Piggybacking
It was well known to the Florida coaching staff that the Florida State staff was attempting to find out which prospects the Gators had coming in for Friday Night Lights so that they could in turn piggyback off the Gators recruiting efforts by attempting to talk the FNL attendees into stopping by Tallahassee on the way home.
The Seminole staff was so desperate to hold their camp in conjunction with the Gators that despite the fact they could have picked any other date, they went with the Saturday that their head coach couldn't even be on campus. I guess that they decided that it was more important to hold their camp the day after Florida in hopes of luring the many top kids Florida brought in to stop over for their Seminole Showcase.
By the looks of it, it didn't work out as well as they might have hoped. Other than Moses McCray, I don't know if a kid that the Gators were expecting in was a no-show in Gainesville, but showed up in Tallahassee.
Sure Julio Jones added some star power to the FSU camp, but top to bottom there was absolutely no comparison between the talent level at the two events.
Kudos to the Gator staff for building FNL to the point that it is without a doubt the premiere camp in the nation. Having Rivals.com out on Friday producing national update after update as well as providing national video updates of the camp will only help in the future.
However, don't dismiss what Bob Lacivita was able to do with the SS. Having former players who are now in the NFL was a great idea by the Seminoles. While the Gators on the other hand shun that tactic while attempting to sell the kids on the opportunity to compete in the most talent rich camp in the nation.
Florida also sells itself as being a more family atmosphere. The coaches had their wives and kids out at that event. They especially mingled with the prospects at the conclusion of the camp.
On the Seminoles side, getting Jerry Rice was also a coupe. I think I have actually heard more people talk about him being there than any of the prospects who attended.
Last year the Gators brought in Chris Carter, who was a big hit with the kids in attendance. I'm not sure why they didn't get another big name in on Friday?
More Friday Night Lights
For whatever reason there were some in the Gator Nation who were expecting a windfall of commitments in the day or two following the camp. Last year, on the way to the consensus No. 1 class in the nation, the only commitment Florida received immediately after Friday Night Lights was from Joe Haden.
What the camp did last year, and what it is likely to do this year is to lay the groundwork with the top targets.
Take Will Hill for example. While there is no such thing as a given in recruiting, he is pretty close to it at this point for the Gators. If his mom would have made the trip along with his dad and him, he would more than likely already be appearing on the Gators commitment list. As it now stands, Florida is well out in-front and he will take his official visit (along with his mother) to Gainesville for the Tennessee game.
One of the most interesting aspects of the camp was that looking over the roster from the event, other than Brandon Thompson (who UF has virtually no shot with) and the above mentioned McCray (who after transferring from Middleton to Hillsborough, it looked like UF might have had a little better chance), every big name name Florida expected in made it in. That is almost unheard of when it comes to players attending a camp.
Other than the two mentioned above, the other exception to that of course is Arthur Brown, who ran a little late because of a long drive, but did make it on campus. This tour big tour throughout the southeast appears to be for not. Hearing that he is likely not coming down to this part of the country.
Marcus Forston is saying all the right things as far as his claiming to be open and interested in other programs, but after spending some time sitting with his mother in the north endzone on Friday night, as I said with Hill above, while there is no such thing as a given in recruiting, it would be a shocker to see him end up anywhere other than Coral Gables.
His mom said that he isn't silently committed to anyone, but when I asked if it were a pretty good bet that he ended up staying close to home (AKA Miami), she smiled.
Some of the other players out on Friday night that we haven't really hit on much include 09 WR Je'Ron Stokes out of Pennsylvania (I spoke with his father and Stokes has legitimate interest in Florida), 09 QB Tate Forcier from California (both older brothers were highly recruited) and 08 OL Craig Noble (Taft HS, where Starr was the coach).
This & That
- Though I haven't spoken to him myself, Sam McGuffie's reason behind including Florida on his list of five finalists seems more likely to be able to have the hat of the reigning national champions on the table when he makes his announcement this Sunday than a legitimate interest in the Gators.
- Over a month after the fact, Dee Finley still hasn't wavered the least bit. He is adamant about the fact that he wants to get out of Auburn. These early guys are hard to hold, but he seems to be more solid each passing day.
