Patchan Shot

My friend at the Bull Gator mentioned this to me yesterday.

I've said my piece about Matt Patchan's decision to become a Gator. I think it was a mistake and I don't understand how he could have committed to UF. However, nobody deserves getting shot at, especially when it's for no reason.

Patchan has the bullet lodged in his shoulder and the doctors decided not to dig it out. Supposedly he should be back on the field in no time, but who knows. I don't think getting shot anywhere is ever good for football players.

Let's just hope this shooting was incidental and that somebody doesn't have it out for Matt. He should consider himself lucky that the bullet didn't hit him in a worse place. Good luck for his recovery.

It's Not Great to Be A Florida Gator

Simply because I don't have the energy to whip out the statistics and the usual bleeding heart Canes-against-the-world soapbox talk, I'll be short and sweet about the latest Gator in the news. Safety Jamar Hornsby has been arrested and accused of credit card fraud. This wasn't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill fraud you might find yourself guilty of if you find someone's lost wallet. Hornsby had been using a dead girl's identity. Not only that, but she was a close friend and girlfriend of former teammate Michael Guilford, who alongside Ashley Slonina died a few months ago in a tragic car accident.

And here I thought Fred Rouse breaking into his teammate's apartment was some serious betrayal. Try having your teammate ruin your girlfriend's credit. Hornsby is lucky that Guilford didn't survive the crash, because this situation is just sick. On top of being morally reprehensible on every level, Slonina's family had enough to deal with before getting hit with the charges to her credit card. That's just a cruel thing to do.

Of course, nothing substantial will come of this in the big picture. Hornsby has been kicked off the team, obviously, and should serve some jail time for his crimes. However, you won't see an SI cover imploring the University of Florida to shut down their program. I'd be willing to be their last 18 months have been far worse than anything that ever went down here in the late 80's. It's sad but the reality is Miami will never shed the Thug U image no matter how dirty things get elsewhere.

Gators' Trophy Breaks

Haha.

Gators Land Commitment

The Florida Gators got their 2nd commitment of the 2009 class in 4-star DT Gary Brown.

Don't know much about him yet, but it's an important commitment for the Gators. Brown was considering FSU, Miami and Arkansas.

By the way, Oliver Vernon was rated 3 stars by Scout. The DE is Miami's most recent commitment.

Gators Lose One

The Gators lost a star player in James Wilson, as the former 5 star offensive lineman decided to bolt despite "promises" that he would start in 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if more people left before the fall. Meyer promises playing time to a lot of kids, and while everyone does that to some extent, he's left many of them hanging ala Deonte Thompson.

Gators and Noles Get Early Start on 2009

Just as I finished writing a post on how well our 2009 class is starting to shape up, the Gators and Noles already have taken the lead.

Florida State received a commitment from Jacobbi McDaniel, Rivals #5 overall player in the entire country next season. The DL/OL prospect grew up a Seminole fan and is supposed to be an absolute monster. Not the best of news for Canes fans, but it's good for the rivalry when FSU signs stellar athletes as well.

UF also got their first verbal of the 2009 season is Georgia athlete Greg Reid. I don't know much about him (McDaniel is a well-known stud), but he too grew up rooting for the school of his choice. I'm sure he's a talented kid, but Urban can have all the Georgia prospects he wants (except Allen Bailey) as long as Randy keeps that fence around Miami shut.

Alonzo Lawrence to Bama

No surprise there. The 4 star CB opted to stay closer to home and chose Alabama and Nick Satan over the Canes. Good luck to him. Miami now has two options left at CB, Brandon Harris and TJ Bryant. Landing at least one of them is absolutely crucial to the future of this defense.

Additionally, the rumors about Ramon Buchanon might be true. He is on a visit to the U right now, I believe. That's an interesting move by someone who decommitted to UF less than two weeks ago. Perhaps Randy can pull a rabbit out of a hat and convince Ramon that he made the right choice with his original decision.

Not much else going on right now. Kendall Thompkins is taking a late visit to Nebraska, but I don't know how serious his interest is in that program. He is listed as a 2/3 star WR from Miami Northwestern. What little I saw of him was pretty good, but it's tough to judge considering the talent he had around him.

