty pointed right there.
Andrew: I didn’t laugh, Nick. I clapped. I literally did. I clapped. I was excited. I said this, and I said this on Twitter. I was proud of Mac for saying that. Mac usually takes the high road here, but he does. Here’s the thing, and I know some people are going to say, “Well, Mac doesn’t negative recruit. I mean, Mac says he doesn’t negative recruit. Every school negative recruits.” There’s a difference here. Let’s break down this real quick. Negative recruiting is saying, “Miami, you have 15,000 people at your stadium.” That’s negative recruiting, but it’s the truth. That’s saying, “Florida puts more DBs in your school than you do.”
Nick: Negative recruiting a couple years ago was saying, “Florida doesn’t care about their student athletes, because look at their facilities. Do you want to go to that place?” Is it negative? Yeah, but it’s based in truth.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: You’re just pointing out deficiencies in another program.
Andrew: Exactly. When you say, “You’re going to sit the bench at Clemson for three years, or you could play here Day 1 at defensive tackle.” That’s negative recruiting, but not negative recruiting. What Miami did, that’s what you call negative, immoral, and bush league. Quite frankly, it came back to bite them in the butt. Like I said, January 28th is going to be a different day, my friends. That’s going to be the turning point for Jim McElwain. I truly believe this. I even said this, I think, on the podcast the other day, that I think that these next two hires Mac makes, maybe three hires Mac makes, is going to be pointed to help recruiting, and I think things are going to be fixed.
Something I didn’t realize, and I’ll take the heat and the blame for this, is just how good they did in the state of Florida. They had the most top 50 recruits landed in the state compared to their rivals. Now, let me be fair to Florida State, they did really well out of state as well, but something Mac said in 2016, Nick, at his press conference, was “We need to do better in state.” Success. Like it or not, success.
Nick: I think Florida State’s class was the best, but to go from …
Andrew: What I’m saying is Florida had the most top 50 guys ranked.
Nick: From in the state.
Andrew: Right. That’s what I’m saying.
Nick: That was huge. That was huge for Florida to do, because they had been getting their tails whooped in state.
Andrew: Right, and been taking heat for recruiting out of state and whatsoever, but I agree with you. Florida State’s class overall was a better class. That would be crazy for us to say differently. What I was saying was it was a success that Mac did what he wanted to do, that was do better in state.
Nick: Yeah. That’s absolutely, I really don’t know where or what could have been … Did you miss on some guys? Mac, even said that. Yeah, you missed on some guys, but really the way that you finish is pretty incredible. To go from, what was it? Fourteen commits.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Two weeks ago.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Ranked 31st.
Andrew: Yup.
Nick: To me, and then you finish with a class of, what do I have here? 23?
Andrew: Yes. Twenty-three without Zeke Byrd, and we’ll talk about him in a little bit.
Nick: That’s incredible, and you’re hitting needs. I’m looking here. You needed to fix depth in the secondary, and you go ahead and you get five, Shawn Davis, Brian Edwards. I think Brian Edwards is a great player, 6’3”, that long, lean kind of player that Torrian Gray is looking for. I think Shawn Davis is more of a safety. Brian Edwards, you think safety or corner? You think safety for Edwards?
Andrew: Yeah. I do. I think it’s one of those where, or no, I think corner, and I think it’s one of those where if you needed him to play safety he could, but I think ultimately he’s your boundary corner that Torrian likes. Torrian likes that boundary corner.
Nick: You get five, so Davis, Edwards, Brad Stewart, Marco Wilson, and CJ Henderson, and Donovan Stiner. I think, me personally, I think Henderson and Stiner are kind of projects. Those are guys that you’re going to have to develop, and I don’t know how much I think Shawn Davis will play, but I think Edwards, Wilson, and who am I leaving out? Edwards, Wilson, and Stewart are all guys that can play right away.
Andrew: I think the thing, and I said this, even when Florida was losing the battle with CJ Henderson, and that is that he’s a guy that is kind of a lot like MacArthur Burnett in that he played offense and defense. He didn’t really focus on defense throughout his career. He’s a safety guy that played at the All-Star games. Does he develop into a good player? Probably. He’s a good athlete, all that stuff. I think he’s a guy that is going to help you next year on special teams. Some call him the fastest recruit in the nation this year. Ran a legit 4.3 at the Opening. He’s a guy that comes up and is your return guy, for sure, which if you’re asking me that’s a check mark, because you have no return guy on the team right now. Maybe Dre Massey. Then is a guy that you continue to improve on the secondary. When you get six, it’s okay to go with that.
