UCF

I love it! I have always thought almost half your offense is OL, you should have two OL coaches.

Love those points from Billy’s comments

And I thought GatorsStarritory was bad. 1st AND TEN FLORIDA. Is there like a 1st AND TEN TEXAS? It's. It's like ALDI had a website selling their brand of homeboard names and you just "put state here" under it. This is exciting.

Brett McMurphy @Brett_McMurphy

Multiple Miami AD candidates told @ActionNetworkHQ UM’s search is a “mess.” With more than 50 board of trustees & several donors involved “everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. They don’t know what they want to do w/Manny (Diaz). Half want him gone, half want him to stay"

Isaiah Bond will move up his announcement (Tuesday Now) which clearly is not a good sign. If Napier goes in-home with him I still think he has a chance with Bond and his family. or until the kid signs I guess lol.

Napier will hit the ground running hard this week with in home visits AND visits to schools. Look for him to visit Quency and Chris McClellan on Monday. On Monday he will also visit with Etienne and Citizen. On Tuesday look for him to see Nick Evers and Shemar James. I will throw the rest out later today..

They are also in the process of telling all the current staff what time Napier is going to meet with them one on one.....

Nape said don't get caught up in stars. Thats going to make a lot of people go nuclear 🤣🤣🤣

So a year ago a the majority leader of the U.S. senate, Chuck Schumer, goes to an abortion rights rally outside the U.S. supreme court building and threatens, by name, 2 sitting justices that they will pay a price if they don't vote the way he wants them to vote. Looms even larger after yesterday's oral arguments.

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There are reports that he will be setting up a OV with FSU next weekend as opposed to UF.

Jason how will this impact long term recruiting? I know they are ok with taking less but won't cutting committed players lose this late create bad relationships with Highschool coaches?

Brady out in Carolina. Any connection between Napier and Brady? Would be a great OC hire.

Any one with some real information?

Not sure of the credibility but Jason are you hearing that all of these ULL assistants are coming? Seems odd with how large the budget is

edit: Segrest and Leger are the added names. Happy with Toney and Jaluke

I'm just glad he has a plan for the NIL while Mullen is still evaluating

Welcome to 1st and Ten Florida!

I want to briefly introduce myself, share how I got into recruiting and discuss the site. I have been married for over 20 years and have five children (four boys and a girl) and two dogs. I was born at Shands, and both my parents attended Florida. When I tell people I was born a Gator, I mean it. My all-time favorite Gators are Brandon Spikes, Percy Harvin, Fred T, and Danny W. I have been following Florida with a passion for over 40-years.

So how did I get involved with recruiting? I was working for a television station in Atlanta when I met a guy by the name of Jamie Newberg. Living in Atlanta and meeting Jamie (fellow Gator), who was working in recruiting at the time (Border Wars), I was immediately hooked into the crazy world of high school football recruiting.

The first recruit I ever spoke with was Jeremy Brown. Jeremy hooked me up with Coach Chuck Heater. Coach Heater told me Urban wanted me to come down and meet him, so I did, and as they say, the rest is history. Urban helped me tremendously by getting me in the building for staff meetings (FNL) and introducing me to the rest of the staff. My entire coaching tree started with Urban and branched out quickly, as you can imagine, with the coaches he had back in the day.

Charlie Strong and I became close friends, and when he went to Louisville, Scout.com wanted me to start working the Louisville site. I went up and sat in on the staff meetings in Louisville once a year. Rinse and repeat, and we were doing the same thing in Austin, Texas, over the next couple of years. During this time, I met a ton of coaches that I still speak with today. It is a very small world.

When things went south for Charlie in Austin, they wanted me to start working back into the Florida market slowly. When the Scout/24/7 merger went down, they felt they were taken care of with people on the UF side of things, so it made sense given my relationships with the UF staff to go out on my own and start 1standTenFlorida.com, which I have been operating for the last three years and has brought me to all of you.

I started 1st and Ten with one goal in mind: to create a community for passionate Gator fans like myself. A place where people would get to know each other over the years, sharing each other's passion for the Gators and hatred for the Noles, Dawgs, and Vols. I have met some wonderful people during this journey, but my heart was always with the Gator Nation. My passion has been Florida football & recruiting for a long time.