UPDATE: Per request, I have a small Jamie Harper update. The stud out of North Florida is going to choose between FSU, Clemson and Miami. He grew up a Noles fan, but Clemson is the favorite for his services. Good buddy Daniel Andrews already committed to the Tigers, and expect Harper to as well. However, he has a visit scheduled for today and may be swayed along with other talents like Ramon Buchanon and Nick Perry to come and play for Miami.

New Commit For Canes

Vaughn Telemaque, the California safety I've been mentioning for a while, has committed to the U tonight. With him comes a potential package deal that includes fellow safety Herman Davidson. The latter will choose between UNC and Miami on NSD, but expect him to sign here.

Another safety of note is Ramon Buchanon, as there are rumors spreading that he has had another change of heart and wishes to recommit to the Miami Hurricanes. I have no reason to believe it to be true, nor do I have any reason to believe it to be wishful thinking from desperate Canes fans. Stay tuned to see how that situation gets resolved.

Aside from the safeties, I hear we also have a commit from WR Laron Byrd. The Louisiana prospect is a big target at 6-3 210, and runs a 4.5 40. Nothing is confirmed yet, though. It will be interesting to see how this affects the recruitment of guys like Martavious Odoms or Tommy Streeter.

Alonzo Lawrence will choose tomorrow between Alabama and UM, but expect the corner to pick to Crimson Tide.

As for the most important remaining guys, TJ Bryant and Brandon Harris, I have no idea where they will go. Most seem to think Harris is a Cane lock. However, he is still considering Ohio State so that in itself means he isn't a lock. Read this article about the kid. I was very impressed with the way he has gone about his recruitment. Even if he goes to Columbus, I won't be mad. I won't care for him much, as I hate all things Ohio State, but he hasn't jerked anyone around. Really mature guy.

Bryant is a mystery. Some seem to think we have an excellent chance at getting his signature next Wednesday, but I still think he is going to FSU. That Lincoln pipeline is a tough one to crack.

The last few guys I have yet to mention are all defensive ends. Corey Liuget is on the fence, but I think we've lost him. He's been entertaining visits from several programs and the death of his close friend to a shooting recently probably means he will be leaving Miami.

Nick Perry is also a tough call, with Shannon having been the keynote speaker at his high school awards ceremony. I'm not sure if the in-home visit will be enough to sway him to leave his home state.

If not, there is still a chance that we land OLB/DE Gavin Hardin, though reports are we will have to grayshirt him if he does decommit from Ole Miss. Finally, Booker T Washington DE Jonathan Jackson will probably not come here, so Hardin is a must get if we want another DE in this class.

In other news, the Gators lost a recruit and added another to replace him. Apparently UF has yanked DE Chaz Sutton's scholarship for academic issues and instead are planning to sign OLB/DE William Green out of Alabama. Both are rated 4 stars. No word if we have any chance at the spurned Sutton.

AAFL Draft Results

Frankly I didn't even know about this league. This probably shows one of two things: my ignorance or the inevitable demise of the AAFL. Regardless, I thought it was interesting that several notable players were selected by one of the 6 teams in the inaugural draft. The full draft is available here.

• Eric Crouch selected 3rd overall by Texas, to play QB no less. He's a stubborn one, but one has to admire his persistence.
• Cane transfer Akieem Jolla selected 22nd overall, also by Texas.
• Chris Leak selected by Florida, of all places, in the 6th round.
• Peter Warrick also selected by Florida. From a top 10 NFL pick to a 7th round AAFL pick. How the mighty have fallen...
• Ryan "I can't give" Moore will be Leak's other receiver, selected in the 12th round.
• Yet another familiar receiver picked by Florida, this time its Kevin Beard in the 17th round.
• Former Dolphin Tony Bua goes to Arkansas in the 21st.
• Florida alum OJ Small goes to Florida in the 21st.
• Record setting QB Kliff Kingsbury goes to Texas in the 24th.
• Michigan kicker Garrett Rivas picked by the Michigan squad in the 26th.
• Former Canes DE Alton Wright selected by Florida in the 30th.
• Clemson dual threat QB Woodrow Dantzler goes to Tennessee in the 30th.
• Seminole DL Charles Howard and former Canes offensive linemen Tony Tella and Bradley Kuntz picked by Florida in rounds 31, 33 and 34.
• Former Patriot CB and winner of the name of the year award Earthwind Moreland goes to Alabama in the 36th.
• "He Hate Me" goes to Tennessee.
• Canes center Anthony Wollschlager also picked by Florida. Obvious trend here.
• Former Cane and Jet linebacker Jarrell Weaver goes to Florida in the 43rd round.
• Fellow Cane Alphonso Hodge goes to Michigan in the next round.
• And finally Chad Owens of Hawaii goes in the 48th to Texas.
  

