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Post by tapsgator on Apr 15, 2024 11:38:53 GMT -5
I didn't see the entire game but caught a recap and highlights. It's difficult to gather much intel based on the way that game is set up, but to me it looked like Lagway is a playmaker limited by the offense. Mertz looked comfortable in the offense and limited by his ability. I think if you give Lagway Trey Wilson, he would have looked even better. The final score was misleading because the Orange team missed several kicks, and the clock had run out when the Blue team made the last field goal. It definitely had a better feel than last year's game, but basically seemed like the same thing we've come to appreciate... rack up a bunch of yards in between the twenties and then kick. I am sure it was a great day for football though, and we saw a lot of maturity and growth since January as always. I find it hilarious that on 2 kicks we lined up with 10 guys. Less is more except when it comes to analysts.
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Post by tapsgator on Apr 15, 2024 10:14:29 GMT -5
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Post by tapsgator on Apr 11, 2024 10:26:13 GMT -5
Before Ron Roberts my understanding is that many teams did not field a defense. Or if they did it was not modern.
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Post by tapsgator on Apr 9, 2024 13:53:42 GMT -5
So Lagway evidently has turned the ball over 6 times in the first 2 scrimmages to a Defense that had 7 turnovers all year last year. Granted they didn't have The Godfather of Modern Football Defense in Ron Roberts, but nevertheless it seems that the mentoring program is going swimmingly. The best part? I feel like there is still work to do. Or business left to finish as the case may be. As such, I believe for the good of the game of modern football Graham Mertz shall be granted an additional year of eligibility (year 7) in order to continue to aid young DJ in his development. He will also be given a coaching title like co-coordinator of the head coaching coordination of projects involving quarterbacks. He'll be doing a deal where he is like a coach playing while coaching the players that play and get coached. Right? Gutsy Graham the check down man is in business not only to do business but also to finish business. And business, my friends, is good.
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Post by tapsgator on Apr 9, 2024 9:53:33 GMT -5
After clearing the vomit taste out of my mouth I did some fun research. At this point they really are insulting the fanbase's intelligence. "Another notable increase in the report is a $6.55 million pool for assistant coaches. Especially in an age where college head coaches and assistants are on the move, programs simply have to pay top assistant coaches more than ever. Whether it be a promotion to another Power 4 or taking a step back and becoming a head coach at a smaller Group of 5 program, it is encouraging to see Florida taking this action." Let's get in the way back machine, all the way back to December of 2021, with this article that had me (and I'm guessing a lot of us) excited about the new direction of the program: www.si.com/college/florida/football/florida-gators-billy-napier-shares-coaching-staff-responsibilities-plan"Napier will certainly have the resources required to surround himself with an elite staff, one that he said will be "unprecedented," as Florida has allotted a $7.5 million budget for hiring assistant coaches, compared to Dan Mullen's $6.1 million pool this past season." That's what we in the legal field call "bullshit." There are numerous other examples in the article including his proactive plan to handle NIL and be out in front of it just like Georgia and Ohio State. Whereas the results. Where fucking as the results. Back to the original article: "To an extent, Florida is behind the curve on this, yet they have some of the most resources in the SEC. Ideally, this pool should have happened at the onset of Napier’s hiring. On paper, this still seems like a huge victory, as Florida is on track to produce a top-ten 2024 recruiting class. However, there are multiple reasons to show skepticism about the numbers and Florida’s overall recruitment budget outlook." First of all, what? Who wrote that first sentence? Who proofread it? I would have been embarrassed if my 14 year olds had used that as the introductory sentence in a paragraph. When they were 11. Number B, what fucking paper shows us on track to produce a top-ten recruiting class? ?? Especially in 2024 what with the fact that the recruiting classes of 2024 have been set formally since NSD on February 7th, and basically set since on December 6th. So you either missed by 2 or 4 months. Let's assume he was talking about the class of 2025 (we'll ignore the fact that this budget increase was from the 22-23 fiscal year so the effectiveness should be measured by the 24 class since everybody else seems inclined to act like this is brand new), I can find absolutely zero publications or services that have us in the top 10, here's our rankings: On3: 17 Rivals: 25 24/7: 23 I really can't believe that there are people in the fanbase that blindly accept articles/propaganda at this point. The Dynamic Delta Duo are con men who somehow keep rolling their marks despite the fact that their minions are just repeating themselves 28 months after the initial hire. Seriously, if you look at articles from 2 years ago it is the exact same shit. It's the definition of insanity.
