Hey Junebaby I think you are misreading the tone. GatorNation, GatorCountry and 247Sports had gator fans waiting for a while now, wondering if he would have qualifying issues. Well before speculation of him being interested in any other school. Also athletic scholarship minimum is set by NCAA but each university holds their own requirements, so just because you don't qualify for a particular program doesn't mean you have to go JUCO... barring if you don't qualify for NCAA baseline requirements. All that aside. I'm happy we get to watch him play Saturdays even if he isn't a gator.

That sure would be something! I hope so too! Coach Knox has not been my favorite position recruiter (or Ron English). If he could pull in Evans it might give him a higher talking point with other recruits.

Good point and I agree. Don't need much help this year but everyone who has actually caught a pass will be a sernior this year or will be a high level player with eligibility to leave early like Jacob Copeland and Kyle Pitts. Could use the depth to buffer the odds with all the unproven talent.

Skilled player and definitely a good get. Would have liked to see him in Orange and Blue. Speculations have been going for a couple months about his grades qualifying (same with Leonard Manuel, but we will see). Either way he seems to be really talented. Glad he gets the opportunity to showcase it.

Couldn't agree more! I hope it's not a rival but I do hope he gets on a campus and gets that structure/guidance. Best wishes to him

oh with that being said. He CONFIRMED that Zach Evans requested his LoI be released from UGA but also that Smart was basically all for it. Lockedonpodcasts.com go to gators 19 Jan 2020 episode.

Primary analyst assigned to Zach Evans for Rivals did any interview this morning about Evans and he said that Kirby was all for pulling the LOI. He said that Kirby's staff is still high on Evans and they want him but Smart for whatever reason seems over this. I can but wont start speculating the possible reasons behind that.

Yeah that's society now. It's why protesting is so popular. Everyone wants to hold a sign that says someone/something else is the problem. Being a nation, society...etc is a team sport. This kid (besides being sent home for the phone thing0 reminds me of Dalvin Cook a lot with how many places he has really gotten involved with in his recruitment. When i was younger i used to think it was trolling and stringing universities along but in all honesty, it's just getting cold feet while making an insanely large decision at 18 years old. I think it speaks a lot to the adults in his life that haven't helped guide/prep him for this process. I don't envy these kids when it comes to recruiting.

@Nashville You should check out the Locked on Gator podcast that came out today 2/20/2020. Zach Abolverdi interviews the primary Rivals.com analyst assigned to Zach Evans and his recruitment. The kid really doesnt seem bad. Just an 18 year old with too many people in his face while he makes life defining decisions. It's a really interesting interview.

HAHAHAHA... you took the words out of my mouth DAWG78. I read a lot of these article threads and I try to stay out of adding to the insanity in the threads but I enjoy just reading it. It's like watching the crap show that is jerry springer because you feel better about your own life. I digress... Yes, some of our gators on SDS can't string a sentence together without complaining about Corch, Negan or dogsofwar! Even though they openly admit that they aren't posts were reading or acknowledging! I swear I could see a normal day conversation going: person 1 - "Hey man what's the weather like over there in PICKAPLACE ?" person 2 - "Ahhh dude, we've been getting unprecedented amounts of rain and Negan is an idiot with an IQ lower than my shoe size"

Great get for UGA. It's important to keep big name home state recruits at home. Like I said before though, Carson Beck is getting overlooked according to some analysts and He might have the next 3 years locked up. At the very least I look forward to reviewing the QB room at UGA after the next few years.

2012s Def was just so insanely dominant that they stick out vs the 2019 squad.

I know on one hand this looks sad but Dave deserves this and I think this is a potential win for LSU! think of it this way: All the success that LSU had this year and historically with putting players in the NFL, now they have done so well that they are gaining the notoriety for coaching. Coaching staff personnel from top to bottom try to pipeline to the top too. LSU at the moment is a place you want to go to for winning championships, getting to the NFL and for assistants to become coordinators to be come coaches! Coach O should be able to poach insane coaching talent. It's the Saban model coaching machine!

Thanks JTF! I truly appreciate that.

I'll never deny a man his credit and I give him credit for his development of the portion of his team that came in outside the the 247 top 300. I also give credit to the hardworking (regardless of rating) older players that pass down work ethic and skill teaching. I can actually paint a picture of the disparity for you though, because it is easy to pick out the 3 stars when UGA averages recruiting 5 of them over the last 4 years (which generally makes up a team) and the gators average 11 a class. I simply went over the stats and grabbed the name of 5 stars that were on the field for that game as well. There were 10 of them and probably a lot of fringe 5 stars but I don't have that kind of time to search through UGA recruiting. I don't think I have to tell you what side all the 5 stars and most of those fringe 5's were playing on.

