David Wunderlich shows what a deep, deep hole Dan Mullen has to climb out of on the recruiting front here.
I estimated that UF might have a class with as many as 22 or 23 recruits next year. If it’s 22, they’d need to sign 13 blue chips to get to exactly 50% blue chips signed over a four-year period. Given the composition of this year’s class, that’s doable. If they only sign 20 next year, they’d need to get 12 blue chips. Given that they got 12 blue chips this year with 19 signees, that’s also doable. I suspect most Gator fans would see it as failing to meet expectations if they only sign 12 or 13 blue chips next year given that it won’t be a transitional class anymore.
Merely getting to 50% would still put them a ways behind Georgia, LSU, and FSU, and the blue chips would be most heavily concentrated among first and second-year players. We’re really more looking at 2020 for having a roster with the kind of talent Florida fans expect to see.
I doubt Kirby will be slowing down over the next two years, either.
Get The Picture 
We need an 70-80’s type run vs the swamp lizards.
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Kirby’s like….
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If Mullen takes instate players for granted, he’s toast.
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I just love stats like this. Made my day. Here’s the thing – Mullen considers himself an outstanding X’s and O’s guy, so I suspect he feels he can overcome talent gaps with his coaching alone. If this indeed is the case, then I could see them moving forward without the needed urgency to catch UGA in the talent department.
Either way, I’m personally going to enjoy the large talent gap between the two programs for at least the next several years.
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DC Todd Grantham ‘thinks’ he’s an excellent X’s and O’s guy too. And he’s a truly lousy recruiter. With Mullen and Grantham leading the way, and with all the other out-of-Florida and in-Florida schools fighting like hell for players, I just don’t see a bright future for fu recruiting.
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Worked well for the Genius, so sure stick with that plan Mullen.
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I really hope Kirby can convert on all of this potential and subjugate the lizards for a long run. The one thing that Florida has going for it, though, is that Mullen and his coaches are accustomed to and talented at doing more with less.
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His best team was smoked by GT in a BOWL….so there is that.
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The history of the UGA-FU rivalry is one of streaks. The Gators win for a while then the Dawgs win for a while. Historically the Dawgs’ streaks have been longer than the Gators’ hence Georgia has the edge in the all-time series record. I thought I felt the ship start to turn about 8 years ago and now we are 4-4 with FU in football over the last 8 years. I also felt a seismic shift in the last game. I think we are now back on top and will be for a long time.
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Beating FU two yrs in a row would be great. Beating FU with Mullen at the helm – priceless.
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I don’t see our friendly warlord in Coral Gables taking his foot off the gas anytime soon either: https://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2018/2/9/16956914/recruits-by-state-map-2018-rankings
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I honestly thought McElwain was a great hire for them when they got him. I had no idea how bad of a recruiter he is tho. He left the cupboards bare at CSU too, and Bobo is still digging out of that ditch. McElwain is good at coming in and winning with the prior coach’s recruits, and that’s about it.
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I think he’s a good offensive coordinator and a capable game day head coach, but yeah, I didn’t realize he couldn’t recruit either.
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It’s more than just that though. A HC has to be the CEO of the program and some guys who are good Xs and Os guys can’t make that transition from the field to the office. McElwain couldn’t run the shop–recruiting failure was just part of it. I actually expect to see a worse record out of FU next season because it will take time to fix the problems McElwain left behind. That’s really the reason the guy got the ax midseason IMHO–when it started to show on the field the AD had to act. Plus they had SOS hanging around telling everybody there how shitty things were.
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Comrad Richt needs to keep South Florida on semi-lock-down (other than Kirby and Coley taking what they want) and hopefully IF will remain talent deficient!
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Whatta ya know, Spurr Dog was right all along. We have had the recruits. . .
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My quick count shows 13 5⭐️ Players on the UGA roster and 2 on UF’s.
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