Alright: Here we go on "Recruiting Overview: End of 2012" ...This actually probably'd be better at the END of this season, but you put up the list (nicely done, as usual) etc., so I'm going to just "put it out there", how I see us heading towards NSD...
"The Florida-FSU game could potentially swing a few recruits. Let's look at how the 2012 class has fared so far."
--@Escambia94,
ONLY if we lose BADLY, I think, E-...Otherwise, it'll be MUCH more the "relationships" that have developed/are developing between coaches and players, along with subtle perceptions as to where each believes he is "likeliest" to get on the field soonest, and/or more quickly learn, progress and get to the Pros, and/or how parents feel and/or how far away and/or and/or and/or...By now, the "BIG PICTURE" views are mostly settled is what I figure--but there are a host of "little things" going on in-their-heads/behind-the-scenes that could still end up triggering those dreaded "shocking decommits"" and "sudden late flips" that everyone faces more and more often nowadays.
I could bemoan the "passing of things like trust, loyalty, and keeping-ones-word", but in truth these were all abandoned so far back that even complaining about it seems laughable by now. No use arguing ethics when every one of these kids is being wooed by Head Coaches whose 6-figure-plus contracts are on-the-line--and the "carrot" they dangle for the player is a four-year risk that they'll still be healthy enough to cash in THEMSELVES at the END, IF they start and IF they are good enough and a few OTHER "ifs" that make this a long-odds risk for the player indeed.
So: "What else is new?", you ask? Well, I DO like the way THIS Head Coach and staff have NOT rushed frantically in to fill every spot from the moment they arrived, for one thing. In fact, they were in that first year (2011) more concerned with culling and "shipping out" a number of "losers" and kids who didn't "fit", weren't up to doing things "the Florida Way", as Coach put it. Among the 2012 class above (really their "first" in terms of being ALL theirs, and the product of a whole year of establishing themselves, as much as anything else) are a number of really good freshmen who we needed to step-up, and have; a group of talented-but-inexperienced kids who weren't quite ready but show great promise; and some, mostly red-shirted, who only "team-insiders" know how they are progressing...However, concerning these last, I think we can have a fair amount of confidence even there: This Coach won't "carry" people. If they're still on the team, it's 'cause they have talent (to be here at all) and are working hard--otherwise: "We met and mutually agreed that it would be in young _______'s own best interests that he--"...
We may lose one or two from before with this 2013 "haul", but another mark of how deliberate and well-targeted this staff's aims and intentions is that there hasn't and WON'T be that kind of "scattershot" OVER-grabbing of way too many recruits: They know who they want and why, they will wisely "hedge-their-bets" in this "smile-and-promise-right-up-to-the-last-moment, then-turn-your-back-world", but CHARACTER remains high enough on their list of priorities in the close-knit, got-your-back TEAM that Coach Will is depending on these Gators being if they are to have that "something extra" we've already begun to see "make a difference" THIS season.
Good as "2-out-of-3 of the squads" on our team already are, we can be better, deeper at those TWO--and of course have LIGHTYEARS to go on offense. Not only am I somehow SURE that all that is coming, and soon, I also know that this staff is DETAIL-oriented, and will make sure it gets done, and done RIGHT: From the ground up, with the RIGHT GUYS! I LOVE that, about our Coach, AND this team we are now only beginning to see emerge.
