The Florida Gators signed their recruiting class from early National Signing Day, plus, landed a few transfers. We talk about the highs, the lows, and the drama around early signing day.
Plus, we talk about the departure of Jay Bateman to Texas A&M as defensive coordinator; an announcement of a new defensive line coach; and the change at Strength and Conditioning.
Plus, we talk drama with Earnest Graham around Bateman’s departure.
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Team in the SEC Conference we’re going to build the best football program in the SEC Conference you have now arrived at stadium in Gale the kick it’s been blocked again it’s been blocked again it’s going to heat one deep down the field it’s going to be to the goal line it’s going
To be G it’s the touchdown and the once again I can’t believe what I just saw dropping back to th pumps and fires the ball over the middle it’s it’s got T down got T down oh man D’s got a tchb here’s the captain a black and his final game as a
Gator takes it all the way home and sends Urban out the winner you have now arrived at stadium and jail boys and girlss ladies and gents welcome to another episode of Stadium Miguel it’s your favorite uncle silk it’s Dan and delator same Corner same time in all
Kinds of cool weather it’s cool in Florida right now man how y boys feeling y’all good popup show look like Dan back I I have I’m in South Florida in the 954 uh just a couple miles away from uh the runions that Nick had a square up at and uh just
Here for a couple days before uh before the holidays so here for some family time uh and and looking forward to it mean Coral Springs Coral Springs Legend leg spr high school legend Wilds Road legend oh W Road shout out to the construction crew that just finished Wilds Road seven years under
Construction add two additional lengths nuts nuts all the way to State Road Seven man Mean Streets of course Springs the mean gated communities of Coral Springs Florida all right that’s enough that’s enough yeah yeah yeah uh nick uh we wna we want to pull this up uh you put it on
The timeline yesterday uh about uh about Boomer uh your dog you’ve got two dogs Norman and Boomer no connection to the University of Oklahoma obviously being based in Norman Oklahoma s Boomer Sooner but here we are um Nick your your dog took a took a Brandon Spikes to noan
Mareno hits we’re gonna pull that up real quick and we need to look at it silk you you play college ball uh give us your opinion on the Tackle by Norman on Boomer yeah that’s that’s that’s like runny lot running the alley man I haven’t seen a hit like that that’s
Illegal in football for sure thank you so a little back ground Boomer um I I got him in college he’s 12 he’ll be 13 in June Pug’s name Boomer pugs is Boomer okay he took it like a g so Boomer’s 12 Norman is the 70 pound sheep dog Boomer
Is in the retirement stage home of his long illustrious pug life didn’t sign up for a 70 pound little brother with a ton of energy Boomer’s just out there looking for a spot to go to the bathroom just being a gentleman try trying to go along with his gentlemanly
Things and and and then you know Ronnie lot like you said that looked like you know Joey Kent going over the middle uh for some older Gator fans just a bad day for Boomer but he popped right back up that’s my guy I good uh he’s a cancer
Survivor so nothing Norman did was gonna was going to keep Boomer from uh finishing his business in the backyard definitely he in uh concussion protocol yeah no we’re definitely in concussion protocol yep for sure day to day you guys got any big Christmas plans uh obviously we’re recording today on
Friday Chistmas Monday uh no big plans uh definitely regular holiday Vibes any holiday pulling up to fam uh should be going to Port St Lucy and the Fort Pierce area between uh Christmas Eve and uh Christmas hanging out with some family that’s in town from nas saw and
You know kicking it a lot of seafood balls and different festivities man we got some Kunk that was freshly sent over here so it gonna be some Kunk salad some fried Kunk fritters and you know and let the kids do what they do man you know
Just more of a kids day than anything but nothing too huge uh Christmas night I may do just go out to dinner instead of like linking with the family with my immediate family my house I think we gonna get some dinner res reservations and go out do that type of shindig what
You got plan I love it just just being being around the family and we’re we’re dealing with an illness in the family right now uh so just just spend quality family time uh right now so that’s what’s important the holidays and um you know head back to uh the beautiful 813
On uh on Tuesday uh to get back next Friday to the uh the Bender Vibes a little bit okay there he is he’s back back out of retirement New Year D people say that New Year’s is is a holiday for amateurs Dan professional New Year’s Bender he just goes out there
Taking it easy taking it easy on philanthropy I don’t don’t around with drunk drivers everything else on on New Year’s Eve that’s just not the not the vibe I want you know what I mean so silk you’re playing uh before we get into the show obviously we we’ll talk all about
The Gators here in a second Sil you’re you’re going to swing uh some golf clubs tomorrow huh yeah I got a golf outing man gonna be up in Orlando area we’re actually going golfing at Winter Park me Kenny and Aman should I don’t know bro
You you can call it golfing I’m G do what I gotta do in the woods to enjoy myself pause W that sounds crazy but uh kushy may be big but I don’t know how much how my swing is gonna look man it may look atrocious but um looking
Forward to seeing it on the timeline it’s gonna be on content Li’s going to capture this this terrible swing in 4k man but you know what’s most important is having fun out there guys this just remember that that’s right that’s right so yeah all right boys let’s get uh
Let’s get into the show today if you are watching on no yeah just gonna get that but if you’re watching on YouTube hit the like button hit the Subscribe button drop some comments let us know what you’re up to for the holidays ask any questions obviously super chats uh get uh first
Dibs on questions make us laugh um debate in the the comment section whatever you want to do uh big announcement yesterday I silk texted me and Nick saiding hey we have to get UF Insider hoop shiz on the show I wasn’t about it Nick wasn’t necessarily about
It Nick flipped the script I then flipped the script couldn’t get him on today don’t don’t know what happen go ahead yes the scheduling is uh what was not able to to happen this morning offered an alternative time don’t think that alternative time is going to necessarily happen so um if you
Came for hoop shiz sorry if you’re not here for hoop shiz and you’re looking to hear the same Insider information we got it we got it so um let’s get message board that sh is on what we’re on the same message board sh so we got the same stuff man but
Shout out to sh one of them all right so um I run one of those message hoop shiz for ad and then Tony just says Nick is great hopefully the rest of us are okay as well so Gators obviously don’t have the best uh early national Signing Day as they expected
Obviously we telegraphed a lot of those potential flips at the end of uh the last episode uh on Monday uh but Gator right now ranked 16th uh in the recruiting rankings on on three number nine overall in average uh player rating of that group we’re going to get into
Each and every player that joined uh this class as well as a couple of the transfers we’ll talk about coaching uh here in a minute there might be a special live uh announcement on this show here as well uh about some changes as well but uh gentlemen give me your
Thoughts overarching thoughts on H early national Signing Day Nick yeah I think the most two the two most important that that you were able to hold on to um you get DJ lagway that’s your franchise quarterback had to have that the the smoke about other schools coming after DJ and talking to
DJ and Texas A&M trying to get DJ to come to campus they wanted to go in home like all that stuff was real I know we got like everyone that was talking about it was hit with you know ah this is clickbait it’s like listen that stuff is
Real um the all all the stuff that happened on Signing Day when they’re like USC is still calling it’s like okay that doesn’t mean anything Florida got DJ lagways nli in at 8:30 in the morning U on Wednesday and DJ just wanted to have his ceremony at 3:30 central time
So everyone’s freaking out uh our message board Twitter everyone was freaking out I hit up on our message board I was like hey man uh I think just relax like 4:30 4:30 Eastern think you should just relax um the first tweet I saw of his ceremony there’s orange and blue
Balloons uh a gator logo and I’m like I like I don’t know what we’re doing here um just relax like there’s so much PTSD we just need to pop like a Xanax just calm down it’s gonna be all right I get it it was it was a Wednesday was an
Anxiety fi day Nick it was a lot of anxiety I get it so then you hold on to LJ McCrae uh sh shout out to him uh trolling everyone what you he’s he’s like why think I was gonna flip it’s like well at what point at what point at what
Point would you like to tell me um those are the two guys so one DJ is the guy that that I think you can build a team around and win championships with LJ McCrae is a guy who can come in and play from day1 a legitimate guy that Bama
Wanted that Georgia wanted that these other schools who you’re still chasing uh and I think the class overall shows that you’re still chasing um I think those are guys that you need to get in the the class there’s some other guys that uh Florida got who I think can be players
Eventually um I love I love both running backs that they got uh Jaden B uh and Kanan Daniels kanen Daniels ran for like nearly 5,000 yards um the last two years and then there’s some other guys who I think you know maybe can make an impact
Earlyish on um but I’m gonna be looking at guys like you know Brian Taylor Joey slackman um Chimay DK you hear that one Chim Ray DK you sure that’s right still I was given I was given that by Florida okay a confidence you know what I had I
Had Shimmer Dyke is what I had yeah no shimmery shimmery Dyke is what you had yeah shimmery Dyke is is what I was rolling with so I’m glad they cleared that up everybody’s like who the hell still talking about it’s like well let me put I said this we
Talking uh while we were waiting for Billy Napier and somebody asked me said DJ lagway is the most important recruit since and I said Tim tboo I don’t know I don’t know if he’ll have that same career but I could not think of another player since Tim TBO that signed where I
Thought like yeah that’s the program absolutely had to have that player yeah nck who’s your favorite player not if you have a better season go ahead not dj or LJ favorite player favorite commit miles Graham that might open can of worms for the later later part of the show this is
I mean like a legitimate um have stood around him been been around him I think like a legit 61 220 um just looks the part and then you cut the film on you’re like oh put and run the ball like Dad did too um so
