****ing myself laughing. The optics is so bad. The player is from Ocala, if you don't know central FL that well, u can practically walk from Ocala to Gainesville. I had girlfriend there back in like 2010, we used to go go back and forth from Gainesville to West Palm Beach where I lived.....now Lake Worth. But once u see that Ocala sign you know you are basically there. Its almost impossible that I can remember to get players from there unless the Lizards ignore them like Trent Harris.
This might not be a top 100 player like Rashada kinda battle but in alot of ways its more emblematic of where we are as a recruiting power. This is South FL players going to FSU and Bama and trolling us. Also that player that decommitted from Michigan from Tallahassee, I have no proof but it feels like we had something to do with it. It just feels like the type of statement Mario is looking to make.
I would add something else.
The Gaytors and their fans have always been MASSIVELY arrogant about their Gaytor Brandz Yo and the ability to just waltz in at the last minute to offer a recruit, and how he should swoon and accept the Gaytor offer immediately. It's especially arrogant when these guys are in their own backyard, and they've had plenty of time to scout them. Case in point, Jack Pyburn.
So here's a kid in Ocala, Miami (Manny) offered him FOURTEEN MONTHS AGO, and the Gaytors are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs (under both Mullet and Gaypier). Suddenly, the kid puts a Legends Camp visit on the calendar and MAGICALLY he gets a committable offer from the Gaytors.
Don't even get me started on how they claim they can just circle back to Emory Williams. Or the Harris twins from Orlando. ****, they just flipped a kid from UC-fvckin-F. And all year long, they were badmouthing a double-Gaytor legacy from Jax, and acting as if they could just toss him a committable offer...whenever...
I know that Mario is very methodical. When "the rest of the world" was in doubt over our QB situation with Williams and Rashada, Mario made it CLEAR to them that we were recruiting two. I mean, it's still 5.5 months until Early Signing Day, but we still got verbals from TWO Elite 11 QBs, which is incredibly rare. Mario just didn't roll around acting like "we can toss Emory a committable offer whenever we feel like it, because he is the lower rated QB".
But the Gaytors always end up Gaytoring. Sneering at the lower rated recruits, at least until the bar is closing at 2 am and they are desperate...