The College Football thread

“Let me get this straight, Fulmer lied to the NCAA of the many Bama infractions and the UA admitted consent to the overwhelming majority of them (18 if I remember correctly)? Uhhh, ok.”

“That picture came from a Miami Hurricanes website in reference to your illegal recruiting going on down there. Yall recruited during a quiet period. That's a no-no for most of us.”

“Cute... But delusional ; ) : p”

“pixie - think of that in historical context with Truman holding the paper and then it will make more sense.”

“Yeah, I knew Coker was not too happy about UT picking up two commits from Miami and one from Tallahassee. I don't know anything about the quiet period though. Sure it’s not just more of the same BS? Actually, I thought the problem was illegal street agents.”

“Yes, yall had some sort of "agent" recruiting during the dead period. There is about a 2 week dead period in Dec when you can't visit recruits. He wenta visitin'. Also, yall took your greyshirt recruits with you to the Cotton Bowl to practice. Can't do that either. You're gettin' bad as Bama.”

“Football must be run the same way as poly-ticks down there in da south. LOL!”

“It's a step above that and tied with religion. It's above religion for some, maybe most?”

“Our coach who art in heaven hallowed be thy name,
Thy championship come,
thy will be done,
On the field as in heaven,
Forgive us this day our NCAA cheating,
And forgive UT for cheating against us.”

““Yes, yall had some sort of "agent" recruiting during the dead period. There is about a 2 week dead period in Dec when you can't visit recruits. He wenta visitin'. Also, yall took your greyshirt recruits with you to the Cotton Bowl to practice. Can't do that either. You're gettin' bad as Bama.”
dayhiker

Actually, the grey shirt situation was not a violation. Didn't pay attention to the details but the Bama have made themselves look like a fool once again. Somebody down there has to learn to read. Here are the details from a Bama article:

http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=374495

As far as the street agent goes, there is about as much clout to that acquisition as the tooth fairy.”

“I started reading the link and something came up and haven't finished. I'll go back and finish, but so far it seems to say we screwed up and could've taken our 3 players. Drat.”

“IMHO practice for a grey shirt is in reality of little benefit. Be thankful the cash will be better spent, like for buying this years recruits. J/K!”

“We're having a good recruiting year for sure. We're filling lots of gaps. Our biggest problem next year will be all the freshman and RSFR having to play OL. It'll be a long year next year. '06 should be much better. Did I mention that our b-ball team is playing pretty good?”

“Spoken like a true Bama fan....


just wait until a couple years from now.”

“Hey, at this point all we have is the future. We dang sure don't have the present.”

“We've got 4 Five Star recruits now. AND...

Turner, the latest in a line of athletic 6-5 receivers who have committed to USC in recent years, was the talk of San Antonio last week during practices leading up to the Army All-American Bowl. He is currently ranked as the #3 wide receiver in the nation by scout.com and he's considered one of the truly elite players in this class (52 receptions for 931 yards and 10 touchdowns).”

“SC now has six 5 Star Recruits! Woo Hoo!”

“Sounds like SC will do well again. It's good to see that you're a real college football junkie, pixie.

But I always take these recruiting rankings with a grain of salt. This was sent to me by a friend:

By ADITI KINKHABWALA STAFF WRITER

Nine years ago, when his friend with the personal Internet service provider
threatened to kick him off his network, Donald Forbes thought online
interest in recruiting might be ridiculous.
A former Rutgers lineman, Forbes had created a site with links to stories on
his alma mater's potential recruits. He was surprised by how many hits he
was getting and that he'd overloaded his friend's network, but he remembers
thinking it could just be because there weren't all that many sites doing
the same thing.
Schiano surprises Below are three not-so-highly touted recruits who have
excelled for Rutgers, and three who were ranked highly by Scout.com that
have flopped in college: Exceeded hopes TE Clark Harris, 2-stars, 2002 -
He'll be a Mackey Award candidate for the second year in a row this fall. TE
Sam Johnson, 1-star, 2003 - He occasionally started ahead of Harris. S Ron
Girault, 1-star, 2004 - The biggest gem of all, he was headed to Penn till
Schiano invited him to shore up his backfield. Unfulfilled hopes LB Berkeley
Hutchinson, 5-stars, 2002 - He was arguably the best player in New Jersey,
but school wasn't for him and he's now reportedly in the Army. K Justin
Musiek, 4-stars, 2002 - Mired in a revolving rotation two years ago, he
transferred last year. Incidentally, current kicker Jeremy Ito was a
three-star in 2004. WR Donny Diaz, 3-stars, 2003 - The junior college
transfer has yet to step on the field.
Until Greg Schiano came to Rutgers. Then Forbes said he knew: Online
interest in recruiting, was "officially ridiculous."
By the time Schiano introduces his fifth recruiting class today on national
signing day, Rutgers' fans will have pored over articles, interviews, video
clips and experts' opinions. Where his on-field results have not
consistently excited, the Rutgers coach's recruiting has, Forbes said,
"given people so much hope. He's brought in kids people have lost their
minds over."
Sadly, that's not happening this year. It's the first February, recruiting
experts say, Schiano's class is not better than his previous year's.
The talk on sites such as Forbes' rutgersfootball.com has taken a different
tone, and neither Internet expert nor fan sees a game-breaking
difference-maker in the group.
But Rutgers' fans take heart. One expert, the man who's currently gauged the
newest group of Scarlet Knights the Big East's least impressive, said
concerns may be premature.
"This is all a crapshoot," said Bob Lichtenfels, the regional analyst for
Scout.com, rutgersfootball.com's home network. "You can't tell how you did
till three or four years down the line."
Not that what he does now isn't taken seriously. Chatter about recruiting
has been big business for years and Scout is just one of several online
magazines with six-figure subscription numbers. Scout employs eight
full-time regional analysts and a pair of national ones to pore over
videotapes, attend combines, scout games and evaluate prospects.
Some are former coaches, all attend coaching clinics and their evaluations,
broken into a star assessment (five for the nation's top 50 kids, four for
nos. 51-250, three for nos. 251-750 and two for any evaluated Division I
prospect) are what drive expectations and dash hopes.
Schiano has in the past done little to hide his distaste for these
recruiting analysts' findings. Yet Scout national analyst Jamie Newberg said
in 15 years of doing this, he's found many other coaches around the country
who willingly cross-check their findings with him.
"We're not just throwing darts on a wall here," Newberg said. But it goes
both ways, he admitted. Just as he hopes his service can get the name out of
an underexposed player, he knows with roughly 2,500 Division I signees every
year, there are bound to be some that slip through the cracks or were never
even entered in Scout's database.
How else to explain one-star safety Ron Girault who, barring a last-minute
offer from Rutgers, wouldn't have been a starter in the Big East as a
freshman last year? Or one-star tight end Sam Johnson who ended up getting
offers from nearly every Big East school as a Bergen Catholic senior three
years ago?
All three of Scout's five-star New Jersey prospects and seven four-star
prospects are going someplace other than Rutgers this year.
Of the 16 three-star recruits, two reneged on verbal commitments to Rutgers
(Hun DT Luqman Abdallah picked Miami and Oakcrest LB Dakota Walker is still
deciding), one (Shawnee DT Ryan Blaszczyk) didn't, and the total absence of
any four- or five-star kids from any state on Rutgers' day-before-signing
list is a first for Schiano.
Still, Newberg insisted that doesn't spell doom, not with so many hidden -
and unratable - variables. Evaluating recruits, he said, is like judging a
beauty pageant. It's very subjective and everyone has different criteria.
The bruising lineman one coach likes isn't the smaller, quicker one another
likes. Some kids don't fit some systems - Rikki Cook of Montclair, the
player Forbes said started "the fever pitch" around Schiano's recruiting
back in 2001, never did and transferred.
Some don't acclimate to school, such as 2002 five-star linebacker Berkeley
Hutchinson who's now reportedly in the Army. Some don't adjust to the game's
speed and some, such as 2004 four-star lineman Jeremy Zuttah, are everything
they're billed to be and then some.
"A college coach has to evaluate a recruit's character, his background, his
academics. We don't do that. We evaluate his talent, on the field, as it
is," Lichtenfels said. "It's the coach's job to make sure a recruit is
viable in his system."
Today, Schiano will tell Rutgers' fans who his newest Scarlet Knights are.
Hey, junior Clark Harris, recently named the nation's top tight end by
cbssportsline, was a two-star. So was sophomore Devraun Thompson, a two-year
starter at middle linebacker. Today, Schiano will say this entire class,
regardless of Scout's stars, are all stars.
Tonight, Forbes will fire up his message boards. Talk will be raging - it's
time to start assessing next year's stars.