- As I stated in the ALLEY EXTRA thread on Franklin Green, Adam spoke with him immediately after Friday Night Lights and he told him the story of talking to Drayton, Meyer and Mrs. Meyer. On our end, coming up on five days after the fact, we are still waiting on word on if it is a public commitment. There are times that coaches need to talk to other prospects on the board at a position to explain to them where they stand even if the Gators accept a commitment from another player at their position.
Hopefully, we can do something with him sooner rather than later.
- Interesting reading defensive end Keith Wells telling Warchant's Chris Nee that Florida had cooled on him (Wells update[/URL]). The time frame given by Wells would put it right about the time that Chaz Sutton blew up at the Gators second camp session back in June.
Although Wells is the higher rated of the two, as Director of Football Operations Troy Starr said during my interview with him, while rankings are nice and definitely a starting point, Florida bases who they want on their own evaluations. Before the camp Wells talked about committing immediately after leaving Florida, now it appears even if he wanted to, he would be on the outside looking in.
I don't know if it is so much that Sutton outperformed Wells at either camp (the June session and FNL) as he performed period while Wells was a spectator.
- Speaking of Sutton, watch for him to make a move up in the rankings when they are updated.
- While Sutton has moved up on the Florida board, one player who has moved down would be Armwood's Eric Smith. Urban Meyer has made it perfectly clear that he wants to recruit speed. While Smith is as productive as they come on the high school level, no one will ever mistake him for being fleet of foot. If he were interested in fullback, I'm sure the Gators would be willing to listen, but he sees himself as a feature back.
- Since we're on the subject of feature backs, although after I spoke with him I got a Colorado vibe, Florida apparently believes that they are in better shape than many expect for the No. 2 prospect in the nation, running back Darrell Scott. His mom especially wouldn't mind seeing him in Gainesville.
The rumors were that Scott was interested in transferring back to the state of Florida to play his senior season in Tallahassee. Those rumors were half true. He actually wanted to transfer back to Florida to play at Tampa Freedom (where he works out with the team when he is in the state). That doesn't look like a possibility now.
- Talking about getting a certain vibe from a prospect. After his unofficial visit to Gainesville last month I spoke with Tyler Love. Even though I still assumed that he was all Alabama, I at least thought Florida was in there because of his grandfather and the fact that Love 'loves' Meyer. Back then I would have said, Bama -75% vs. UF – 25%. Now I would call even 25% an optimistic prediction.
- Even after bringing in the young haul along the line last year, Florida is still looking to restock with more mature players at the position. The Gators are one of the programs in the running for former Miami prep star Charles Deas and have been recruiting former Miami Hurricane commitment, El Camino CC lineman Justin Thompson
- One of the top juniors-to-be that stayed over after Friday Night Lights for a mini-junior day on Saturday was quarterback Tom Savage out of Pennsylvania. He was given a tour on Saturday by offensive coordinator Dan Mullen.
Not really recruiting...
It isn't recruiting related, but we had a chance to see quite a few of the players out in the Swamp on Friday night. Here are a couple of notes out of my recorder that I made on current players.
First of all, a player who wasn't there but E3PO mentioned on one of his reports. He said he saw Corey Hobbs on crutches. Hobbs broke a bone on his foot over a month ago while running, but should be okay by the start of camp.
For some of the kids who were out there. Brandon Hicks, Jerry Howard and Chris Rainey are the three who look as if they have packed on some pounds since they've been at Florida. I had all but written Howard off to a redshirt season (regardless of Florida's need at the position), but he looks game day ready now. He's put on some weight and it is in the form of muscle.
It is easy to see that the Pouncey Twins are going to be popular hosts when it comes to recruiting weekends. They were by far the most outgoing of the players who were out on the field Friday night. They hung around mostly with Aaron Hernandez. And all three of them were over working on Forston during 1-on-1 drills. But my guess would be, to no avail.