I think he’s won that that was a really cool story to see him move down to Gainesville play at buol this year um he was the first kid to commit first kid to send his El in um just no drama no drama from the time he committed until Signing
Day yeah until after yeah yeah yeah um I I like that pick a lot obviously I like Aaron Charles a lot too Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year Ma perhaps Player of the Year pardon me uh I think he’s an elite running back I’ll be or a
Linebacker I’ll be honest with you I didn’t think that he was gonna stick with Florida not towards the end but you know he made that commitment I think he was really heavily leaning towards Michigan comes to Gainesville and pops with a bunch of other commits and then
Just never unw from that commitment I thought that maybe it would have been a a hype visit a visit hype that that he ultimately uh you know got on board but Aaron chz is an absolute player at linebacker I think of the three that if you had to pick two miles Graham and
Aaron Charles are two players that are going to be impactful players year one obviously losing at Darius Hayes will’ll get into that in a minute uh is is a loss for the Gator but I think the position that Charles and position that Graham play are are going to be two very
Impactful positions at the University of Florida so I’m very excited to to see him on the offensive side of the ball I think Kanan Daniels uh and then you know I think a name that that we haven’t talked about in a while uh Amir Jackson at tight end I think he’s an elite
Athletic playmaker I think that he’s going to make an impact at the University of Florida even next year so uh Amir Jackson is uh is probably my guy on offense okay Aaron Charles also got some Michigan ties and they had a really good season so I think his dad played there
Or something like that so that was I was worried about that entire season watching watching Michigan play wondering if there could be some flip him taking a visit there anything but the dude was super solid man very good get and of the linebackers we had three
One bounc we I think we kept the better twoo I’m sorry Nick go ahead um I was just gonna say the child’s almost reminded me and I know this is a a family that FL fans love hearing about but that’s kind of how Chad Wilson handled Quincy and Marco and I
Remember uh Quincy wanted to commit and Chad told at the time he like listen there is no decommitting so like you can you can make your commitment right now or you can make an on Signing Day or anytime in between but when you make your commitment that’s your word and
That’s where you’re going to go so just be sure that you’re ready to go and play there for three four five years once you uh come public with a commitment and and I think there were a bunch of guys um in this class that were like that Fletcher
Westfall is another one and I don’t know that an offensive lineman can come in right away but when I look through and listen we had a ton of drama but when I look through like not a lot of drama with like Mike Williams Fletcher Westfall uh the number
One offensive lineman in a country Noel poron not this country but a country a country cannot wait for that joke to expire I’ve heard Nick say that the number one linan in a country yep number one lineman it is what it is number one lineman yeah the number two
The of Europe you know check your mic Dan it’s missing a little bit bro I don’t mean to like cut in sh with your mic oh sorry about that I was just going to say he’s the the second best player in the entire or the entire continent of
Europe too glad you stopped hating because that’s also number one player in Germany number two player in Europe uh comes in he’s a he’s a dog and there’s a there’s a lot more recruiting going on in in Europe right now uh let’s hold on hold hold I like um
Defensively I I’m g go with a sleeper I do like both the guys you said both backers are are really good um in his class I wish we had more Edge rushers I think we’re missing some of that so one of the things we are missing I think is
Is a Twist up we lost a couple a lot of defensive lineman and I want us to probably replace those guys in the portal we’ll talk about that a little later that’s what I don’t like about this class and size that receiver is another thing I don’t like we lost uh
Isaiah Williams to Texas A&M uh offensive side of the ball speaking of receiver I do I love Hawkins I could go with him or either toasy Abrams Elite Speed with both of those guys with J like Billy spoke up by him after signing day and say he’s probably gonna be the
Fastest guy on the roster when he arrives but you look at his IMG film just he just lights out explosiveness him and Eugene Wilson may share that slot position so it may you know stop him from getting some early snaps or you know you never know but they play the
Same position unless Eugene go outside or something but right now I love J Hawkins on off offense uh defensive wise I’m GNA go Gregory Smith the state that we got yesterday on Signing Day 64 guy uh out of RI Riverview Florida played a little quarterback at his high school uh
Cut on his film I like that how rangy he is he is 6’4 there’s some size and stuff that you want to put on him a little bit but overall like I like his athleticism uh safety I don’t expect him to play early or anything like that you never
Know it’s safety castelle came in and jumped some guys um but I don’t project him to play early but I love his athletic athleticism and I love the F for the staff after missing on Xavier phami to Texas yeah I’m just going to run through we’re going to go through all the commitments
Here in a second I’m going to announce those that decommitted where they went and then we’re just going to kind of move on from from that uh Xavier fsam was obviously the guy uh that the Gator fans were excited about there was a lot of smoke that he was going to go to
Texas he does make the signing day announcement that he is flipping to Texas should not be a surprise to anybody Ameris Williams the defensive lineman also announced that he would flip on national Signing Day and he signed with auburn um let’s see some other names ad Darius Hayes the
Linebacker kind of that that outside rushing linebacker uh did make a decommitment on national Signing Day as well he is heading to uh the University of Miami Isaiah Williams wide receiver from carolwood Day in Tampa Florida and also announced that he would flip and go to Texas A&M some other names that you
Might remember Kendall Jackson who had decommitted from the University of Florida committed to Miami uh some some some weird Shenanigans happened there ultimately ends up at Texas A&M and if you care nir Johnson former Gator commit is going to Georgia jamont Waller is going to Auburn so of the
Folks that decommitted and Wardell Mack is going to Texas of the players that decommitted during the cycle that is where they’re going any thoughts on any of those decommitments or Signing Day announcements before we get into who did sign with the University of Florida go ahead
So I I didn’t hear the questions I was too busy harassing the people in the comments about liking so you go first and I know oh yeah yeah no any any thoughts on any of the the decommitments that the gator had nothing extensive you know that that
Casualty of a a Bad season uh a lot of these flips just went to programs that definitely got big bags but also had a a successful season um so it’s a little casualty of both Isaiah Williams was was a head scratcher to me I think there’s a
Lot of opportunity on our on our roster um Billy G I don’t know what he did with uh that relationship or what the flip was all about but that one was a head scratcher but everybody else we kind of seen it coming from a mile away so no
Surprises on Signing Day wish we could have kept all those guys but it didn’t work out but I mean what is recruiting these days we get into like strategies and how recruiting all working out but I mean you’re gonna be negotiating with all these guys again next winter anyway
So and to me you you got to find that balance of uh you know high quality guys I like the quality of of the the class you know I don’t think we missed a lot with the evals so you just want a high quality of guys and in the High School
Recruiting and then whatever you miss you got plenty of opportunity to to fill it out in the portal uh and portal guys seem to stick more than the high school recruits these days so you just got to find that balance and and figure out what the recipe is for for recruiting
Now it um it it’s interesting because some people have asked me do you spend your money in high school nil or do you spend it in the portal nil and I don’t know what the answer is because you’re seeing guys in the portal right now now
Who were five stars a year ago and spent one year at a place uh or just two years at a place I think it’s I think the transfer portal hurts development um it it certainly is is making the college football coach job miserable like this last month uh I was watching uh Dan’s
Favorite coach in the entire world Eli drinkwitz um talking with Andy Staples on Signing Day and he said I did eight inhome visits in a 24-hour period and it’s just like that’s what you have to do and then you’ve got transfer portal guys that you’re trying to get you’re trying to
Keep guys on your roster from going into the transfer portal and if you can’t do that now you’re redoing the calculator all right well what’s our number at defensive back we lost two we’re adding one is he ready to play right now do we have to go into the trans there’s just
So much going on in the month of December I’m all for the players being able to move like if Lincoln Riley dips and goes to the Chargers in the off season like I think all of those players should have a free year to leave the
Coach you went to play for is allowed to get up and leave and do whatever he wants players shouldn’t be stuck there um but it there’s a lot of toothpaste that’s out of the tube I don’t know how you get it back in um or how you put
Different kinds of restrictions on it and and if that’s fair um so there’s a new court ruling that said the ability to transfer multiple times uh is baby anti-competitive so uh the NCAA uh the court stayed that um and the NCAA said that they aren’t going to
Fight that so for now uh players can transfer multiple times without sitting out for a year I want to shout out Cena Nick I brought this comment up uh when you were talking just because it you know kind of aligned with what you were saying with all the money we saved on on
Lost recruits does that open up going after a top tier transfer thank you Cena for the Super Chat yeah I just don’t know what like what who’s the top tier transfer um like if I pull up right now if I pull up right now like Walter Nolan’s not coming Evan Stewart’s not
Coming you don’t need a cam Ward so I’m looking at the top transfers uh and I quickly see uh two Florida guys um yeah but like you’re Maybe does um also it’s not like the guys that left were going to are opening up a million dollars uh or half a
Million um so I think the thought that well these four guys left now Florida’s got a ton of money to use and it’s like well the guys that Florida signed are going to be making a ton of money DJ lagway LJ McCrae are GNA have massive niil contracts um probably
