top 5 recruiting story-lines

[radbag]

Despite the fact they have but seven public commitments to date, the University of Florida opened up at No. 13 overall in the initial Rivals.com Team Recruiting Rankings.

No other program in the top fifteen in the rankings has as few commitments as the Gators. UF is highly ranked based on five of their seven commits being rated as 4-stars.

The ranking is just one of the many early recruiting stories.

Here are GatorBait.net's top five recruiting story-lines to date.




NO. 5 - STAYING INSTATE

Last year, right at 55% of Florida's signees (12 of 22) came from out-of-state. Though it's still early, with the prospects remaining on the board, it looks as if this class makeup will have an overwhelming Florida flavor to it. As it stands right now five of the seven public commitments reside inside the Sunshine State borders.

The reason behind the turnaround is two-fold.

First and foremost, for the class of 2008, the instate territories which are normally kind to the Gators were down a bit in talent. While the Panhandle and South Florida were loaded, Jacksonville down through Orlando and over to Tampa weren't quite as stocked. While Jacksonville is still a little off (though it will rebound in a big way for the class of 2010), the rest of the Gator strongholds have better talent this year.

With improved talent in their traditional instate strongholds, UF can fill their needs instate.

Another reason to stay instate, rather than going out-of-state is that two of their three targeted areas, Georgia and New Jersey, have strong instate programs. At one time it was possible to go in to either state and take a couple of highly rated prospects. Now with both programs on the upswing, that is much easier said then done.

Then there's Texas. The Gators can usually cherry pick a player or two here and there from the Lone Star State, but with the absence of Greg Mattison, who had ties to the state, that is much harder.

As it stands, over the first five months of this recruiting cycle, the Gators have done much better instate, while slipping somewhat when it comes to out-of-state recruiting.

NO. 4 - DISAPPOINTING RESULTS IN GEORGIA

During his Signing Day press conference Urban Meyer stated that when it comes to recruiting, it was his intention to, 'hammer (the state of) Georgia really hard.'

To prove his point, he not only assigned two assistant coaches to the state - he took the extraordinary step of making Georgia their primary recruiting area.

Kenny Carter (in North Georgia), doesn't have a recruiting region in Florida, while John Hevesy (South Georgia) has the least fertile recruiting area in the Sunshine State (starting in Gainesville he stays east of Tallahassee and west of Jacksonville all the way north to the Georgia border).

So far, they've come up empty for the most part.

Of the twenty Peach State prospects ranked four-stars or above by Rivals.com (actually there are no five-star prospects in the state), the Gators have landed but one (Greg Reid), while being listed as a possibility by six others. Of those six, Florida is only legitimately in the running for two, but the odds on favorite for neither. Both Jarvis Jones and Johnnie Farms have the Gators up on their board.

Jones will likely visit. However, with three offensive lineman already on board, whether or not Farms is a UF priority is debatable.

Over the last two recruiting cycles, Florida has signed two prospects a year from the state. Unless something dramatic happens, despite making a more determined effort, UF might have to settle for two being the ceiling once again.

Maybe by hammering the state this year, it will pay off down the road? Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. However, don't look for it to pay huge dividends this year.

NO. 3 - WHERE ARE THE QUARTERBACKS

Tim Tebow making history as the only player to win the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore was a mixed blessing for the Gators.

The upside is obvious.

Tebow's considered to be the best player in the nation, while also being the most visible player on the collegiate level and he still has two more years of eligibility remaining.

When it comes to recruiting though, it is a mixed bag.

While all of his positives tend to have a favorable impact on most prospects at most positions, when it comes to attempting to land a quarterback - what Florida has to fight is that they have Tim Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, with two years of eligibility remaining.

Not only that, in a class=ContentDbAnchor href=cviewplayer.asp?Player=85064>Cameron Newton (So.) and John Brantley (Fr.), UF has two other Rivals100 quarterbacks on the roster who are underclassmen.

With that being the case, it's going to be nearly impossible to land a top quarterback in the class of 2009.

The good news for UF is, unless Tebow goes pro early or one of the other two decides to leave, they are set at the position, so getting a quarterback isn't a priority.

However, if one of the two scenarios listed above happen, the Gators will need to add a signal caller to this signing class.

The most obvious choice early on was Aaron Murray, but he decided on Georgia over the spring. UF's depth chart likely played a small part in his decision, but the overriding factor was his comfort level with UGA and their coaching staff.

That leaves a couple of names on the board (Morgan Newton and Tate Forcier for example), but no real strong possibilities at the moment.

The Gators might find themselves taking a player who could play quarterback or other positions on the next level. A player such as Denard Robinson.

NO. 2 LANDING BIG BROWN

To non Gator fans, seeing Big Brown likely brings images of the race horse or the delivery company.

On the other hand, for the Gator Nation, what immediately springs to mind is Quincy (FL) West Gadsden Rivals100 defensive tackle Gary Brown.

Forget the fact that big-time defensive linemen are worth their weight in gold and landing one from any state or region is cause for celebration. What makes this even sweeter for Florida, and worthy of being the No. 2 recruiting storyline, is that they were able to go into the back yard of instate rival Florida State and land a player who just a week earlier appeared to be destined to be a Seminole.

It was the first time in the Meyer Era that the Gators have gained a commitment from a Tallahassee area prospect. They haven't broken all the way through yet, and may never, but they've at least now gotten a foot in the door in the area.

Remember though, there's still seven months until signing day and anything can and will happen. Brown, however, sounds very solid at this time.

NO. 1 THE NEW FACILITES

Depending on the prospect and his priorities, there are a ton of things that go into a young man's final decision. From dorm rooms, to distance, to depth charts. From coaches, to (night) clubs, to (school) colors.

There have been some ridiculous reason's given by prospects as to why they made the choice they made.

For the most part though the main factors are distance, depth charts, winning, coaches and schemes. When all of those factors are somewhat even, facilities play a big part.

Actually, facilities play a big part period.

Don't believe it, go to the search page, click the network and articles box and then type in facilities. See how often it appears in prospect updates.

You've heard Meyer go on and on about the new facilities over and over again.

Prospects have been hitting on it and finally when they are closer to completion come Friday Night Lights, you will see how much of a difference Florida's new 28 million dollar football facility is going to play in the Gators recruiting success.

If you believe the hype (and too many people have raved about them for it to not be true), Florida is on the verge of upgrading from a rowboat to a yacht.

Jonotthan Harrison raved about what he saw while on his last unofficial visit. He said he saw what the old weight room was like and he couldn't believe what they were doing.

Now, Harrison, a long time Gator fan, was going to commit to UF regardless of whether or not the facilities were upgraded.

However, for other prospects, those who didn't grow up Gator fans - those new digs are going to take Florida to another level in the recruiting game. I would stake money on that becoming a fact.

And that is why, whether you talk to a coach, a commitment or a uncommitted prospect, the new facilities are the top recruiting headline for UF this cycle.

[TheTodd]

I don't expect a top class just because the numbers will be down (signing 14 or something like that), but I think they will be the best 14 they can sign.