New company line

[g8rfan]

Saw on another board that this staff is “slow-rolling” recruiting to surprise everyone with a super strong finish. Of all of the stupid stuff I’ve read on the internet this one might take the.cake.

[wahhappen]

Sounds about right… probably waiting until the last minute before promising the wire transfers in exchange for their LOIs.

[g8rfan]

Jul 4, 2024 11:21:17 GMT -5 wahhappen said:

Sounds about right… probably waiting until the last minute before promising the wire transfers in exchange for their LOIs.

Got ‘em!!

[SoTxCaiman]

More like waiting until the last minute to make sure the checks will clear.

[tapsgator]

They're really leaning into this approach:

gatorswire.usatoday.com/2024/06/06/florida-football-recruiting-josiah-abdullah-reopens-recruitment/?itm_medium=recirc&itm_source=taboola&itm_campaign=internal&itm_content=ExploreMore

That puts us at 71 in the rankings. Lots and lots of room to improve. Smart. Here's another selling point we've got a top 10 QB in the SEC:

www.on3.com/teams/florida-gators/news/where-does-floridas-graham-mertz-rank-among-sec-quarterbacks/

You might have to have a subscription so here's the intro by the local guy:

"Florida returns a lot from their 2023 team, including starting quarterback Graham Mertz. Mertz is coming off of the best season of his career. In his first season with the Gators, he threw for 2,903 yards and 20 touchdowns with just three interceptions. He also led the SEC with a 72.9% completion percentage."

and here's the write-up from the national analyst:

10. Graham Mertz – Florida
Impact ranking: 23

Brooks: Mertz MUST get better as a downfield thrower. Just has to. Not good at it in back-to-back years and this past season he had the worst uncatchable percentage past 15 yards in the SEC. But his pocket roll has improved. Still a tad gunshy bailing from pockets and leaning on his dominant side. But sneakily great versus pressure. And while there’s no guarantee that will continue, that’s a top selling point this off-season. One of the best caretakers in college football eliminating mistakes. But passes up things far too often for surefire completions. Looks the part, has tools, but can he put it all together? Jayden Daniels gained courage throwing downfield after years of hesitancy and look what happened.”

What's really good about this is that Graham Mertz and Jayden Daniels are basically the same player. Sure Daniels is faster, has a better arm, is more accurate, better at reading defenses, actually plays well in close games rather than throwing under prevents, had much better coaching, was surrounded by 1st round talent, etc, but take that stuff away, be politically correct so you don't see color, and disregard GGTCDM's child bearing hips and bad haircut and I dare you to find a difference.

[tapsgator]

The commitment to this strategy is, like all things Cajun Willie, impressive:

www.si.com/college/florida/recruiting/florida-gators-go-0-for-3-monday-commitment-announcements-01j2a647c0pb

I also think an under-rated component of this approach is the ability to stay away from those top Florida kids who seem like they don't want to be at the University of Florida nearly as much as the lower ranked kids from in and out of state:

247sports.com/season/2025-football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=FL

Look at that, the only kid we're even in the conversation for (as an underdog) is a Florida legacy whose father was one of very few staffers that stayed on when Hurricane Napier blew into town. Not many coaches out there bold enough to fine tune a spread offense AND not recruit the best state in the nation until the 11th hour. He's playing Chinese Ninja Chess while everybody else is playing checkers.

[SoTxCaiman]

Hell, the O-line kid we lost to Ga was a 6'11" basketball guy who hasn't played football since middle school. Doesn't he know we are the land of the free and the home of the untrained?

[wahhappen]

Jul 9, 2024 12:43:08 GMT -5 SoTxCaiman said:

Hell, the O-line kid we lost to Ga was a 6'11" basketball guy who hasn't played football since middle school. Doesn't he know we are the land of the free and the home of the untrained?

We would have landed him, but he did play in middle school. Just too much baggage to overcome for our developmental analysts. We prefer to teach to those with a completely empty cup.

