re: 2019 Recruiting Thread: Return of the Mullen. Updated 10/30.

Yeah, Stingley definitely on campus too. Just posted a picture in the Gators uniform (all whites) and doing the chomp. Please let Orgeron blow this.

Another big recruiting weekend, another bust.

I'm trying to be patient but it really sucks to see the ease that other programs appear to have getting "I'm committed to (blank)" instead of "I liked the visit". In just this one single area, this spring has been eerily similar to the McElwain era.

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Most of these kids aren’t looking to commit right now

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And yet, of the 9 SEC programs in front of us, 6 of them have 10+ commits. Its called recruiting and not picking for a reason.

Everything else about Mullen's short tenure gives me a lot more confidence than under McElwain, but I can't help but feel deja vu with beat writers spinning banal complements into the equivalent of a half dozen committed blue chips. Wasn't Mullen supposed to be someone who carried some regional cache with recruits, so they wouldn't be committing to an unknown?

This is the thing: There are several recruits that we lead for, not just lead for, who would probably go public if they could get the green light. There are even a few who are in group chats with Florida Commitments (I'm not going to name them specifically, because I feel like they want it private) and just think of it like this:

McElwain had the #1 class for 2019 and 2020 before he got fired -- what would most of you had said if we thumped our chests about that now? I'd wager most of you would shite all over him like normal, and the narrative would be "oh well, it's really early, who cares?"

It's the same concept right now. We have to relax and understand that the targets we're going after are not Florida locks, and they were not Florida locks when we went after them. UGA was ranked 50th until maybe the middle of the season last year.

Summer is stupid, and people who commit this early usually don't stick unless the stars aligned and they weren't looking at other schools -- right now we're getting top tier talent on campus and they're all enjoying themselves and have a lot more respect for Mullen than they ever had for McElwain.

You'll likely feel stupid in December.

Yep. They probably never would have remained and it would have fallen apart, but recruiting rankings before December don't mean jack shite.

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You'll likely feel stupid in December

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My barometer for a good bump class all along has just been top 10. I assumed we would finish between 6-8, too many variables and other contenders to demand top 5 in any given year. I don't think that's unreasonable.

Current top 10: Bama, A&M, OU, USC, Clemson, Michigan, Miami, FSU, Notre Dame, Georgia.

Bama, A&M, Clemson, Michigan, and Georgia are all absolute locks. Texas and Ohio State are currently outside the top 10, but they are also absolute locks.

That leaves 3 spots left in the top 10 for: OU, FSU, Miami, ND, Penn State, Auburn, Tennessee, Southern Cal, LSU, South Carolina, and of course, UF. Do you feel like we're currently positioned to have a stronger close than 8 of those programs? Right now I'd peg us at about average of those groups, which is closer to 12-14 than top 10. Not bad in any given year, not doom and gloom for Mullen's tenure, but certainly not a class that sells us on "the future is now".

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that all depends on the how the season goes. at the end of the day, good players want to play for a winning program. florida isn't a winning program right now.

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Most people forget that UGA was sitting uncomfortably at 43rd around this time and UGA fans were panicking in 2017. A good season will cure everything and the difference between Mullen and some other recent coaches is that he didn't inherit a winning program, and this program hasn't really been winning since 2009.

If he has a markedly good season, we're good. If not, he's going to need to rebuild after a few years and it won't be pretty.

The only thing I know is that when Emory and Jalon are ready, we're going to have a rock solid offense.

Man, you guys really don't follow recruiting at all. He's had 10 times the blue chips on campus that McElwain did all three years combined. I told you guys not to expect commitments until the season started, the recruits he's after weren't favoring Florida at first.

You guys could wait until he coaches one game to start shitting on him.

He is MURDERING McElwain for visits. Murdering. Straight up, cold-blooded murder. He'll have a higher class than any of McElwain's this year, people just have to realize that it's June and it's around half a year before any of these commitments actually matter.

There it is, four star DT Jaelin Humphries commits to the Gators