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Post by tapsgator on Apr 5, 2024 22:56:07 GMT -5
I think there's also a good bit of "well fuck you then" happening as well. He had mostly decent things to say when he left, then the sunshine pumpers came with the "he takes plays off" crap and, of course, the coaching staff was mute on the point which could easily be mistaken (or not as the case may be) for agreement, particularly by a 22 year old kid who had over 1/3 of your sacks last year, didn't slam you on the way out the door, had the highest Defensive ranking on the team by over 10% among regulars, and was one of only 2 guys (along with another kid who transferred and started off nice until he and his family were baited) with round 1-2 grades in either of the next 2-3 drafts. Also, seeing teams top edge pass rushers dropping into coverage or lining up in the middle of the field is bad coaching (looking at you LSU and your use of Perkins), but when nobody else on the team has 3 sacks (seriously Wingo a MLBer was 2nd with 2.5 sacks) it is a fireable offense at a real football program. Unfortunately we no longer meet that criterion. So we've brought in the guy who taught that style of defense to be the coach of the fat kid who has shown no ability to even be a successful position coach above the Sun Belt. The genius who hired that guy has not shown the ability to even be a coordinator at the power 5 level but I guess he was a decent TEs coach? The guy who hired him is a dipshit from Starkville who came over after a run of mediocrity at his alma matter where they teach cow bell ringing. I see no way that things don't vastly improve and business gets finished this year. Is there a line on whether Lagway is on the roster in 2025?
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 28, 2024 21:25:38 GMT -5
Well you got your special teams analysis department, you've got your head coach of the defense, you've got your nutritionist, you've got your GM type guy, you've got your special analyst in charge of head coaching projects, you've got two offensive line coaches, and then you've got 2 offensive coordinators who don't call plays or anything but they're co-coordinators. As far as the recruiting budget I don't even know what differences explain nearly doubling the budget for worse results but it's par for the course.
As far as NIL, the rumor was that they lost the 4 of the top 6 commits because of NIL money, and it's pretty well known that McCray required a mad scramble to outbid Auburn. Lagway there's lots of smoke about why it took so long to get his LOI and 11th hour negotiations. Get ready for part 2 this Summer given that we gave away his closest connection on the staff to Texas A&M. Although after a year of watching Graham Mertz "mentor" him, we may very well not be at the table at all.
Lest we forget the NIL that gave us Rashada has been scrapped in favor of one that has at least one builder on the board and our AD is asking for 700+ million from boosters so that we can reduce capacity and make the luxury seating more luxurious. No conflicts of interest there whatsoever.
