Florida recruiting director discusses Dan Mullen’s strategy in first year with Gators
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Florida coach Dan Mullen is trying hard to make sure his first recruiting class in Gainesville is a good one.
He already has a quarterback in 4-star Ohio State flip Emory Jones, and will now try to fill out the rest of the Gators’ 2018 class ahead of Wednesday’s National Signing Day.
Florida’s director of recruiting operations, Lee Begley, said on the SEC Recruiting Buzz Podcast this week that she believes Mullen is having a blast recruiting kids to Gainesville (via 247Sports):
“He loves it and I haven’t ever seen him happier,” Begley said of Mullen. “He is like a little kid at Christmas. He is loving his Jordans and it’s been good. It’s been really cool to see.”
Begley went on to say bringing the proud Florida tradition back is important to Mullen, as he was in Gainesville for the Gators’ two most-recent championships. She also added that it’s been tough to balance Mullen’s schedule with what coaches can and can’t do, but she’s been enjoying the workload:
“There is so much tradition at the University of Florida,” Begley explained. “We want to bring back that tradition and win another National Championship. That is one of the biggest things we will take them around the Heisman statues and the National Championship trophies and say this is what Florida is and need you to help us bring that back.
“You have to be very strategic and a lot of people don’t know that the head coach can only visit one time. You have assistants that can go in and see them once a week up to six times. So you have to go in and say okay, if he’s coming in for a visit this weekend then we should visit him the first week because that makes sense. Or if he comes the last weekend we can see him again. You have to make sure you see your 2018 kids as well as your 2019 kids, and that has been a challenge, but it’s been good. Trying to take care of our home state first.”
Currently, the Gators have the No. 5 recruiting class in the SEC and the No. 18 class nationally, per 247Sports. They have eight players enrolled, five players signed and three hard commits.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