[wahhappen]

Jul 9, 2024 11:55:52 GMT -5 tapsgator said:

The commitment to this strategy is, like all things Cajun Willie, impressive:

www.si.com/college/florida/recruiting/florida-gators-go-0-for-3-monday-commitment-announcements-01j2a647c0pb

I also think an under-rated component of this approach is the ability to stay away from those top Florida kids who seem like they don't want to be at the University of Florida nearly as much as the lower ranked kids from in and out of state:

247sports.com/season/2025-football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=FL

Look at that, the only kid we're even in the conversation for (as an underdog) is a Florida legacy whose father was one of very few staffers that stayed on when Hurricane Napier blew into town. Not many coaches out there bold enough to fine tune a spread offense AND not recruit the best state in the nation until the 11th hour. He's playing Chinese Ninja Chess while everybody else is playing checkers.

Also from the article: "Multiple prospects have also stated their intentions to commit prior to the season starting but haven’t given a specific date. Five-star receiver Vernell Brown III and four-star corner Ben Hanks Jr. have both previously stated they plan to commit sometime during July or August."

If somehow CWT manages to lose either of these two recruits, that would be a fireable offense in itself. Without doing any actual research, I am assuming both are related to two of the biggest Gators to ever suit up at UF (Spurrier un-retired his number for Ben Hanks, and Urban Meyer singled out Vernell Brown as a picture of what a Gator looks like). It seems that we got Earnest Graham's son only because of his ties to the program, and that still didn't go too well. So it will be interesting to see what happens with those two between now and August.

[Mojave Gator]

I have faith in the ability of this coaching staff to scare away legacy recruits.

[tapsgator]

Yeah, I think we held onto Graham primarily because he had shut his recruitment down and moved to Gainesville, and we still damn near managed to lose him with his dad joining the club of actual football people with first hand knowledge of the Gator Way and people whose jobs are tied to objective analysis that dare to scream into the abyss of "most talented roster" and "tough schedule" that is the Gator fanbase.

[tapsgator]

So, because I've heard so regularly that this team is the most talented of the illustrious reign of William the Cajun Donkey I decided to do quick research on the team he inherited. Currently the following players are active in the NFL:

Richardson (#4 pick most athletically gifted QB in the history of the NFL draft by numbers)

Torrence (2nd Round Pick 1st team all rookie selection)
Pearsall (1st round pick)
Dexter (2nd round pick, starting DT)
Shorter (5th round pick)
Cox (UDFA former 5 star)
Eguakan (UDFA)
Miller (4th round)
Dean (UDFA, 2nd string)
Burney (6th round)

Here's guys from that team projected to get drafted that are gone:

Princely- mid 1-early 2
Etienne- late 1-mid 3
Braun- late pick/UDFA
Henderson- late/UDFA
Tarquin- late/UDFA

So, I'm not sure how exactly how this roster is more talented, but I sure am looking forward to seeing it

[wahhappen]

Jul 11, 2024 13:22:36 GMT -5 tapsgator said:

So, because I've heard so regularly that this team is the most talented of the illustrious reign of William the Cajun Donkey I decided to do quick research on the team he inherited. Currently the following players are active in the NFL:

Richardson (#4 pick most athletically gifted QB in the history of the NFL draft by numbers)

Torrence (2nd Round Pick 1st team all rookie selection)
Pearsall (1st round pick)
Dexter (2nd round pick, starting DT)
Shorter (5th round pick)
Cox (UDFA former 5 star)
Eguakan (UDFA)
Miller (4th round)
Dean (UDFA, 2nd string)
Burney (6th round)

Here's guys from that team projected to get drafted that are gone:

Princely- mid 1-early 2
Etienne- late 1-mid 3
Braun- late pick/UDFA
Henderson- late/UDFA
Tarquin- late/UDFA

So, I'm not sure how exactly how this roster is more talented, but I sure am looking forward to seeing it

I'm sorry. Did you miss the news about Graham Mertz deciding not to enter the NFL Draft to return for his 6th year? That's twice as much returning QB experience than what Richardson had.