At this point, if you have any respect for the intelligence of either Napier or Stricklin, you have to believe they are intentionally misallocating funds for their own good over the success of the program. If you have the capacity to run the program successfully and put a passable product on the field, and have been this wrong this consistently and continue to do the same damn thing over and over again, you aren't trying.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 28, 2024 16:01:41 GMT -5
I don't ever want to be mistaken for defending this shitshow, but the complaints about dropping into coverage randomly kind of seem like he's trying to cover for blown assignments and lack of coverage skills. Why he would be dropping into a zone is a better question considering he had over 1/3 of our sacks, but the mechanics of zone coverage should have been coached since pee-weee football at least at a base level.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 28, 2024 10:46:47 GMT -5
Okay found the time to actually look it up because I kept hearing about how now that he has this super duper budget and assistant salary pool things are going to be different. I'm assuming most Gator boosters are UF graduates. UF is a good school. How is the fanbase falling for this crap? Love is blind I guess? I do too much research on this stuff, but I mean cmon, just read the article that you're citing in your fanboy sessions where you "call out" anybody who is remotely objective as "not a real fan." It's right there. This isn't/wasn't a future act, it was what happened over the last fiscal year. www.gainesville.com/story/sports/college/2024/03/15/florida-gators-athletics-2022-23-ncaa-financial-report-recruiting-spending-florida-football/72884438007/#:~:text=UF%20athletics%20boosts%20recruiting%20spending,to%20%242%2C966%2C896%20the%20year%20before. "The Gators made a significant investment in recruiting for all sports in 2022-23, spending $4,563,927, compared to $2,966,896 the year before. The biggest beneficiary was football, which increased its recruiting spending by 78 percent, from $1,641,320 to $2,892,538." The title of these articles and the company line generally are (probably intentionally) inaccurate and misleading to say the least. I know that there seems to be a grammatical/syntax problem in Gainesville and certainly with Napier but using an "s" instead of a "d" here is kind of important, and if writers had any semblance of journalistic integrity they wouldn't do this, at least if they took 6th grade English. UF increaseD the recruiting and assistant salary budgets from 2022-23.meaning we have seen the entirety of the "benefits" of the increased spending. A worse record on the field, a lower ranked recruiting class, our 2 best players leaving via the portal, and less qualified assistants, but adding a kicking specialist, a guy who was part of the Jimbo purge at Texas A&M to be our GM, a first time strength coach who was an intern 12 months ago, a DB coach from the staff purge in San Diego, some guys from the Sun Belt, and the fired Auburn DC. At this point I'm really tempted to say that since I'm in the minority, the majority kind of deserves what they're getting. They keep going to the fertilizer store and wondering why they're coming home with bullshit.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 27, 2024 11:29:00 GMT -5
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 27, 2024 10:27:58 GMT -5
Imagine IF Etienne's punishment is having to sit out the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party......... Only for GA to still win by 25+ (which GA still could cover as in past years) lol I'll be honest with you, the media and kool-aid fans secretly want him to play because it gives them an excuse and the made up moral high ground. It's part of the toxic mentality that has allowed for what is now far and away the biggest fall-off of the pre-eminent football program in the country without major sanctions, and we're closing the gap there too. Pretty soon it will just be the biggest destruction of the pre-eminent football and basketball program in college sports history regardless of sanctions.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 26, 2024 9:43:01 GMT -5
I would be shocked if we get to 5 wins. I have pretty much settled on 3-9. Honestly this would be the ideal situation in my mind other than losing the 3 of the first 5 or 6 and going to an interim for the rest of the year. The interim should be named Steve Spurrier
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 26, 2024 9:40:42 GMT -5
I wish we were USC who just flipped a 5 star from Georgia. I mean Georgia will either get him back or replace him with another one, but at least you won something. Contrary to the popular opinion of Kool-Aid drinkers a kid being stupid (and I don't throw my glasses in a stone house, so I'll disclose that at 22 I got my 2nd DUI and my record was much worse than Etienne's) is not a "win" in any sense of the word, and celebrating it like we actually did something on the field or recruiting trail is pathetic.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 25, 2024 12:58:45 GMT -5
I haven't done the rounds yet, but I'm sure this is proof positive that Napier is weeding out the bad apples, changing the culture, and generally being one of the best human beings ever. Between this and the tough schedule I think he should definitely get year 4 regardless, probably need 6 years to overhaul the culture that he created while evaluating the culture that preceded him. There's really no such thing as good news right now, everything is a bullshit excuse and if it's not we ignore it. Tough schedule doesn't work as an excuse when you're playing the same schedule next year, there's no such thing as an easy schedule in the SEC unless you are one of the best teams in the SEC. Funny how that works. We're going to pretend to be Vandy until we turn into Vandy on the field and UF off the field. And the most vocal part of the fanbase will cheer between sips of Kool-Aid as it happens.
