Recruiting: Is Nelson Agholor Florida's Version Of Julio Jones?
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 11:00 AM EST
in Florida Football Recruiting
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PrintOver the course of 2007 and 2008, every program that mattered was looking at Foley, AL wide receiver Julio Jones. The 6'4" Jones had no visible weaknesses and was not only the top WR in the nation, but one of the best at any position. Although many believed Jones would end up at Alabama, he was one of the most tight-lipped recruits in recent memory. No one was surprised when he committed to the Crimson Tide, but he wasn't open with information throughout his recruitment either. Here's just a sample of some of what Jones actually did have to say:
"The visit was alright."
"They've got a great coaching staff and stuff."
Even his high school coach - Foley's Todd Watson - had a hard time getting much out of Jones at times. After visiting Alabama, Jones told Watson virtually nothing...
"He really didn't talk much about it."
Getting a good read on Jones was difficult from the beginning of his recruitment. We all had a feeling we knew where he'd play his college ball, but his elusiveness made it nearly impossible to be certain. Fast forward to 2011 and the nation's top athlete is playing the recruiting game in a similar fashion.
Agholor isn't going through his recruitment exactly like Jones did, but he's similar in being careful to not give too much of an idea of where he's leaning. He is a little more forthcoming with his responses, but doesn't seem to lead many in any one direction. The Tampa, FL athlete is rumored to be down to Florida, FSU and Southern Cal and some of the recruiting experts out there have even gone as far to state their belief that the Gators hold the lead. However, he also loved his visit to Notre Dame and had good things to say about the school.
If those predicting a orange and blue commitment are correct, then Agholor may just be Florida's version of Jones. He may be elusive in his recruitment, but end up exactly where many may have expected early on. That would be a great thing for anyone associated with the Gators and give Florida a talented wide receiver with height. Not the size of Jones, but size all the same.
Signs point to Agholor remaining relatively quiet in terms of a true favorite for the remainder of his recruitment, but that doesn't mean we can't speculate. Yes, this is a Florida fan site (the name and colors should be a clear indicator of that), but what say you?
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TBG …
If we don’t end up with Agholor, I’m going to ask that you check in with us, so that we know you are safe.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
I'll keep the Mrs. on notice that day.
I can’t speak to my state of mind that day if that does happen though. I may want to ban myself from posting anything that day if he commits elsewhere.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 12:30 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Okay cool. Just so you are taking preemptive steps, just in case.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
It stings me to say he's a gator
Gators will get Diggs and Agholor. Two great prospects for Weis to start off with. Who do you guys like more between the two?
Team work make the dream work
by lloydg on Nov 10, 2011 11:14 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I like and want them both to come to UF, equally.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
I prefer Agholor slightly
but both are fantastic prospects.
They would make a great receiver tandem, I think.
Oh, come on. Don't leave your uncle T-bag hangin'.
by Troll2Troll on Nov 10, 2011 12:24 PM EST up reply actions
me too
after the video I’ve seen, and how he has been used as a running back lately makes me believe he has more moves to go with the big body and blazing speed. granted he is not 6’4, but 6’1 at wide out is not shabby.
Perfect (pur-fec-t): the only person on earth, besides Tim Tebow, in the 21st century to be without fault is gatorhippy.
He's strong too for his size.
As for the running back abilities…312 yards on 25 carries in his last game.
Hope to go to their game one of the next two weeks…if not both.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 12:33 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Yeah I saw that too
at first it had me wondering if that was his primary position but I heard from someone down there that they run the spread and move him all over the field, just finding different ways to use him.
Perfect (pur-fec-t): the only person on earth, besides Tim Tebow, in the 21st century to be without fault is gatorhippy.
Yup.
They move him everywhere. Whatever works against a particular defense.
Which is very different from when I was there…which was a whole lot of three and outs.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 1:58 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Can't vote
simply because I haven’t followed recruiting closely enough to know anything about the kid or even make an educated guess. I know that if I were a top offensive prospect right now, I wouldn’t be too excited about signing with the Gators. Our offense is a mess right now.
I love Julio though. As a Falcons fan, it was easy to go from loathing him to loving him.
I’ll never forget the first play from scrimmage in the SECCG in ‘09. I was sitting in the endzone facing Bama’s offense and just before the snap I stood up and started screaming “nobody’s covering Julio! nobody’s covering Julio – somebody cover him!”
Sure enough – Bama gained 18 yards on an easy pass to a wide open Julio. I think Strong had already mentally checked out.
You have to remember the mentality of a lot of these kids though.
They want to be the ones that fix the problem.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 12:27 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
yeah
the one who made Florida look good again.
Perfect (pur-fec-t): the only person on earth, besides Tim Tebow, in the 21st century to be without fault is gatorhippy.
not really buying that
otherwise, 5 star kids would be flocking to Vanderbilt.
I think kids want to go to a program that will be playing under the lights on prime time national games. I think kids want to play for coaches that make their players look great and prime them for the NFL. Those teams right now are Bama and LSU. Those teams do not currently include the Florida Gators.