With Donovan Stiner, I think he is a guy that has got the frame, has the ability, just needs to work on technique. Talked to some people out in Texas, and they say he can play. There’s no questioning his athletic ability and his frame. It’s about technique, and it’s about learning how to read stuff. That’s something Torrian will do well with. That’s something Randy Shannon will do well with him.
Like I said, if you signed six, and Henderson and Stiner are two guys that are a year or two away, check mark. Success.
Nick: No. Absolutely. I wasn’t saying that a success at all. It’s like you said, exactly. When you get three guys, when you have a depth issue you’ve got to sign six, but when you get three that I think can play right away, you have the luxury to take guys that we think they’re good players, but it’s going to take some times. They’re going to have that time.
Andrew: Right. Let’s just call facts the facts here. Florida wasn’t the fastest team under Will Muschamp.
Nick: No. No.
Andrew: Gaining a speed of Henderson, you have to take. I mean, it is what it is. You take that to get that 4.3 speed on the field. Urban Meyer used to say, “Florida should have the fastest team in America.” They needed that. It’s a good move all around. I think you and I will agree, we expect Marco and Brad Stewart to be on the field Day 1. I would be shocked if they weren’t. I’m not saying they’re going to start, but I think they’re playing. I think they’re in the rotation Day 1. Overall, I’m giving it success.
Then, like you said, defensive tackle, if you’d have asked me heading into the 2017 class, what are the two needs that Mac must get? Defensive tackle, DB. First year he was here it was offensive line. Second year it was kicker, receiver. Every year he’s hit his needs, whether people want to give him credit for it or not. The defensive tackle class, in my opinion, is a good one.
I’ve said all along I thought TJ Slayton was a better defensive tackle than he was offensive lineman. Mac said he’s going to get his shot at defensive tackle first. Elijah Conliffe is a stud. He might be one of your top five best players in this class, and I have no hesitation saying that at all. Then Kyrie Campbell is a prep school guy that coming out of high school he was one of the best in the country. Line him up. Nick, I know you saw the photo too, from the early enrollee party thing, the little photos. Kyrie Campbell is a big old man.
Nick: Officially listed at 6’3” 323 pounds.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s a man.
Nick: That’s a big dude.
Andrew: By the way, how many times are we going to get tongue tied. Kyrie Campbel, Tyrie Cleveland?
Nick: Kyrie Campbell, Kemore Gamble.
Andrew: All these names. Come on, guys. Help us out a little bit.
Nick: Another big boy, TJ Slayton.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: 6’4” 360 pounds.
Andrew: Wow. That’s a big old boy, Nick.
Nick: That’s not missing many meals that way. Here’s what I want to bring up.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: It was the January 24th visit, no, the 23rd?
Andrew: Yes. The 23rd weekend. No. January 20th weekend. Sorry.
Nick: What was in the water that weekend? Bottle that up. Whatever you did that weekend, bottle that up, and just keep using it.
Andrew: People made fun of Jake Allen and Zach Carter when they were telling everyone that everyone on that weekend was going to sign, and bada bing, bada boom. They all signed, and that was a weekend, man. When you look at who all visited that weekend, that was the TJ Slaytons of the world. That was CJ Henderson. That Elijah Conliffe. That was Nick Smith, and then you had all the commits on campus that weekend. What a weekend for them. Great weekend. Good weekend.
Nick, here’s what I want to talk about next. We got to talk about this Robinson, Lemons thing here. First I want to say this. Jim McElwain earned respect of prospects across the country yesterday, and you and I will agree on this, or maybe we’ll disagree on this. I personally see no reason whatsoever that the administration should have blocked James Robinson and Adarius Lemons from being accepted into school. They didn’t hit a woman. They don’t have a criminal record. James Robinson was cited. He’ll go take care of that. Probably get a little bit of probation, community service.
Nick: Marijuana is completely decriminalized in the state of Ohio. You get a fine.
Andrew: Yeah. Mac took heat, and Mac stood up. I have it on good source, good record, that Mac stood up, was pounding the table, that he wanted James Robinson. He wanted Adarius Lemons in this class. He talks about commitment from the administration. He got that. When you look on social media at these kids, notably 2018 wide receiver Jacob Copeland, who many consider him to be the top receiver in the state next year, they’re all applauding Mac. I’m applauding Mac. Now it’s up to Robinson and Lemons to applaud their coach. Mac beat the table for them, now reward Coach for doing that. Do what you’re supposed to do. Get into school. Take care of school. Become big time players. In three years we’re talking about, damn, Coach Mac knew what he was doing there. Coach Mac’s a good dude. All in all, whether it works out or not, good for Mac to stand up for what he believes in.