Every year our paper runs a "Where are they now?" story. It's amazing how many highly rated recruits don't pan out and how many unkowns become known. Look at how many small colleges are represented in the pros. How did the recruiting services miss those guys?


That being said, I CAN'T WAIT TO POST OUR SIGNING CLASS! I agree, pixie, WOOHOO!!!”

“We wish we could have J Hasty. Local kid we saw play in a highschool game. He just signed with Washington. Oh well. They need some assistance. LOL!”

“Yes! Auburn has one 5 star! He's from the same town I work in too... LaGrange. Coincidence? hmmmmm....”

“Urban Meyer did the impossible. He recruited a top 10 class IN HIS FIRST TRY. With almost no time to recruit, Meyer did what no other coach has done before him. After a complete coaching change at Florida, and after the loss of Florida's recruiting coordinator, he had a higher rated recruiting class than any new coach ever. Meyer had no time to develop the relationships necessary for recruiting, so this may be Florida's worst recruiting class for some time.




Meyer excited about class, team in 2005
By Eric Orvieto/GatorSports.com

Urban Meyer closed the door on his first National Letter of Intent Signing Day as a Gator and brought home a class that ranks between 10th and 16th overall depending upon whom you ask.
With the firing of former head coach Ron Zook, Meyer got a late start and did not have much contact with recruits, because of his commitment to finish coaching the season at his former school, the University of Utah, who played in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on January 1.
“I made a decision to coach in the Fiesta Bowl,” Meyer said. “It was the right thing to do for my players there.”
While still at Utah, Meyer was putting together a coaching staff in Gainesville, in order to get the season started off early and not hinder recruiting.
“The basis of U.F. football starts now. We don’t wait until August. We start in January,” he said.
Being a self-proclaimed “new recruit,” himself, Meyer had to learn the campus as well as be head coach.
“The first couple recruiting weeks, I was like on a recruit visit, walking around and looking,” he said.
A major issue with a new coach coming into a program is trust. A trust between coaches, players and a system, which Meyer is going to have to deal with throughout the Spring as well as the entire first season as Florida head coach.
“Relationships are built on trust, and right now there is zero,” Meyer said. “Trust is something that is developed. Trust takes a lot of time.
“If players say they trusted me, they would be telling a lie, and if I said I trusted a player, I would be lying too,” he said. “More workouts like we had this morning will help develop trust.”
Trust is a main issue in the recruiting process, dealing with high 17 and 18-year-olds and their parents. Meyer said the support staff at the university, including the faculty, staff and coaches, made many recruits’ decisions easier, such as linebacker Jon Demps, who Meyer gave a late-night call to on Tuesday night. Demps signed with the Gators on Wednesday.
“I’m going to write a book about this stuff,” Meyer said. “Some of it you wouldn’t believe.”
Selling the Gators to recruits was difficult for Meyer and the new staff, since they did not have much knowledge about the school and community.
“I was selling a blue shirt with a gator on it and a stadium,” Meyer said. “That’s all I knew. We have a hell of a product to sell here.”
The Gators had many needs to fill in this year’s class, especially linebacker since the departure of sophomore Channing Crowder to the National Football League Draft. Meyer and his staff signed four linebackers, with a possibility of five. Eric Sledge, who is listed as an athlete by the staff, could end up as the fifth linebacker.
Meyer said that the Gators will be moving to a one-back set, leaving a need for more wide receivers. Four high school wideouts were signed on Wednesday, including Sledge and U.S. Army All-American Nyan Boateng.
The early rankings of the Gators 2005 recruiting class have it as one of the best in the nation, ranked 10th overall by Scout.com, 14th by Rivals.com and 16th by ESPN.com’s Tom Lemming, though it is difficult to rank a group of high school seniors.
“Ask me to evaluate this class in three years,” Meyer said. “It takes three years to tell how a class turned out.”
Meyer is anxious to get to know the University of Florida campus as well as the team he will be coaching in 2005, though it will be a lot of work ahead of him.
“I got two solid hours of sleep and I’m ready to go,” he said.




Rivals.com

1 Southern Cal
2 Florida State
3 Oklahoma
4 Tennessee
5 Nebraska
6 Michigan
7 Miami-FL
8 California
9 Georgia
10 Texas A&M
11 Iowa 23
12 Ohio State
13 Auburn
14 Florida
15 Virginia Tech
16 Alabama
17 Maryland
18 Clemson
19 Virginia
20 Texas
21 Arizona
22 South Carolina
23 Arkansas
24 LSU
25 Penn State


Sports Illustrated

1. Tennessee
2. Michigan
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. Iowa
t6. Florida
t6. Nebraska
8. Ohio State
9. Virginia
10. Texas
11. Virginia Tech
12. USC
13. Arizona
14. Alabama
15. Texas A&M
16. Cal
17. Miami (Fla.)
18. Auburn
19. Clemson
20. UCLA
21. N.C. State
22. Florida St.
23. Purdue
24. Notre Dame
25. So. Carolina


Scout.com

1. Tennessee
2. Michigan
3. USC
4. Florida State
5. Georgia
6. Oklahoma
7. Ohio State
8. Iowa
9. California
10. Nebraska
11. Florida
12. Miami (Fl)
13. Texas
14. Arizona
15. Virginia
16. Alabama
17. Texas A&M
18. Virginia Tech
19. South Carolina
20. LSU
21. Clemson
22. Auburn
23. North Carolina State
24. UCLA
25. Maryland


Super Prep

1. Tennessee
2. Michigan
3. Southern California
4. Florida State
5. Oklahoma
6. Nebraska
7. Georgia
8. Florida
9. Ohio State
10. Iowa