Then why do kids keep going to the Miamis and Notre Dames and others when they go through down spells?
The Vanderbilt analogy doesn’t hold weight because they never had a strong history. Florida has.
We’re in time when more and more true freshman play right away and this kids are aware of that. Not everyone wants a national championship (as sad as that is since college football is obviously my favorite sport); some want to get playing time as fast and as much as possible. Sure the current state of the system has something to do with it, but they also know it’s the coaching staff’s first year and they know what they can bring to any team. Florida isn’t going to suddenly be void of prime time national games. It’s still Florida and it’s still the SEC. 7-5 (or whatever the final record ends up being) could quickly become 10-2. Just look at the Zook/Meyer transition. Three-straight five loss seasons and a three-loss season followed up by a national championship and another one two years later.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 8:04 PM EST up reply actions
Vandy was really good at the turn of the century...
last century…
Your point is well made, but Florida just doesn’t look like a team that can turn it around quickly. I hope I am wrong.
Miami is a special case because there are plenty of other reasons kids want ot go to Miami other than the football program. Gainesville has Broward Beach instead of South Beach. Notre Dame has lost plenty of luster over the past several years despite their natural allure to Catholic kids. Notre Dame finished 10th in recruiting last season and Miami was 36th. In 2011, they were 14th and 16th, respectively. In 2009, they were 21st and 15th. 2008 was the last time they were both recruited lights out and both finished in the top 5.
Those middling recruiting rankings definitely aren’t where the Gators need to be.
I know recruting rankings aren’t necessarily a definite indicator of success, but when you consider where Bama and LSU have finished the past few years, you can conclude that it is very meaningful in the least.
2011 Bama #1 – LSU #6
2010 Bama #5 – LSU #6
2009 Bama #1 – LSU #2
2008 Bama #1 – LSU #11
2007 Bama #10 – LSU #4
Here’s UF’s rankings:
2007 – #1
2008 – #3
2009 – #11
2010 – #2
2011 – #12
2012 – #$ (currently)
You make good points too.
We have to remember too that team rankings are also based on recruit rankings and don’t factor in how a recruit will actually fit into a particular system. Bama would get as many points for a 5-star WR as would, say, GT.
Overall, I get what you’re saying. I just think there are those out there that don’t get as easily swayed by a down season or two. They see that they can come in and play right away and possibly be the fix. If they didn’t feel that way, they wouldn’t even have us in the conversation at this point. Someone like Agholor is a great example. He knows what happened in October, yet still came on his visit for the Vandy game and loved everything about the school, program and coaches. You even had Colin Thompson saying he didn’t understand why anyone would decommit from the Gators…all the while, one TE was announcing his transfer because of lack of utilization and another was seriously considering it.
If I was a WR, I would definitely be concerned about the offense, but I’d also be aware of the depth chart and how that may play out to my favor.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 11, 2011 11:18 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I really want to see Agholor in Orange and Blue
I think he can quite easily be one of the best WRs we’ve had around here in a while. Percy was so much of a hybrid player, that I don’t think it’s fair to compare Agholor to him, but aside from Harvin, I can see Agholor being better than pretty much anyone we’ve had in the last decade, and there have been some good ones. The thought of him and Diggs together, is too exciting for words. Diggs to me is the DeSean Jackson type homerun hitter, where Agholor is the do everything guy that can get the big completions, and stretch the field. I want this to happen soooo bad
contributing author - Alligator Army
But Agholor's more in the Harvin mold than anything.
And we used Percy in that do-everything role more often than I think we usually remember.
by Andy Hutchins on Nov 10, 2011 2:54 PM EST up reply actions
All. The. Time.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
I remember hearing similar things about Dubose
and he’s no Percy. Nice payer – underutilized, but no Percy.
The problem there also has to do with understanding.
Debose has really struggled to fully grasp the offense…and then it changed.
I feel like fans are too quick to name the next Percy. Almost similar to all the next Michael Jordans over the years. Percy was Percy and we may never see someone like him again. That’s fine, right now I want true, consistent, talented wide receivers. I’m not sure we need a Percy-type in this offense anyway.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 8:06 PM EST up reply actions
Frankly, I would be satisfied with
a Jack Jackson, Willie Jackson, Harrison Houston, Tre Everitt, or even a Travis McGriff. You know – guys who can get open and catch the ball when it is thrown to them.
Is s sad that we have to hope for not only catching the ball...
…but also just getting open in the first place? The double whammy.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 11, 2011 10:31 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I heard a rumor he was a silent commit to UGA, providing Richt keeps his job.
But again.. it is just a rumor so who knows?
Hmmm.
Editor at Alligator Army - The Florida Gators Blog
The Florida Gators - The most despised team in all of college football - Which is fantastic.
There has been some talk that UGA is still in it.
But most of the talk is that they aren’t among the top three. Of course he’s not exactly forthcoming with information, so anything could really happen.
by The Bull Gator on Nov 10, 2011 8:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
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