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Taking Stock (Got a pulse...)

DRU2012

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Super Moderator
Hey--
HAPPY HAPPY, merry merry, y'all...
It's Christmas Day, gonna try to be positive, supportive, hopeful
(blind and boring, maybe, but "tis the season", and all that...)
SO:
I dunno. I DO know Mac's a bright and determined guy. I ASSUME he came here with his eyes open and a realistic plan for a program he had on his "Short List" of "places where me and my chosen crew can step IN and UP"--UF had to seem a place where, "given certain fixes, all doable", he and his posse could get a seat at the Main Table, be "in the discussion" each n every year to play in the "Final Whatever" for the foreseeable, once there.
But somehow, it seems "he'n'his" appear to have lost sight of one main component of that "plan" (or at the very least wrongly devalued it in their efforts and consideration):
"Ya gotta get the PLAYERS, boys!!!"
OK, tryin' to keep this "hopeful" today, so won't dwell on all the ways this looks desperate and hopelessly disorganized now...WAY "after the fact", "bar the gate AFTER the horses have run off" kinda thing.
Here's the best I can do: basic logic.
Yes, there always seem "disappointments" among the post-NSD rehashing: Each year there are one or two examples of programs rated highly in recruiting, but doesn't turn out to materialize on the field.
The reverse happens too--but even LESS frequently: A program ignored, even maligned for that Feb's supposedly mishandled recruiting effort coming into spring, CAN from time to time rise up and "Shock Da World!"--at least shake up the so-called "smart money" that wags the dog called "the media"...
But this latter is a complicated, elusive deal--less predictable precisely BECAUSE it involves so many "moving parts" (past, present, future, and personel on both roster AND sidelines).
Hard as this is to "predict", infrequent as it turns out to actually be, I do believe WE happen to BE in the best position to pull it off...Though we could do with a LOT of "luck" now--always a bad bet, a "worst case scenario" at this level of competition (we WANNA be what we USED to be--the "once and future Champions", like Alabama is now , damnit all to hell...uh, sorry bout that).
But back to "positive":
Here's the thing, the "bottomline", MINIMUM coupla things we absolutely need, this alone to put us back "on the come", "in the game of Big Guys", "part of the discussion" blah blah blah:
We just need, at the absolute LEAST, to find we have a star freshman QB sitting there, light shining down and choir singing, "LAAAAAAAHHHH!!!", a qb who is a quick study and in a rush of luck, brains, preparation, determination AND first-rate mentoring, with a flexible offense, adapted to him and the college game as it is and continues to evolve...well, THAT AND SOME LUCK with injuries for a change (hell, it's a "part of the game"--but either we're doing something completely wrong across-the-board with conditioning/diet/equipment, or maybe we have a "charmed season or three" COMING to us at this point (I wish it worked that way--but any student of gambling and/or stats knows, "Each roll/coin toss is mutually exclusive"-- the coin doesn't KNOW there've been 50 "heads" in a row--the ODDS of outcome on the next toss is still 50/50, right?).
But point remains: whatever else is accomplished "under the radar", unacknowledged in the headlines OR the deeper details of what passes for "analysis" in places like SportsCenter and BleacherReport etc, "the right guy" somehow emerging (however it happens--hopefully this summer) as the Starting Quarterback For The 2017 Florida Gators' Football Team COULD make the Big Difference...
There ARE signs that we have a great deal of talent throughout the rest of the team, every squad...Uh huh, need some depth, preferably talented enough on either line to begin to see interchangeable "A" and "B" (as opposed to "1st", "2nd" etc string) squads to emerge, like seems to characterize the very best college teams--and matter of fact, if you step back and analyze how things went for US this past season, even with (AGAIN, damnit!) our ridiculous attrition, good ones kept stepping "in and UP"...those were signs our bench is starting to fill with young underclassmen who are ALL very good, just bout ready to TAKE the jobs they are "backing up" for.
So maybe Mac knows that. Knows what he needs VERY SPECIFICALLY in a few cases--and generally "bring rough gem/future stars" along steadily, beyond those. In other words, the only alternative I can see to:
(1)Common wisdom of Experts:
"Coach and his peeps blew it--STILL scrambling to catch up in the one area EVERYONE knew would make THE DIFF, to bring in the very BEST--at QB most of ALL!--and evidently failing at it...and they don't realize that OR its dire consequences even NOW..."
...is this one alternate, essentially OPTIMISTIC, hopeful alternative explanation:
(2) True Insight of New Smart Money-Coach Mac:
"Coach KNOWS he's almost "there"--from where and his staff KNOW they're at with this team RIGHT, they don't NEED "luck" from here (except maybe for that whole injury/conditioning thing again--gotta hope it doesn't get worse, and maybe they can catch a bit of a break there for a change?...not counting on even that, tho)...
This would all be based on the certainty that they had "something special" about to emerge at qb--and ALSO fairly sure they have or WILL have at least a coupla-game back-up coming along behind him. If that is truly the convincing case, then yes, the REST of any discussion about Gator recruiting and future potential begins to look different from Mac & Co's POV: Their "moves" (or seeming lack thereof) and comments (or seeming lack thereof) start to make more sense...
More like tournament poker at the highest level...It's winner take-all, and you gotta know when and when NOT to bluff--Tight-lipped, calm-faced, soft-voiced/shove the chips forward, playing for the Big Pot, all-IN:
"We CALL."
So either we're about to win--or get cleaned out...and this is as it should BE, recognition by the man-in-the-hot-seat that we are THERE, like it or not it is TIME, has come to this already--2017's "Surprise Team", or Mac's future will rest on who is out there to replace him, sweep things clean, start-over-from-scratch AGAIN...He gets MAYBE "one more year" to somehow "turn it around COMPLETELY" or we gotta hope that "NEXT SURE THING" can come in and get us there in ANOTHER five years...
Sigh. Lets all hope its my above-outlined "Christmas Miracle"/"Coach Mac's Detailed Secret Underground Plan For Success and UF Return to Power".
I KNOW Mac's a bright Coach-With-a-PLAN, especially on offense: He's just gotta unVEIL and UNLEASH the damn thing.
The natives are RESTLESS, Coach.
Defense may "win Championships", but here in the South, especially at post-Tebow/Meyer-thru-Muschamp-and-his-latest-Chump'o'the'Month, you damn well HAVE to reconnect the program's gonads, Coach! It's what you were hired to DO, above all else--or at least BEFORE all else. So yeah, THAT's how and why you are "running out of time after just 3 seasons where you WAY "OVER achieved" with what you had to throw out there.
 

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