Nick: Yeah. We were joking, Mac has a tendency to be late, so you and I were joking about that. The reporters who were waiting for him yesterday were joking about that, and then all of a sudden, the tweet comes through. You know how you could tell that Florida didn’t even know. Their edit was completely different for Robinson than it was for the other players. To me, this really looks like something where even throughout everything that was going on all night, or all day, with Signing Day and going through all this, Mac still was pushing to get James Robinson in. Still fighting for that kid.
I think that really shows, we talk about Florida was behind on building relationships, and relationships are what college football recruiting is all about. That’s how you get recruits is building that relationship, and I think just that, I think Mac won a lot of parents over, won a lot of guys, won a lot of recruits over, won a lot of families over, showing that he’s going to stick his neck out for his guys.
Andrew: Here’s a thing that I was saying too. What Mac did was he continued to push for it. He continued to push all day long for that. I’m not even going to lie, Nick, when the tweet came through I had to double check, triple check, that it wasn’t someone just screwing around, because we all know how this is working nowadays. Everybody and their brother thinks they can fake our Twitter account, so I’m sitting here thinking, “Who fakes this Twitter account?” because that’s exactly what I thought, somebody had faked a Twitter account. Go to look again, and it wasn’t fake. I was like, “Wow. This is awesome.” Then the first thing that came to my mind is I was pumped for James that it happened, and then I was pumped for Mac that it happened.
I’ll say this, and, Nick, you know that I’ve said this about Dalvin Cook. I’ve said this about a bunch of kids in the past that Florida fans hated, but I was around James Robinson for multiple times, including a whole week in Orlando. Was around Adarius Lemons a lot. I can tell when there’s bad people and bad kids. For instance, JC Jackson wasn’t a first citizen of the world. He had that badness in him. James Robinson and Adarius Lemons are good people.
Nick: I don’t agree with that about JC.
Andrew: You know what I mean in that. He was a turd. He was rude, that kind of stuff. I just felt like he was very rude, had turdish in him. James Robinson and Adarius Lemons are good people. James Robinson is just hanging with a bad crew in Lakeland, and Adarius Lemons has no family. He’s been in three households this year living with different people. I really think the guidance that Florida’s going to be able to give him will help.
Nick: Listen, with Lemons it’s a situation where sometimes he had football taken away from him. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re doing. You get caught up in a lifestyle. You get caught up in doing something, and you don’t realize that what you’re doing, the things that you think are fun, that you’re doing for fun, can affect other aspects of your life. Once you see that those things can’t coincide, you can’t be doing this and still want to do stuff for football. Once you have football taken away, it’s that’s my wakeup call.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Like you said, doesn’t have a great stable home environment. You’re going to get a semblance of that once you get to Florida.
Andrew: You are. Exactly. People’s asked me all along, “Is it more that these guys weren’t going to qualify, or was it off the field issues?” It was off the field issues. I mean, as far as what was going on in the classroom, do they have some work to do? Yeah, they do. They do. We can’t make it up and say they don’t. They do, but both are expected to qualify. Most people expect both of them to qualify, and I think they will. It’s just a situation of them coming in and doing what’s right. Like I said, doing what’s right. If they’re able to continue on a path that doesn’t involve getting in trouble, things are going to be good. Both of these guys are players. Both of them are players.
Nick: We talked about a defense, but I think really James Robinson, Daquon Green, those are guys who can come in and compete on offense right away.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Lemons, it’s crowded back there, but that kid’s a player.
Andrew: I don’t want to sit here and say he’s better than Malik Davis. I think they both are different. I think they both bring a lot to the table that is different, but I wouldn’t expect Adarius Lemons to exactly redshirt next year, and that’s just me being honest. I think Malik needs to get a little bit bigger. Adarius does too. Everybody does when they’re getting into college. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adarius didn’t have to redshirt next year. I just really hope, pray that both of those guys reward Mac for what he did, because this was the first big step Mac took with the administration, and you don’t want it to fail. You don’t want it to fail. I know Tim Skipper did a lot in helping Adarius Lemons, and Drew Hughes was very big on James Robinson, with Torrian Gray. Reward those guys for their actions. Reward those guys. It’s kind of like we always say, you get that second chance. Make that person that went out on a limb for you happy. Make that person proud.