Max Emfinger

1 Oklahoma
2 Southern Cal
3 Tennessee
4 Florida State
5 Nebraska
6 Texas A&M
7 Florida
8 Georgia
9 Miami-FL
10 Michigan




Experts like Meyer's 1st haul

By Robbie Andreu
Sun sports writer

In the Urban Meyer vs. the last two Florida coaches recruiting battle, the first round goes to Meyer.
That's the consensus of the recruiting analysts, who have Meyer's first recruiting class ranked higher than the initial classes put together by Steve Spurrier at South Carolina and Ron Zook at Illinois.
Meyer's recruiting class is ranked No. 10 by Scout.com and No. 14 by Rivals, while Spurrier brought in a solid class that rates No. 19 by Scout.com and No. 22 by Rivals.
Zook, known for his recruiting prowess, finishes pretty much off the charts with his class, drawing a No. 44 ranking by Scout.com and No. 50 ranking by Rivals.
"Ron Zook struggled," said Jamie Newberg of Scout.com. "It's a situation where he came in too late. There just wasn't enough time for him to make up any ground.
"It's a shame because he's a great recruiter and this was a good year for top kids in Illinois. But most of them went elsewhere. If it had been next year, it would have been a different story."
Zook, however, did gain a victory over Florida on signing day, gaining a signature from highly rated wide receiver Derrick McPhearson, who signed with UF a year ago but failed to qualify academically. McPhearson was down to UF and Illinois.
"Getting McPhearson is real huge for Illinois," Newberg said. "But, overall, they didn't do much."
Zook's highest rated signee is running back Rashard Mendenhall from Skokie, Ill.
While Zook started slow and ended slow, Spurrier (like Meyer) started slow and closed fast, putting together a solid class of 28 prospects.
"Spurrier really struggled when he first got there and it looked for sure like he was going to have a tough time putting together a class," Newberg said. "But they had a big January and capped it off (Wednesday) with a big day."
Spurrier hauled in two big-time national recruits on signing day - Tampa Middleton wide receiver O.J. Murdock, who also considered Florida, and defensive end Jonathan Hannah from Hope Mills, N.C.
"Normally, I don't brag too much about recruiting classes," Spurrier told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "But I think it is an excellent group of athletes that we've been able to sign."
Newberg agrees."The first signing class is the toughest because there's no time to build relationships. Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier did a real nice job of coming in and making up a lot of ground, but Ron Zook really struggled."





Gators fill needs at linebacker after an assist from Brandon Siler
By Robbie Andreu
Sun sports writer

As a true freshman linebacker last season, Brandon Siler showed he can do some special things on the football field. Over the past few weeks, the Florida Gators have discovered he can be pretty special off the field as well. In a much different role.
Recruiter.
During a strained and catch-up recruiting season for the Gators, in a year where Florida faced a desperate need for linebackers, Siler played a pivotal role for new head coach Urban Meyer.
He helped sell recruits on a coaching staff and a program he doesn't even know yet. And, probably most important of all, he helped turn Pensacola linebacker Jon Demps, a silent FSU commitment, into a Gator signee in the 11th hour early Wednesday morning.
Demps' surprising late switch from Seminole to Gator helped the Gators fill their biggest need, at linebacker, which helped Meyer put together a successful first recruiting class, one ranked in the top 10 nationally by at least two recruiting services.
"There's a word called faith that's different than trust," Meyer said. "Trust is earned. Faith is something you believe in but don't know. There is some faith in our program. Brandon Siler today did a great job helping us with a big-time recruit (Demps). That's faith.
"Brandon Siler must love this university and he wants to win because he sold us like he's known us for five or 10 years. That's when you get things going."
With a little less than a month to put together a recruiting class, Meyer and his assistants got things going by scouring the nation and finding 18 future Gators. The Gators, saddled by a late start due to the coaching change, the Gators looked everywhere - from California, to New York, to Texas, to Virginia, to Georgia and Florida.
They signed one of the nation's top quarterbacks, Josh Portis, a Californian.
They signed a highly rated wide receiver from Brooklyn, Nyan Boateng.
They reeled in a wide receiver (David Nelson) and a running back (Kestahn Moore) from Texas.
They got linebacker help from Virginia (Darryl Gresham) and Georgia (Kalvin Baker).
And they finished strong Wednesday, in their own state, securing Demps, Daytona Beach Mainland cornerback Avery Atkins and South Miami offensive lineman Simon Codrington, considered a strong FSU lean.
By the end of the day, Meyer and the Gators had a class ranked 10th by Scout.com and seventh by Max Emfinger.
"Florida has got to feel real good right now with the way they finished," said Jamie Newberg of Scout.com. "They got off to a late start, but they closed ground in a hurry.
"That staff had a big need at linebacker and they filled it, which was absolutely critical. Rankings are meaningless. You've got to go out and fill needs and that's exactly what they've done. Winning that battle for Demps was huge."
The Gators signed four linebackers, with Demps, the highest-rated, being the last to sign after he'd informed the UF and FSU coaches the night before that he was going to be a Seminole.
"That was gigantic," Meyer said. "That took a late-night phone call and it didn't end until this morning. Linebacker was the big need.
"Two weeks ago, I was as worried as I've ever been because we had zero (linebackers) in the boat. Our ability to compete next year will depend on a freshman or two playing at linebacker. That shouldn't happen at the University of Florida. Maybe one or two will play for us next fall."
The linebacker class likely will eventually grow to five, Meyer said, because wide receiver/defensive back Eric Sledge from Apopka figures to grow into a linebacker.
"He's a big, fast, athletic young man," Meyer said.
Meyer said the Gators also filled their other most pressing needs, at quarterback, wide receiver and cornerback.
Portis is already enrolled in school and will get some reps at quarterback in the spring.
"He's a guy I watched in spring practice last year and I thought, 'This is the guy that should run this style of offense,' " Meyer said. "He's athletic, he's got a quick release, he's a good student and he's got size. He's got to develop a little bit, but he's a high character guy and a terrific athlete."
In the secondary, Meyer said Atkins likely will compete for immediate playing time in the fall.
"He's extremely talented, has good size and can play man coverage for you," Meyer said.
Despite not signing any defensive linemen, Meyer obviously was pleased with his first recruiting class, one he says is also strong academically.
"My gut feeling is this is an excellent class," he said. "In the 11th hour, to turn a guy like Demps, then have Atkins jump in and Josh Portis already on campus, along with (offensive lineman) Ronnie Wilson, there are some excellent football players coming to the University of Florida.
"Our staff did an outstanding job. Now, we have to develop these player. There are very few academic risks as well. I see schools signing players I just can't see making it (academically). They sign them and place them in junior college. We can't do that."

NOTES: After going nationwide this year, Meyer said UF will scale down its recruiting area starting next season. "You'll be amazed how much we'll scale it back. It's going to be Florida, Georgia and Texas. (Assistant coach) Doc Holliday (who recruits south Florida) said this was not an abundant year in Florida. They say next year will be," Meyer said. ... Meyer said Wilson recently underwent surgery after fracturing his foot for the second time since October. ... Linebacker became an even bigger need than earlier thought because redshirt freshman Javier Estopinan, one of only two linebackers signed a year ago, has bulked up to 275 pounds and will move to defensive end, Meyer said.




2005 CLASS:

Josh Portis
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

QB Josh Portis 6-foot-3/195-pounds/4.55 40-yard dash William Howard Taft High School (CA)
As one of the most talented and athletic quarterbacks in the nation, Portis has thrilled crowds throughout his high school career. With one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, Chris Leak, cemented into the Gators starting job, there is little chance, barring injuries, of his playing right away. This will give him time to learn the Urban Meyer spread offense, which he could thrive in because of his great arm and running abilities. He is a big fan of Meyer, having originally committing to Utah, Meyer’s former school, and following the Gator coach to Gainesville. Portis is rated as one of the top-10 overall quarterbacks in the country by many recruiting services, including ESPN.com’s Tom Lemming. He could be a welcome addition to a Gator football team, learning under Leak and from Meyer.

