Not sure Slackman was ever 100%. Nor Boone. He's a leader and if he leaves for playing time hopefully his teammates appreciate that and cheer him on. Guys leaving will be understood and not cause problems. 2025 and 2026 classes will cement our depth as hoped for. It was off the rails for a minute but back on track.
Losing Boone and Jean is hardly earth shattering for UF and is probably better for those two young men, in that they were just not seeing the field. Wishing them success in future endeavors.
Losing guys that haven’t played much hurts the future of the pr. I hated losing that DT to Mizzou last year but he probably wouldn’t have played much this year. He would be a solid starter next year.
Board, I realize we are happy to have Mbatch because it helps recruiting and he might turn out to be a ball player. But he seems like that guy that happens every cycle that we wring our hands over, hoping to land him, then a couple of seasons later he's riding the pine then moves on. Glad to have him for class ranking and hope it works out.
We all thought Collins was a "lock" stud. Just goes to show ya. perhaps it will still work out for him, I hope so. I'm just glad the class numbers are getting into line with what they should be. Now if we can pluck a couple of cherries to place top, on ESD, this will be an amazing close and a good class.
Before his injury, everyone felt that he was going to be in the rotation if not, be the out right starter. One year later and he was passed up thanks in part to our strength and conditioning coaches. Several people have blamed the S&C coaches for the injuries, but that's just nonsense, IMHO. If anything those coaches have made us far stronger and better conditioned than even I had hoped for, as evidenced by how many players played meaningful minutes in games. Our defense has the next-man-up mentality and that's partly because they were physically ready to play, and unfortunately for Boone, he got passed up. I still think he could be a huge contributer to our defense, wish he would reconsider and stay.
He did last year as a freshman prior to being moved inside. I hope he finds his place here rather than transfer and tear it up like APR has. Not that I would root against his success elsewhere just that I want to see it wearing our orange and blue.