I hope Etienne gets his shit figured out, he seems like a good kid and is very talented. UGA will suspend him for a game or two, he ain't getting kicked off the team. We can bust UGA's balls about arrests but I far preferred it when the shoe was on the other foot.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 24, 2024 0:09:09 GMT -5
So with the recruiting budget I’m 99% sure that it increased over the last fiscal year which I believe is spring practice to spring practice or maybe that’s just when they release it. So, I think we’ve seen first hand what spending more money on recruiting and staff budget has accomplished in the form of the a 15th ranked class, 4 of our top 6 recruits decommitting and the other two damn near flipping, and the worst qualified Gator coaching staff in at least 35 years.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 22, 2024 13:42:49 GMT -5
"What we've elected to do for the guys looking to lose weight is decrease their food intake and increase their metabolic output. Muscle weighs more than fat!"
Also, what we're doing is trying to increase the amount of weight used in resistance exercises soas to get stronger. It is a revolutionary concept called "progressive resistance" Fitz explained it to Tyler the intern. And a whole new world was born.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 22, 2024 13:39:04 GMT -5
the more repulsive and ridiculous it is that people are even considering another year for Napier without a total and complete turnaround. I'm talking serious consideration for the playoffs level turnaround and a top 25 finish should be an absolute requirement. I really don't understand why or how the bar has dropped to a place that it hasn't been in at least 35 years/when SOS came in. Every coach since 1990 has been held to a higher standard, and considerably higher. Mullen never gave a shit about UF, treated and looked at the job as a stepping stone job, always hated/specifically stopped recruiting, and quit trying in a petulant tantrum because he didn't get the NFL job he (and he alone) felt he had qualified for. I hate the fucking guy, he wouldn't have survived more than 5-6 games last year if he had started like CWT and we had an actual semblance of standards.
Mullen- First 3 seasons- finished 6, 7, 12 with the last one being the closest we actually came to the play-offs, then has a 5-6 season where he does some weird shit and he's gone. Recruiting classes starting with transition class: 17, 8, 7, 10
Cajun Willie- 6-7, 5-7, tbd. Recruiting classes starting with transition: 18, 13, 15.
So how in the Sam Hell does 7-5 get him another season? Especially since he's shown neither the ability nor the inclination to change? How can any realistic Gator fan find this acceptable?
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 22, 2024 11:25:42 GMT -5
Armstrong added. “A big part of our system that we managed directly from him. He’s one of the fathers of modern defensive football and to have him in this building and to have him at my right arm at all times helping us, I couldn’t be luckier.” Clearly, what he meant to say is that Roberts is a father who coaches in modern day football. Right? He's one of the best, you know, in America at being a, you know, father and defensive football modern is, you know, the best in America. You know? Explain to me how is it that we are lucky to get a coach that was fired from Auburn? What am I missing? Because it removed the barrier that was in place in years 1&2 of the CWT regime when he was the DC, not to be confused with the Defensive Head coach/surrogate father figure, at Baylor (68th ranked defense in the country under a Defensive head coach) and Auburn (where he got fired) respectively, but he basically gave birth to the system that won a co-championship in the Sunbelt so I guess you could say, you know, he's the most greatest person in all of America and this is all part of the plan, you know, it's a good deal. Right?