[tapsgator]

He is back and he has business to finish. Saw where the guy from In All Kinds of Weather said on twitter that since Florida has the better QB and overall talent that he thinks there's only a 30% chance that Miami can pull off the upset. I think there's actually a 0% chance that Miami can pull off the upset since they are the favorite, but that aside, only Gator fans and "journalists" who are Gator fans think either of those 2 factors actually favor Florida. This will be the one game of the year where we have the better game day coach. Speaking of which:

www.on3.com/news/sec-coach-rankings-cbs-sports-ranks-coaches-1-16-ahead-of-2024-college-football-season/

#13 baby! I now see why you "HAVE TO GIVE HIM ANOTHER YEAR IF HE HAS A WINNING RECORD AGAINST THIS TREMENDOUSLY DIFFICULT SCHEDULE," trying to get one of the 12 best coaches in the SEC is a bridge way too far for a school like UF.

[SoTxCaiman]

Let this sink in, UF has the 13th best coach. Not in the country, in our own 16 team conference. What in the hell..... who in the _UCK thinks that is ok?

[wahhappen]

Jul 15, 2024 13:19:25 GMT -5 tapsgator said:

He is back and he has business to finish. Saw where the guy from In All Kinds of Weather said on twitter that since Florida has the better QB and overall talent that he thinks there's only a 30% chance that Miami can pull off the upset. I think there's actually a 0% chance that Miami can pull off the upset since they are the favorite, but that aside, only Gator fans and "journalists" who are Gator fans think either of those 2 factors actually favor Florida. This will be the one game of the year where we have the better game day coach. Speaking of which:

www.on3.com/news/sec-coach-rankings-cbs-sports-ranks-coaches-1-16-ahead-of-2024-college-football-season/

#13 baby! I now see why you "HAVE TO GIVE HIM ANOTHER YEAR IF HE HAS A WINNING RECORD AGAINST THIS TREMENDOUSLY DIFFICULT SCHEDULE," trying to get one of the 12 best coaches in the SEC is a bridge way too far for a school like UF.

Yes, but he is the first Gators head coach to ever be ranked in the top 13 in the SEC since it expanded to 16 teams. I have learned a new skill - only use the statistics that make you look good. More on this phenomenon to follow.

On a semi-unrelated topic, I saw that the new College Football '25 game had released its list of the toughest stadiums to play in over the weekend. The Swamp came in at #10 - just behind Ron Zook Field in Tallahassee. Sigh... Anyway, I know this is just a video game, but it is representative of what the nation thinks about us and it prompted me to look up CWT's record at home. I Google it several different ways and nothing immediately came up, but it did lead me to a link to this page: floridagators.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/billy-napier/1830#:~:text=In%20spite%20of%20a%206,three%20by%20only%20one%20score. This appears to be Napier's bio on the Gator athletics page, and oh my God, is it hilarious.

If you care to read it, there are several attempts to prop up his piss-poor performance to date. Here is my personal favorite quote:

"The Gators recorded an interception in six games during Napier’s first season, the first of which secured a victory against No. 7 Utah—Napier’s first game a Florida’s head coach, to make him the only Florida head coach to defeat a ranked opponent in his first game."

Just for fun (and because I was fairly certain the statement about Utah was a ridiculous thing to brag about), I did a quick AI search and came up with the following: "The Florida Gators football team has opened the season against a ranked team twice in its history. The most recent occurrence was in 2022 when they faced No. 7-ranked Utah in the season opener. The previous instance was in 1969, when they played No. 7-ranked Houston and secured a 59-34 victory"

While Napier being the first UF coach to ever beat a ranked opponent in his first game is historically factual, there has never been an opportunity for any other coach to record this made up achievement (Ray Graves was in his 10th season of actually coaching football in 1969).

Anyway, whomever wrote this bio page deserves the creative writing credits that he/she hopefully got out of the project. One thing, though, I think can be taken away from the piece is you can clearly see exactly where in the football universe Napier belongs. Just draw a line between the top of the "Louisiana (2018-21)" title and the bottom of the paragraph above it and stop. Then, below that line is where he should be coaching.