New Guys All OVER The Place!

[DRU2012]

Or does it just FEEL that way--as much because we keep getting faked out by the "reliable sources", who have seemed to get EVERY important hiring step wrong this time, at least as far as the Gators are concerned?
How do y'all feel about these latest "surprises"?
I don't know enough about our new DC to make any specific comments or criticisms now--only general observations regarding the trend Chomp has stuck with of bringing in guys with high-level professional experience. That'll definitely play well with prospective recruits, and even before I have some time to see them vetted under scrutiny from Gator Nation, all that experience isn't a BIT discouraging to me either. We wanted change and we wanted it ASAP, and BOY it looks like we're gonna get it!
Can't deny there's a LOAD of time, skill and knowledge accrued in this staff, along with mad recruiting talent AND an evident preference for the finding and teaching of young athletes over the cynical commerce of the NFL. These guys WANT to be here, have chosen to help young men become the Gators they can be.
That's my opening overview: What are y'all thinking?


​

 

[Escambia94]

BOOM! Mus-chomp has made some very good business decisions. Maybe some of this was in the works when he was the coach-in-waiting and maybe some of this shows just how quick he can work. In terms of long term investment in the Gator football program, these are all good hires. He used a balanced portfolio of experienced NFL and NCAA coaches, and vastly improved the NCAA-NFL pipeline to entice those high school recruits to Florida. This is all we can assess right now, so I give him an A based on the limited body of work. My thoughts on each coaching hire:

Will Muschamp HC A - great business sense, great energy, great leadership so far
Stan Drayton RBs B - I like the guy, but I do not know how he will fit into the Weis offensive scheme
D.J. Durkin LBs/ST B - good for continuity, but last year's LBs and ST were not up to Meyer standards
Aubrey Hill WRs A - I like grabbing former Gators, especially if they can recruit in south FL
Trav Robinson DBs B - also a good south FL recruiter, not a lot of background to evaluate, but decent
Dan Quinn DC/DL B - NFL experience, but at lower levels for the most part
Frank Verducci OL/RGC B+ - lots of NFL experience, pushed a lot of NFL talent
Charlie Weis OC/QBs A - hate him or love him, he is a rock star on offense and NFL talent breeding
Brian White TEs A - good keep, has developed a new breed of catching TEs

Mickey Marotti S&C A+ - best move Mus-chomp could have made

 

[onzevil]

Thank you

 

[Next Level Sports Video]

Does anyone know about this guy?

 

[Next Level Sports Video]

Who are Florida's top recruits coming in

 

[Next Level Sports Video]

Did any Florida recruits decommit because of Meyer?

 

[Next Level Sports Video]

Anybody here on the forum this afternoon?

 

[Next Level Sports Video]

Weiss is much better as an assistant.

 

[DRU2012]

Anybody here on the forum this afternoon?

A lot of folks (myself included!) back at ("real") work this afternoon I guess; Your Q's are all good ones, concerning subjects I'D like to know more about as well, so hang in there. I think we'll get some reaction in the next few hours...
Regarding your "Anyone know this guy?"-question, am I right in assuming you're asking about the new DC, Quinn? I don't have much to add to Escambia'94's bullet-point above myself. Hoping E- and our other "deep cover guys" can fill us in.
We have lost 4 previously-committed recruits since Meyer's announcement, and I do believe that in at least one or two of those cases they really DID decommit because of that announcement--which also still gives us a shot at getting them, BTW. In a couple of cases though I believe it just gave the kid an opportunity, a "plausible excuse" after a long relationship with the Gator program to essentially reneg on a once solemn promise and make a move they'd already started contemplating (I'm thinking specifically now of that kid who so suddenly and quickly went over to SOW--seemingly within MINUTES of the big news coming out regarding our Head Coach retiring).
I think you're dead on about Weis being better suited as strictly "The Guy In Charge of the Offense"--exactly what he'll be here at UF. Coach Will has already smilingly admitted he's "not an offense-guy", and wanted to bring in someone who was to run the everyday-including-gameday side of things there. Charlie W. should EXCEL in that role with us.
Let's wait and see what the Envy-crew has to say on all of this and more.

 

[Escambia94]

I agree with DRU's response. If the question is about Quinn, not much is known about him. His record implies that he is good at what he does. He has little actual coordinator experience, so Mus-chomp hired him because he saw an upside in him or he wanted someone that he could "control" and still provide input on defense. Nothing wrong with that. Mus-chomp is a defensive genius, so if he wants to be head coach and co-coordinator on defense then who should argue with that?

Recruiting is about relationships. Meyer and his staff developed good relationships with its recruits, and when those guys left to retire, coach at Temple, or find jobs at who-knows-where, that left the recruits in limbo. Think back to when you were in high school looking for a mentor to guide you through that jump to college, the military, or that lead manager slot at McDonald's. There is an emotional attachment there, and some of the kids that were attached to Addazio, McCarney, and Heater are apprehensive of joining the Gators with all these new faces. Some of these kids have dreamt of donning the orange and blue since they were kids and would have joined the Gators even if Mickey Mouse were the head coach. Some of the kids look at UF as a leaping point into the NFL. Some live close to campus. That being said, we are going to lose a few recruits this year, and it will take a concerted effort by Mus-chomp to re-assert the Gator recruiting machine. We lost CB Nick Waisome to SOW and DE/LB Ryan Shazier to Ohio State. We may lose a couple more unfortunately since SOW looked better than us THIS YEAR, and is more certainty and stability to many Florida recruits, but I can see Mus-chomp fixing that next year. Mus-chomp had to recruit in a pretty tough Texas arena, and he successfully fended off and out-recruited fellow Big 12 and some Pac 10 powers that tried to poach from Texas.