The highest on the team yes uh yeah yeah yeah I think I think you might have you’re going to have millionaire players in college football you probably already do but you’re going to have millionaire players in college football who haven’t started a game yet back to roony Tony speaking of some crazy man
Like speaking of making tons of money speaking of making a lot of money the gator now it’s it’s time for your breaking news that we alluded to so time to hit the all there we are the the Gators have announced a new defensive line coach Gerald Chapman is joining uh the Gator
Football program he spent last year at Tain previously at LSU he’d been with the Cincinnati Bengals uh he’d been kind of all over the place a young guy uh from what we know an incredible developer of talent a lot of players spoke really highly of him still getting
A little bit of his chops around recruiting as well but but gentlemen Gerald Chapman new defensive line coach live on Stadium male yeah um I didn’t know too much about him um so I talked to some other people um that knew him from either two
Lane um or knew him from his his time in the NFL they they love him in terms of being a coach um in terms of being a teacher um it’s totally different at the NFL level you’re teaching grown men who are making way more than you now you’re
Teaching young men who in some instances might be making more than you depending on uh your contract situation and their nil situation um but I think it’ll be it’ll it remains to be seen what does he do in terms of recruiting um be interested to see what the recruit
Reaction is around him um but yeah it it will be uh it’ll be one to to to watch but everything I’ve heard about him is that he’s a great recruiter um just in terms of building relationships and that’s with his former players and other coaches who have worked on staff with
Him yeah uh just I mean amongst his peers he seem to have a good reputation um young guy was at two lane you know he has a good a good uh uh reputation amongst coaches and foral players like that uh would like to older guys on this
Rost this is a very very young uh coaching staff um I know I wouldn’t want to go to Coach O or Jon’s age because I thought he was too old um and he did get some hype up and some maybe maybe shiz was right maybe they flew out to Destin
To talk to Coach O about hiring Gerald Chapman they did not fly out to Dustin to meet coach had great things to say about Gerald Chapman I maybe they flew out there to ask Coach O you know his feelings on them you know well I thought
Coach O was on the plane from Destin back to Gainesville to be offered the job no he was just talking about Jared Chapman oh okay that’s a that’s an expensive convers you know you can just like call someone Zoom yeah but you never know Zoom call text DM don’t need
To send a plane uh it’s a very young side of the ball uh Austin Armstrong is very young uh Gerald Chapman is very young there are people out there asking and advocating for Brandon Spikes who would be young as well and of course he don’t have a
Degree this is just fans being fans but uh that would just be incredibly young so we do have a very young coaching staff that just got younger um by replacing chaos with with Chapman and we’ll see what the how how works out the linebacker coach but uh just missing
Some experience but I don’t like the grade hires on AB B CDs to FS um because I don’t know what what’s going to happen what’s going to transpire but uh seemingly will be a good recruiter he’s been a recruiting coordinator at previous stops has some special team
Experience as well I like that I don’t know if he’s going to coach special teams here but he does have that experience and we need all the special team experience we can get you know so I’m not not a bad hire not gonna you know get mad or anything about it do
Like his reputation amongst his peers and we’ll see how it all plays out but an incredibly young defensive side of the ball staff-wise you’re muted then sorry what we’ll talk a little bit about uh the J baitman departure uh here after we get uh through recruiting but
We did want to make the the announcement as it became official uh that Gerald Chapman will be joining the University of Florida coaching staff as the defensive line coach so with that being said let’s do a a quick ad ring we’ll get back into recruiting as always want to give a
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Shipping Nationwide as always here comes a fine print nicotine is an addictive chemical Perfect all right so signing signing day let’s get get into let’s talk about the transfers first and then we will talk about uh kind of each of the position groups some of them we
Will’ll go more in depth uh than others so we’ve talked about Joey slackman uh joining the the program former ivy league Defensive Player of the Year comes over to University of Florida from the University of Pennsylvania from one ivy league to a public Ivy League school uh San Diego State transfer offensive
Lineman Brandon Traw Dixon 6’7 310 lbs also joins uh the program an announcement on Signing Day chimra DK wide receiver from Wisconsin about 1400 almost 1500 yards in his career reunited with graham Merz yeah this is the one that grah Merz kind of pounded the table for um this is
His guy uh from Wisconsin I don’t think Chimay had a great year last year um but if I go back and look at what they did together in 2021 um I think it was 47 catches for 689 yards six touchdowns which in the Badgers offense might as well be a 1500
Yard receiving season um so it’s someone that I think when you look at the wide receiver room Eugene Wilson is electric he’s proven you’re excited to have him back in the fold and to see what kind of jump he can make from freshman to sophomore year I like Andy Jean I like
Aen misel I like khil Jackson there’s like like what 12 catches between them so like you needed a veteran presence in the locker room I’ve seen people already putting Ricky peol expectations uh on DK and and I would just say we didn’t have any Ricky peol expectations when he showed up in
The spring um but you’re getting a guy who’s a veteran already has report in a relationship with his quarterback you learn those routes but the timing’s already there um so I think it’s a big pickup I’d expect him to start or play starter reps pretty immediately for
Florida he just got a bunch of slot receivers it feel like man um another six foot 185 pound guy well like four years ago there it was just a bunch of long Striders that that’s flipped yeah yeah so I would like for us to go
Yeah they they got to get uh some some size in the portal um don’t I don’t mind like smaller guys we just we just missing some some bigger body receivers so I would like to see us go get a a wide receiver one I don’t know if you’re
Moving Eugene to the outside I don’t know what the plan is you know um because I think he could play outside receiver I don’t think he you have to keep him at slot I think it’s uh his best position to play in the wide receiver room but we just got a lot of
Slot wide receivers right now uh and my mind so I want to see us go get a a big body receiver I like the chemistry him and uh MERS have it’s just I don’t think he’s as smooth and as sharp a rck runner as as Ricky piol but the chemistry
Between uh MERS with both of them I think is very similar and we’re gonna be able to get a lot of production out of them um so a good G man with finding merch weapons he need more you know and I also think too just like just thinking
About projecting next year’s offense I think both of those running backs we got in this class are guys that can contri year one and Billy has shown The Knack of playing those those young boys early I don’t know about that with wide receivers Billy hasn’t shown that he
Play a lot of freshman wide receivers but he’s shown that he he play a lot of young running backs so we we need a veteran big body wide receiver and some capacity yeah and that plays into army sniper Super Chat from a little bit ago perspective Napier doesn’t have time to
Develop 25 more high schoolers he has 7 eight scholarships to fill via the portal Gators have to spend money in the portal Nick yeah like I don’t know how much Mone Flor is at here’s here so let’s hit this Florida’s at 84 scholarships right now and I again say the 85 scholarship
Limit is imaginary in the offseason um you don’t need to be at 85 uh until fall Camp starts so you can be at 185 if you wanted to uh for spring football um and you have to have a hundred very difficult conversations before fall camp but uh you can go over
The 85 schools have been doing that for years um I’d expect Florida to go continue to be buyers in the portal um another offensive lineman I I really like Brandon crenchaw Dixon that gives you versatility left or right side um but I think you need another offensive lineman maybe another linebacker another
Receiver a safety um if Keon Zipperer doesn’t come back for his six season you could use another tight end um I think there’s a uh the Army tight end that they’ve been in contact with um so yeah there’s just I mean like outside ofy you need another quarterb what
Happens if you transfer from army you not you don’t have to serve the military anymore I don’t know I don’t know question I think you need to I don’t know what his age is I have I have to pull up his stuff right now which is bad um Jesus
Um I think it will I think if you’re in the Army you have to leave or if you’re at one of the cies you have to leave before your junior year that you can transfer before your junior year if not then you’re you’re kind of locked in there join Billy’s
Army Sean Sean Simmons again this this this chat doesn’t go uh we don’t fact check this is all real time uh you have to honor your commitment at the service schools Q Slater said you also have to honor that contract so I mean there’s guys that have left the
Servies after their freshman sophomore years so sounds like the service Academy need to run the NCAA man like sounds like they got a good blueprint out there like what that’s one thing what is a commitment this is a figment of your imagination okay it it is yeah yeah um recruiting
Starts the the week of signing day brother that’s when negotiating and all the bag start getting slung around um I do like the the offens alignment pickup I think we’re doing okay and the porter right now considering I know a lot of people want to jump at the First Mid
That entered right away and they seen a lot of activity I think Kentucky is doing very well OBS is doing good ky’s doing well Missouri’s doing well so I think we do got to up our game a little bit here doing well I mean Old Miss but
Yeah yeah Old Miss is definitely going crazy um some of these Gs are just just like fluff gits and people that had high four or five stars in high school yeah but um I don’t like I don’t dislike where we at with it right now I think there’s still some tampering going on
There’s some names that I’ve heard that that’s supposed to be entering the portal around the country that some people are anticipating on but right now I’m not mad at the activity we just need some uh difference makers last year we took a lot of fluff um some guys that
