THE RECRUITING CLASS IS FINE
After a good look at the 2011 Gator class of recruits, the word from Gator Gridiron is the recruiting class is fine! That assessment, of course, does not conform to the “conventional wisdom” of most of the so-called recruiting “experts”. Gator Gridiron and the Old School Gator encourage Gator fans not to be brainwashed by a freakish assortment of numbers geeks with hand held computers and pocket protectors who have no real ability to judge football talent. (One thing I have learned over the 25 years since computer based “talent evaluation” became a cottage industry in major college football and the NFL is that nobody on the planet KNOWS LESS about how to judge football talent that the so-called recruiting and draft “experts”. For example, the most well known recruiting Guru, Mel Kuiper, Jr., declared that Emmitt Smith was “too slow” for the NFL and that Tim Tebow is not even a prospect.)
Keeping in mind that talent evaluation is the most in-exact science known to man--it’s actually an art not a science, but that’s another topic for another day--and that we won’t really know the true results of these recruits until 4-5 years from now, let’s take a look at some of the players who committed to the Gators. Right off the top, the Gators got the most coveted QB in the nation, Jeff Driskel; one of the top RB prospects in America, Michael Blakely of perennial powerhouse Bradenton Manatee; arguably the best FB prospect in the country, Hunter Joyer of Tampa Catholic; two of the top CB prospects in America, De’Ante “Pop” Saunders of DeLand and Marcus Roberson of St. Thomas Aquinas; two outstanding WR prospects, 6’3” Ja’Juan Story of Brooksville Nature Coast and highly recruited speedster Javares McCroy of Lakeland High; a consensus top 5 TE prospect in the nation, A. C. Leonard of Jacksonville, who chose the Gators over Alabama and Miami; a pleasant late commit, 6’5” Tevin Westbrook, an outstanding DE prospect out of Broward County; not to mention a slew of good, solid, highly accomplished football players who have a strong desire to come play for the Gators. One of these is 6’3” 230 lb Clay Burton of Venice, brother of 2010 sleeper standout Trey Burton, a quick, athletic DE who chose UF over Notre Dame. Considering that with the wholesale turnover of the coaching staff, including the head coach AND recruiting coordinator, Florida had some of the most adverse recruiting circumstances of any program in the country, Gator Gridiron salutes Coach Will Muschamp and his new staff for not only keeping a solid class together, but adding to it in the few short weeks he was on the job. Coach WM said it best, according to the Gainesville Sun, when asked of his assessment, “I don’t count stars. I watch tape. I recruit. I put tape on…look at transcripts… and decide from a critical standpoint if this guy can fit into our program. I haven’t turned on ESPN today to check on what everybody is saying. I’m worried about what I think more than what they think.” Bravo Coach!!! This is one Gator who puts a lot more faith in the evaluation of Coach Will than Mel Kuiper, Jr.
Xxx Gator Gridiron, Roger Franklin Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment