The numbers aren’t telling the whole story when it comes to Florida’s recruiting.
Being ranked in the top 20 of the recruiting class rankings in each of the last three years is pretty successful. But not when compared with classes from just a few years ago.
Since ESPN began keeping track of recruiting class rankings in 2006 and up until signing day in 2014, a span of nine years, the Gators average recruiting class rank was fourth. Over the last two years under Jim McElwain, the Gators finished with the 20th and 12th-ranked classes and currently have the 19th-ranked class behind schools such as Maryland and South Carolina.
Lack of on-field success of the previous coaching staff, below average facilities, a floundering offense since Urban Meyer left, and a current coaching staff that doesn’t have many elite recruiters among it are some reasons for the decline.
While the lack of recruiting success cannot be fully blamed on the current staff, there are certainly some areas where the Gators need improvement.
Gerard Ross, a former FSU and NFL defensive back, is now an assistant coach and oversees recruiting for Trinity Christian in Jacksonville, a team that has produced several ESPN 300 prospects and multiple five-star recruits including Kevin Toliver (LSU) and most recently Shaun Wade – who just enrolled at Ohio State.
With out-of-state schools like Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson having so much success, Ross thinks Florida has to rethink its recruiting strategy.
“From what I can see, they have to do a better job of identifying the younger studs and kind of lovin’ on those guys really early the way the other big dogs do like Florida State, Alabama, Ohio State,” Ross said. “They identify those young kids pretty early on and do a good job making sure that ‘hey man, we love you, we want you to come here.’ From my experience and how [Florida has] been around us, they tend to wait until that kid has those big-time, Power 5 offers and then they try to sneak in.
Shaun Wade’s father, Randy, further explained how the late attention cost the Gators.
"My family really liked Florida,” Randy Wade said. “The only reason Florida missed out on Shaun is because they recruited him late. Trust me, my family would have loved for Shaun to go to Florida but Ohio State's Tim Hinton was on him in the 10th grade ...
"Florida did everything they needed to do … I really felt sorry when Shaun called (McElwain) to tell him he was not coming. In Shaun's recruitment I just felt Florida should have hit us up more so we could have told them earlier Shaun really didn't want to stay in-state or recruited him earlier so we would have initially picked Florida first instead of picking OSU because they recruited us from the very beginning."
Identifying players sooner is one thing. Having the right coaches to identify those recruits is another. Florida’s current coaching staff is going through somewhat of a makeover after defensive coordinator Geoff Collins took the head coaching position at Temple, Randy Shannon was promoted to defensive coordinator and offensive line coach Mike Summers left to take the same position at Louisville.
McElwain, meanwhile, has yet to hire any new assistants, despite Collins leaving for Temple on Dec. 13. Florida attempted to lure ace recruiter Mike Locksley away from Alabama, but Nick Saban promoted Locksley from an off-field staff member to a full-time assistant coach and Florida was left without one of their top assistant coaching candidates.
As the calendar inches closer to signing, it’s imperative for McElwain hire coaches who are elite recruiters, no matter how long it takes.
“I think if you are head football coach, you have got to be able to hire a coach that is capable of coaching at a high level and recruiting at a high level,” said Armwood (Seffner, Florida) coach Sean Callahan, who has coached in Florida for over 25 years and produced 2015’s No. 1 player Byron Cowart. “If you get a good coach that can’t recruit, or a good recruiter that can’t coach, then you are putting yourself in a bad bind. At the University of Florida, you should be able to get anybody you want, or pretty close to that. That has to be done and right now it’s kind of hit or miss. There are some coaches that are not pulling guys in, it’s very obvious who they are, and there some that are.”
The good news for Florida is the Gators have won the SEC East in McElwain’s first two years and beat Iowa 30-3 in the Outback Bowl. In recruiting, Florida currently has 15 verbal commits including six which are ranked in the ESPN 300 and with multiple ESPN 300 prospects scheduled to visit over the next two weeks, the Gators have a chance to finish strong.
Hiring assistant coaches who can help with recruiting would certainly be to Florida’s advantage, but making the right hire’s might be the most important decision McElwain has had to make during his time in Gainesville.
“Florida will always be a big name, but they just aren’t that premier team yet like some of those other schools right now,” Ross said. “I think once they have a great season, it will kind of snowball with recruiting, but until then, they have to do a better job of jumping on the younger kids and showing them love.”