Kestahn Moore
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

RB Kestahn Moore 5-foot-10/198/4.4 Mansfield Summit High School (TX) Moore is a multi-purpose back who can do it all. He can run the ball with power and speed, catch the ball well out of the backfield and block very well. He is coming to a Gator team that is weak at the running back position, with junior Ciatrick Fason declaring early for the National Football League draft. He averaged almost 10 yards per carry in high school, showing his big-play ability, something the Gators could use in their new offense. He had 1,256 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns as a senior in 2004. After visiting the University of Florida, Moore stated that he was very impressed with head coach Urban Meyer and his coaching staff.

Nyan Boateng
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

WR Nyan Boateng 6-foot-3/195/4.45 Abraham Lincoln High School (NY)
One of the most talked about and sought after receivers in the nations, Boateng did not play in his senior year due to a broken left ankle suffered before the 2004 season. He was still selected to start for the East squad in the U.S. Army All-American Game, where he starred. As a junior, Boateng had 55 catches for 950 yards and 16 touchdowns, showing off his big play ability, with a huge yard per catch average. He has the size and speed to dominate at the next level, and possibly play early in his Gator career. His overall ranking dropped significantly in the preseason, because of his injury, but the Gator coaches knew that they were getting a playmaker.

Louis Murphy
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

WR Louis Murphy 6-foot-3/180/4.54 Lakewood High School (FL)
A less heralded recruit than some of the other wide outs in this class, Murphy has very good size, a lanky build that will only get stronger and thicker as time passes, and decent speed for a college wide receiver. His high school stats were not mind-boggling because of the running offense he was a part of, but Murphy still managed to be ranked among the top-50 wide receivers in the country by GatorCountry.com and Rivals.com.

David Nelson
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

WR David Nelson 6-foot-6/190/4.5 Rider High School (TX)
Nelson is a huge receiver, who has the ability to grow into a dominator. At 6-foot-6, he will create a mismatch with any defensive back he lines up against. His speed is very good for a player of his size. His amazing senior year statistics of 91 catches for 1,648 yards and 18 touchdowns show just how solid he can be in college. He could grow into a build of former USC wide receiver, Mike Williams, who dominated from the start in college. Nelson may not play early, because of the great depth at receiver for the Gators, but when he does play, he will no doubt make an impact with his size and athletic ability.

Eric Sledge
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

WR Eric Sledge 6-foot-3/185/4.56 Apopka Senior High School (FL)
Sledge played both ways, as a receiver and a defensive back at Apopka. He will complete the Florida trifecta, with cousins of his at both Miami and Florida State, when he signs with Florida. Cousin Brandon Meriweather plays for the Hurricanes, while Adam Jones, his other cousin, plays his college ball for the Seminoles. Sledge was one of the states top safeties, but will most likely make the transition to full-time receiver. His knowledge of both sides of the ball can only help his move to offense, while he brings good size and above average speed. He will enjoy having time to learn, with the Gators already having a strong receiving group in place at Florida. This will help his move to the offense full-time. Rivals.com ranked Sledge as the 27th best receiver in the nation.

Brian Ellis
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

TE Brian Ellis 6-foot-3/235/4.6 Mainland High School (FL)
Ellis is a great athlete, who plays the tight end position like former Gator, Ben Troupe, with speed, great pass-catching ability and a knack for the big play. He was a four-year starter on the Mainland basketball team as well. At Mainland, Ellis was a talented defensive end, as well, though he projects to play full-time at tight end in college, though he will also get a look at linebacker, because of the lack of depth at that position for the Gators. He comes into a situation with no set tight end, and has a chance to play and make his impact early in his Gator career. Ranked at the 11th best tight end in the nation by Rivals.com, Ellis will use his good speed and size to develop into a solid player for Florida.

Eddie Haupt
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

OL Eddie Haupt 6-foot-4/290/5.1 Merritt Island Senior High School (FL)
Haupt projects to be an offensive guard in college, and has dominated defensive linemen for three years starting for Merritt Island. He is a very smart player, having scored a 1320 on his SAT test as a junior. He has good athleticism and very solid footwork along the line, and coaches say he has a mean streak that comes alive during games and helps him push defenders around. He is ranked as the 24th best offensive lineman by GatorCountry.com and the number 17 guard by Rivals.com. He has a lot of room to still grow, according to his coaches, which bodes well for the Gators, who will have a solid lineman to anchor their line, and a guy who will work hard and get better.

Ronnie Wilson
By Eric Orvieto & Josh Altshuler
GatorSports.com

OL Ronnie Wilson 6-foot-3/335/5.4 Blanche Ely High School (FL)
Wilson is a 335-pound monster guard, who could eventually join with Eddie Haupt to make a very athletic and punishing guard tandem for the Gators. He is rated by Rivals.com as the 16th best offensive guard in the nation. Blanche Ely has produced many star college football and NFL players, including current Philedalphea Eagles teammates Jerome McDougle and Corey Simon. This is a good sign for the Gators, because many Ely players are very close to being ready to play at the next level.




