Don't count the stars, but grade Will Muschamp's first National Signing Day

by mlmintampa on Feb 3, 2011 12:07 AM EST in Florida Football

Florida had 10 recruits with this many stars.

Will Muschamp is quickly becoming a quotable guy. His newest line, "I don't count stars," is refreshing in the sense that his first National Signing Day wasn't dictated by old men who spend their Friday nights watching someone else's kid play football. But, the line is a little defense when you remember that those old men usually are pretty good at picking out good players.

I suspect Muschamp would not have said what he said had he pulled off a more impressive day. UF signed 18 players, with St. Thomas Aquinas CB Marcus Roberson being the only real surprise. Florida got plenty of defensive backs and held onto their talent at wide receiver, but swung at missed on the lines and at linebacker. UF will leave seven scholarships in the cabinet for next season.

Muschamp should get credit for maintaining Jeff Driskel, Ja'Juan Story and Mike Blakely, who all could have easily jumped somewhere else following Urban Meyer retiring to spend more time on ESPN. But getting credit is like getting a 'C' when you have the ability to get an 'A'.

Which brings us to our grade for Coach Boom/Blood/Overexcited. I think he is worthy of a 'B', considering that his two coordinators couldn't recruit until their NFL teams were knocked out of the playoffs. The timing of Meyer's resignation also didn't help. When you hear Muschamp say that the unused scholarships will be available next year, it telegraphs that UF is in rebuilding mode, an investment UF refused to make in 2010. But that sets up the process for 2012 and 2013. If Muschamp had pulled in a five-star, I'd give him an 'A' because I'm not sophisticated enough in the world of high school football to ignore star amounts.

What do you say?

Poll

Grade Will Muschamp's first National Signing Day:

A

59 votes

B

332 votes

C

120 votes

D

19 votes

F

30 votes

560 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

yea

but a very solid b.

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by silverstreak3k on Feb 3, 2011 3:10 AM EST reply actions

Yep. Solid B.

The Once and Future King

by FlaGators on Feb 3, 2011 10:20 AM EST reply actions

A+

Could not be happier with this Gator class considering the ridiculousness you guys pulled in last year.

You’re still ahead in talent level as a whole, this year just let the Noles catch up just a little bit so we might actually have some entertaining games for the next few years.

'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman

by Nattylite on Feb 3, 2011 1:23 PM EST reply actions

I give him a solid B

but I would give it a solid B regardless if he was a new coach or not. If you have the outlook of him coming in so late and how everything was done I think you could make the case for an A. It’s tough to go in there and get guys who have been talking to coaches for years to come to their school and then you have made one house visit and a few phone calls while other coaches have had months. He was able to get a few new guys and keep most of the class he already had. I know he didn’t get all the type of players he wants for defense, but he still has a good group of defenders for this year. He has young talent in Floyd, Easley, and Powell to name a few. With Bostic growing and having the talent to be a great mlb I think he is in a good position. We have gotten great defensive players over the last few years and have been missing out on offense and keeping Driskel, Story, Blakely, Leonard, and Joyner is a great start to getting the offense that we need.

by MPDevils on Feb 3, 2011 2:14 PM EST reply actions

Driskel and Blakely

Them alone makes this class a B grade. They are going to be STUDS.

Isn’t it amazing that we still pull in a Top 10 class according to ESPN, and its just an “OK” class. That shows what kindof classes we have been able to pull in. I am glad we have a future stud at QB, RB, WR, and TE to go along with a stud at OC. We will also have a damn good Defense, Boom will make sure of it.

This upcomming season and maybe the next season are going to be a little rough….we have to be patient. I dont see us hitting 10 wins either of the next 2 seasons. But by Season 3 of the Boom era we should be a 10-2 team.

If you're not a Gator, you're Gatorbait!

by Gators1 on Feb 3, 2011 2:58 PM EST reply actions

Two players does not a class make.

Tebow and Spikes did not make the 2006 class, it was Tebow, Spikes, Harvin, Cooper, Wright, Cunningham, and many other solid contributors.

But like Muschamp said, give them two or 3 years and you can accurately gage the value of the draft class, because these kids can have all the talent and potential in the world but if they don’t know how to use it and use it properly, they’ll never amount to what they could be or beyond. Some of that is on the coaches, most of it is on the players to want to improve and learn.

Meyer would always talk about players not knowing the offense, that isn’t saying the players are dumb or the offense is too complicated, it’s saying the player is not taking the time to study, learn, and remember how to excute the plays and all the little things that make the plays work, from weakside blocking, fakes and counters, to routes and holes to hit. All of it. It is important that the players know what everyone is doing for every single play. If someone doesn’t know those things he’s a liability to the rest of the team.

Get out of my House!

by ECFIVESTER on Feb 4, 2011 10:28 AM EST up reply actions