Nick: Remember we talked about that when, who was it? Blanking on his name. When Tyrie got in trouble.
Andrew: Yes.
Nick: Because Mac had to kind of go out there and promise that …
Andrew: Promise his aunt.
Nick: Yes, promise aunt that he’s not going to get in trouble. I think that’s a conversation has with the guys. It’s not like boasting. It’s not anything like that. It’s just, “Listen, you need to know that because of what you did, because of the decisions and stuff that you’ve had, because of your past, I had to do a little extra work to get you here. Not holding that over your head, but it’s something that you need to know. Because of what you’ve done in the past, I had to go and stick my neck out to get you here, because I believe that you can be better in our system, with us as mentors, with us guiding you. I think you can be better, not just as a football player, but as a person. I think we can make your life better, but you have to know that what you were doing before caused me to have to stick my neck out there for you, and you can’t keep doing that once you get here.”
That’s a conversation that you need to have with those guys. You kind of sit down, and it’s a real talk. Not an easy conversation, but it’s something I think, if Mac hasn’t done that already, will do that with them as soon as they get on campus.
Andrew: I think Mac’s already had that conversation, and Tim Skipper’s already had that conversation with Lemons. I think Mac had that probably when he met with James in his home on that Friday. I’m sure that conversation’s already been had. Here’s the thing for me. Maybe this is off base when I say this, but I think is the first step for Florida to get back. I say that in Alabama takes risk. Clemson takes risk. Florida State takes risk. You have to take risks with some of these guys. Is every football player going to have a clean slate? Is every person?
Nick: Is any person?
Andrew: Going to have a clean slate.
Nick: I’m not throwing the first stone.
Andrew: Hell no. No. Exactly. I mean, it is what it is. Sometimes you have to take that step out on a limb. Here’s the thing too for me, and that is this. Had you and I been cited, and then we try to get into school, that never comes up. That never comes up. You don’t even turn that in. It’s not even coming up. Again, I’m glad for James that he got in, and I really hope that he rewards these guys for that.
I wanted to move ahead a little bit, Nick, and say this. You and I talked about this, I think it was a week ago, maybe I’m wrong. We talked about momentum, Nick. We said Florida needed to finish strong this year to get momentum going into the 2018 class, or it was going to get ugly, because you couldn’t wait until you saw the product on the field to gain that momentum. I personally think, Nick, when you dominated TV, when you dominated the headlines. I’ve seen multiple sites say Florida was the winner on Signing Day. When you see these things coming about, that helps. That created that momentum Florida was looking for, and they got it heading into 2018.
Nick: It must have been behind the scenes, because the momentum I think really got started that weekend when Carter and Allen were on all that visit, but absolutely the momentum. Florida didn’t even have anyone on campus yesterday as far as national media outlet.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Will Muschamp had someone on campus.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: To me, the momentum that Florida got, and stuff’s popping up and these live commitments are going on, and ESPN keeps saying they were almost shocked. When you’re going on live TV you do a ton of research, because you’re going to be sitting there. They’re on TV for seven, eight, nine, ten hours yesterday. You’re doing a ton of research. They hadn’t researched Florida, because they didn’t think they’d be talking about Florida. When these players start coming up, you could see people scrambling on TV. Just the fact that, I think, Florida kind of surprised some people yesterday. Their name was mentioned a lot more than we thought it would be. Yeah. That’s going to get the momentum rolling heading into the 2018 class.
Andrew: What I was thinking with the momentum was before the 28th, that week where Henderson, Blades, Kai-Leon Herbert, those guys all looked like they were heading elsewhere, the momentum seemed like it was sinking, and it was tanking. Then, boom, you get all this, and it’s just really started on Saturday with Nick Smith, Elijah Conliffe, all those guys. Like I said, the Miami stuff coming about. It all started then, and then, boom, it was just there on Signing Day. It should propel you in 2018.
Something else is you get the spring practice starting on the 28th, so you get kids coming on campus to watch you practice. Then you have that spring break where you’ll be out of the headlines a little bit, but you’ll still be in the headlines. Then you’ll pick it back up all the way through that April 7th spring game. After that, you’re kind of into the mode of recruiting again, so you really are keeping this streamline of momentum going. We’ll see, but it should pay off for Florida.
Nick: The staff probably enjoyed themselves last night. When do they get back at it?
Andrew: Tuesday. Mac gave the guys off until Tuesday. They’ll be off until Tuesday. Tuesday they’ll get in. Should have all the new coaches by then. Would you agree with that? Should have them all by then?
Nick: I certainly hope so.