Now, more about the site. You will see two of my close friends, HeismanGator and EH, starting to post a lot more moving forward. I will have people moderating each board, and all the rules will apply to everyone, including myself and any moderator, intern, or anyone else that belongs to this community. I am not going to be heavy-handed. I do have a couple of rules I have tried to maintain over the last couple of years that have served me well. We do not attack other members, moderators, or myself. I work very hard to keep the boards clean without the use of profanity (Dropping F-Bombs). I am coming to this board with an open mind 1000% and a CLEAN SLATE for everyone to have a fresh new start and the best user experience possible. I also understand we all need to have thicker skin and not be so easily offended. There is nothing you can say that will offend me. If you want inside access into Florida, that is what I can provide. If you're going to use foul language and insult others constantly, and hijacking threads this might not be the place for you. I only ask that you give it a try before you assume anything about how I want to run things. Some of you have called this home for years and I respect and understand that and I will not be heavy-handed.

The bottom line and most important thing you need to understand is that I work for every person who makes up this community. I am available 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. Anytime you ever need to reach me, you can send me a direct message through the site, Twitter, or email. Jason@1standTenFlorida.com is my email and Twitter Jason_Higdon.

I will never talk about a recruit unless UF has legit interest and will not do clickbait. I will always shoot you as straight as I possibly can, no matter the topic. I got in some real hot water during the Muschamp days because of an injury story I broke regarding Dominique Easley, and because of what went down, I stay away from team injuries as much as possible. Unless I am talking to a recruit's counselor (which I will not), you will not see me directly talking about a kid's grades.

I want a fresh start for everyone, from the name change to the boards.

Swamp Talk becomes The Swamp: The Swamp is all Florida all the time (Premium), where I invite you to pull up a chair and talk recruiting and Florida sports.

Gator Blue Board becomes The Locker Room: The Locker Room is the place to talk Gators sports (Free)

Gator Lounge becomes The Parking Lot: The Parking Lot is where you can go discuss things other than Florida sports (Free)

The Ticket Exchange remains.

You will get out of this site as much as you want. I will do my very best to answer any recruiting questions you may have. If I don't know the answer, I will tell you, but usually, within 12-24 hours, I will be able to get back to you with more information. This is a tough job, no question. I have zero issues with any of the guys or anyone else covering UF sports for a living. I will not talk down to anyone or be nasty about someone I have never met, and I hope you take the same approach. I will not put one member or group of members above this community. Every member needs to understand the community comes before any individual. I am incredibly fortunate for the opportunity, and I am excited to get to know each of you and how you became a fan.

Be on the lookout for my Most Likely List and RedZone list. The MLL is something I have kept pretty detailed records of regarding any kid that Florida was seriously looking at during the current cycle. If I put a kid in the RedZone, it means I feel he will announce and ink with the Gators.

I removed every recruit in the RedZone the Sunday after Florida lost to LSU. This week I will add a few players back onto the list, starting with LB Shemar James and RB Trevor Etienne, and others, so make sure you are on the lookout for the Visit, MLL, and RedZone post.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please come straight to me and let me know. If we need to jump on a call, we can do that as well.

Ok, let's do this! See you on the boards.

Jason

Ant thoughts are where UF ends up ?

Miami alum Bruce Feldman thinks a change is coming soon:

“I suspect it probably will come open,” Feldman said. “Now remember, they have an AD search that they have to get going, so it is complicated right now,” Feldman said.

“I think if the people around South Florida make it known hey we really think we can lure Mario to come back here, I think no matter what happens with Manny Diaz, they are going to make a change [with Manny Diaz],” Feldman said. “Keep in mind that two of the legit candidates for the AD job, one is Alonzo Highsmith, former legendary player that knows everybody there and the other one is Gino Torretta, a Heisman Trophy winner. Gino is one of Mario Cristobal’s old Miami teammates. I think they will have intel to know where that stands.”

“If they couldn’t get Mario, I think there is a lot of people around UM that are very intrigued by the idea of Lane Kiffin being their head coach and they would say hey we are going to roll with it,” Feldman said. “I think Lane would have a hard time saying now to Miami. I know that he was enamored with that job when hew as an assistant coach. A lot has changed since then. I am not sure that he wouldn’t look at it and say all I have to do is compete with Clemson in this conference and I know the talent around there.”

“I’d be surprised if he said no,” Feldman said. “Here is the thing, the only thing is when Ole Miss has had much success there, they have either gotten on probation or it has not gotten very far. Miami has won national titles [in the past] and you can get players there. He knows all the talent that is in Florida, he obviously coached at FAU and has spent a lot of time in the state of Florida. I don’t think he is saying no to that to stay in Oxford.”