Came that really w’t contributors and when you want to bring in a one-year guy you’re not bringing in him just to be a death piece you need like a one-year guy to make an impact and I think we we we had some misses last year we just got to
Be a little bit more accurate this year this is a a money year like yeah I I army sniper said it um you know I think that it holds true you the gator still probably need a few people to transfer uh either still now or in the spring uh
But I think that the Gators are probably gonna have to go after probably eight or nine more players that are either second in line or or first in line or at least fighting for for significantly playing time uh in order for the Gator to uh to get better next
Season obviously with the schedule that we went over it’s very very tough very very challenging uh schedule ahead so definitely need those folks um you know my buddy Ross is is listening um he was upset that hoop shiz isn’t joining us today um but we were talking in a in a
Group chat the other day and about a lot of other schools and getting that that people seem to think are just dominating the portal right now because they heard their names right because maybe at one point they were a four-star maybe one point they were at a five star
Doesn’t mean that they’re ever going to play at that fourstar or five star level uh in college football maybe there’s a reason why they’re they’re juniors and seniors and we still tag them as former five star and then you look at their stats and you’re like 11 tackles right
So I would look at the quality of the player what they’ve been able to do and then kind of hope and pray that it translates over uh to uh to SEC football at the University of Florida uh let’s get back into the uh the signing class
We got a lot to talk about today still so uh Brian Taylor was the Jo transfer uh from Houston Texas at blind College uh there I think that he’s an impactful player year one on the edge position Florida beat out Georgia for him I think
That you’re going to see a lot of Brian Taylor playing uh next year uh on this team on Signing Day Nick you mentioned the gator did grab uh 6 foot three safety fourstar Greg Smith out of the Riverview Sun City area uh Sun City Center area pardon me right outside of
Tampa from suar high school uh I think he’s an impactful player I think that he’s going to be a good safety at the University of Florida uh in a couple of years I think that he he still needs some development but I think that that’s
A a great get and it fills a hole and obviously you want to grab Xavier Phils but being able to grab Greg Smith uh on signing day was um you was was a good get and I think that Florida would have taken both right so it’s not like this
Is just a backup plan for uh for X leaving uh but I do think Greg Smith is gonna you know have a good career at the University of Florida yeah I think Xavier philmy was probably gone the weekend he went to Red River and was trying to make that a sneaky
Trip um he committed silently to sarkeesian when they went in home um which was I think a week before Billy and and that staff went in so the writing was on the wall and and I think we did the best we could to let fans know uh Texas wanted to wait and have
The a couple of the players they flipped they flipped another um linebacker from Jasper Texas who was committed to A&M and he waited Texas wanted to guys to wait closer a signing day to kind of steal the day have that big splash um Phil does it I think the night before
The kid from Jas ER does it on Signing Day um but by the time Florida by the time Signing Day came around or by the time Xavier Phils me flipped when Florida was in McKenna they knew um that Xavier Phils was already outside out of
The class so but as you said Dan they would have taken Gregory Smith and Xavier Phils um just from people I’ve talked to Phils is probably top 1% in terms of athlete in the country um but I’ve been told like Florida fans would have been pissed off because it it will
Probably take him two to three years to get ready to play safety at a big Power five level like he’s just running around out there on athleticism and needs to continue uh to develop as an actual football player um but like the class would have been better with him in it uh
And I think fans would have been upset when he wasn’t starting you know in 2025 but then watch you go and start at Texas like Year One he’ll be he’ll be back he’s high candidate to be back in the portal wow Nick already telegraphing it just two
Days after signing day also for forgot to mention track Bridges uh the transfer from the University of Oregon when we were talking about uh about transfers as well do you guys see what he did to uh to his grandpa brother I don’t know how old his grandpa is but can’t be messing
With old people Hearts like that can’t be messing with Hearts like I like Grandpa’s energy man he was like Hey man if I got to cheer for you out there Washington then I’m going do what I got to do man but you know Florida guy you
Know he’s a looks like a old school Gator fan you know that was a good positive energy it was so much negative energy man I love that that energy man that’s me as a Granddad one day bro gota love it bro good good positive new we’ll
See how TR how do you say his name did you get the pronunciation for his name before I butcher it Nick Tri want to hear I want I want to hear you tri quaz I’m pretty good at the the traditional black names triaz it looks like it yeah triques triz is traditional
It’s first time i’ ever seen it yeah for black name name cool name jqu trique uh anquez you know we get creative with it just make a name out of Clear Blue Sky uh he said don’t call him if you’re gonna shorten it don’t call him trick yeah call him quz so
Or trike yeah uh you also call him Hawk right he’s got to earn that that’s what he said what he I’m not calling him hwk I don’t think his mama call him h no I’m not call H H pass yeah yeah he gotta track something down for me man I
Do I do like what I’ve seen from him uh organ had him at cornerback he could play I think we’re projecting him at at the star or safety position so I like his athleticism uh definitely willing willing tackle tackler I would say and that’s one of the things we struggle
With is actually getting people to the ground uh physicality he brings that to the table yeah that he sh he Norman on the roster um I think I think Bridges plays um yeah right there where army sniper says I think he fills in that nickel Andor safety um POS a little
Position versatility there but I think you’re fine on the outside you’re going to be very young on the outside uh actually I think J uh Jason Marshall and Jaylen Kimber come back um I I I guess Kimber could transfer again I just don’t know what the NFL stock is for either of
Those guys um Chrisley orley he is the Grinch he has been the Grinch um he has been the makes sense yeah I don’t know what the um how missed the show Chris U I don’t know what um what their NFL stock is um Jason Marshall could
Transfer um I don’t know you don’t want to say it on the show but you know I don’t know stock could be great stock goes up and down um and restock yeah how’s your how’s your life wild stock Dan it’s I I you know it’s fine you know
It’s still need to pull your money out man and Miami went crazy in the recruiting Trail because of you bro I I have P I pulled out nearly every last penny that exists in my life wallet stock it’s not something that was worth my energy anymore I know a lot of Miami
Fans are watching here saying what happened to Ruiz look at the recruiting class you know they flipped everything from Life wallet over to the collective that they were against anyway so you know what do you want me to do right so it’s fun moved on we’re making money in
Novo Nordisk shout out to them wasm piic stock so uh let’s get back into uh what matters here Jaden B also a um a Signing Day announcement this one again also kind of telegraphed on this show uh previously committed to Arkansas from Ellenwood Geor Columbia High School 6
Foot just a hair under 61 225lb running back kind of that Bruiser running back uh that the gator won obviously Trevor etn entered the transfer portal still hasn’t announced where he’s going to go uh just yet but uh the gator desperately needed a a running back either through
The transfer portter or a second one in this class uh to join Kanan Daniels from Mississippi UM Gators get one and you know I think they have a a nice little Back Field there of the just under six foot Kanan Daniels 191 pounds kind of call it a scatback but that’s probably
Not the word that we use and then throw Jane B in there too and now you have Montell Johnson cam Carroll uh web PA and Daniels in this uh in this group so that’s a that’s a good five in my opinion what are your guys thoughts silk we start with
You now I love the running back room like I said I think both of those true freshman I want to see what how cam Carol bounces back from that injury I heard was pretty horrific um so my expectations I’m I’m I’mma keep those in check when it pertains to him but
Everybody else I think web shows some good potential and promise this this year but the two two young guys you bring in I think you know both of those guys could play right away and could get some snaps right away um Jaden ball like he might could join the basketball team
Has a nice jumper man I seen some of his basketball F just good athleticism good bouncing is you know he’s twitched up so explosive guys at the running back the running back evals have always been on point uh since Billy’s gotten here I didn’t like the etn everybody’s mad at
Etn bounce but I didn’t like the ET take when he first came I thought he was gonna be okay he was a little pudgy and then it turned out that he you know difference make at the spot so I like the running back evals I think the room
Is in good shape I don’t think we need one in the portal or anything like that I think we we’re fine yeah I think that that room is fine um uh you have obviously Montell talking to people inside the building they think that he will get more carries next year
That he’s that kind of running back that needs more carries maybe to be as effective as he can be um just in terms of like getting in the groove getting into a rhythm um I I’m told that and then like I also know what I’ve seen I’m
Like okay well it doesn’t seem like there is a Bell cow it seems like they like to split it 5050 or 40 4020 um yeah so that’s that that’s a room I I don’t have any issues with um is Cam Carrol gonna be in the mix I think you’ve got two really good
Freshman you get Tron Webb back there’s plenty plenty of guys in that in that running back room um we’ve seen how injuries can deplete that room quickly so I think uh if you’re Kane and Daniels and Jaden ball you you come in you think listen I’m a sprained ankle uh tweaked
Hamstring away from getting 15 20 Carries On Any Given Saturday all right we uh there’s some Michael tarwin questions as well anybody want to uh I don’t know I don’t know where he’ll go um he congratulations to him he just got married so it’s not it’s like a
Him and his wife decision now for his last year um I saw people saying he wasn’t good enough to play at Florida and that’s why they left I think he had a better nil opportunity um went to USC got the bag lost a starting job and is now looking