Andrew: Yeah. You’ll start planning for spring a little bit, as well as hitting the 2018 class, all that good stuff, and then you’ll have prospects coming on campus that following weekend. Is that the 14th? The 11th. Sorry. The weekend of the 11th there’s supposedly going to be a small Junior Day then, have some prospects on campus. If you were able to maybe gain a commitment or something that weekend, look out. Look out, because that could really get things moving in the right direction.
Nick: We’ll get into kind of checking those things out as far as what numbers Florida needs.
Andrew: I’m going to be honest with you, Nick. I couldn’t tell you if you asked me right now.
Nick: Yeah. That’s why I said we’ll get into that later. We’ve got other sports coming up. Other than, obviously, James Robinson, based on how that had shaken out, caught us both off guard, anything else kind of surprise you?
Andrew: Getting Henderson and Edwards both. I really thought that one or the other. I know Florida wanted both. That one, getting both kind of surprised me. It didn’t exactly surprise me on Signing Day. It surprised me earlier, if you’d have told me that. Being able to finish the defensive tackle class as well as they did was really strong for me. Really just trying to kind of get it back. Everyone kind of picked on taking some Plan B guys. Really and truly, Florida only took two Plan B guys, and that was Bronson and Stiner. I said this before. If your lowest rated guy, the guy that you reach for, is a linebacker, get the hell out of here complaining. I give Randy Shannon a lot of hell for stuff, but that man can develop a linebacker. If he thinks he can develop him, who are we to question, Nick?
Nick: I tweeted that yesterday.
Andrew: There we go. We’re thinking alike.
Nick: Ignore those stars. If Randy Shannon wants a linebacker, you probably want that linebacker.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, David Reese was a guy that nobody really thought. Vosean Joseph, best offer was FIU and Arkansas. I think you and I can argue that he made the play of the year for Florida knocking Etling out on the sidelines, out of bounds. Yeah. You can say what you want to say, but I’m cool with taking Bronson overall.
Like I said, and I’ll say it again, I don’t have a problem saying this. They finished #8 in the country. It was a really good class. Could they have had another headliner or two in the class? Sure. Would they have liked another offensive lineman in the class? Sure. It didn’t. I think overall it was a good class. I think you start to pick up some national headlines, and maybe you get a national headliner next year. You’ll have a guy like Lorenzo Lingard that is a #1 back in the state and top back in the country. You’re feeling good for him. Maybe you get that. Overall, success.
Nick: I’m going to catch you off guard with this, but I feel like you’re going to enjoy it.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: Yesterday, a little north of us, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Andrew: I’m loving this.
Nick: Tennessee signed 27 prospects, including the #1 player in the country in Trey Smith.
Andrew: He’s overrated.
Nick: They signed the nation’s #2 overall quarterback.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: But the Vols had 13 players commit and then decommit. Jones said, “It’s part of the game.” He also said, “I think overall this is the most positive year we’ve had in recruiting. Every high school I went to, whatever state, whether it was the principle, the football coach, the athletic director coming out and saying, wow, Tennessee’s back.”
Andrew: Yeah. I definitely saw that, and I laughed. I even retweeted that. What the hell’s this guy smoking? Nick, Florida’s administration wouldn’t accept Butch Jones into school. They wouldn’t. What is this guy smoking? Most positive year? What are you talking about? You lost your alien at quarterback. You lost your alien. You’re a dumpster fire, cuz. Get the hell out of here with that stuff. Your life champion went to jail last night. Get the hell out of here. This guy’s a moron, Nick. This guy’s a moron.
There’s this kid, Nick, and I don’t have a problem saying this. He is from the Mobile area. He’s Lamical Perine’s good friend. I won’t name his name. He plays for one of my best friends in Theodore, Alabama, and he’s committed to Tennessee. I was messing with him. I’m close to this guy, dealt with this guy. I said, “Man, I thought you were a good guy. I thought you knew what you were doing.” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “You’re going to Tennessee.” He said, “Yeah. I just think I can play there.” I said, “You can, because it’s a bunch of idiots on the field.” I said, “What do you think about Butch Jones?” He goes, “He’s different.” I didn’t ask no more, Nick.
Nick: Probably depends on what kind of tone was used there for that different.
