LSU started 3 impactful true freshmen this year. 2 OL and a future AA Linebacker. Can we get a few of those for next year? Pretty please?
Orgeron left Kelly a lot more talent than Mullen did Napier. I will take as many impactful freshmen as we can get. We will see a lot of youth on the field next year. Hopefully Napier farms the portal well to supplement
I don't know about that. There were only 39 scholarship players left on LSU's team by the time Kelly walked through the door. He and his staff did a stellar job of building a roster that was competitive in the SEC. Maybe those 39 players were on average better than 39 of ours.
Without knowing who the 39 are I would have to say they probably were. Just remember that four of our six most productive players were transfers from Louisiana with Napier, transfer from ASU, or a freshman
I'd bet on it. LSU has been beating us on the trail for years, going back to the Les Miles days. They have a lock down on the elite athletes in their state and have poached many from Texas and Florida over the years. And I know some want to discount their recent National Championship, but it was in the last few years and high school seniors certainly remember it.
I appreciate and respect Jesse's expertise, but I don't agree that it has to take that long (although it could)....the big differentiator is the portal. For so many years, you lived and died by recruiting high school. Transfers did not offer immediate help as they had to sit a year (until eventually we had the grad transfer rule). You generally could focus on recruiting HS players, not portal players and even your own players! And let's add in NIL to the mix. So I think, if done right, a turnaround could be quicker than he thinks...it all depends on the level of HS recruiting and the ability to make the most out of the portal (knowing that if you take a kid from the portal, you are on the hook for him until he graduates) and, of course, to use NIL as wisely as possibly. Napier seems to be able to recruit HS kids. We'll see what he does with portal. I do wonder if we are willing to go crazy and use NIL as some others are doing. Granted, I like UF's approach to NIL, but it will probably slow down the process of rebuilding a little.
We can bring in the talent but it’ll still more than likely take a year or more just to get on the same page.
Please don’t use your authority to kick me out of the Gator Nation or to strip me of my UF degree. It was just in political science, but it still sits in a place of honor. I’ll be good and stop spouting ugly truths about the correlation between winning and recruiting or between bowl participation and effective leadership. I swear it.
Not disagreeing with you. However, you need to factor in how many players and their quality, that LSU drew in through the Portal. The name Kelly and school LSU a year ago was a bigger Portal draw last year than the name Napier and UF.
No question about that. Too many here still think that UF has the same cache it had in 2008. It does not and hasn't for quite some time. 1979 folks, that's where we are.
Is this because they had few players and thus could take a bunch? I don't follow portal kombat all that closely so not sure if we whiffed significantly or didn't think we needed/didn't have room for more xfers last year.
Prior to the portal, schools still lost players that they recruited or were walk ons. Most of the attrition was due to the players: not having the talent to compete, not enough playing time, poor grades, and so forth. However, there was one obstacle that impacted players. That was the NCAA restriction of having a player sit out one season before signing on or getting onto a new team. In 2017 or 2018 the NCAA adopting the current portal concept changed how players can move around and how teams/schools can recruit. The number of players leaving/going from/to schools took a dramatic leap. For example the Gators have lost about twenty players a year for the past four years. When you combine the number of portal loses, the other loses, and with the graduation of players, you can have a total lose of 30 or more players. This year the Gators only had four seniors on a 135 player rooster. if the current portal count stays as it is, and there is not a big spike before Spring Practice, the Gators should have a lose of 30 players. A signing class of about 20, plus incoming via the portal, and walk on players should give us an adequate replacements and a much needed upgrade of talent.
I agree with you, however Pell quickly put UF on a higher level than it ever was. He put a lot of bang in the program with highly ranked classes. His first season was as bad as it can get. The next season the Gators roared back into the nation spot light.
Charley was the right guy at the right moment. Dumb Doug set us on a course of mediocrity and neglect that led us to a very bad place. Mullen, Shark Boy and Chump all combined to be a 2010's version of Dickey. They had lots of help and support in this feat from Foley, Stricklin and the last two UF presidents.
"Jessie Palmer thinks" is an oxymoron. He doesn't pause long enough for air when he's talking to do any thinking.
