Just how bad was Jim McElwain's recruiting at Florida?

Gators are going to be good again very soon. Just hate it for you that Mac let so much defensive talent suffer with that horrible offense.

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Top 150 offensive players (QB/RB/WR/TE) signed by Gators coach:

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I love how you sneakily specified offensive skill position players to make your point seem more dramatic than it actually is.

This was finally supposed to be the good recruiting class for Mcelwain.

That said... getting transfers to fill in the gaps is the smart play.

2 years ago, Smart pulled in 2 transfers for our secondary. A grad transfer from Bama who played right away and was instantly our best senior. And a 2016 recruit's cousin who had to sit a year and is now a starting safety in the playoffs.

You have to like a coach who can make the smart play when it comes to roster management because it will result in more wins this following season for you.

Recruiting rankings in the summer are often misleading. Florida and Tennessee were in the top 5 while Georgia and Alabama were in the 60s.

Even if the coaching changes hadn't happened, both of those classes weren't set up to finish in the top 5. The biggest issue for both is ensuring that needs get met. Florida has done a decent job so far. Watch how they close on the OLine in February. That will determine how good the class is.

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McElwain was on his way to a top 5-7 class this year. And he won the East 2 out of three years he was there.

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Gators fans shite all over McElwain without considering just how bad we were in 2014 (three short years ago). He obviously did not want to be at Florida, but he was actually turning recruiting around.

That being said, Mullen isn't afraid to go after top tier talent and fight schools for it. McElwain seemed terrified to go after contested players.

He was turning it around


From the recruiting mess HE created. That's like crediting a fat person for losing weight. Yea it's good, but you were the reason you were fat anyways. Just got back to normal.

Mac's first two full classes(16,17) were down right awful average player ranking wise. Haven't had that bad a two year recruiting period since Spurrier's last two classes when he had given up and it showed on the trail.

He had a good class going, but took years to finally get back to the recruiting level Muschamp was at. Never got close to the level Zook or Meyer were at.

The hate is absolutely deserved.

Mullen's pulls so far are really only topped by Georgia and Bama in terms of points add to class if using the transfer points...so that narrative seems to becoming less and less true. Once again..maybe Miss State just sucks to recruit at because it's the second worst program in the SEC, and has nothing to sell itself on over any of the West programs?

So far he has landed
Top tier QB
Two highly touted transfers which is basically the same as recruiting at WR. Both should be able to play next year.
Top JUCO lineman
2nd best kicker in the country(their rankings are never high, but it's still worth praise because you can't get a five star kicker)
Is leading for two top fifty OT's
A highly rated safety
Another safety who is 3/4 star depending on site

All in a month. In fact no one has done more in terms of new coaches compared to that list. So seems he has the ball rolling quite well.

Seems he has done more than a good job considering the hardship of early signing on new coaches.

So you can lay off that narrative. He's also brought in really good recruiters as well. Seider, Warren, Billy(don't even try to say he isn't), and Grantham are all good recruiters. Still hasn't completed his staff as well.

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He had a good class going, but took years to finally get back to the recruiting level Muschamp was at. Never got close to the level Zook or Meyer were at.

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Muschamp had the #96 - #102 ranked class when he was fired. He had single-handedly made Florida into a losing program after Meyer and horribly mismanaged the roster.

McElwain had to fix perception and a host of other problems before even setting foot on the recruiting trail. Muschamp recruited amazingly, but there were so many busts -- all over the field. Or guys who never saw their potential here but somehow went in the first round.

McElwain won the East without a QB, one RB who wasn't a true freshman, no kicker and an stupidly thin offensive line. He's a decent coach, maybe even good, but that is not an environment built for winning.

frick him for quitting early and being a stubborn retard in the end, but give credit where credit is due. We were bad before McElwain got here, we had problems with S&C before McElwain was here. He initially wasn't the problem.

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Once again..maybe Miss State just sucks to recruit at because it's the second worst program in the SEC, and has nothing to sell itself on over any of the West programs?

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You have a million times more talent than Mississippi?

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Seems he has done more than a good job considering the hardship of early signing on new coaches.

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You'll see if recruits buy it next year. They better.

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good recruiters

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Please name someone Grantham has pulled.


*Seider is a stud. Going to be one of the best

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McElwain seemed terrified to go after contested players.

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He flipped Feleipe Franks whom I thought would develop into an all conference QB and one day flay us. Franks played like Miles and Cameron were his coaches the last 2 years. You can keep him, poor kid.