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The picture above is from CeCe Jefferson’s Twitter page. Jefferson, a five-star recruit, visited a rainy Gainesville on Saturday just a week after Florida forced head coach Will Muschamp to resign. Jefferson is pictured with former Gamecocks recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Brad Lawing. Lawing serves in the same position now for the Gators.

This picture made me think. How do you save a recruiting a class after a coach is let go? Who stays on the recruits? Florida is still in the hunt for heavyweights like Jefferson and Armwood (Tampa, Fla.) High School’s Byron Cowart, also a five-star.

The answer is the staff keeps at it. They stay on the recruits calling them, visiting, texting and doing whatever they can to salvage the recruiting class. In the instance of Florida, Lawing has done such an excellent job with their defensive line. He may be retained by the next staff. Additionally, the heavyweight recruits mentioned love him. Retaining him, in all likelihood, keeps Florida in the hunt for these big time recruits.

Whenever a coach is fired and a new coach is brought in, the new coach typically fires every coach and brings in his own guys. However, with a coach such as Lawing, it makes sense for the new coach to retain him because he’s a great recruiter and a great coach. He is one of my all-time favorite coaches that I was fortunate enough to meet. He was a ball buster, but would jump around and congratulate his players too.

The search-and-rescue operation for the Florida Gators is in full swing, and the timing of the new hire is critical for this recruiting class.