Greetings Gator Nation!
Every now and then I'll bring in an expert who actually knows what he's talking about, because Lord knows half the predictions here come straight out of my ass.
Please put your hands together for our resident recruiting guru from the 561, Señor Chupacabra. Señor was raised in the mean streets of Dade County, and now calls Palm Beach Gardens home. He's like Mel Kiper, only shorter and hairier. He also has a day job and he doesn't want to get fired...which makes sense considering he happens to be one of the best attorneys in South Florid...oh dear, I fear I've shared too much.
Anyways, the experts are gushing over Shrill Mustclamp's Top 10 recruiting class, in spite of the abortion that was Florida Football in 2013.
Señor Counselor cuts through the crap, pulls no punches, and tells it like it is...so here it is...
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Okay, so let me preface my grades with a couple of points. First, when grading a class/position group addressing needs is the thing I value most. This means not only getting the numbers at the positions of need correctly, but also landing kids who can: a) play, and b) make your team better.
Second, I look at what we took in the context of what was available. Some years you don't take great players at certain positions simply because there aren't may to be had.
Finally, I don't necessarily dwell on who we missed on since you have to play what you did get. But, I do subtract major points when I think the coaches have flat fucked something up. With that being said, I'll do my view of the offense first:
Quarterback:
Will Grier, Treon Harris
This was an A, IMO. The only thing keeping it from being an A+ is that you can only really give a perfect grade when you've found a Tebow or Winston type, and these guys aren't that. However, we desperately had a need for capable bodies at the position. I don't think our offense will ever be very good as long as Driskel is the starter because Driskel is just a bad QB. Superb athlete? Sure. QB? Nope. Forget the OC stuff, Driskel is dumb. The only worse thing than having a dumb QB as your starter is having such piss-poor depth behind him that there is no real competition for the job. Enter Grier and Harris. Grier's biggest question mark is whether he's able to perform against real competition instead of the garbage he played in high school. But he's a coach's son and put up ridiculous numbers. When a guy is better than his competition, he should dominate. Grier did that. He's also an early enrollee and therefore poses a threat to Driskel, With that being said, you can't ignore that Harris was dominant at the highest level of high school competition. The kid may be short, but he has a gun and has tremendous pocket presence. He also looked great when the stage was biggest (state championship game). I know Driskel is going to start no matter what, because Muschamp is retarded and will think, "Since my job is on the line, I need to put the ball in the hands of the most experienced guy." Because that's the conservative, textbook and dumb thing to do. But if this offense is ever going to get going, it's got to be with either Harris or Grier at the wheel.
Running Back:
Brandon Powell
I'm giving this one a B-, because I'm higher on Powell than most. Obviously, the top tier guys in Florida this year were Cook, Yearby, Michel and Scarborough (if he counts). Powell isn't on their level, but he is at the top of the next tier of kids. The thing that limits Powell is that he's not -- and never will be -- a workhorse back. He's a change of pace guy. However, he gives us something in the backfield that we don't currently have, and that is breakaway ability. If he gets into the open field, he can take it to the house. The fact that he adds a new dimension to the offense makes him a kid that improves the team. In my mind, we only have three RB's on the roster worth a shit, and one of them (Lane) is based on potential only. I love having a kid like Matt Jones on the team and he can certainly play at the college level, but he's just not a SEC-caliber RB. It's not his fault that the staff misuses him and that he needs to be an H-back. But nevertheless, recruits see a depth chart with a shitload of names and very shitty production (Jones, Brown, Herndon, Showers, Taylor, Lane) and it's hard to land more than one here. Plus, I think it was actually a smart move to take only one this year because 2015 is loaded and we have enough on the roster to get by for 2014.
Wide Receiver:
Ryan Sousa, C.J. Worton
To me, this is a C-/D+ grade. The only thing that keeps it from being lower is that I think more highly of Worton than most. Sousa is, IMO, just another guy. We desperately, desperately, desperately needed playmaking ability at the skill positions and got none of it at WR. I don't even blame the staff for whiffing on Artavis Scott (kid wanted to leave the state), Adoree (tough pull) or Ermon Lane (has bust written all over him). But I blame the coaching staff for how they managed their board and how they fucked it up at the end. To begin with, we could have gotten in on Jovon Harrison a long time ago but we felt so good about Lane that we didn't bother. Stupid. We also had Travis Rudolph gift-wrapped for this class after Miami screwed up his recruitment, and we slow-played him instead. Stupid. Notwithstanding those fuck-ups, we had the chance to add a playmaker in Isiah McKenzie late in the process and we fucked that one up, too, because we felt so good about Adoree. Look, if Adoree wanted to go to UF he would have done it with or without McKenzie on the roster. So what was the harm in offering and taking McKenzie? Worst case scenario, you have two playmakers to use. And if we had taken McKenzie, then the loss of Adoree wouldn't have been so bad. We also never bothered to go after Steve Ishmael (who wound up at Syracuse of all places) or Isiah Ford, who could have been had. In lieu of the necessary playmakers, we wind up with a "solid" player (Worton) and a "steady" player (Sousa). Gawd, Muschamp is a dickhead when it comes to offense.
Tight End:
Deandre Goolsby, C'yontai Lewis, Moral Stephens
This group is a C. I actually think Goolsby can be a very good player for us here, and is certainly an upgrade over the pile of shit we currently have at TE on the roster (Burton and Westbrook). Lewis has some potential, but I don't see a big difference here. I have no idea why Moral Stephens is on this team. He sucks. And by sucks, I mean he fucking sucks, he won't play here and he took a valuable scholarship that could have gone to McKenzie or someone else who can actually play at this level. Goddammit, Muschamp, stay the fuck out of the offense. But still, they get a C because there weren't many great options out there and we still upgraded the roster with what we landed.
Offensive Line:
Drew Sarvary, Travaris Dorsey, Nolan Kelleher, David Sharpe, Kavaris Harkless, Andrew Mike
I see this class as an A. Not an Alabama-style A+, but certainly about as well as any team can reasonably hope to do. With Silberman leaving, Sarvary plays the ever-important role of barely warm body that can give someone a breather for a few snaps a game. I think Kelleher and Dorsey provide immediate depth, with Kelleher having the potential to be very good. With Mike and Harkless, you have kids with good potential in a year or two. And Sharpe has all the physical tools you're looking for in an OT. Plus, all of these guys go far in increasing the size of our OL. 4 out of 6 contribute in year one, and 2 upside kids who need a little time to grow. And we definitely filled a bunch of holes here. Prince would have made this an A+.
Defense is on the way....