For a place to finish his college career he’s got one more year to play um and wherever you can go and get on the field right away and play do that um and try to get as much good film as you can before trying to play in the NFL I would
Like to get a offensive tackle with more Edge ability U than Tarin at this point um I think with the the guy that we brought brought inandon he’s he’s a one-year guy am I right no he’s got doesn’t he have two I mean he has two to play one no I think
He has two years Co of Co let me see I read an article that years I thought I thought when I talked to him he said he had one year left I think one I read in an article yeah I read in an article I’m pretty
Sure on three that said he had one year Edge ability um from a quote that he possibly say I don’t know I could could be wrong but yeah me we we interviewed him he’s got one year left to play yeah so I would like to get Tarin is another
Guy with one year I would like to get maybe one of those Oklahoma got a boatload of offensive lineman that hit the portal oh let’s go poach like T Tarkin got poached from us let’s go poach somebody else in Tampa with and maybe pay a offens linan to come over
But I would like a offens lineman with a couple years of edibility I swear I have my my my ringer off I don’t know why I just went through like that uh want to give a quick shout out to a to Davin Monroe that just threw
A super chat in there just for the holiday season really appreciate you uh Davin and said happy holidays gentlemen thanks for all of the hard work appreciate you br happy holidays we did offer him um and we are just waiting he’s been offered by Penn State Houston Kentucky a few other
Schools I know Chris sorley is saying uh there might be some smoke about him going uh to Kentucky uh I know that there was a question about the UCLA uh commit as well we we’ll get we’ll get into all of that I’m going to Star some of this transfer portal stuff because
We’re getting a little bit off subject here um gonna go through the signing day class Nick I know we talked about doing this by position group but we’re just going to do it in alphabetical order here uh toosi Abrams TJ uh from Dunbar High School 5 foot 1090 pound wide
Receiver four star already mentioned Jaden Bob mic a boa uh from Fairburn Georgia Creekside High School 6’4 394 pound defensive tackle Aaron Charles mentioned him I think it’s worth watching we’re going to pull up some some highlights of him while we talk a little bit about uh
About Aaron Charles here uh again the Max Preps player of the year for the state of Maryland really good get committed to the University of Florida uh over um over the summer and I think a lot of people might have forgotten about him just about how good and how of elite
Of a player that he is wanted by all the schools in the country uh Nick you mentioned does have a connection back to uh to the University of Michigan so a good get by the the gator defensive staff Jay baitman at the time uh but a
Really solid player that I think can has the opportunity to to to play quite a bit next year what are your guys thoughts it’ll be interesting think obviously you have Shamar um and then who’s next to Shamar Scooby Scooby’s coming back um is it miles Graham is it
Jaden Robinson uh you’ve got you know du Spurlock that comes back as well and I think Manny nunner has one more year when we talked to him right before the Florida State game he didn’t seem super interested in coming back for another year I just don’t know that you’ll get drafted if you’re
Him or if you want to go live the you know try to make a Rost as the 53rd guy um so it’ll be interesting there I think you have a bunch of inside linebackers when you when you throw in all those guys and I like miles Graham
More but that might just be because I’m I live here and I I see I’ve seen him more um you have a guy who was the I think Gatorade player of the year um in Aaron Charles in the state of Maryland um so obviously the kid can play the DMV
Produces some Legends silk sitting behind or in front of a picture of one of those DMV Legends um it it’ll be interesting it’s tough it’s tough for a freshman to come in and take a starting role um but these guys will be on campus in in
January that’s what I like about both of my linebackers I do think one of those guys have the ability to jump what we have on the depth chart linebacker was atrocious especially when Shamar went down so I I have a lot of faith in Aaron Childs and uh um both have incredible
Bloodline like Elite pedigree they’re going to understand preparation and college football they have over a business approach and they get in here early so I do think those guys going to get a lot of reps and it makes me feel better about the linebacker room because
Um they both are athletic guys guys that get sideline to sideline they’re true linebackers um outside of Shamar that room looked horrific so I have a lot of faith in both of those guys getting early early PT absolutely y Max Preps player of the year for the state of Maryland we
Mentioned Brandon crenchaw Dixon from San Diego State University uh Kanan Daniels uh West Point Mississippi West Point High School 5 foot 11 a half1 pounds Nick you mentioned ran for about 5,000 yards in his career uh one of the best running backs in the state of Mississippi history uh has been
Committed to the Gators for a long time uh definitely a home run threat at the other running back room how do you think that this uh how do you think Kaden Daniels fits into the running back room um you think he gets a bit of burn next
Year or what do you guys what are you guys projecting for him I mean you’ll see on this tape they they put him everywhere Wildcat quarterback uh slot receiver running back like they just Tred to get the ball in his hands um here he is from from receiver on a Jet
Sweep um interesting player in in that aspect that like when we talk about like Trevor etn hey it’s two years you’re still not very good at pass blocking you’re not going to see any pass blocking on this on this uh highlight tape here this is just uh the best
Player on a team being asked to be the best player on a field um but he can run really really tough kid um it’s I think I like his ability um but also you’re going to have to get ahead of Tron web and you’re not not going to get ahead of
Montreal Johnson um so we’re looking at these guys The Freshman that we’re talking about competing for that third string role and and what else can you do on offense that can maybe get you on the field because if you’re if you can only carry the football there’s two guys who
Are older than you just as good as you um and you’re have to wait your time so for me it’ll be can you return punts return kicks can you get on in on special teams uh and then if there are injuries how ready are you is this entire class I I know Amir
Jackson it says that he’s early and rly on here but I think he’s going to stay and play basketball his Billy said 19 will be in so 19 of 22 um but that includes the the uh portal guys I remember when when early enrolling first came out I’m dating
Myself here right this is like 2004 2005 um you had maybe two maybe three guys I think that that year that Cam Newton and or yeah Cam Newton Joe Hayden the rest of those guys came in I think that there was like five of them U Ahad black was one of
Them yeah but there was only like four or five now I mean you put yourself back then Lakeland High School was doing sketchy stuff with transcripts yeah allegedly allegedly well as the St Thomas qu Raider they doing everything bad you’re ridiculous all right so uh we we um left off can
Josiah Davis the safety three star six foot and a half 182 pounds out of Nashville Georgia joins the class uh Chim Ray DK we mentioned him 6 foot1 185 pound wide receiver from the University of Wisconsin 2022 third Team all big 10 from the media um did not have a a huge
2023 but is reunited with the quarterback that put him on that third team offense uh Teddy Foster from Sarasota High School quarterback six foot and a half 170 pounds Cardinal Mooney High School listen I think that this kid is a year or two away from a development perspective a former
Quarterback has only been playing High School football for two years um had a had a pretty good year as a guy that’s going to continue to develop played both sides of the ball um I I think that he’s a guy that you might forget about but in
A couple years uh is going to be battling for one of those spots I’m very very high on Teddy Foster I could be wrong here uh but um you got a lot of people down in the Sarasota area that are very very high on Teddy Foster Corey
Raymond was very high on him early uh guy that’s going to continue to develop as he gets more and more playing time more and more experience continues to learn the game of football but uh only a couple years of football under his belt and um I think that he’s goingon to be
An impactful player for the Gator yeah I haven’t checked out his senior film but a guy did like his athleticism over the summer when we took him I have to go back and watch him I want to check out him and Josiah Davis uh guys I thought would climb the
Ranking a little bit I don’t hinge all my my uh opinions on rankings but I thought they would climb the the rankings with some of the the stuff that they could do during the fall a lot of that didn’t happen so we’ll see how it all plays out he’s another guy that gets
On campus early and there’s a lot of opportunity in the DB room but he’s more of a developmental guy um and that’s what I I think about our entire we got a chance to get Z meny here um and we’ll know where he signed but he signed last
Night but most of the the work in our DB room um you know now that Cory Raymond’s going it’s a lot of Developmental guys yep uh miles Graham uh we are going to talk a little bit more about his dad Ernest here after we uh finish up in
Recruiting a 6 foot almost 61 215 pounds from Gainesville Florida a lot to a lot to say miles Graham you mentioned Nick was the first commit to uh to sign I think ranked a five star on Rivals I think one of them has him ranked as a five star four star
On most of the others but one of the best running back or pardon me one of the best linebackers in the country going to be a very impactful player for the Florida Gator definitely a player uh but the running back film I think this is a mixed film
Here I like it little der Henry Vibes going on man big that’s a big back toen that thing down the field like that man at least when we offered him to play linebacker unlike Derrik Henry he committed to play linebacker you know yeah it’s gonna be hard to keep
Miles off the field mil miles is gonna play early in my opinion it’s gonna be hard him and Aaron Charles excited to see like how he feels out because like miles is still slender uh frame is there but once he once he get into that weight
Room and we got to talk about shrimp and conditioning a little bit here as well but I think once he gets into a college program you’re gonna see him turn into a real live monster um BMA was coming in strong even though he’s a gator guy BMA
Was coming in very aggressive trying to get him to flip towards the end there but he stayed firm the entire time so shout out to you know that Gator blood uh next in the class J Hawkins wide receiver out of originally out of West Virginia played at IMG Academy just
