But we are heating up
Yeah, no, it's like they flipped the switch. That vote of confidence was a big deal
It was a big deal. You heard what DJ said after they made that statement
recruits started hitting him up. That tells you all you need to know. And I think that there were probably a lot of guys that were feeling Florida
feeling Napier, feeling the staff, and obviously feeling DJ Lagway, but they were hesitant because what's going to happen here
There was so much talk about job security all season long, week after week
It had to have an effect on the recruiting trail. You know, other schools were using it against Florida
So now that that's dead, you've seen Florida's recruiting come alive. Tell me if I'm correct in this assumption
because I said multiple things, right? You had the letter, which like you say
kind of gave some resurgence that, okay, they're not going anywhere. People liked Billy
That's never been a question. I think players have always enjoyed what Billy Napier brings to the table
That's been good. There was a question of job security. They also wanted to see some product in the football field
which was a little wobbly at the beginning of the year. It's going to make a complete 180
So you've got security. The love was always there. We're playing some good football now
There's rumors of this extra money flying around. There could be maybe some more buy-in in that
is all that kind of again just coming together at the right time is that is that a fair assumption
like yeah that's you're 100% on no I think I think those boxes are being checked which is why
that he's getting another year you know this this thing could have easily went sideways
just go ask the folks in Tallahassee I mean the season can get away from you in a hurry
so the fact that and look not only that not to to just uh poke at the at the rivals but
we saw a florida football team quit on damn all of you know i mean they packed it up and went home they didn't quit
they did not they did not and i'm telling you man this team i mean you go back to last year too
but this team is, you know, their starting quarterback getting injured away from, you know
having a 10-0 lead at Tennessee and having a 10-3 lead against Georgia
And they almost still won both of those games. It's, so, look, I think a..
I mean, you could take it all the way back to last year when they were also up against another top 10 team in Mizzou on the road with a lead
and lost their starting quarterback and still almost won that game too
Most of the time when you're in those type of matchups and you lose your starter, game's over
Especially against Georgia. I know everybody thought when DJ went out, that game was over
And it wasn't. The air was sucked out of the room for sure. And look, I think we say this all the time
and this is something that I've said, even myself when I was kind of, after the A&M game, I was like
hey, it's time to back it up. This ain't it. gents we're not gonna make you look sexy
okay it's time to wrap up them cheeks in a nice pair of jeans and I told you we've had
hey we had the conversation about these jeans boys I tell you hand to God I wear my perfect jeans every single day Damn near every single day I wear these jeans Wash them multiple times a week
No rips, no problem. They continue to look brand new after every wash
I cannot stress to you how much I love these jeans, especially with a good pair of boots
Going to give me a nice little bit darker pair. I got a nice light jean right now. These things are fantastic
Head on over to theperfectjean.com. Use the code HIGH TOP 15 to get 15% off
I promise you it's worth it. If you are a man like me that wears jeans every single day
you are nuts if you don't go check these bad boys out. You get to pick the exact size, height
everything you can need for the perfect jean. Again, use the code HIGH TOP 15. Look a little bit sexy this holiday season, boys and girls
Now back to the show. The team has never quit. A lot of people felt that way
Yeah, I wasn't alone. That was a big straw for me. But the team never quit
like an ESPN alert. Yeah. This is the funniest year. Like they had the vote of confidence at the end of the year
but then like three games into the season, you're already getting an ESPN alert about a buyout
So it's like, it's the weirdest roller coaster we've been on. I've emotionally been on a roller coaster because of this year
So, I mean, it's been wild. Like I think this is the most wildest year that I've ever been a part of
like Florida Gator football. It's been exhausting. The only thing I can compare it to is 2013
Yeah, yeah. All those injuries, another vote of confidence. You didn't have an LSU win, though, at the end of the year
The only thing Muschamp could hang his hat on at that point was he had a top 10 recruiting class
That was it. We're getting there. I guess he lost his starting quarterback, Driscoll, for the year
and then you had him coming back, so that was something that he could sell. But Driscoll coming back is not DJ Lackway coming back
Those are two totally different things. And shout out to Jeff. He's still playing in the NFL
That's no shout out to Driscoll. No DJ Lackway. We got it
The Lackway level is a hype or something we haven't seen around here
since number 15 was playing quarterback and not the most recent one. Yeah, I will agree with that
We know which 15 you're talking about. Look, man, so let's talk about this big weekend again. There's a lot of trend happening
We've seen this before. We get a lot of hype. Florida does. It hasn't closed out, I would say
We've done okay. Maybe I'm just buying back in again, but there seems to be a little more optimism
on Florida being able to close strong on some of these guys, given the fact of where they're coming from
FSU. So that's kind of where they're flipping them from. You got Solomon Thomas, Jamie French, Javion Hilson
Talk to us about these guys that are visiting this past weekend. Their running back, Byron Lewis, that four-star
I mean, it's insane. How are we feeling on some of these guys
I'm sure you spoke to some of them. Give us the ultimate vibe of what's happened with this recruit so far
Yeah, I mean, I've been keeping tabs. You know, Corey and Keith are the guys that are talking to him
But I'm certainly asking around and keeping tabs on what's been quite the pickup in recruiting
