So, I’m reading David Wunderlich’s breakdown of talent on Florida’s 2021 offensive roster and it suddenly dawns on me: there isn’t a single five-star player on it who’s a Mullen recruit.
The only five-stars on the list are two running backs, both transfers. Here’s what David has to say about that:
Now, imagine this kind of talent average but for the entire roster. That’s approximately what Nick Saban’s Alabama has had for a while now, and in recent years Georgia and Ohio State have worked up to it too. Not even Clemson gets there, not the least because its coaches ignore talent ratings more than most and take some developmental picks.
It’s doubtful that Dan Mullen will ever recruit at the level that those top three programs are at, but savvy picks like what Clemson does plus his portal work can help close the gap. They just need to do it at more spots on the field.
Well, they’ve always got Todd Grantham’s fine work to fall back on.
Get The Picture 
I guess this stupid Handbag (isn’t that like a red tomato) doesn’t understand that an overwhelming number of blue chips end up being very happy at the school they choose. Many of the blue chip players who hit the portal want to come home, desire more playing time, or want a change of scenery/fresh start. Some of them just flat didn’t meet the recruiting services’ expectations.
If you suck at recruiting 17 and 18 year olds, you’ll likely suck at recruiting 19-21 year olds.
May Dopey (and his Towel Boy sidekick) stay in Hogtown forever.
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He doesn’t care nearly as much about recruiting. That’s why I don’t see him staying very long.
I swear if Gator fans had a drinking game where they had to drinking every time someone mentioned “closing the gap” or a reference to the talent gap when discussing Dan Mullen it wouldn’t be pretty.
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Don’t forget fried green tomatoes.
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“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work”…….besides, who says these evaluators are right, most probably have never seen them live.
Trust the coaches more than the evaluators….
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Brenton Cox was a 5 star, wasn’t he? I guess he didn’t count because he’s out for 2021?
Also, the note about Clemson: Clemson can afford to develop players because at least 9 (probably more like 10) of their games every year are walks from a talent perspective. I cannot WAIT for FSU or Miami to get good again.
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uhhhh….. Cox plays defense.
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Saved the O-Line for last, because he didn’t want to talk about it. After the first few lines of series BS (hard to rate HS Lineman), he admitted that this is the Gator’s problem. Trask hid a LOT of flaws that their line has. And they’ll roll out a lot this year to try and mask it as well, but at the end of the day, they do not have a QB remotely close to being as accurate or as quick as reading defenses as Trask. And with that O-Line, they are not built to run at anybody. 5 Star back or not. And then there is the depth issue that will bite UF hard, if they run into injuries.
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Remember what happened to his 2014 MSU team they looked great until late in the season when even Daks stellar play couldn’t cover up their O Line. Florida could beat us this year but they could also lose 4 games (Us, Bama, LSU and FSU/ Mizzou/Kentucky).
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Florida cannot look to Clemson as some hopeful recruiting guide-star. Clemson’s average is lower than the top three, but they are always HEAVY on the super high talented kids. They might only have 3 five stars in a class, but they’ll be something like the #1, 3, and 5 ranked kids overall. They seem to focus on a few mega-talented kids, rather than a dozen top 100 kids.
They do NOT recruit at an average level and then have a bunch of developmental kids pan out. They focus on getting those true studs first, then fill in depth with the developmental kids… some of whom do actually pan out. Sounds like, on paper, by that logic Florida is only a few stars away from being “just like Clemson,” but they’re just not. It doesn’t work like that.
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I think that the biggest reason that Florida can’t look to Clemson as their recruiting model is that they play in the SEC and not the ACC. Clemson has studs all over the place. Whatever developmental kids they have get to play the Wakes, Dukes, Georgia Techs, and Boston Colleges of the world to either get better or get weeded out. UF doesn’t have that luxury on a year-in, year-out basis. They have Georgia and LSU every year. A rotating West opponent that was Texas A&M last year and Bama this year. Under Clemson’s model, I think that you see what has happened at UF since Mullen arrived. 10-3, 11-2, and 8-4. The developmental model means in the SEC that you are going to be average to above average for a few years and then it will all come together once every three or four years and then you fall back to average or above average for another cycle. Bully for UF if they are happy with that, but creating sustained dominance under that model is impossible.
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Clemson also has very recent championships to point to. They struggled for years to get where they are before the flood gates opened. UF has lots of work to do, and I don’t think it can be done that way in the SEC. I don’t think Clemson could have built that machine here either. Now that it’s built, they could certainly come to the SEC and keep it going, but they never would have built that without the luxury of an ACC schedule.
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Clemson stacks talent at QB, WR, and DL. They were ahead of the curve here on these being the most important positions in modern college football.
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This article seems to make the point much more lyrically — https://www.gatorcountry.com/feature/fall-camp-preview-five-offensive-storylines-to-watch/
Nearly every one is an argument as to why the handbags will underperform relative to mediocre expectations. Better title: 5 Reasons Georgia Will Crush the Gators This Year. Reads like poetry to my ears.
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They used to call Coach Goff “One Play Away Ray.” Based on the opening paragraph, could we say Coach Mullen is “A Shoe In The Hand From Being The Man” Dan?
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