Meyer proves a quick study on recruiting trail
By Pat Dooley
The Gainesville Sun

Urban Meyer was working, as Seinfeld once said, on nooo sleep unless you consider "two solid hours" of shut-eye to be adequate. He looked tired, he looked excited at the same time. He looked like a coach who can't wait.
He can't wait to coach the players he just signed. He can't wait to see what kind of class a full year of recruiting will bring next year.
Because this class of 18, one of the best dozen classes in the country, will be the worst one Meyer brings to Florida.
If this new Florida coach can get a group of football players like this with all of the obstacles he and his staff had to face, imagine the class he could get next year and the next year, etc.
Imagine what he can do with 12 months to work with instead of a few weeks.
Imagine what he can do now that his feet are soaked in the perspiration that is recruiting in the South.
"This was the most intense recruiting I've ever been a part of," Meyer said Wednesday.
Imagine what he can do with more time and more contacts in South Florida.
"Recruiting South Florida, that's a different deal," he said. "It's a relationship business down there more than anywhere else. I'm going to be speaking down there more and giving clinics. It won't be a problem anymore."
And imagine what he can do without all of the issues he has had to face since being named Florida's coach and jumping on the recruiting trail.
Let's see, he was short on time, lost his recruiting coordinator in the middle of the process and had to deal with poison in the system. The firing of Ron Zook may have opened the door of opportunity for Meyer to get the Florida job, but it shut a lot of doors that led into the offices of high school coaches around the state.
For example, there was Jacksonville Ed White High, where cornerback Bryan Evans was leaning toward the Gators when Zook and former White coach Dan Disch were let go. That caused the shattered trust that Meyer spoke about Wednesday and certainly some hard feelings.
When two Florida assistant coaches showed up at White after Meyer was hired, they were told by new coach Terry Gilliam that they could not speak to Evans.
Undaunted, Meyer tracked Evans down at the his UPS job and talked him into an in-home visit. (It would be a better story if Evans ended up in Gainesville, but he signed with Georgia instead.)
There were other players who felt betrayed by the firing of Zook and I'm guessing the former UF coach wasn't real positive about the University of Florida when talking to recruits who had committed to him. Not that you can blame him.
But despite it all, all of the back-biting and negative recruiting that was out there, Meyer and his staff put together an excellent class. Especially when you grade it on a curve, which you must.
"If you had told me that we'd get 17 or 18 players of this caliber back in December, I'd have thought 'I don't know if we can do that,' " Meyer said. "With 85 scholarships, you can't make a mistake. Our whole intent was to make sure we didn't have any mistakes."
He thought it might be one of those miniscule classes, maybe nine or 10 players.
Instead, it is bulging and dripping with talent.
"You never see a team in the top 10 that has a coaching change," said recruiting guru Jamie Newberg of Scout.com, which ranked UF's class 10th. "What he did is unheard of."
By comparison, I give you the first classes of the last two coaches at Florida.
Steve Spurrier's first class included players like Jay Austin, Greg Gingeleski, George Rushing, Scott Travis and Craig Carey - hardly household names in Gator lore. Only three of the players in that class - Michael Gilmore, Dean Golden and Harrison Houston - started half of Florida's games in their fourth years.
Zook's first class has only four players who are projected to be starters next season and one of them - Dallas Baker - was actually a Spurrier recruit who re-signed. Six of the 19 players from that class are gone, two of them to the NFL.
This isn't to bash Spurrier or Zook but to illustrate how difficult it is to put together a top-notch class for any first-year coach. It was difficult for Nick Saban and Bobby Stoops and Pete Carroll.
It was supposed to be nearly impossible for Meyer. The one advantage he had was that period in December that most coaches don't have when there is a coaching transition.
"It helped," Meyer said, "but we didn't get a lot done."
The real recruiting came right after Utah's Fiesta Bowl win when Meyer went to the California home of quarterback Josh Portis, now in school at UF, and then took the red-eye to Miami. That kicked off a hectic few weeks, a few weeks too few with too few hours of sleep.
The end result was this class of substance.
"It's not filler," Meyer said. "These are quality players."
You could say the same about the guy who brought them here.




2005 Schedule

Sep. 3 Wyoming
Sep. 10 Louisiana Tech
Sep. 17 Tennessee
Sep. 24 at Kentucky
Oct. 1 at Alabama
Oct. 8 Mississippi State
Oct. 15 at LSU
Oct. 29 vs Georgia
Nov. 5 Vanderbilt
Nov. 12 at South Carolina
Nov. 26 Florida State




Making the grade is a challenge

Information abounds on players and schools, though ranking classes is hardly an exact science.

By Josh Robbins
Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 30 2005

Allen Wallace cannot predict the future. He makes no such claim.

This Wednesday, though, his opinion will matter to college football fans across the country. After all, Wednesday is National Signing Day.

Wallace and his colleagues within the recruiting industry -- and, yes, it has become an industry -- will provide instant analysis, ranking how each Division I-A team fared collecting new players.

"We're not trying to pretend that we have a crystal ball," said Wallace, the national recruiting editor for Scout.com and the publisher of SuperPrep magazine. "I'm not trying to pretend that I can foresee the future. We're just trying to take a look at the team and the talent it has as of a given day.

"And as I've freely told people in the past, a recruiting class changes every single day from the moment you sign it. It's like a living thing."

Recruiting rankings have become every bit a part of National Signing Day as letters-of-intent and signing ceremonies. Hundreds of high-school seniors have been graded for their football aptitude, and once they sign with particular colleges Wednesday, their new schools will be graded, too.

But although recruiting rankings have become more scientific, more exhaustive and more accurate through the years, they are anything but foolproof. Attempting to determine how teenagers will play in college is a difficult task, and a multitude of factors ultimately determines the success of any recruiting class.

For that reason, longtime recruiting analyst Bobby Burton, the editor of Rivals.com, agrees that team-recruiting rankings should be seen as snapshots in time.

"You can't account for certain things," Burton said. "While it is a snapshot in time, I think the general feel of it is that it also is a pretty good indicator of the talent level on the team."

Analysts can point to past successes. When taking into account the rankings of five leading analysts -- Burton, Max Emfinger, Tom Lemming, PrepStar magazine and Wallace's SuperPrep -- LSU finished with the nation's consensus No. 2 recruiting class in 2001 and with the consensus No. 1 class in 2003. In 2003, LSU won a share of the national championship, which seems to validate the analysts' rankings.

From 2000 through 2004, Texas finished with consensus top-five classes three times. In 2004, the Longhorns were 11-1, including a Rose Bowl win.

But for every success, there's a cautionary tale.

In 2000, Florida had the consensus No. 1 class in the nation. Three leading analysts -- Burton, Lemming and Wallace -- ranked the Gators No. 1. But that class, with quarterback Brock Berlin as its headliner -- failed to live up to the hype.

In 2001, Florida State finished with the consensus No. 1 class, with four recruiting analysts ranking them first overall. But that class also failed to live up to the hype.

"You can't tell what's going to happen," said fullback B.J. Dean, a member of FSU's 2001 class who became a starter. "You recruit a player because he did well in high school. OK, he still has to make that transition from high school to college. It's two different playing levels. Who's to say that it's going to happen?"

Simply put, no one can predict for sure how a recruiting class will fare, but that hasn't diminished fans' appetites for analysis.

Burton has seen the coverage of recruiting change immeasurably since the early 1990s, when he served as editor-in-chief of the National Recruiting Advisor. In those days, he published nine eight-page recruiting newsletters and two magazines each year.

Now, updated recruiting information -- and rankings of players and colleges' recruiting classes -- is available at any time of the day and on any day of the year.

"The Internet was a quantum shift," Burton said. "It increased the depth. Recruiting used to be cloaked in mystery. In '95 and '96, people didn't know what to think of everything that was going on. It was all rumor and innuendo."

With the sea change brought about by the Internet, the emphasis on rankings increased.

To simplify their rankings, Scout.com and Rivals.com employ a system of "stars" to differentiate certain groups of players. So-called "five-star" players are the cream of the crop, followed by four-star players, three-star players and so on. Players are ranked within each star category, too.

Jamie Newberg, the national recruiting analyst for Scout.com, considers ranking players one of his most important tasks. Newberg said he has "a few thousand" videotapes of players sitting in his office. Using those tapes, his conversations with college coaches and the feedback from his colleagues at Scout.com, Newberg determines players' rankings.

It often is a difficult process -- one made no easier by teams' fans.

For instance, earlier this month, Newberg dropped Nyan Boateng, a wide receiver from Brooklyn, N.Y., from four stars to three. Newberg had watched Boateng work out for six days in San Antonio, Texas, for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, and Boateng's ranking slipped in part because he missed his senior season because of injury.

Florida fans disapproved when Boateng fell to three stars because he has verbally committed to UF. That three-star ranking will hurt the Gators' final overall ranking, if Boateng indeed signs with UF.

"The fact of the matter is you can't please everybody, and you've just got to do what you think is best. You've got to do what you think is right," Newberg said.

"We hope that we are doing those things, and we try our damnedest to."

Ranking players correctly also is a priority at Rivals.com, said Jeremy Crabtree, a national recruiting analyst for the company. He spends much of the fall on the road, watching prospects, and he said he has seen each of Rivals' top 100 players play in person. This spring, he and his colleagues will hopscotch across the country to evaluate rising seniors during spring practices and at camps.