There were plenty of former Canes and Gators drafted this weekend, primarily by regional team Florida. Those games will be held in the Swamp, beginning this April. Players are set to be paid a surprising 100k each, which isn't bad for a lot of guys who were out of work.

Additionally, I like that the league only drafts players that have completed their 4 year degrees. That sets a good example for kids in school who know they might be better off sticking it out rather than leaving early.

Urban Taking Some Heat

Perhaps the most intriguing story in college football today is the ongoing investigation of Urban Meyer's recruitment of JUCO WR Carl Moore from California.

A few days ago I posted an article spelling out the potential violations: Moore's girlfriend, Maranda Smith, received several calls from Meyer with the intent of aiding in her recruitment to the UF gymnastics squad, one of the nation's best.

I forwarded the information to the good people at The Wizard of Odds, who in turn reported the investigations in more detail. Currently the story can be found on most major media outlets.

The obvious issue is that Meyer is not permitted to recruit a prospective athlete of another sport, particularly under the clear motivation that it would result in a likely commitment from a stud receiver. In addition, even in acting as a gymnastics coach (which he clearly is not) he exceeded how many calls he is allowed at a given time.

In response, UF initially cleared Meyer of any potential violations. Urban was quoted after the meeting with the athletic department as saying "No problems with that, we're fine."

However, since that original meeting, the situation has progressed into something considerably more serious than Meyer has suggested. First came the report that UF hadn't completely finished its investigation into the matter. So Meyer wasn't necessarily off the hook to begin with.

Now Meyer's next problem will be to deal with another emerging issue related to Moore's recruitment. Apparently, Meyer wasn't the only one speaking to Moore during his recruiting calls. Golden boy Tim Tebow has been implicated as well.

Only minutes after Tebow had won the Heisman Trophy, Meyer contacted Moore and handed the phone over to Tebow. This is a clear violation of NCAA regulations against contact between prospective athletes and current student-athletes.

UF and Meyer will now have to deal with two separate issues, either of which could potentially lead to punitive action by the NCAA. So far Meyer has received at least a little bit of help in the form of a Miami Herald piece posted just this morning.

In the report, Smith denies having long conversations with Meyer with the purpose of recruiting her for the gymnastics squad: "Meyer never called me personally.''

Instead she insists the phone calls were simply made to get in touch with Carl Moore. Regardless, Meyer is definitely in some hot water. In most instances, stuff like this gets swept under the rug either by the program itself, or by the NCAA.

However, UF faces a problem in that the violations were originally looked over by the athletic department. Unless their renewed investigation leads to a decision to self-report recruiting violations, it would be likely that any NCAA investigation that finds Meyer guilty would be far less lenient than if UF were to admit some guilt in advance.

Recruiting Wrapup

The final two weeks of the 2007-2008 recruiting season are upon us and things are heating up in every direction. First off, if you want an excellent list and analysis of who our final targets are before NSD, I suggest you read Manny's blog at the Herald. I was going to write something similar, but I'd rather not be redundant.

However, there are some bits and pieces of info I've read about that are still worth mentioning. First off, Florida's class continues to grow stronger with the addition of 5 star DT Omar Hunter. Hunter was a Notre Dame commitment last month. All this coming off the recent news of potential violations by coach Urban Meyer.