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 21, 2024 21:47:40 GMT -5
They were also really really old. Like 7th year senior old. I bet the average age out there was like 23-24. NFL scouts love old dudes. Especially if they have low mileage from never getting to play.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 21, 2024 12:02:02 GMT -5
A pudgy young lad enters the conversation with his football daddy in tow: www.gatorcountry.com/feature/this-is-our-defense-a-collaborative-effort-from-armstrong-and-roberts/"Best in America" was where the word of the day wheel landed for Titties McJiggles evidently. I like how positive he is about the stroke of luck that led to us getting the guy who couldn't hack it at Auburn to join this island of misfit toys ensemble. Hopefully his "football dad" keeps him away from sugary snacks on gameday because he came out like a house of fire in the first half, belly bumping, fist pumping, jumping around like a kindergartner after a bad of skittles, but then in the second half he just looked confused and depressed. I'm going to assume it's a sugar crash and not the best defense in America getting their teeth kicked in. “I think Coach Roberts is one of the best football coaches in America,” Armstrong said on Roberts. “That was not an option to add him to our team in the initial cycle. The opportunity to add somebody who is one of the best football coaches in America to our staff and collaborate with is a blessing to say the least. Our agenda here is to create the best defense in college football, and you do that by hiring smart, capable, competent people and we couldn’t have gotten anybody better than him. It’s a unique thing for me because I was the guy’s GA [graduate assistant] five years ago.” Shout it from the rooftops TmJ, shout it from the rooftops.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 21, 2024 11:06:06 GMT -5
Pearsall didn't workout. So the only guy that really ever played for the Gators with any remote chance of getting drafted at the Pro Day for the University of Florida is Eguakan. That's hilarious and also shows you what CWT has done to the program in the last 27 months. Absolutely pathetic and embarrassing.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 21, 2024 9:21:54 GMT -5
Today is the big day. Can't wait to hear how Micah the 9th year senior looked.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 21, 2024 9:18:29 GMT -5
1) Replace "right?" with "you know." 2) Have the TE coach give his opinion on the QB room 3) "Answer" questions with the same nonsensical drivel and circular talk that your boss does 4) 5) national championship www.gatorcountry.com/feature/truly-a-unique-group-russ-callaway-talks-offensive-staff-quarterback-room/My personal favorite part, when asked about play-calling: “We’re still going through some of that,” Callaway said on if he’s doing anything different to prepare for his new role. “But I would say again, it’s, look, we’ve got five coaches in that room that are five of the best coaches I’ve ever been around. And I mean that. So I think the involvement, not from just me but from coach Napier, from coach G [Billy Gonzales], from coach Sale, from coach DeCoster, from coach [Jabbar] Juluke, everybody in our room. We have a great, cohesive unit, and I think it starts with us in that room and then transitions to the players, because they see you talking, they see you communicating and asking questions. Everybody’s on board doing the right thing. So, like I said, we got a great group out there. We’ve just got to continue to build on what we’re doing.” "Just need to continue to build on what we're doing." Indeed young Russell, indeed. The force is strong in this one boys. Big things incoming, you know, once we continue to build on what we've been doing, you know, which like I said, has built up to this.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 20, 2024 11:58:20 GMT -5
I was talking to Bulldog fans and explaining that another team's fanbase cannot ever really appreciate the systematic destruction of the program because it requires acknowledging how great the Spurrier and Meyer years were. This was the best way I found to try to explain:
Only 6 teams have won a national championship in both football and basketball.
Only 2 teams have won multiple national titles in both of the Big 2, Michigan State was the other school and their last (shared) football championship was in 1966 and they won basketball titles in 1979 and 2000.
From the football national championship trophy in 2006 to the football championship trophy in 2008 so a 2 calendar year period we won 4 of the 5 national championships. We did something in 24 months that one other program has accomplished in the history of college sports.
And now we are being called spoiled because a 4th straight losing season (which is certainly a possibility and likely a probability) would be considered unacceptable. I struggle with how to be okay with that.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 20, 2024 11:44:34 GMT -5
Deviation runs contrary to repeatability and therefore CANNOT happen. I'll give Napier this, he is consistent. He says the same words regardless of the question while somehow changing the context so minimally as to not really make any semblance of sense whatsoever. He calls plays consistently enough regardless of personnel that Anthony Richardson and Graham Mertz were operating in the same offense. Richardson made big things happen (both good and bad) because he would actually force the issue and not check down at every turn. We were also in more games so there was much less prevent, but as far as the underlying system and play calling? Repeatable as fuck cuz. He hasn't changed the composition of his actual staff (really in any way as noted below) or re-assigned duties other than whatever the Hell Ron Roberts is doing and saying "Russ will have more responsibilities because he reminds me of a young Billy Napier," at this point it seems appropriate to mention that said young William Taggert Napier was fired by his mentor as OC after a year. The best part is that he brags about this terribly ineffective "organization" as if he has the system beat. As I think about it, he talks a lot about evaluating and analyzing but not so much about adjustments. Maybe that's the missing piece, he just gathers information with no intent to use it.