He has so many videotapes of players that he likens his office to a Blockbuster store.

"Film is great," Crabtree said. "You can see a lot of amazing things on tape. But when you go out and see a kid in person, you can see some of the similar things that the college coaches see. What happens when the hotshot quarterback throws an incompletion on the big third down in the third quarter?"

The player rankings ultimately factor into the final team rankings. The higher a player is ranked, the more "points" his college receives in those rankings.

Programmers at Scout.com and Rivals.com have devised mathematical formulae to compute teams' overall recruiting rankings. The formulae take into account talent signed by the school, the balance of the class across different positions and whether the school filled its major needs in recruiting.

Scout.com is using its automated system for the first time with the Class of 2005, while Rivals.com has used its computerized system since the late 1990s. Officials from both companies say the computerized rankings eliminate any bias for or against particular schools.

Yet even though recruiting analyses and rankings have become more sophisticated and complicated in recent years, class rankings do not necessarily predict on-field success.

Wallace stressed that the quality of coaching ultimately determines whether a team is successful.

"The most important point would be coaching is more important than talent," Wallace said, citing the emergence of USC under Pete Carroll and Maryland under Ralph Friedgen. "There's a lot of really good examples of programs that were never the same after the right guy took the job.

"Then, the most overlooked factor in terms of the quality of football anywhere is player development. You notice how guys get better, whereas you look at teams that are supposedly pretty talented, but their players don't seem to improve."

Will a player adapt to the academic system at his college of choice? Will a player mesh with his teammates? Will a player have off-the-field trouble?

These are questions that ultimately determine whether a recruit becomes a successful college player. Unfortunately, these questions cannot be answered by watching a high school senior play in person or on tape.

UCF Coach George O'Leary acknowledges that it is inevitable for college coaches to make some mistakes in evaluating players' talent. A key, he said, is not to recruit players with bad attitudes.

"If you miss, you better not miss on locker-room guys," O'Leary said, meaning locker-room cancers.

"If guys aren't playing and aren't helping you in games, you need to make sure they're at least helping you in practice and doing something in the classroom."

Attitude is just one of the factors that no recruiting analyst can predict.

"We can only give these rankings and do our jobs based on what we know," Newberg said. "We can't look into a crystal ball and then know what a kid's going to do post-signing day. Grades, acclimation to school, acclimation to football, how hard is the kid going to work, do the players get developed -- there's a lot of variables that we have no idea about. You just can't.

"So, we have to base it on our due diligence and research from the time we get on a kid through that signing period."”

“I just wanted to share a story that means a lot to me. As I read the sports headlines about Emmitt Smith retiring, a feeling comes back as if it were yesterday.



As any college sports fan knows, Emmitt Smith played college football for Florida (Although he was the Parade Magazine, USA Today, and Gatorade national player of the year, recruiting guru Max Emfinger called him a plodder who would never play in the NFL). He left for the NFL in 1990; the year that Steve Spurrier took over as head coach. He continued to come back to Gainesville in the off season because of a promise he made to his mother. He finally graduated from UF in 1996.

Something happened, around 1994, that I’ll never forget as long as I live. I play city league softball every now and then. We have one particularly great sports park, with lots of ball fields. I was walking to my game one day, deep in concentration, when I felt that someone was watching me. You know that feeling? I looked up and there was this guy with a softball bat, on the other side of a baseball backstop, looking right at me with a big grin on his face.

To this day, I don’t know whether he was smiling because I had something hanging out of my nose, but that was not my impression. This guy had a serenely friendly smile on his face as he looked into my eyes. It was the kind of look that said humbly and shyly, “Hi, how ya doing? My name is …, what’s yours” It was one of those moments where two people just connect in a spiritual way. To this day, I can almost see God smiling at me through his expression. It was the kind of expression that I couldn’t help but break into a big smile of my own. I didn’t recognize the guy immediately and couldn’t imagine why he would be smiling at me. Then I looked down at his freakishly large legs and recognized him as Emmitt. He was far enough away, and I was in a hurry to get to my game, that I didn’t stop to talk. I just remember that as I walked away, I had a big smile and an overwhelming feeling of love in my heart.

There was nothing about his expression that was cocky. It was almost a boyish, “Glad to meet you” kind of expression. There was nothing in his eyes that said, “I’m Emmitt Smith, don’t you know how important I am?” It was just two human beings connecting in a friendly way.

Most folks know that I couldn’t care less about pro sports. Professional athletes have never been my heroes. But as I heard about Emmitt becoming one of the best at his profession, and finally the all-time rushing leader, I’ve always admired his humble approach to life. Emmitt’s life has been different from most “normal” folks. In this day of “Look at me, I’m great” athletes, I’ve always admired his humility.

As I looked at the pictures of him tearing up during his farewell interviews, as I read about him thanking all the people in his life who meant so much to him, it brought these memories flooding back and I got teary myself. Here is a guy who a large part of society treats with reverence. Here is a guy who had every opportunity to fall into that narcissistic ego trap.

Even if it hadn’t been Emmitt, I think I would always remember that smile; the humble love of humanity I saw in his expression. Because it was Emmitt, that memory will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s a feeling I hope always to carry with me.

God bless you, Emmitt Smith.”

“Good story. He has the best smile.

My cousins that live in P'cola came through the same hs that he did, though a few years behind him.

arc - do you remember who is breakout game was against? I was watching that game. He ran for about 250 yds against Bama at Legion Field. A Bama guy asked me just today if I remember that game. I do. I watched it live.”

“pixie lookout!!! USC may be losing offensive coordinator Norm Chow to the NFL namely the Titans. He will be meeting with Coach Fisher possibily this weekend”

“I didn't really remember that until you sent me that email, Day.

There was an article, that mentioned it, in our local paper. I hadn't realized that it was his freshman year. Our local sports hack called it his "coming out party."

I just remember that I new Florida was headed in the right direction when we beat Bama at Bama.


WOAH! That's incredible news Ewker. If USC loses Norm Chow, they'll have some huge shoes to fill.”

“Bama fans call it his coming out party too, among other things. I vivdly remember the game. I was emailing with a moderator from a Bama board the day of the retirement. He too asked if I watched the game. It was one of those, I remember when type of moments.”

“I know. We'll miss him. But we'll be fine. Carroll will find a good replacement.

Good luck Norm!”

“A Day At The Office With Phillip Fulmer

6:00 Feast on doughnut breakfast bar at Krispy Kreme.
7:00 Enter office on UT campus, aka NCAA South Annex.
7:01 Doughnuts and coffee.
7:10 Send Rich Johannigmeir thank you card for excellent doughnut casserole recipe.
7:15 Finish keynote address for DETECTIVES R US banquet.
7:25 Early morning snack: doughnuts and ice cream.

8:00 Daily conference call with Miles Brand and staff.
8:30 Mid-morning snack: doughnuts au gratin.
8:45 Meet with personal attorneys.

9:00 Meet with UT attorneys.
9:15 Early lunch: salad with dougnhut croutons.
9:30 Meet with Athletic Dept. attorneys.
9:40 Meet with Team attorneys.
9:50 Video tape my SEC Media Days 2005 speech.