As for potential UM guys, there is news for us as well. TJ Bryant is on campus as I write this, probably getting prepared to watch the UM-UNC basketball game. With the Buchanon and Johnson defections, landing him and/or Brandon Harris is absolutely crucial to this class. I like our chances with the former, but he has kept it so close to the vest that I'm worried it might be another Bobby Bowden special.

As for Harris, news on him is all over the place. Some sources had him leaning to LSU. Others cited his desire to go out of state and have him being a Buckeye. Earlier today I read a very reliable UM source claim Brandon is a solid Cane, so that is a bit more relieving. We'll see on Signing Day.

Another guy we might land is Gavin Hardin. He was a soft verbal to Ole Miss, but after opening up his commitment and visiting Miami, there seems to be a good chance he ends up a Cane. However, early suggestions he was committing as soon as today seem to be off base. Now he too, will decide on signing day. I was optimistic about him over the weekend, but with a visit coming up to Ole Miss, I wouldn't be surprised if he reaffirms his commitment to the Rebels.

Losing him would be tough because DE Keith Wells is no longer an option due to some "character flaws" both the FSU and UM staffs dug up. Also, Nick Perry is expected to sign with Michigan and Corey Liuget's family continues to push him out of state.

The guy I'm worried about is Brandon Washington, who reportedly is talking like someone who is anything but a solid commitment to Miami. Strange considering his MNW buddies are all coming to the U and he has been committed here for quite some time. We need him and Ben Jones because it doesn't look like we'll be landing any other offensive linemen otherwise. That is probably the class' biggest disappointment.

Finally, Manny says that Jeremy Lemis will reaffirm his commitment on his visit to Miami this weekend, so that's also a relief. I was/still am worried that he will defect to the Gators as predicted.

My Advice To Gator Fans

Learn to love and accept it. By now, many of you have seen the Wizard of Odds piece on Urban Meyer and his potential gymnastics/football recruiting violation. Many of you reading this now are here because the article links back to me.

Get used to the negative spin. Florida has regained its status as a national power after an off period of about 5 years thanks to the Tim Tebow era. With that renewed status as both a powerhouse football program (not that it ever really fell apart as bad as Miami's has), comes the scrutiny of a world where the Internet can easily reveal your dirty laundry much quicker than you can imagine. Ten years ago, this probably doesn't make any news.

In all honesty, the recruiting "violation" isn't a huge deal. Admittedly this sort of thing has to happen at many schools, although Meyer seems to have a penchant for dealing with girlfriends (*cough* Deonte *cough*). That's just the point. Though these petty violations happen everywhere because the recruiting game is a dirty business, expect bloggers, message boards, and occasionally the national media (when they aren't fawning over how Tim is such a good boy) to make note of these issues.

Being on top--- which so many Gator fans are quick to remind us about (where were you back when the Zooker was around?)--- simply casts you in the spotlight. Also, having over a dozen arrests in a calendar year after winning the title doesn't help. Before you spew out your tired Thug U and scUM nicknames, I invite you to compare our rap sheets.

Aside from an Antrel Rolle misunderstanding and a drunken Robert Marve breaking a car window on Halloween, none of our players have been arrested while at the U in 10 years. We've had our share of bad apples, brawls and tragedies, so there is no argument here that our boys are all angels. But perhaps the media should reconsider the Thug U label to someone else. UF wouldn't be my first suggestion either, so don't think I'm that biased. I don't even think they are the worst in the SEC, which is easily the slimiest of conferences.

So Meyer will get blasted from time to time with stuff like this. We all know he does it, as do most prominent football coaches. Though many times these allegations can be pure hearsay, where there's smoke, theres usually fire. Sure it's unfair, but deal with it. The media treats Florida and USC with kid gloves enough as it is, so a couple of biased accusations about recruiting violations are a joke compared to the crap the WWL pulls when a Hurricane misses an 8am class.

Call it bias, call it jealousy, call it what you will. I call it karma. In any case, there is absolutely no way the program will get affected by some lousy phone calls to a girlfriend. There's much more serious stuff going on at UF or any other top 25 program to be worried about.