I do think a lot of this stems from not just the vote of confidence but Trammell Jones I mean that flip is a big deal It could have a domino effect for Florida football recruiting and Florida State football recruiting
because it's there for the taking, given the way that their season's going
and how Florida has started to trend, at least in a better direction
It's not also just Trammell Jones. I got to give a shout out to my guy, Ronell Brown
the third because he's behind the scenes working these dudes and it started with tramell and
all these guys played at sfe man they've all either played with each other or played against
each other and that doesn't mean that they're all going to end up at at the same school or end up
but i think tramell coming on board with vernell that that's a big deal because those two are so
tight with so many other recruits. And that kind of helps Florida get their foot in the door
And now the staff gets involved. Now the NIL offers start getting thrown on the table
Now the visit experiences are happening. It's the timing is working out for four
And I think that that was strategic. I think that they've had Trammell in the bag for a while
And they were probably waiting on these things to happen so that it could lead
up to these moments that Florida's now trying to take advantage of. So now they've got to close
I mean, they're in not a battle just with Florida State. They're fighting Texas with a lot of these guys
So it's not like they can just – it's going to be easy for the taking
You're also fighting some other big-time programs, and obviously Texas just took it to UF
So I think some of these guys are going to be harder to land than others
But Florida's going to get some flips, man. with the momentum that they have
with the recruiters that they have, the things now that are on their side
and the fact that they have stepped it up from an NIL standpoint with Florida Victorious
they're going to be a serious player for these guys. I don't know if you saw, we had Tramiel on before you
and he kind of talked about that. Again, Florida never stopped. They were always in my ear
and same thing with Vanell Brown. and it's like, for now, Brown was a big factor. And like you kind of said, it's like, look, when you add that piece
it was lacking a leadership, and that's what a quarterback does. There were some great pieces in this class
but although you have DJ Lagoe, it doesn't work that way. The brain doesn't work that way
You need that quarterback. A quarterback for a recruiting class is massive. You build around that
And so, like you said, that piece falls. It's like, okay, they've got something now
And it's at the right time. And this is why I kept telling Dave, too. I said, look, I know we're kind of panicking
but last year we got plucked. This is when we were getting plucked was right now. We had all this guys and then they right towards the end
It's almost kind of what you want to be in their ear right at the last second and be the most freshest thing possible
You're not going to flip everybody. But especially if you're flipping from a school that's having major issues
like FSU, you can really, you can really do some damage. And it's important for Florida to show up on Saturday
Like if they win that game or, or, or play Ole Miss the way that they played Tennessee
And then obviously you got to finish out the year with a win over Florida state Like it sets up to have the momentum that you need If you get a win Saturday man buckle up baby
They're going to be picking and choosing because at some point too, now you're going to save some spots for the portal
You're not just going to load up on all these high school kids. You're going to take the best of the best
And you're going to fill needs that you, that you want to fill with guys that are coming in with four years of eligibility
I've kind of said that. I said, look, I think there's, we always kind of, we have a top 20 or 25 commits, top three classes
Like you don't, now you don't have not saying that's not always the answer, but you don't
have to do that. If you can act properly in the portal, you go get, let's say 18, 19 guys, but out of
that class, you're going to have four or five guys that can probably slide in like an LJ
like a DJ that have some kind of early on impact. And then you just go be extremely precise in the, in the, uh, uh, the portal, which
we've had some busts, but you've had some success. The same thing in recruiting. That's just how it is
I mean, I would argue that they don't get enough credit for
some of the guys that they've gotten in the portal. I mean, I put out the tweet
after the LSU game, but the amount of transfers that they had
that had big performances in that game, you don't win against LSU if
these guys aren't on the roster. Gums. And I could have put more highlights in there
but Badger, DK, Caleb Banks, who's from the year before, is still transfer
Gums, which is probably their best find from the portal. Like, what a get
And to get this former tight end to come in and play like he's playing right now
And then Triquets Bridges. where would where would the secondary be without bridges this dude has played
two different positions leads the team in tackles uh had the you know game ceiling pass breakup like
badger obviously when florida landed him i think everybody expected that he was going to make the
impact that he's had he's probably been a little bit better than when people expected dk has been
way better like i remember i was in i first reported that they got dk because i was in bed
on signing day and did i was behind the scenes in florida's football offices and they got dk's
signature and i kind of put it out on twitter and people went on the forum at gators online and saw
who it was and they were not happy with me they were hot that i was like i won't say hyping it up
But it was, you know, they were excited about it, man. Like, when they got DK, they were pumped about it, and you see why
I mean, the dude's been legit all year. So, now, do they need to get more
Yes. Like, you can't just rely on, you know, great finds where you're, you know
you're leaning on your evaluations, which have been pretty good, but you're also not going to hit on everybody
You know, and guys get injured or some guys come in with injury things that maybe you didn't know about. So it's but I would say, though, man, like they've they've gotten more out of some of these guys than I think I expected