10:00 Mid-morning lunch: doughnut pudding.
10:10 Meet with remaining attorneys.
10:23 Order doughnut supreme pizza with stuffed crust and double icing.
10:25 Make weekly payment to NCAA 'secret witness' special fund.
10:30 Send all UT employees invitation to Easter doughnut hunt at my place.
10:40 Late-morning snack: grilled doughnut and cheese.
10:50 Make final payments on SUV's for NCAA Investigators.

11:00 Meet with private investigators on upcoming Georgia football scandal.
11:15 Transfer LSU private investigators to South Carolina.
11:18 Triple private investigators on Florida project.
11:30 Lunch with TN STUD and significant others.

12:15 Round of golf with Roy Krammer and TN circut court judges.

1:00 Late-afternoon lunch: Cream of Doughnut soup and crackers.
1:15 Give all salaried athletes 'cost of living' raise.
1:20 Afternoon snack: doughnuts with anchovy paste.
1:30 Afternoon nap: dreamed of throwing rocks at YOU ARE NOW ENTERING ALABAMA sign.

2:00 Meet with faculty re double credits for chair-stacking classes.
2:15 Meet with 'bag man' re doubling SEC Office 'special fund.'
2:20 Early supper: hamburger steak smoothered in doughnuts.
2:30 Feasability study of establishing AL, GA, FL, LA and SC circut court judges 'special fund.'
2:40 Mid-evening snack: doughnut/sardine sandwich.

3:00 Attend Bensel-Meyers book burning.
3:30 Accept invitation to 'bob for doughnuts' in TN STUD'S hot tub Friday night.

4:00 Supper at Krispy Kreme: doughnut smorgasborg.

6:00 Supper at home: country fried steak with doughnut gravy.

8:30 Bedtime snack: doughnuts stuffed with fried liver and onions.

12:10 Midnight snack: bacon wrapped doughnuts with spinach and yam filling.”

“Funny. Does anyone else find it odd that a Bammer fans continually accuse:

#1. TN fans as being redneck hillbillies? "Thank God for Mississippi."

#2. UT Football of being a program of cheaters on the eve of the first Bamer season in close to a decade where there was no NCAA probation?”

“I think we're more jealous with what all you get away with. That lady in Mobile that paid Tee Martin wasn't a booster? Puhlease.”

“From CNN:
Orioles pitcher Eric DuBose was charged with driving under the influence in Sarasota, Fla., on Monday morning, about 12 hours before he was scheduled to start a game at the team's minor league complex. According to the police report, a deputy saw DuBose's truck swerve across the yellow line three times. Upon pulling him over, the deputy noticed that DuBose's speech was slurred, he exhibited poor balance, had watery and blood-shot eyes and an "odor of alcoholic beverage." When instructed to recite the alphabet, DuBose allegedly said, "I'm from Alabama, and they have a different alphabet."”

“Ahhhhhh, Spring scrimmage for the GATORS.

Urban Meyer directed the GATOR'S Spring scrimmage this past Saturday. He was pretty surprised because:

58,500 FANS CAME TO THE SCRIMMAGE.

Does anyone else's team have similar fan support?”

“The Gautier Middle School Gators have a good support base every year. ;-)”

“Absolutely, I think UT still holds the record for the most folks to ever watch a spring football game. If I remember correctly over 60K. BTW what does that got to do with fan support? It certainly has more to do with a hopefulness that the program will recover. LOL, I hope the Gators return to #2 in the SEC.”

“I hope the gators smell like #2”

“All your teams are going down next season. Woo Hoo! : P”

“New sheriff in town

After the Zook Error, Gators embrace Meyer quickly
Posted: Monday April 11, 2005 1:09PM; Updated: Monday April 11, 2005 5:45PM

Urban Meyer will try to turn a program that hasn't won an SEC title since 2000 back into a national-title contender.
MR. FIX-IT
Records of Meyer-coached teams before he arrived and the two seasons that followed:

School Before First Second
Bowling Green ('00-02) 2-9 8-3 9-3
Utah ('02-04) 5-6 10-2 12-0
Florida ('05-) 7-5 ? ?

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The parking lot of the Gainesville Hampton Inn last Friday night looked very much like it does before a Florida home game. Orange-and-blue painted messages adorned the rear windshields of SUVs crammed with tailgate supplies. Meanwhile, restaurants and bars across town were overflowing, and a pep rally was being held on campus.

The Gators' home opener, however, still is nearly five months away. This was the scene prior to Saturday's spring game, the aptly named Orange and Blue Debut, which drew an estimated 58,500 spectators (nearly 20,000 more than any previous), among them such former Gators stars as Danny Wuerffel, Jack Youngblood, Shane Matthews, John Reaves, Neal Anderson and Taylor Jacobs. A message scrawled on the back of a Ford Explorer in the aforementioned parking lot summed up the source of such curiosity: "The Urban Legend Begins."

The scrimmage was played under a gloriously sunny Florida sky, which was only appropriate considering Gator Nation has spent much of the previous three years living under a heavy fog. Having suffered through the Ron Zook disaster of 2002-04, the 58,000 came to get a taste of anointed savior Urban Meyer's glitzy new offense and, thanks in part to a set of rules that intentionally "handcuffed" the defense (no blitzing, man coverage only), they got exactly that. Footballs flew through the air from the opening play, with third-year quarterback Chris Leak passing for 168 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter, 17-year-old early enrollee Josh Portis throwing for 253 and four TDs, and receivers Andre Caldwell (eight catches, 148 yards, one TD), Dallas Baker (six, 134, three) and Chad Jackson (seven, 87, one) supplying an endless highlight reel of one-handed grabs and over-the-shoulder catches.

The orange-and-blue faithful surely headed for the exits with visions of championships spinning in their heads. That buzz likely will carry them through the next five months, or at least until the third week of the season, when likely top-five opponent Tennessee comes to town Sept. 17 for what will be the toughest SEC indoctrination imaginable for the former Utah head coach.

"This will be one of the most important offseasons in the history of this program," Meyer said shortly after addressing his team for the final time until August. "We have a talented group of guys. How talented? Some people say they're real, real talented, others say they're average. I say they're somewhere in between, and the [offseason] development will be important."

There's no disputing the collection of talent, most of it accumulated by Zook, a tireless recruiter and all-around nice guy whose tenure was doomed from the start. His detractors began forming the day he was hired as Steve Spurrier's replacement despite no prior head coaching experience (and as athletic director Jeremy Foley's third choice, no less) and grew with each misstep of his three straight five-loss seasons.

That talent is a major reason the 40-year-old Meyer is here, not South Bend, Ind., where most presumed he would flock following Tyrone Willingham's firing last November. Despite his Catholic heritage and previous tenure as an assistant with the Irish, Meyer, who in just four years as a head coach at Bowling Green and Utah has established himself as one of the sport's most innovative offensive minds, was too intrigued by the potential of meshing his unique "spread-option" system with Florida's wealth of speedy athletes. Meyer spent much of the 1990s enamored with Spurrier and the way his teams so often scored at will on their opponents. Though he won't come out and say it, there's just enough cockiness in Meyer to see him aspiring to that same role. If you happened to watch Utah's final regular-season game last year against BYU, when the Utes lined up in a five-wide, shotgun set on fourth-and-goal from the 2, you know there's more than a little Spurrier in him already.

