Reports are that Howard reached out to UF (and likely TCU and Ole Miss among others) before hitting the portal, but was told that we were full (so pre-Rashada stuff). He didn't offically hit the portal until last week.
Howard just went in the portal. He is saying that he is not suggesting that Howard is scared off by Mertz, but both of his posts says different. His post is dumb. 1. We don't know why Howard would choose Old Miss over the Gators 2. All the top QBs in the portal were accounted for at the time and if he did not get somebody he would have been lambasted for that as well. 3. The timing of our bowl game prevented a lot of portal recruiting since it was on the final weekend that portal visits were allowed before the time frame to get in the spring semester. 4. He didn't know the whole JR issue was going to pop up.
If it makes you feel better, then yes. But my point from the start, which everyone is ignoring, is that we limited our options because we jumped on Mertz immediately. Remember Sam Hartman? Yeah, he didn't enter the portal until after his bowl game. But we never had a chance because we were "full".
Common sense? We had four scholarship QB's at the time (Mertz, Miller, Brown, Rashada). Why add another QB at that point?
... huh? Howard reportedly reached out, but since we added Mertz and thought we had Rashada, we told him we didn't have a spot. You can disbelieve it all you want, but it's not like it's this ridiculous notion that Howard would reach out (due to prior relationships) and we would tell him we were out of spots. It's all from the same people who reported that Sale visited him in LA the other day. Not like I'm making it up.
Because adding Mertz filled out the room. How is this difficult for anyone to understand? Miller and Brown were already on the roster, Rashada recruited out of HS, then Mertz out of the portal. That's 4 QB's on scholarship. Don't decide to scoop up Mertz at first opportunity and guess what, you've got a spot for Howard!
It happened like it did. Is Billy supposed to be able to read the future? I think sometimes our disappointment leads us to overly scrutinize everything. That’s a tough standard to always be competing against hindsight.
If Howard came, someone would have transferred after Spring...probably Miller. And the room would magically be down to 4 again. Perhaps if you provide a link to something solid saying Howard was told he couldn't come people would respond to you differently.
No, I've already said what happened with Rashada is completely out of his hands. That incompetence is coming from above him, he's just eating the bullet for Stricklin/UAA/GC on that one. I'm just still ranting over the decision to sign Mertz. No hindsight needed there in my eyes.
I would take Howard, and probably over Rashada, but if you think that Mertz is worried about Howard taking the QB1 over him because Howard is a better QB, you would be sorely surprised. If Howard ends up being really good, I still wouldn't want him starting until mid-year. Miller's bowl game really showed what the difference is between a seasoned starter and a seasoned prospect to play QB. We need Mertz. He better wear a protective shirt throughout camp.
Hilarious. 1. You’ve already admitted Howard wasn’t known to be available when we took Mertz. 2. What does Stricklin or the UAA have to do with the Rashada situation? You’re just TRYING to be mad lmao