Andrew: Didn’t ask anything else. I mean, I know what he means when he says different. He means weird. Nick, we got to talk about this, and it’s something I don’t care to talk about, but Zeke Byrd. Not going to be able to qualify. Not going to be able to get into Florida. Not going to get into the specifics of what happened. That’s embarrassing for a kid. I’m sure he’s embarrassed right now. I mean, he went from being a University of Florida commit to now likely headed to prep school or Juco. Not fair to pounce on the kid. I don’t want to do that, and don’t plan to do that, but I just wanted to address it real quick. Likely headed to prep school or Juco ball, one of the two.
He’s a guy that Florida just really found out over the last week to two weeks that it was going to get to this point. They were still doing some work to see if things could come out to be better than it was, and it didn’t work out. That is why he’ll be heading to prep school or to Juco ball. Florida will look to take him in a year or two, depending on if he goes to prep school or Juco ball. Overall, Zeke was a guy that Florida wanted. He’s a good player. As I said with James and Adarius, hope that he does well and gets it on straight. He won’t be signing with Florida this year. He’ll be signing with prep school or Juco ball.
Nick: Difficult situation. We can also address this, so we don’t have to continue answering questions about it. Another situation like that, D’Anfernee McGriff.
Andrew: Thank God.
Nick: Found a home, so you don’t have to keep asking. He did two years of Juco ball, and he’ll be playing for Lane Kiffin. He’s an owl.
Andrew: Thank God.
Nick: I don’t know how many times we ever had to say, “He’s not getting into Florida.”
Andrew: He might have been the most popular non-Gator of all time.
Nick: He’s up there. He’s definitely more popular than Dan Warner.
Andrew: Why’d you have to bring that up? That’s up there with Trey Burton. Good grief. Thank goodness the poor guy found him a home. Good guy, but, Jesus, we just had to talk about this guy over and over and over again.
Nick, I wanted to hit on something real quick too, before we get out of here. ESPN brought this up a ton on Signing Day, and that is if you didn’t finish in the top 10 of recruiting the year before, you didn’t win the National Championship. Guess what? Your Gators have a chance to win the National Championship this year, Gator fans.
Nick: Let’s pump the brakes.
Andrew: I’m just saying, there’s a chance.
Nick: I’m going to pump the brakes. You can put that out there. We can make a wager.
Andrew: No. I’m not wagering for it. I’m just saying. ESPN said it was a chance. Miami, Tennessee, no chance. Not that you ever thought you had a chance, but no chance. Pack it in. Save it for 2018.
Nick: Yeah. If you looked at that thing, everyone was kind of 2, 2, 3. It was Alabama. How is Alabama convincing a top 150 player, just come and hang out? Just come and gray shirt. You’re not going to play football for a little while, because we don’t have numbers for you.
Andrew: That’s when you call the ranking services overrated. Jarez Parks is not that good of a football player. There it is. It is what it is, my good friend. When you travel to France to do in the Eiffel Tower, you better damn sure sign with that class that you paid to go to France to tape a video for.
Nick: I wouldn’t mind going to France.
Andrew: There you go. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. Before you do that, real quick I want to say that we appreciate this. Signing Day is big. We at Gator Country had the best day at Gator Country since Nick and I have been here. It was a very successful Signing Day. Well over 500 people on our chat, and good stuff all around. Nick and I really appreciate you guys for listening to the podcast, for being a member, all that good stuff. If you didn’t believe that we were the best, now the proof’s in the pudding. Come on over and check us out as we go through spring practice and stuff.
Nick: And baseball. Baseball, softball getting started up. Our next podcast we’ll preview that a little bit.
Andrew: Braves baseball.
Nick: Not Braves, Gator baseball. You can find all of that and the podcast on www.GatorCountry.com. The podcast is there in transcript and audio form. If you have an iPhone, podcast store. Search Gator Country. On social media, it’s @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter, @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. You can find me @NickdelaTorreGC, and you can find him @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: Yes, sir. That’s right. Real quick, Nick. Falcons or Patriots? Don’t break my heart.
Nick: Falcons.
Andrew: Falcons.
Nick: Falcons win.
Andrew: I hope so. City of Atlanta deserves it, my good friend. City of Atlanta deserves it. I’m nervous, Nick.
Nick: Why is it about the City of Atlanta deserving it?
Andrew: Because we deserve it, my friend.
Nick: You don’t live in Atlanta.
Andrew: I’ve had to deal with it my whole life, that failure. Failure. Continuing my Braves killing me. I’m telling you, Nick, it’s that Cleveland mojo is about to happen, my good friend.
Nick: Okay.
Andrew: Okay. Rise up this weekend, guys. Again, we appreciate it so much. As always, chomp, chomp. Go Braves. Butch, Mark, hey, Mark, you got exposed.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.