But just because he's inheriting the SEC's leading returning passer, Leak, and a plethora of running backs and receivers with 4.4 speed -- all of them more naturally gifted athletes than he had to work with at Utah -- that doesn't mean Meyer's Gators will instantly start pumping out 46 points and 500 yards per game like Utes did in their 12-0, Fiesta Bowl season. For one, Meyer will be facing tougher competition; secondly, Meyer's intricate offense takes a while to grasp; and, most notably, most of those vaunted athletes (senior Baker, juniors Jackson, Caldwell and running backs Skyler Thornton and DeShawn Wynn) have done little the past two seasons to live up to their hype.

"Our receivers here are not as close to developed as [Utah stars] Steve Savoy and Paris Warren were," said first-year offensive coordinator Dan Mullen, who has been with Meyer since Notre Dame. "Those two might not be as fast as the guys here, but the guys here have a long ways to go on the fundamentals and developing the work ethic. We started to see it, though, at the very end [of spring]."

Indeed, Meyer said the receiving corps, which on paper could be one of the finest in the country, improved from a "D" early in spring to "almost an A" by the spring game. The running backs have been a bit of a disappointment, with neither Thornton, Wynn or redshirt freshman Markus Manson emerging as a capable successor to 1,267-yard rusher Ciatrick Fason.

But the most important development of the spring has been the progress of Leak, whose leadership and arm strength Meyer criticized early in spring. The quarterback's job in Meyer's offense requires pinpoint accuracy and intricate decision-making -- on a typical "option" play, Utah's Alex Smith would choose between running it himself, pitching to a running back or motion receiver or tossing a shovel pass -- and while Leak didn't run much Saturday due to his non-contact status, he looked poised and sharp in the passing game, completing 14 of 20 passes for 221 yards and four touchdowns. "He finished [spring] as a quarterback who, there is no doubt in my mind, can run this offense," said Meyer.

Meanwhile, Meyer consistently has heaped praise on the defense, a young unit that started to show promise late season and has at least four emerging stars in junior linebacker Earl Everett, sophomore linebacker Brandon Siler, sophomore strong safety Kyle Jackson and redshirt freshman defensive end Derrick Harvey. "I've seen some really good defenses and I know what good defenses are, and this defense is getting close," Meyer told the Gainesville Sun.

Meyer's imprint on the program in just four months' time goes well beyond offense and defense. After assembling an impressive coaching staff (retaining respected defensive coordinator Charlie Strong and luring veteran south Florida recruiter Doc Holliday from N.C. State and co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison from Notre Dame, where Meyer was once an assistant) and a surprisingly strong recruiting class (helped when Portis, a top-five quarterback prospect, decommitted from Utah to follow Meyer to Gainesville), the 2004 national coach of the year went about repairing every last aspect of the program that had become damaged during the Zook era.

Miffed by the lack of toughness he saw on last year's films, he amped up the winter conditioning program, bringing in new strength coach Mickey Marotti (another ex-Notre Dame colleague) to oversee grueling 6 a.m. "mat drills." Concerned about strained relations with the student body, he set out to meet with every fraternity and sorority on campus and initiated a contest to coin a nickname for the student section at the Swamp. He placed phone calls and sent letters to former players -- many of whom felt disenchanted the past few years -- to let them know they were welcome at games and practices. There even was a meeting with the band director to make sure the team will be able to sing the fight song after victories like Meyer's squads did at his previous schools.

With the weight of mammoth expectations set both by himself and Florida's legion of victory-starved fans, Meyer looked visibly worn down while sitting in the coaches' locker room following Saturday's game. He has taken just one day off since arriving for good following the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl, and still he feels like he's "behind."

"The urgency is much greater here because of our schedule and who we play -- I read the preseason stuff, and half our schedule is in the [preseason] rankings," Meyer said. "So, I was hoping we'd be a little further ahead, but I'm not disappointed. I think we'll be OK.

"I really like our staff, I really like the potential of this team and this in the best place in the country. I mean, [nearly] 60,000 for the spring game? Unbelievable."

Gators fans can hardly believe what they're seeing, either.”

“I wonder what will happen if Meyer goes 11-1 for three years in a row, but can't get by UT?

Think the fans will still be happy?”

“FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who in their right minds could ever be a GAYTOR fan???????”

“I better get my Crowing done before the season starts and my Wolfpack crashes and burns again....

The North Carolina State Wolfpack will run the table in the ACC and be this year's National Champions!!!!!!!

ok, stop laughing, it could happen in an alternate universe.”

“You don't need Florida to spell Citrus, so I don't follow your logic chili. Seriously, yall should be loaded the next few years.”

“The thing I really love about what I'm reading in our local rag is that Meyer stresses leadership and mental toughness. He's sorta like Ward Cleaver joins the Marines.

Florida was a great finesse team under Spurrier, but I never thought of them as a tough, hard-nosed team. They got creamed by Nebraska in ’95. They lost one to Notre Dame that they should have won, but Notre Dame out-toughed them. They lost to Michigan under Zook, but Zook had them looking like cream-puffs anyway.

It looks as if Meyer is trying to make them into a physical team in the style of Nebraska. Physical, skilled, and fast. I will be very interested to see how this all plays out. Tennessee will be a HUGE wake-up call for Meyer. Tennessee, Bama, LSU, Jawja, … WELCOME TO THE SEC URBAN!

Once again, the SEC looks to be the toughest league in the land. Tennessee should have a couple of great ones at quarterback for the next couple of years, as will Florida. I am already salivating for the Tennessee game.



I remember going to the Citrus Bowl (You can’t spell Citrus without UT) with a friend, one year. Tennessee was playing Penn State and my friend was a big Penn State fan. I had my blue GATOR hat on. I had grown up a Penn State fan, but I was preparing to root for Tennessee because I usually root for the SEC teams. Florida had beat Tennessee that year, but had lost some games later in the season. Tennessee was ranked above the GATORS at bowl time.

There were many more Tennessee fans than Penn State fans at the Citrus Bowl. As we were walking to our seats, a middle-aged lady tapped me on the shoulder from behind. In a snooty voice she asked me, “Feeling a little outnumbered?” I turned around so that she could see that my GATOR hat wasn’t Penn State blue. I smiled at her and said, “Ma’am I’m a gator fan but I’m here to root for Tennessee.”

I will never forget her sour expression as she looked at me and said in a very nasty voice, “Oh, the second best team in the SEC.” Then she quickly turned her back and walked off in a huff.

I’ve always thought that southern hospitality was an overrated concept, but this was too much. I stood there for a second with my mouth open. I couldn’t believe the rudeness of this grown woman. Then I decided I’d have to root for Penn State. Penn State crushed Tennessee and Florida won its bowl game. Florida finished the season deservedly ranked higher than Tennessee.


GO GATORS!!!”

“Notice how quite the Tennessee fans are this week?

Don't tell me all the fans are in jail too?”

“I'll bet CS is busy with her new bail bonding business.

Did yall hear the flap between Spurrier and Fhat Fhil?”

“Vols Hall of Fame: http://www.vandygold.com/volshallofshame.htm”

“arclite, on a good note, at least all the roadsides in Tennessee will be clear of debris and overgrowth once all those Vols finish their "community service"”

“Hunt on Friday, go to the game on Sat, pick up trash on Sunday. That Orange is multi-functional.”

“sure can tell who all is jealous of UT =)”

“Not I said the Bama fan.”