A hair hey I want to know real quick I want to know how 5’9 58 and a half 160 how do you get the nickname tank man I I don’t know how he get the nickname tank but that speed is crazy my son follow him on a lot of social media
And watches his and you know pulls up his huddle all the time super explosive you know I love that speed bro and this is just just top- notch speed he can catch that thing as you see man he going like 99 yards for some of this stuff bro
I believe Billy Napier said that he is immediately the fastest person on campus which I’m sure will get tested early uh but aidel Aiden misel probably has something to say uh a couple other players got nil we gotta nil that that foot race right put it on
Pay-per-view buy ticket to come see it let me start putting my ideas out here in In The Free We Do a state even Gale 40 yard dash you know what I mean and I’ve always said the Olympics would be awesome if you threw a normal person in
Like Lane nine of the track you know what I mean as reference I’ll do it I’ll volunteer to run the for I love that love that normal Dan lock Dan in for the normal man racing tank I mean you told us about your 40 bro like we got to get
Somebody normal your is going to be like five in front of it but I we get redell back on the show I may look like I can’t move but I I Boot Scoot and Boogie out there all right Tennessee week I was trying to talk down
On Dan and redell said no man he’s he’s got the he gets in the ladder he gets in the ladder and and feed are in and out of that thing I thought he was being nice I seen the dance moves but I’m not buying the ladder ladder work I gotta
See it the dancing’s all the feet and the hips ladder feet and hips moving them yeah we ran into Fred Taylor and Rell Anthony at Cantina Neo shout out zika got to chat with him for a while uh I think Nick left that with a great impression right I didn’t have to pay
Redell to tell me uh Nick Nick threw some immediate shade to redell and Rell Dan Dan’s not bad not bad uh Dan and redell was his biggest fan yeah yeah Amir Jackson 6’4 just under 6 fo5 220 pound tight down out of Statesboro George out of portal high
School so Billy is is attacking the portal the portal killing the portal portal High School DJ lagway um we mentioned him earlier obviously the prize of this get PJ DJ from Willis Texas Willis High School 6 foot3 238 pounds five star Plus on on three five
Star by everybody um one of the best one of the best quarterbacks in the country I believe Elite 11 named him as the best quarterback in the country uh this year Max Preps made him their high school player of the year set all sorts of
Records in Texas uh DJ lagway a huge get for the University of Florida he’s been committed so long I know a lot of fans don’t take it for granted but the kid is absolutely Electric with the ball in his hands uh can move on the ground can move
The ball through the air uh but just an absolutely incredible get for Billy Napier and his staff any thoughts on PJ DJ we finally got a elite quarterback I know Billy’s been flirting with him and we had Rashad that didn’t make it to campus and but this is the first Elite
Arm that he’s going to get to to work with if we’ll see how this Falls work out and he still go to you know keep his job but you know the first go at it I think that offense is is we’ll see if we get a play caller as well I don’t think
The offense is terrible but I think a guy like DJ just elevates the players around him like the players on his Texas high school team he elevated their play and I expect him to do a lot of that man leadership qualities is there uh we said
The TBO you could go other programs The jamus Vibes as for his leadership and you know that energy he brings to a team um you got a championship quality quarterback bro and I think like even what we did what we didn’t get in recruiting we can make make up for it in
The portal but these arms like this this Talent put Elite athletes around him and I think the ceiling is there is no ceiling I don’t care what the plays are being called when you got a guy like that at the ham like good things happen so I’m excited about DJ
Man he’s that’s he’s the franchise for sure and and the checks are representing that and reflecting that for sure good for him when was the last time the gator signed a Five Star Quarterback uh was Felipe still wi or no no fourar dris no dris Drisco must have
Been a five star five I think on some I think but he was a four on others yeah he wasn’t a consensus five star I don’t know when the last time the gator signed a consensus five star since Tim TBO right obviously Cam Newton was highly rated John brandley was highly rated
There Brandon Carrol said or Brandon Connell pardon me said uh John brandley was a consensus fivar I don’t remember look jeis was a five star on 247 four star on Rivals and ESPN ESPN had him ranked as the 10th best player in the country but a fourstar um John
Brantley Rivals had him ranked as the number three quarterback so maybe johnley regardless regardless John Bradley was a fourstar on ESPN and a fourar on Rivals he probably yeah7 wasn’t even a thing yet yeah Shannon still hadn’t sold his first one and now he’s on his third ination of it
So we’ll go with uh we’ll go with with TBO um Marcus mask call the six foot just hair under 6’5 285 pound offensive lineman out of Snowville Georgia South gwet High School um is joining the program LJ McCrae uh also the other festar 6 foot6 267 pound Edge out of
Daytona Florida Mainland High School Florida still recruiting his teammate Z miny um it’s our understanding Z miny has already sent in his letter of intent to wherever he’s going to go and is going to announce at the the All-Star game on January 6 I believe is a date
But LJ McCrae huge impactful player obviously a little bit of drama on national Signing Day for him to say hey don’t know why there was any drama but elj mccraig huge get for the Gators what’s behind the scenes what was going on with LJ McCrae uh
Nick um I think behind the scenes is uh other schools coming in figuring out what a number was offering a number and and business decisions being made Florida never felt like I said earlier Florida never despite what was happening on the outside Florida never felt bad about DJ
Lagway because they had his paperwork in at 8:30 in the morning um Florida did not have LJ’s paperwork in until Billy Napier was walking in the room so that was a true all day battle going back and forth with LJ McCrae even though I felt good Florida felt good going into the day
Obviously once uh other schools start talking to you on Signing Day give you something to think about um and that’s just kind of is what it is but Florida’s able to hold on I think that was a huge one um Florida would have dropped outside of the top 20 uh without LJ
McCrae and um tough that would have been tough so holding on to him is huge Gator grab Noel Porton Johan from Germany the number one player in the country of Germany country 334 pound offensive lineman from PPI recruits I think it’s kind of semipro football over there yeah they play
Semi number two player I believe in all of Europe uh but the Gators grab him a big player um obviously you you want to see that transition over uh but definitely a huge body out of that joy slackman we mentioned him the transfer from the University of Pennsylvania Greg
Smith we covered the 6′ three and a quarter 191 pound safety Brian Taylor we also talked about the edge rusher 6’4 and a half 281 pounds from blind College origin from Houston Texas Fletcher Westfall Nick talked about him a bit earlier from Tuscarora High School in leeburg Virginia 6’8 334 PBS and then
Rounding out this class is from Charles Herbert flowers High School in Upper Marboro Maryland 6 foot6 308 pound Mike Williams so couple names still a couple names that are left in uh recruiting for the Florida Gator a miny being one of them you might see a couple of other
Names pop up but that’s where the Gators sit right now again number 16 overall class on on three number nine overall by class average let’s get into some coaching let’s give a quick shout out to real quick I think I would feel I would feel confident about
Zmeny wink wink find out January 6 find out January 6 but Nick feels Cal and Nick’s not always a beacon of positivity he can’t wait to be negative so this is I’m shooting my my RPM my crystal ball uh I’m I’m shooting like 88% right now
My throw in is that good or he’s put in like uh I’ve put in seven I’m six of seven Corman is my lone uh blemish on my record manam doing seven is not even try I did I did hit I did hit uh sh I did hit Shiloh Sanders though uh so people
Were trying to give me take away credit and I said listen I should have hit Shiloh and shador just to give you the one two flipping from JSU to to Colorado so I missed out I should be eight I should be seven for eight but I’m six for seven so you just
Don’t want to participate in the job or something like what’s going on you no that’s not my job that’s not my job do it like guess I do one today like why not yeah yeah every everyone listen I don’t cover recruiting when I get when
I get my my recruiting news I drop I drop nuggets when I can gave you a whole inside on gave you a whole Insight on Xavier feel me today yep Nick’s Uh Kevin Gilly said that he’s gonna wait for Hoopes confirmation before he believes Nick yeah not 100% I feel you
Kev right I need somebody to go through and and and give me hoop shiz is shooting percentage uh to the people that don’t get the humor of who Hoops is like people who in my DM like hey this guy’s a fraud I’m like bro like you’re
Taking it way too serious man yeah he um he DM the Pod he had another account he dm’ the Pod and let us know hey Will Harris would be hired after it had already been posted that will Harris was being targeted which means that he’s gonna be highlighted and then he shot
That over with the Ed oon is getting hired and he said credit hoop shiz when both of these come to fruition responded back okay then he hit the old podcast account with a block button so nuts absolutely n he heard y’all hating on him man this was this before anybody knew who
Hoop shiz was I’ve we reached out tried to get him on the program today uh we’ll make it happen one day yeah says you got a business to actually run man like you can’t just be with all this recruiting shenanigans on a Friday morning uh yeah running a big hoop
Business I guess how did he go from hoop shs to like inside of UF guy I don’t know hoop sh to somebody said it was Jay baitman it’s not I I don’t know if J bitman knows this explain why he didn’t leak the Jay baitman uh high right yeah yeah makes
Sense let’s let’s get into that um quick shout out to our friends Alum uh uh HomeField apparel go visit HomeField apparel use promo code stadium and Gila check out get you 15% off your orders about 100 different schools so anybody in your family friends uh your circle
That you might buy gifts for go check them out vintage wear vintage clothing uh from all types of programs all types of schools from Big schools to small schools and anything in between uh also Indianapolis Colts gear so go check them out HomeField apparel.com promo code stadium and Gale we appreciate their
