More and more I find myself in agreement with the observation that the upperclassmen doing the most whining to the press and bullying behind the scenes are the ones that were NOT pursued by the NFL to any great degree--that's why they're still HERE! It shouldn't come as any huge surprise that these were not the "older players who could lead by example", and their unspectacular, often mediocre play made a mockery of their blustering efforts at leadership. Why SHOULD these younger players respect and follow guys like Pouncey?
Yeah, the freshmen (many of whom had been in close contact with each other during the recruiting process, deciding to be Gators at least partly because the others did) probably came in with more "Here we are!" flash and swagger than even the normal youthful enthusiasm of kids who were already the best players in their schools, towns and districts. Two or three seasons ago they WOULD have had to wait, when there were true LEADERS on both sides of the ball commanding EVERYONE'S respect who would have cooled things out, and coaches who would have known how to deal with it. By now we NEEDED those "prima donnas", however, so it was a tricky situation from the start, one completely mishandled by a few blowhards' bullying and the usual self-delusional neglect of this coaching staff.
The good news: a lot of these "lessers-of-the-great-recruiting-haul" are about to move on. Attrition alone will change the compositional balance of the team: not only will "the rift" become moot, but the coaches (even the ones that foolishly acquiesced to that disastrous "seniors start, no matter what"-policy) will HAVE to play the young guys--because THAT WILL BE OUR TEAM. They will be relying on them now.