I think he is a good fit for UGA style offense and he is right out of your back yard, so I think it's an important message for the program to lock this kid in. It will be interesting to see how the QB situation is this year. According to Denny Thompson (6 points academy personal QB trainer)..."Carson Beck is a DOG! Don't be surprised if he beats out Jamie Newman."

yeah, it absolutely is! It's battery.

Obviously, it's both!

Miss State's recruiting for that 4 year span represented on the field was 24th, 28th, 18th, and 36th ranked classes. Georgia's recruiting classes for that same span - 3rd, 6th, 6th and 8th. ^ that is a huge disparity in talent, so that's out the window. The pass on 4th was fine with me personally. UGA's D Line (Def as a whole) was monstrous and we had the worst rushing team in the SEC. We couldn't run on UT Martin. I question some calls too but understand the necessity to make up for the difference in skill. UGA was simply a better team, they had to have a bad day and UF needed the best game of the season and some luck. Had to throw the kitchen sink. And the talent even between UF offense vs UGA def was vast and coaching only makes up for so much. If as a UGA fan you can recognize the quality of a 5 star and their necessity for elite teams during the recruiting season. You should apply the same logic when considering the uphill battles that good coaches have with zero 5 stars and many 3s compared to your Clemson,LSU, Bama level Armada

That's more than fair, which means we can't ever gain consensus on it lol. The view will always be skewed based on the effect of the bonehead calls. Did the timeouts lose the game for UF in WLOCP? Probably not... soft def coverage? maybe. Unfortunately, the big bonehead call to not audible out of the fake 4th is one that is attached with a National Championship and it just sings louder. Biggest trophy on the biggest stage and every football fan in America observing it. It's harsh. Dan Mullen is a great coach and i think you address it in this thread. He is an OC and needs a better DC to entrust adjustments to and vice versa for Kirby.

truer words have not been spoken

I don't know brother. Dig in some analytics and let me know but without any other data, it is what it is. For now it's just the narrative and narratives can change one way or the other

Definitely! Also Saban took over a fairly mediocre Bama team to build it to what it was today. Recruiting is a skill and not just a given based on location. That's the whole reason that certain locations now get more looks from high level recruits. Kids generally want to go where they can get to playoffs, win easy (oregon) (clemson)or the rare few that want to stand out and go to an off name from the usual top 5 or 6 schools. Give recruiting skills due credit

He definitely wasn't. That game was a mess and ended as poorly as it started. The gators were simply outmatched that game and the defensive scheme was baffling. Like most Georgia fans, I am not a believer in Todd Grantham. I was hoping he'd get the job at Miss St. He seems to just do what he wants without regard for personnel ability and matchup. As for the 2 Timeouts, you can look at it as a coaching problem either way if your eyes are set on it but the timeouts were necessary. The staff handed out the wrong wrist bands for play calling so the formations were way off from what Dan had called and it seemed to be QB error at first... which is why Dan was so angry. Feel free to pick where the blame goes on that one. I think a head coach manages too much at an overall level to walk around and make sure staff/GAs gave the right wristbands. If he has to do that, then he should fire some people and hire some that are trusted for simple tasks

Oh for sure. That is understandable and I agree that a lot of coaches make gutsy calls. I don't think that can be argued for the 4th and 9 fake but I'll side with you on it being early in his coaching tenure. So whether justly or not, he has been scrutinized quite a bit more than anyone that comes to mind. That was my argument to just back up why this writer followed a fairly common narrative about Coach Smart's in game coaching decisions.

Good take. I like that line up order. Stoops has done an amazing job. I'm sure he'll get poached for a better job soon, if he keeps this up.

This is not to stir up anything, I assure you. We all know there are plenty of articles over the last couple years about questionable play calling by coach smart. From the Notre Dame 4th and inches FG kick (which worked out), last years South Carolina game (which caused a lot of booing from your own fan base and twitter meltdown) to the Champ 4th and 9 fake punt or whatever that was supposed to be. I'm not a gator fan that thinks Kirby is a bad coach. I think he is a good coach and an elite recruiter but he has become widely known for poor in game decisions in critical moments. You can do a simple google search and find a myriad of articles for different games over the last few years. quote "In one of the worst decisions in the history of college football" So it's fairly understandable. Also, it would be a better test of coaching in head to head results if the rosters were comparable and this isn't me playing the boo hoo recruiting cop out... just stating the fact that there are a lot of variables. Can't tell who the better driver is when one has a lambo and the other has a WRX, but it's odd when that the WRX doesnt finish far behind.

yes please! This ^

That's a whole lot of Bama and LSU in that list. My Jags better not take Diggs! There are two schools of thought on that, due to how bad the Jaguars back office is at drafting. 1) they draft Diggs because they shouldn't or 2) they do what they always do and grab Best Player Available... esp on D Line, cuz Lord knows that's the team weakness lol

yeah man this has been the strangest gator team to watch. I don't get it. I'm at the point where i don't even have hopes or expectations. It's difficult to truly get invested in. I just go zombie until the buzzer sounds and win or loss it's just meh