The Audible with Stew & Bruce - Podcasts

Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman discuss the latest in college football, interviewing the biggest names and giving you insight into the most relevant topics you won't find anywhere else. From National Signing Day to the National Championship, Bruce and Stew have you covered year-round.

theathletic.com

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But what makes this potentially most scary is that Miami alum John Ruiz (now worth an estimated $20 billion) has made it clear he is all in supporting the Canes:

• Ruiz and his family are die hard fans of Miami Hurricanes athletics. Ruiz graduated from UM in 1987. He is proud that his three children, Johnny, Cristy, and Alex are also Miami alums. All three children were involved with UM athletics as Johnny and Alex played for UM’s baseball program while Cristy was a member of UM’s dance team, the Sunsations. “We are a Miami Hurricanes family,” Ruiz said. “This school means so much to us.”

• Due to his financial success as a business man, Ruiz wants to give back to the school that means so much to his family. He is not ready to announce what that type of financial commitment would be, but he wants to make clear that he is ready to step up and support Miami’s athletic department “substantially” in the future. “My family is very fortunate to be in a good financial situation to provide meaningful help,” Ruiz said. “I hope my willingness to provide support will also spark a strong core of local businessmen that I know who may be motivated to join me.”

• Ruiz wanted to make it clear that he has nothing against former athletic director Blake James, calling him “a great man” and also noting “we have nothing but great things to say about the people that work at UM” that he does believe UM’s athletic department would benefit from modernizing their approach and implementing more business principles that take advantage of UM’s brand combined with the South Florida business potential. “In my opinion, you have to bring back the interest of the athletes,” Ruiz said. “Organizations have to be malleable and be willing to adapt with the times while also having a vision for what the future holds. Miami has the best brand in college athletics and I see so much potential there from my experience with creating companies that have a solid platform for marketing and an understanding of how to extract the power of marketing. That buzz and that swag is important. We need to excite people to back this program. Having a business mindset that brings innovation can change the entire playing field.”

• What vision does Ruiz ultimately have for the Miami Hurricanes football program? “I went to school during the 1980s and those UM teams were some of the greatest of all time,” Ruiz said. “I come from an era when Miami was a power to be reckoned with and I know it will take time to build, but with the right leadership from top to bottom, I think Miami has the potential to return the swag and success of the 1980s.”

• Does Ruiz have any opinions about what direction UM should go with the athletic director search and the impending decision on whether or not to retain football coach Manny Diaz? “I am supportive of what needs to be done and willing to back up the university substantially,” he said.

• Ruiz did confirm that he has a family connection to current Oregon coach Mario Cristobal. His wife’s family is related to Cristobal.

• At the end of the day, Ruiz wanted to make it clear that he is not trying to ruffle any feathers, understanding that this is the first time he and his family are planning to substantially give to the UM program. “I just want to make it clear that we are ready to help and the program can count on us on multiple levels,” Ruiz said. “We care about this university and this athletic program.”

https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/the-john-ruiz-family-is-ready-to-support-miami’s-athletic-department-‘substantially’-in-the-future-per-247.173857/

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Miami, backed by a billionaire and with a legit coach in the NIL era could make them a big threat again. Gotta nail our hire and fund the program or get out of the big-time football business.

From the GatorsWire/USA Today piece "It's a terribly tough time to be a Florida Gator" published today:

I spoke with Pat Dooley, who has been covering the Gators for longer than many of our readers have been alive, about the difference between former athletic director Jeremy Foley, who was responsible for the golden age of Gators sports, and current AD Scott Stricklin. His simple answer was that the former focused on the personnel themselves while the latter is all about infrastructure first and foremost.

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So Foley prioritized people and performance, while Stricklin seemingly solely cares about facilities. As somebody on Twitter astutely put it: why can't we have both?

The article is kind of a rambling mess, but some good tidbits in it.

He will be committing on the 15th.

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We didn't want him, anyway, right?

...when we were turning away really good players because we were full with the best already?
Players and their families are going to be lined up to come Gatorland, to be a part of what CBN builds here. Not to mention that Gainesville and the University are awesome, but to be developed as players, men, and life after football. With patience, the best will come. Press conference was excellent. This dude is the real deal. Super pumped for the future. Go Gators!