More Meyer Shadiness

Since it's been a pretty slow day I figured I'd take yet another shot at everybody's favorite person, coach Urban Meyer of the Gators. Saw this article posted on a recruiting board.

He's a slippery fellow, that Meyer.

Ramon Buchanon Decommits to UF

And yet another hit to the UM recruiting class. 4* OLB/S Ramon Buchanon decommitted to the Florida Gators today after visiting them this weekend. Although this is a tough loss for the Canes, it shouldn't be that big a deal. Everyone basically knew that both he and McCray were gone despite their early commitments to the U.

I'm not sure why Ramon made the switch, though he claims his mom was the reason for his defection. Honestly at this point I couldn't care less. If he wants to play for Urban Crier, so be it. The reason Miami has fallen so far is because they were bringing in kids who didn't want to be here to be Canes. They came for all the wrong reasons. So if a guy doesn't have his heart in Miami, then let him go elsewhere.

Again, normally I would just wish the guy luck in his endeavors, but if he is a Gator on NSD, I hope he fails miserably. Nobody forces anyone to commit. If you haven't made up your mind for sure, then just take your time and make your decision. I wouldn't blame him to go to UF if he chose them from the very start, but it's frustrating to see so many guys flip-flop.

The good news is that he should be the last guy to decommit. Several uncommitted players are on the fence, but those who have pledged to sign with us are solid, unless somehow the Gators manage to steal Marcus Robinson away as well.

What hurts the most isn't Buchanon's absence from the class. He was good but can be replaced with several prospects we are going after. What hurts is the constant barrage of trash talking that we'll hear from Gator fans for at least another 5 or 6 years. They've taken 2 of our guys in the past couple of weeks (although anyone with a brain knew they were Gators from the start) and snatched Patchan away from us (although he supposedly wanted to be here but his parents all but forced him to play for UF). Add a likely victory in September over a below average Canes team and the Gators will be unbearable for the foreseeable future.

PJ and Patchan Updates

The Patrick Johnson saga seemingly can't come to a close. Now it's reported his ACT score was flagged because of an "unusually" high jump. Try a 13 to 26 jump. That's beyond sketchy. The latter score allowed him to override his low FCAT score, which wasn't a passing grade.

Now he might have an issue enrolling at LSU. Funny because some of the rumors had him decommitting from Miami because of academic problems. And doubly funny because one of PJ's last excuses for switching to LSU was because "it's all about the academics". Yeah, right.

I'm unsure what's in store for Johnson now. Maybe LSU will find a way to sweep this under the rug and get him in this season, or he might end up going the prep school route. Technically, we shouldn't burn a bridge because this latest development opens a possibility of him coming here after prep school, but honestly I think those ties have been cut.

As for Matt Patchan, I was unaware of this, but he probably won't be playing a down next season for Urban Meyer due to a shoulder injury. His father doesn't want to discuss a redshirt, but Matt was undersized to begin with and shouldn't be risking his future.

As for guys we can still get, we've got 8 recruits visiting this weekend. 4 of them are already committed, but 3 are highly rated California DBs we have outside shots at, and the last is Gavin Hardin, a huge strongside LB who is a soft commit to Ole Miss right now. Getting one of those last 4 would be a coup in my opinion.

Finally, in addition to adding new DC Bill Young, UM has officially hired Aubrey Hill from Pitt to fill the vacated WR coach position. This has been rumored for some time so it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone, especially as Hill is a Miami native.

Lerentee McCray Commits to UF

This is no surprise to anyone who followed recruiting this year. When McCray committed to the Canes, many suggested that commitment wouldn't stick because he plays in a Gator pipeline area.

Eventually, McCray looked around too much with eager eyes and his scholarship was yanked by the coaching staff. Lerentee took too many visits after it was decided he wasn't supposed to take any more. Supposedly the guy was heartbroken by the decision to pull the schollie.

In the end, the predictions were true: Lerentee will be a Gator. It's funny how some people can see through it all. I'll never understand the concept of commitment in the minds of these kids who end up switching teams or looking around for a "better" opportunity.