I did not proof read this yet. I'm tired, so it will have to wait until the AM
This post was edited on 7/25 10:16 AM by Mark Wheelerif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
It was well known to the Florida coaching staff that the Florida State staff was attempting to find out which prospects the Gators had coming in for Friday Night Lights so that they could in turn piggyback off the Gators recruiting efforts by attempting to talk the FNL attendees into stopping by Tallahassee on the way home.
The Seminole staff was so desperate to hold their camp in conjunction with the Gators that despite the fact they could have picked any other date, they went with the Saturday that their head coach couldn't even be on campus. I guess that they decided that it was more important to hold their camp the day after Florida in hopes of luring the many top kids Florida brought in to stop over for their Seminole Showcase.
By the looks of it, it didn't work out as well as they might have hoped. Other than Moses McCray, I don't know if a kid that the Gators were expecting in was a no-show in Gainesville, but showed up in Tallahassee.
Sure Julio Jones added some star power to the FSU camp, but top to bottom there was absolutely no comparison between the talent level at the two events.
Kudos to the Gator staff for building FNL to the point that it is without a doubt the premiere camp in the nation. Having Rivals.com out on Friday producing national update after update as well as providing national video updates of the camp will only help in the future.
However, don't dismiss what Bob Lacivita was able to do with the SS. Having former players who are now in the NFL was a great idea by the Seminoles. While the Gators on the other hand shun that tactic while attempting to sell the kids on the opportunity to compete in the most talent rich camp in the nation.
Florida also sells itself as being a more family atmosphere. The coaches had their wives and kids out at that event. They especially mingled with the prospects at the conclusion of the camp.
On the Seminoles side, getting Jerry Rice was also a coupe. I think I have actually heard more people talk about him being there than any of the prospects who attended.
Last year the Gators brought in Chris Carter, who was a big hit with the kids in attendance. I'm not sure why they didn't get another big name in on Friday?
More Friday Night Lights
For whatever reason there were some in the Gator Nation who were expecting a windfall of commitments in the day or two following the camp. Last year, on the way to the consensus No. 1 class in the nation, the only commitment Florida received immediately after Friday Night Lights was from Joe Haden.
What the camp did last year, and what it is likely to do this year is to lay the groundwork with the top targets.
Take Will Hill for example. While there is no such thing as a given in recruiting, he is pretty close to it at this point for the Gators. If his mom would have made the trip along with his dad and him, he would more than likely already be appearing on the Gators commitment list. As it now stands, Florida is well out in-front and he will take his official visit (along with his mother) to Gainesville for the Tennessee game.
One of the most interesting aspects of the camp was that looking over the roster from the event, other than Brandon Thompson (who UF has virtually no shot with) and the above mentioned McCray (who after transferring from Middleton to Hillsborough, it looked like UF might have had a little better chance), every big name name Florida expected in made it in. That is almost unheard of when it comes to players attending a camp.
Other than the two mentioned above, the other exception to that of course is Arthur Brown, who ran a little late because of a long drive, but did make it on campus. This tour big tour throughout the southeast appears to be for not. Hearing that he is likely not coming down to this part of the country.
Marcus Forston is saying all the right things as far as his claiming to be open and interested in other programs, but after spending some time sitting with his mother in the north endzone on Friday night, as I said with Hill above, while there is no such thing as a given in recruiting, it would be a shocker to see him end up anywhere other than Coral Gables.
His mom said that he isn't silently committed to anyone, but when I asked if it were a pretty good bet that he ended up staying close to home (AKA Miami), she smiled.
Some of the other players out on Friday night that we haven't really hit on much include 09 WR Je'Ron Stokes out of Pennsylvania (I spoke with his father and Stokes has legitimate interest in Florida), 09 QB Tate Forcier from California (both older brothers were highly recruited) and 08 OL Craig Noble (Taft HS, where Starr was the coach).
This & That
- Though I haven't spoken to him myself, Sam McGuffie's reason behind including Florida on his list of five finalists seems more likely to be able to have the hat of the reigning national champions on the table when he makes his announcement this Sunday than a legitimate interest in the Gators.
- Over a month after the fact, Dee Finley still hasn't wavered the least bit. He is adamant about the fact that he wants to get out of Auburn. These early guys are hard to hold, but he seems to be more solid each passing day.