The short answer: be patient. Next year may not be the best year, but we have lots of upside for the coming years. If I were an optimist, I would even say that with this formula we could theoretically shock the world and over-achieve with 10 wins and a top 10 recruiting class. Realistically, we will have 7-9 wins and a top 20 class. Pessimistically, Charlie Weis will eat up all the fast food in Alachua County and scare off future recruits that visit campus only to find there is nothing to eat but campus food during their visits.

 

[GainesvillebornNraised]

new offense has me the most excited not only will we actually be passing more then 15 yds again but we'll have alot more top recruits looking at as that didnt before because our old offense wasnt too appealling to RB's and WR's that really wanted a chance to get their yards and TD's

 

[DRU2012]

It's a little scary taking those "couple of steps back" recruiting-wise at THIS point in the whole process, just weeks before "letter-of-intent" day--but, given the situation, it couldn't be helped. Still, I'm relatively calm, even optimistic (at least for me, a well known "half-empty" sort-of-guy): by all accounts (and from my own observations up-close here in Austin) CHOMP is the Tazmanian Devil of relentlessly high-energy go-after-the-best-and-get-him recruiters. We've got a few other good ones among the new guys AND the coaches retained--and Weis is no slouch either. Factor in the whole professional-experience appeal (there may be no staff and/or program in America that can top our implied "prepare-you-for-the-NFL" argument now!), PLUS the possibility that CHOMP MAY be able to influence a Texas prep-star or two into wavering, at least maybe putting off their decisions and giving us a closer look, and you begin to see how we might be able to close ground fast at the end.

 

[JvilleJohnny]

Dan Quinn

1994 - William & Mary (DL)
1995 - Virginia Military Institute (DL)
1996–1999 - Hofstra University (DL)
2000 - Hofstra University (DL/DC)
2001–2002 - San Francisco 49ers (DQC)
2003–2004 - San Francisco 49ers (DL)
2005–2006 - Miami Dolphins (DL)
2007–2008 - New York Jets (DL)
2009–2010 - Seattle Seahawks (DL)

Collegiately, Quinn played at Division-III Salisbury State College (now Salisbury University) as a defensive lineman from 1990 to 1993.

 

[Escambia94]

It will be interesting to see how many Texas longhorn recruits we can rip away this year because of Mus-chomp. Hard to say how many more Texas recruits we will be snagging in the future, but by becoming a more national program it does give us a recruiting advantage over SOW and FSU if this pans out. This will also help hold off other teams that have been raiding Texas and Oklahoma for recruits, most notably Boise State.

 

[SEC_Supreme]

Who are Florida's top recruits coming in

http://www.gatorenvy.com/forums/gat...1-latest-recruiting-happenings.html#post60441

 

[Casper9364]

New to this blog, and I love what I'm hearing, and the expertise you guys have on Gator football. Like I said, I'm new to this, caught the Tebow craze which transformed into a Gator love, and I just have one question. Whats SOW I keep hearing repeated? Needless to say, I'm very excited for next season, and even more excited to see what Chomp & Weis can do with the Gators level of recruiting.

 

[SEC_Supreme]

I just have one question. Whats SOW I keep hearing repeated?

SOW refers to "School out west". It's what Meyer referred FSU to.

More recruiting stuff. I didn't really see a whole lot in there about who we were gaining ground on, but nonetheless...

Gators gaining ground on prospects

 

[DRU2012]

I see what you mean about the article: headline is promising--too bad it's not really the theme of the actual column...Still, some good intel there (BTW, anyone else get a bit of a "warning twitch" when they hear/read comments from young recruits that are, say, "over-the-top" in their self-promotional tone? I know things are more like that everywhere these days, that these young men are at the center of a storm of attention and opportunity, big fish in small ponds and all that; as competitive athletes they HAVE to be positive, confident, so it's not surprising that some take this to a level where it becomes braggadocio. It's just that after some of our problems in the locker room this past season I am particularly attuned to this issue, and there's a "line" out there that marks a point of danger, beyond which only one or two guys can drag a whole team. I can't define it exactly, but I "know it when I hear it", right? Don't want to point fingers at this stage, but it's out there.)

 

[Escambia94]

Speaking of new guys, it looks like we are getting a full-time DC that is not Dan Quinn. The candidates for 9th coach that Mus-chomp is going after are all DCs.

 

[DRU2012]

I hadn't heard that (I'm going to make a quick search of my "incoming"--just got home & have to get ready to go out again--social obligation blah blah blah, so don't have time I really need here)...If so, I'm really glad to hear that, actually--I think Quinn looks like a fine young up-and-coming defensive coach,but I wanted CHOMP to have someone who he can entrust to both carry out his plan AND bounce ideas back and forth with--closer to an equal at that level, rather than someone he is to a certain extent "bringing in to help".