Mr2Bits
Gator Fan
Hard to believe National Signing Day is upon us again. Florida is on the verge of bringing in probably its best recruiting class ever in the history of our program, and that speaks volumes for Coach Meyer and his staff as well as being a testament to how far Florida football has come post 0-10-1 in 1979. If Bear Bryant was right, the "sleeping giant" he predicted Florida Gator football would eventually become is wide-awake. Judging by the quality of this class, it's now safe to confer upon Urban Meyer the title of Master Recruiter!
I'd love to see us being in three more prospects to round out and solidify this class; there's so much speculation from the sundry number of recruiting "gurus" on the sports networks and in cyberspace that it's really hard to predict where the uncommited will go and who will go where, but if those who are deemed Florida material still have a strong interest in becoming Gators and there's room for them in this year's class, then I say bring them in.
As far as I'm concerned our staff did the right thing in letting Demar Dorsey go to find another school; apparently there was some adverse information discovered in his background. Going forward, I really hope that our coaching staff has done their due diligence and probed for any past occurrences in those prospects they're interested in making scholarship offers to, especially in light of the number of player arrests we've had over the past decade. Player conduct is an issue that can no longer be treated lightly and needs to be addressed in the off-season as I see it; however, being proactive in identifying potential problem candidates and dissuading them from committing to UF in the first place is one preventive measure that can and should be practiced. As far as those who do sign a letter-of-intent go, I hope that we can retain these recruits once they sign with the Gators and that we can suffer very minimal, if any, attrition with this class due to injury, academic ineligibility, bad conduct, and other factors either voluntarily or involuntarily. This is all vital to the success of our football program in the future years.
Another area of concern is Coach Meyer's health, and naturally the media is doing their utmost to try and cast an air of negativity about it as well as resort to their usual and customary tactics of overexaggeration for an intended purpose. I will say this: if Coach had no intention of returning to the Florida sidelines or was indeed seriously ill, that would have been a reflection on both the quality and quantity of this class. Kudos to Urban and his staff for being forthright and honest with our recruits and setting the facts straight - but a big "shame on you" to those in the sports media and the cyberspace rumor-mongers attempting to sabotage our recruiting efforts. I'm really sick and tired of hearing about "uncertainty", "flip-flopping" and other silly media cliches being applied to Coach's situation as well as all the other false innuendo, and I hope that most of my fellow Gator fans are as well. Frankly, it's time for the media to cease all the sensationalism and hyperbole - they failed miserably in their attempt to disrupt our recruiting campaign and should just concede defeat. Enough is enough.
The day after NSD I'll be attending a post-recruiting gathering sponsored by my local Gator Club, and I'll post a synopsis in the forums of what was discussed. As for tommorow, I'll be keeping track of the recruits' signed LOI's as best I can as I'm sure the rest of you will be.
Let's make history tomorrow, and as always IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!!!!
I'd love to see us being in three more prospects to round out and solidify this class; there's so much speculation from the sundry number of recruiting "gurus" on the sports networks and in cyberspace that it's really hard to predict where the uncommited will go and who will go where, but if those who are deemed Florida material still have a strong interest in becoming Gators and there's room for them in this year's class, then I say bring them in.
As far as I'm concerned our staff did the right thing in letting Demar Dorsey go to find another school; apparently there was some adverse information discovered in his background. Going forward, I really hope that our coaching staff has done their due diligence and probed for any past occurrences in those prospects they're interested in making scholarship offers to, especially in light of the number of player arrests we've had over the past decade. Player conduct is an issue that can no longer be treated lightly and needs to be addressed in the off-season as I see it; however, being proactive in identifying potential problem candidates and dissuading them from committing to UF in the first place is one preventive measure that can and should be practiced. As far as those who do sign a letter-of-intent go, I hope that we can retain these recruits once they sign with the Gators and that we can suffer very minimal, if any, attrition with this class due to injury, academic ineligibility, bad conduct, and other factors either voluntarily or involuntarily. This is all vital to the success of our football program in the future years.
Another area of concern is Coach Meyer's health, and naturally the media is doing their utmost to try and cast an air of negativity about it as well as resort to their usual and customary tactics of overexaggeration for an intended purpose. I will say this: if Coach had no intention of returning to the Florida sidelines or was indeed seriously ill, that would have been a reflection on both the quality and quantity of this class. Kudos to Urban and his staff for being forthright and honest with our recruits and setting the facts straight - but a big "shame on you" to those in the sports media and the cyberspace rumor-mongers attempting to sabotage our recruiting efforts. I'm really sick and tired of hearing about "uncertainty", "flip-flopping" and other silly media cliches being applied to Coach's situation as well as all the other false innuendo, and I hope that most of my fellow Gator fans are as well. Frankly, it's time for the media to cease all the sensationalism and hyperbole - they failed miserably in their attempt to disrupt our recruiting campaign and should just concede defeat. Enough is enough.
The day after NSD I'll be attending a post-recruiting gathering sponsored by my local Gator Club, and I'll post a synopsis in the forums of what was discussed. As for tommorow, I'll be keeping track of the recruits' signed LOI's as best I can as I'm sure the rest of you will be.
Let's make history tomorrow, and as always IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!!!!