- As I stated in the ALLEY EXTRA thread on Franklin Green, Adam spoke with him immediately after Friday Night Lights and he told him the story of talking to Drayton, Meyer and Mrs. Meyer. On our end, coming up on five days after the fact, we are still waiting on word on if it is a public commitment. There are times that coaches need to talk to other prospects on the board at a position to explain to them where they stand even if the Gators accept a commitment from another player at their position.
Hopefully, we can do something with him sooner rather than later.
- Interesting reading defensive end Keith Wells telling Warchant's Chris Nee that Florida had cooled on him (Wells update[/URL]). The time frame given by Wells would put it right about the time that Chaz Sutton blew up at the Gators second camp session back in June.
Although Wells is the higher rated of the two, as Director of Football Operations Troy Starr said during my interview with him, while rankings are nice and definitely a starting point, Florida bases who they want on their own evaluations. Before the camp Wells talked about committing immediately after leaving Florida, now it appears even if he wanted to, he would be on the outside looking in.
I don't know if it is so much that Sutton outperformed Wells at either camp (the June session and FNL) as he performed period while Wells was a spectator.
- Speaking of Sutton, watch for him to make a move up in the rankings when they are updated.
- While Sutton has moved up on the Florida board, one player who has moved down would be Armwood's Eric Smith. Urban Meyer has made it perfectly clear that he wants to recruit speed. While Smith is as productive as they come on the high school level, no one will ever mistake him for being fleet of foot. If he were interested in fullback, I'm sure the Gators would be willing to listen, but he sees himself as a feature back.
- Since we're on the subject of feature backs, although after I spoke with him I got a Colorado vibe, Florida apparently believes that they are in better shape than many expect for the No. 2 prospect in the nation, running back Darrell Scott. His mom especially wouldn't mind seeing him in Gainesville.
The rumors were that Scott was interested in transferring back to the state of Florida to play his senior season in Tallahassee. Those rumors were half true. He actually wanted to transfer back to Florida to play at Tampa Freedom (where he works out with the team when he is in the state). That doesn't look like a possibility now.
- Talking about getting a certain vibe from a prospect. After his unofficial visit to Gainesville last month I spoke with Tyler Love. Even though I still assumed that he was all Alabama, I at least thought Florida was in there because of his grandfather and the fact that Love 'loves' Meyer. Back then I would have said, Bama -75% vs. UF – 25%. Now I would call even 25% an optimistic prediction.
- Even after bringing in the young haul along the line last year, Florida is still looking to restock with more mature players at the position. The Gators are one of the programs in the running for former Miami prep star Charles Deas and have been recruiting former Miami Hurricane commitment, El Camino CC lineman Justin Thompson
- One of the top juniors-to-be that stayed over after Friday Night Lights for a mini-junior day on Saturday was quarterback Tom Savage out of Pennsylvania. He was given a tour on Saturday by offensive coordinator Dan Mullen.
Not really recruiting...
It isn't recruiting related, but we had a chance to see quite a few of the players out in the Swamp on Friday night. Here are a couple of notes out of my recorder that I made on current players.
First of all, a player who wasn't there but E3PO mentioned on one of his reports. He said he saw Corey Hobbs on crutches. Hobbs broke a bone on his foot over a month ago while running, but should be okay by the start of camp.
For some of the kids who were out there. Brandon Hicks, Jerry Howard and Chris Rainey are the three who look as if they have packed on some pounds since they've been at Florida. I had all but written Howard off to a redshirt season (regardless of Florida's need at the position), but he looks game day ready now. He's put on some weight and it is in the form of muscle.
It is easy to see that the Pouncey Twins are going to be popular hosts when it comes to recruiting weekends. They were by far the most outgoing of the players who were out on the field Friday night. They hung around mostly with Aaron Hernandez. And all three of them were over working on Forston during 1-on-1 drills. But my guess would be, to no avail.
I did not proof read this yet. I'm tired, so it will have to wait until the AM
This post was edited on 7/25 10:16 AM by Mark Wheelerif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