Sponsorship that they’ve been a longtime sponsor of this program because you guys keep using that promo code all right gentlemen so we already talked about Gerald uh Chapman getting hired as a defensive line coach live on this program about an hour and a half ago
About an hour ago um the Gators did lose line recers Coach Jay baitman yesterday uh to become the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M he joins Mike Ela they worked together at the University of Richmond eons ago um obviously Sean Spencer the Gator’s former defensive line coach is over there at Texas A&M
Now um but the announcement made a lot of noise um because there may have not been an announcement so uh it’s our understanding that there was an offer yesterday morning and there was a leak to the media about the hire being made Nick can you give us any additional uh insight into
What happened yesterday with Jay baitman and then we’ll talk a little bit about scram yeah I think um I I don’t know so like back in the day before the transfer portal this stuff was slimy and common um you would hold on to your coaching
Staff um uh and fire three guys the day after signing day uh now players have a little more flexibility so I don’t think it’s that those that same slimy uh practice that was going on I think if Texas A&M had decided they were gonna get Jay baitman and it probably make
Sense for them to have him as their defensive quarter announced for signing day as they continue to try to sign guys so I don’t think there’s any uh Mal intent here um the timing of it sucks um and you’ve got to as a coach like Xavier
Philmy didn’t like that he did not know Corey Raymond was getting fired and I would tell you any 17-year-old kid you’re not on you’re not high on that list of people who are going to be notified when a coach is fired um and it just like the
The way that our society is now everyone is their own main character but it’s like you’re not going to find out like I remember a player on Florida’s football team asked asking me if Dan Mullen was fired and me telling them so like yeah the players and the recruits are not
High on that list I think you can be angry about it 100% I just don’t know that you know Billy Napier’s first call after he gets you know told that a coach is leaving is okay well who are the 40 players I need to call right now um it
Is a terrible look for Florida to lose their linebacker uh their linebacker coach and then to have the son of a gator Legend put you on blast for the way that you’ve handled it um so in the same breath as I’m saying like I don’t think Miles Graham’s the first thing Billy
Thought of when he when Jay baitman comes and says hey I got a I got a promotion I’m gonna be the defensive coordinator at NC school so I’ll be back in the swamp in November to play against you um but 100% saw people going after Ernest Graham
Yesterday like this is bad for the program that’s his son he does give a crap about Florida we’re talking about his son he’s standing up for his son for what he thinks is bad communication I haven’t spoken with Ernest gr but I’m 100% understand him putting his son over
The school that he played football at yeah this is I agree with everything that Nick said uh this is why these players need to like that’s this is why they do all the bargaining and negotiating that fans get mad at oh why are they committing and to the logo and
And you know why aren’t they loyal and faithful and all of this because this is the business these coaches can leave whenever they want and then you’re you’re left high and dry as a recruit to what you know um they they signed up for a certain situation and then they’re
Left into a different situation and this happened with our wide receiver room as well um you know we sign a a crazy easy Elite wide receiver class with car Cobra and then he was out to the NFL all those guys I know for sure behind the scene
Were like yo what is going on like I didn’t sign up to play for Billy G Billy G is a great guy cool he’s a gator you know we love him and all that but it’s not what those players signed up for so I get the business side of all of this
Because it’s more business than it is a game for those guys it’s a game for us fans but to those players this is this is business um and in erest Graham’s tweet he said that he he taught his kid the business side of this and what all
Of it could be um and does Ernest probably have a little bit more entitlement than the average Gator parent does he probably does like he’s Ernest Graham he’s a all-time gry year so he probably has a little sense of entitlement than the average uh player parent would have and I get that but
Like like Nick said this is this is how it goes down in this game they’re not going to inform the locker room and I don’t know when Billy learned about the the firing the hiring or I’m sorry not firing but the accepting of another job
Uh Jay baitman it kind of got leaked out by some Texas A&M media so before before we start holding the coaches accountable for uh coaching you know moves and and and accountability you got to know more information to what’s going on I don’t think those guys knew um so just give
More information before you jump to takes my whole thing from this whole situation yeah no I I 100% agree I understand I understand both sides um you know the timing of it the the announcements of how this could potentially get leaked out all can happen very quickly and they
Can all happen so suddenly that there might be another priority than calling the linebacker commitments right away right the the agreement could be made verbally the announcement could get sent out to a reporter all in the course of five or 10 minutes that I I just I don’t
Want to believe that there’s just that much um lack of understanding of of reaching out to these players but these things happen really quickly this isn’t the way that you change jobs and everything else right like for the most part nobody cares when you change jobs right but
When a coach changes jobs there’s a lot of different things that you have to to do in order to move that along and I don’t think that the Billy Napier Austin Armstrong group would not have reached out to Miles GR but if somebody accepts an offer somebody fires a a text over to
A reporter that gets announced over the course of three minutes Jay baitman might not have even told Billy Napier at that point right or the conversation might have still been happening and then it immediately gets out there gets aggregated by everybody over the course of 15 or 20
Minutes if everything that we know is true about the situation is he was offered the job yesterday morning the Tweet went out right after and then Ernest Graham made the announcement minutes after that right so I I I understand and sympathize you know with Ernest Graham with Miles gram I also
Understand that sometimes you just can’t move at the drop of a hat on every single thing and you can’t make everybody happy you try to mend the relationship you you try to move on from this relationship are you try to move forward with this relationship um but
The way that the that we get instant news and instant reaction and instant commentary is is very hard in the court of public perception and right now the public perception is that Billy n his staff didn’t tell Ernest Graham didn’t tell Miles Graham Aaron Charles the rest
Of the group but in reality sometimes things just move so quickly that it can be very hard to be ahead of how quickly the news is right if Nick gets a text message from Billy Napier right hey we’re hiring a new coach that coach is on staff somewhere else Nick is going to
Run with that story right away it’s not Nick’s responsibility to say oh hey did this coach tell their staff did the other staff get the chance to talk to their recruits everything else you’re gonna fire off that tweet right away right and and that’s what happened so I
Do want to offer like some additional like perspective around the situation but it sucks like right now I mean Florida got whooped up on their recuring Trail on national Signing Day they’ve had three losing seasons in a row and now they’ve pissed off my Ernest Graham right
So I mean we don’t know who like Ernest is pissed off at either right he could be pissed off at Jay baitman there’s a lot of information we don’t know all of his thoughts uh he didn’t say he was pissed off at Billy Napier he just talking about the experience but I think
Jay baitman is and I don’t know when you know he wanted that to be public uh but he is clearly our Ops he’s going to SC team he going over there with with Spencer so you know I don’t think he’s going to be exactly careful when leaving
But I think out of like professionalism you should call your your your your your room your recruits that you were just the day before hyping up retweeting and saying that you excited about uh coaching I think you should you know contact those people and I think that’s
More so and this just me guessing of what Ernest Graham was feeling like yo we was just you know chatting it up with these people The Vibes was great yesterday and now you’re gone we don’t even get a call so I get it um all right there’s one more piece
That I wanted to mention but it doesn’t matter right now we’ll come back to it want to give a quick shout out to our friend truth Seeker he was he broke the news that Phil s was gonna make the commit or make the flip last Monday
Right we called it on the show um but shout out to truth sheer I love the show guys not a big holiday guy but I enjoy I hope y’all enjoy your family go Gator truth Seeker appreciate you appreciate you you got to let know where the picture’s from man um we keep talking
About it but all right um other coaching uh changes moves uh the Gators are making a move uh with Mark Hawk no longer leading hockey that’s what I said man and people keep crying like no it’s Hawk I’m I’m pretty sure it’s hockey so Mark hockey uh is going
To move away from leading the strength and conditioning program it’s our understanding Nick maybe it can provide some more clarity he’s going to go up to the box and and maybe start to get some experience in some uh maybe analyst work or some some additional football
Coaching work can you give us some some clarity there yeah still working on like true Clarity but Billy Napier did make it seem as if he was going to be wanted to work into a coaching role um they extended him after last year so you’ve got him under contract for a
Whole another year um um makes high six figures so if you want to fire him you can you’re still going to pay him uh this just seems like you’re gonna try to do something else and maybe he gets another job there is no you know if he goes and
Gets another job then that’s it but you’re not going to pay somebody $750,000 to like scoop mashed potatoes um and like feed the guys um so it uh it’s interesting I think it was just a lot of players a lot of the feedback that Billy Napier got during
Exit interviews was not positive uh about what the players perceived as we going up against guys who are bigger and stronger than us our body fat percentages are up or our strength numbers are down we’re not getting gains um and and I think you got enough people
To say that that you fired uh the nutritionist and you demoted reassigned moved uh the head strength coach Go Gotta criticize like just a hire like that’s just an important hire right you had so this is how important the hire is you can only be around your