I'm not suggesting Lerentee is a bad guy. Heck if I were him and angry with the UM coaching staff, I would probably commit to a rival too just to spite them. However, I am me and I'd rather go to BFE School for the Blind and Deaf before I go to UF. If he really was that solid to the U, he wouldn't have been visiting so many schools. His defection is understandable though. Unless there's something I don't know, he didn't pull a fast one like PJ did.

Doc Holliday to WVU

Earlier I mentioned the possibility of Florida losing assistant head coach Doc Holliday to West Virginia and the head coaching vacancy there. That didn't pan out exactly, but Holliday is still on his way to Morgantown for a new contract worth 2 million dollars over 5 years.

Holliday is a pretty serious loss for the Gators. That makes the 2nd assistant coach they've lost this week after Stan Drayton went to Tennessee. Both are known to be good recruiters. Holliday is infamous among Canes fans for being the sneaky type, but who isn't when it comes to top end recruits.

For fun, here's what Holliday was like around our guys:

Basically, the story goes that he went to visit Forston and Spence at Northwestern, and here is the results from Manny Navarro at the Herald:

"I spent the day at Miami Northwestern today and saw Florida assistant Doc Holiday, who came in to speak with Marcus Forston and Sean Spence. He had them to himself in Billy Rolle’s office for 10 minutes. When he left, Forston and Spence were giggling. I asked them what he said. Forston’s response was classic: “Snake eyes (Holliday's nickname)? He told me the same bull crap everybody else is trying to tell else. How we can start if we go to their school. How they’re doing so much better than UM. The facilities. Sean Taylor. Safety. The usual crap. I told him the same thing I told Butch Davis and North Carolina, if I can stay clear of trouble in the Pork N Beans projects, why the hell am I going to be scared to live in Coral Gables?”"

Gators Using Wilfork as Role Model

Just because I'm spiteful and because I'm still somewhat embarrassed by Vince Wilfork's several acts of misconduct, I figured I might bring up a video clip of a Florida Gator player repeating a similar act early this week in the Citrus Bowl.



Thanks a million to Wizard of Odds, where I picked up on this video clip.

Matt Patchan Commits to...

the Florida Gators. More updates on recruiting will be posted shortly, but for now, Matt Patchan announced that he has committed to UF. Tough loss for the Canes here. I'm not sure how a Cane legacy who had some strong opinions about this year's Miami team could go and choose a hated rival. Apparently his dad had more say in the decision than we all thought. Oh well.

Harvey Enters Draft; Meyer is a Scumbag?

UF's best defensive player entered the draft as today. Derrick Harvey is a stellar defensive end who is vying with Calais Campbell to be the 2nd DE drafted after Virginia's Chris Long.

It's a relatively tough hit for the Gators, who will miss Harvey's talent on the defensive line. Against Michigan, he was a terror with 8 tackles and 2 sacks. His exit is pretty good news for Jason Fox and Reggie Youngblood next season, who now won't have to deal with blocking the athletic big man.

However, a string of top 5 recruiting classes has given the Gators depth at almost every position, so I don't think they'll suffer too much from Harvey's exit. As for Urban Meyer, we might never know if he even cares. A few days ago I read a paraphrasing of Meyer's attitude towards departing seniors who didn't make an impact. Recently there has been more made of this, and since I can't resist a chance to stir the pot whenever it comes to Urban Crier, here's the text taken from Noles boards regarding his comments on a radio show:

Well, for those guys who just put in their time and didn't make any real contributions, it's time for you to go. It won't be hard to say goodbye to some of those guys who just went through the motions. Now for those kids who actually bought into the program, and who made some sacrifices and contributions -- you know, like Bubba Caldwell....he's a graduate of UF and had a great career -- you'll really miss those guys. But just because you're a senior doesn't mean you have any value.

It helps that several Gator fans confirmed the comments to some effect, though the paraphrasing is likely exaggeration. However, I wonder why anyone would still want to play for Urban after hearing stuff like this and the other shady stuff like what you can find in Meat Market. Hopefully someone will let Matt Patchan's dad know about the interview. Go to AllCanes for a nice read regarding these comments.