Now here's something awesome, I did a very cursory review and CWT always hires by race. White coaches replace white coaches and black coaches replace black coaches. The one exception is Billy G who was on Mullen's staff and, more importantly, coached in the State of Louisiana during the time Napier was there. It's wild, and the definition of insanity, but I guess crazy is at least entertaining since the majority of the fanbase seems perfectly fine with the destruction of the program.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 19, 2024 11:13:00 GMT -5
hailfloridahail.com/posts/florida-football-not-everyone-nationally-is-writing-billy-napier-s-obituary-just-yet-01hrywtb2d37That's right you negative Nancy boys, PROMINENT national analysts say the Gators are back. By prominent I mean Greg McElroy and by back I mean "maybe they pull an upset against Miami (aren't we supposed to be favored?), maybe they beat UCF (be still my heart), and maybe they beat some SEC teams (looking at you Mississippi State and I guess Texas A&M)." Now Prominent Greg is not going so far as predicting they'll win the SEC, or even be in the top 25, but they may go 7-5 in which case this jackass I mean respected journalist says that Napier will be back for Year 4! Tell me you're trying to kill a program without telling me you're trying to kill a program.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 19, 2024 10:32:13 GMT -5
I will give the Jimbo Fishers of the world credit, they are either blissfully ignorant of the hypocrisy they spew on their way out one door and into another, or they are so surrounded/insulated by yes-man and Kool-Aid drinkers that they don't care. Then again, being paid 95 million not to work probably buys a whole lot of don't give a damns.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 19, 2024 10:28:17 GMT -5
Does the author of this article speak English? I was two sentences in when I caught a grammatical error and a typo. It's the Queens English in one of the foreign countries where we have sent the Napier army to, we got a lacrosse player from England in this class already and that sparkly unicorn kid from Germany in the last class so I'm think somebody from Scandinavia who currently plays soccer for a team named the Narwals is probably next in the pipeline. It's a process deal man. Right?
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 18, 2024 13:26:31 GMT -5
Why would you hold a pro day with these guys? Just have Pearsall do a private workout and if enough people want to see Kingsley have him attend. Every coach competing against us on the recruiting trail should forward that to every target. I'd post it on my recruiting newsletter and have everybody look at it side to side with my Pro Day.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 18, 2024 13:13:56 GMT -5
You cannot argue with science and here is scientific evidence that the Cajun Willie Taggert approach is working: floridagators.com/news/2024/3/12/football-gators-pro-day-set-for-march-21.aspxLook at that list of "prospects." Just so you know I'm not making this up: Pearsall is a day 2 guy probably although this years WR class is insanely good. Most drafts he's a 2nd rounder maybe sneaks into first. Kingsley probably won't get drafted but will get a camp invite Hudson was a "huge win" in the portal from FIU who barely played on a bad line and won't play on Sundays Micah Leon is the 7th year senior who played in 2 games in his collegiate career. I guess he's there to throw to Pearsall? I don't know why Mertz wouldn't do that but maybe he doesn't want to create a distraction from his unfinished business Eddie Battle parlayed 2018 and 19 seasons at Allan Hancock into 7 games of action at SW Missouri State and then 3 games in 2 years at UF as a walk-on Jacob Watkins never played and from his bio pics on the website it appears he was the back-up punter. Maybe he's going to punt to Pearsall? Griffin McDowell appeared in 3 games as a Red-shirt Junior in 2022.
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