Team as a head coach like four months out of the year the strength coach and the reason why strength coaches don’t get fired is like that’s your head coach you you are giving your program to them for huge stretches of the off SE season like if Urban Meyer came back and
Coached at UNLV Mickey moradi would leave Ohio State and go coach with Urban and go be Urban strength coach at UNLV like that’s the kind of relationship you have with your strength coach which is why I thought Billy wouldn’t make a move um you had a great strength coach in
Nick Savage in the building um who you offered a demotion to to stay on the staff he ends up goes leaves goes to oh miss and is their strength coach sorry cut you off so TR to get that in no no you’re good um yeah just like we talk about all the hires
That he made but like you said this is a very important hire from a lot of standpoints and making a mistake there uh and then having to correct it in a crucial year like you’re going into year three so you’re asking this guy to come in and get like you you got one
Offseason of your new guy whoever that may be but that was a huge you know Mish hire like we got to talk about that just from that standpoint that guy runs your offseason from a morale standpoint team chemistry standpoint he’s in charge of the entire offseason he’s the head coach
Of the offseason um for you to be replaced to him after two years that’s two years of bad conditioning strength training conditioning nutrition that’s that’s a that’s a huge mistake yeah no 100% um you know in a lot of these changes are not necessarily permanent changes either right maybe this ision
Encouragement uh to other programs to say hey he’s available in strength and conditioning um but one of the the top five paid offensive or uh strength and condition coaches in the Country Florida did not look that way um this season last season uh didn’t see the improvements you know we got excited uh
There was there was some trepidation I think by a lot of people on Mark hockey uh just because of some of his experiences at Georgia and a few other programs comes over with Billy Napier from Louisiana you you build a whole staff around him and there was a lot of hype
And excitement I think we’re just getting hyped and excited because they’re all new names and you look at pedigrees and resumés and you find that one player that you know was the standout you know NFL guy and you get excited but strength and conditioning at the University of Florida has been not
Great for a while um you know there’s a lot of reminiscing about Nick Savage Florida didn’t necessarily look great there was a lot of complaints about what’s our strength and conditioning program doing when Nick Savage was here uh when Mike Kent was here before that right there’s
A there’s a lot of that but Florida desperately needs some help in the strength and conditioning Department uh Florida just wasn’t developing the bodies you know correctly of their players are getting pushed around in the SEC in the SEC a lot of injuries this year you know some of that you can
Control a lot of it you can’t but uh you know this is you know the opportunity for Florida to try to make an upgrade and you you’re you’re seeing some hail Maries here right by the University of Florida to try to make this work out U make a change of strength and
Conditioning uh you make some changes on the defensive side of the ball I still think that there’s going to be additional Staffing changes ahead I don’t think that we’re done on the the coaching conversation but uh it’s something that uh I heard about maybe a month ago texted uh texted Nick and silk
Here uh and finally um you know it does get uh made official so he will be moving off field yep yeah po Thompson in the group chat Thompson yeah Thompson sh is you know what I mean have you ever seen Dan in the same building never not once great Point great
Point yeah I’ve never seen hoop and Dan tweet at the same time same time neither no yeah block the stadium and Gil account just to you know fur y yeah covering his tracks this is why I wasn’t available during this time that’s why I Tom I to be busy tomor tomorrow afternoon and
Then you throw me with I’m saying I see I see the sence we go two two backtack regimes went from Jamaican bacon to hockey uh you know too rough uh nutrition everybody like bring Savage back but we had a whole thing of Jamaican bacon and nutrition and and complaints about that
That shrim and conditioning uh regime as well so I don’t like old familiar names go go hire somebody I don’t like at this point give me an LA Fitness trainer Nick Savage is great um there is a name I put on our message board um that I think
Florida will move on quickly um but also like I heard you mentioned Mike Kent along with Nick Savage like listen I was working out with Florida football players at Gainsville health and fitness when Mike Kent was the strength and conditioning coach like there he he and Nick Savage don’t belong in the same
Sentence also have no idea what mik talking Florida’s lack of playing horseshoes we just been we just haven’t been great in the strength and conditioning Department NI like for a long time right um all right so then uh we talked about Jay baitman leaving we didn’t talk about Replacements uh Jamar
Cheney uh recruiting Guru um now the linebackers coach at Western Kentucky shout out Cory Bender he said Jamar Cheney would love to leave Western to come to the University of Florida don’t blame him right you know what I mean but uh Jamar Cheney is a name bam Hardman is a name former
Florida Gator uh at Troy longtime linebacker uh tenacious recruiter from what we’ve heard and then of course the hot board had to include the Louisana linebacker coach and then finally the idea then then finally uh the uh the the fourth option was and these are all just prognostications right and then the
Fourth would be Austin Armstrong moving from coaching safeties back to linebackers which is what his position that he got hired to be at the University of Alabama before coming to Florida so um and that just gives you the that just gives you flexibility if you find a better fit as a safety coach
Hey our defensive coordinator can go um and Coach linebackers because we’ve got a guy who’s going to be a great coach at safety and a great recruiter and we can do that so you’re not I guess back into a corner of well we have to find somebody who can coach linebackers uh
Because your defensive coordinator uh was literally hired by Nick Sab and the Goat to coach linebackers yeah so you might already have your linebacker coach on campus who knows who knows but um the rate this the staff moves expect to higher uh sometime by February February all right sometime by
February all the bull games are done by then right all the NFL Super Bowl’s done muddy muddy waters said hey head over grab Charlie Strong back Charlie’s gota be 60 now doesn’t he if Randy Shannon’s over at FSU bring him back bring the boys back you know or
How about this you go and hire Marquan Manuel right we haven’t thrown his name around a lot I’ve seen it in the comments already yeah who are the other names gotta go for hire Phil Trot wine um who’s the running back coach it’s been at Tennessee and South Carolina shoot go
Get me uh Brad Davis back I don’t know where Brad’s at no we’re just building a St of all former Gators Nick Davis Brad Davis CN Bell Co yeah yeah C Bell or his son what we have OC wise I gota get up out of here I gota
Pick my daughter up she got early release for exam today for um School Robert kie that’s who I’m thinking of where we at OC wise yeah I mean they don’t have a position open on the offens theoretically they do theoretically they do still you still don’t Mike P is gonna
Coach all the linebackers yeah Poss Steve sper Jr for offensive coordinator there you go Matthews for offensive coordinator man Perfect all right well let’s get let’s get out of here a long good show hey before you leave there’s 450 of you I think we’ve had about 800
So come in and out pause um today make sure you hit the like button hit make sure you hit the Subscribe button happy holidays to everybody quick shout out to our friends over at Alumni Hall if you’re in Gainesville go visit them on Archer Road or go visit them online clothing
Apparel accessories grilling accessories tailgate supplies ornaments other gifts that you may have for the Gator fan in your life go check out alumni hall.com or go visit them on Archer Road near that Chick-fil-A right off of I75 silk you have song in the week my friend second song of the week let me
Get some uh been listen to a lot no I had the song of the week last week it was an EDM Christmas song I hope everybody enjoyed it saying you had it on Monday Al honestly I listen to like three or four times this week yeah it’s
Not bad right yeah I’m saying we have just we just have two songs of the week yeah mine was in a bridg version let me get uh currency man off his new album uh Highway 600 track is called Reflections spitter and Drey man smooth Vibes let your sun roof back put
Something in the air Papa Lucy do your thing man happy holidays papa lucyy papa Lucy so everybody thanks to you guys for the Super Chat donations thanks everybody for supporting Lucy Alumni Hall and HomeField apparel thanks every everybody for riding with us in 2024 we’re going to do another pop-up
Show next week uh as well so appreciate you guys again obviously not doing a show on Monday have a happy holidays everybody and we will see you guys same Corner same time Merry Christmas
18 Comments
WOW..Trying to spin this shi* show as a positive..what about keep it a bean?
How are you guys gonna screw up the intros?!!! The correct intro is "this your favorite uncle Silk, it's Hoopshizz, and Del La Torre" Merry Christmas 😂😂
I miss Florida man, I’m in Texas now and I want some damn conch salad and conch fritters!
The money we saved on flips and Smith staying with OSU, Billy needs to go get Walter Nolan and Evan Stewart and settle for a smaller class. Stewart has 91 catches and 1100 yards, 6 TDs in 2 years with a mid QB. Billy needs to stop with the bargain bin shopping . His job depends on what we do next season
I think the players should get paid a flat salary across the board and let nil truely be nil
Mizell is 6'2" but i dont know if he has added any weight
Want to go eat with Silk and family. Good food. GO GATORS. Work with what you got. This s###. Is crazy??????????????
Spikes is on the sideline, put him at linebacker coach
“Death piece”
Nick, it was 2022 when Mertz and Dike put up those numbers
SEC Conference
We need a hot board coaching hiring and recruiting episode
Silk is a snowflake
Did you know that running back Daniels and running back baugh are both up for players of the year in their respective states. Lagway already won Texas. That's pretty good if you ask me as far as recruiting goes.
Jeff driskill was the number 1 or 2 qb out of highschool but didn’t play any competition in highschool
You can’t just ignore driskill as our best ranked qb since Tebow lol no matter how bad we want to
The biggest what if qb would have to be will Grier. He could have done something special with Florida had he not taken those peds
Rumors of Carrol having ligament damage I think if that's true we will probably take an experienced back in portal