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GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the first week of spring practice for the Florida Gators as they practiced twice before spring break. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down how practice went, who looked good and how the new coaches were doing around the team. Andrew and Nick also break down the Florida Gators basketball team heading into the SEC tournament and recap the weekend for the diamond sports teams. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, back with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, little bit of time away, but we’re back ready for action. Nick:                         How was spring training? Andrew:                 It’s baseball, my friend. It’s always great. I could get used to just chilling at Braves spring training. Nick:                         What do we think the Braves are going to do this year? Andrew:                 We already talked about it. They’re going to be in the mix for a wildcard. Nick:                         We’ll see. Andrew:                 Did get to see former Gator, Paco Rodriquez, Nick. You and I were talking about this. Been out of action. Nick:                         Been a long time coming for him. Andrew:                 Been out of action for two years. Comes back with a perfect inning. Man, oh man, was it a perfect inning. Three strikeouts. The Paco Rodriquez of old was there. That crazy delivery, it was there. It’s nasty. Nick:                         Had another big weekend for the diamond sports. Florida 9-0 to start weekend play. Baseball that is. Baseball has swept three consecutive series. I haven’t been able to find the last time Florida started a weekend like that, or a season like that. Andrew:                 We’ll talk more about that here in a little bit. Softball the same way. Goes out to California in the Judy Garman Classic and beats two top 25 teams, and beats them pretty well. Pitching, to say the least, is quite nasty for both of those guys. Nick:                         We did some looking at Barnhill’s numbers. She’s striking out 60% of the batters she faces. Not 60% of the outs she records, 60% of the people who step into the box against Kelly Barnhill are striking out. Andrew:                 That’s usually success for winning. Nick:                         That is a recipe for winning. They’re doing it. I wanted to say that softball probably had a bigger weekend, based on who they were playing. Andrew:                 They did. We’ll talk about that here in a second, after we talk a little football. Definitely a bigger weekend for them. Basketball, on the other hand, not so great of a weekend. Drops to Vanderbilt, gets swept by Vanderbilt in a game that didn’t really mean anything, but did mean something. Nick:                         I think people got a little too angry about it, but Florida’s lost to Vanderbilt twice, by a combined four points. Andrew:                 Here’s the thing. They may have to face them in the SEC Tournament again. That’ll be that. We’ll dive more into basketball here in a second. Got to talk football, Nick. Last week, while we were away from podcast, Gators started spring practice. They went to that two practices, and then they have this week off with spring break for the team. You were out there for the two practices. First question I have for you is what was the energy level out there? Nick:                         Good energy. You know it’s good energy when you’ve got Johnny Townsend starting swamp jacks. Energy’s good. I think it’s easy. You’re not in pads. You haven’t been hitting each other for two weeks yet. I think it’s easy to come out with higher energy, but for the portions of practice that we see, which is not very much, energy’s good. It’s still early in spring practice,

Gator Country brings you a new podcast as we recap what Jim McElwain said about the Florida Gators heading into spring practice next Tuesday. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down exactly what McElwain said about the Gators newcomers, plus the quarterback position. Andrew and Nick also preview the Florida Gators basketball game against Kentucky, plus baseball and softball previews for the weekend. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Coach Mac speaks on Thursday. That meant spring football is officially underway. Kind of feels like I just got back from Tampa and the Outback Bowl. Nick:                         Yeah. Mac joked around that this is probably the earliest he’s ever been able to start spring. He said he remembers a couple days coaching in Montana where spring football got snowed out. Don’t have to worry about any snow. It’s currently 75 and sunny in Gainesville. I like what they’re doing. You’re going to get two practices before spring break. Florida goes on spring break next week. Florida will practice, I think, Tuesday, Thursday, or Tuesday, Wednesday, and then they’ll break for spring. NCAA rules say your first practice is no pads, second practice and third practice are just shoulder pads and helmets. Andrew:                 Shells. Nick:                         Shells. That just lets you do your install for those first two practices, and then you send the kids home for spring break with some homework. You don’t have any chemistry homework over spring break, but you got some football homework. With your iPads, go over the film from that install, and when we come back, we shouldn’t have to worry about that. We should be full speed when we get back. Andrew:                 It’s more about, in my opinion, letting the guys get used to how practices run, the first two days. Letting the new guys. Nick:                         Especially those new guys, and two quarterbacks. Andrew:                 Yeah. Then it’s also kind of a little bit about learning how Brad Davis, Corey Bell, Ja’Juan Seider are going to run things, that kind of thing. Like you said, it’s more, not so much an install, as it is a walkthrough almost, but full speed. Like I said a couple weeks ago, Alabama’s been doing this for a while. It was something Nick Saban said that it broke it up to where the guys had a little bit of a break. You got the first two practices out, then you’re able to come back. One of the things he also preaches all the time is you’ll see who’s dedicated to football. Who goes spring break and is just pounding food all week, pounding drinks, not specific drinks, all week, and who is staying in shape? Guess what? When you come back that Monday is going to be hell for some guys. Nick:                         It would be hell for me. If I were one of Jim McElwain’s football players I would probably be encouraged to go elsewhere once I showed back up. Andrew:                 You would have the puke bucket beside you? Nick:                         Yeah. I would get back from spring, and we’d have Mike Kent making us run at 5:00AM, and I probably would not make it. I would not hit my times. Andrew:                 That’s something you’ll see. You’ll see who is really invested, I guess is the best way to say it. I mean, here’s the deal, they also deserve, spring break’s just about their only break that they get to enjoy. Christmas break is very short. There is no Thanksgiving break. There’s a little bit of summer break there. It’s something that I think is interesting as well though, to break it up, not to have that month long grind all back to back to back, to where at the end of it you’re kind of just flat almost. Nick:                         It does give you a nice little break. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we look at the Florida Gators basketball team’s tough week ahead as they compete for the SEC championship. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what the Gators must do this week, plus how they did against Mississippi State over the weekend. Andrew and Nick also recap how the Gators did on the baseball and softball field this past weekend at home in Gainesville. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, good weekend on the diamond for the baseball team. Not so good for softball, but went 4-1, won the tournament. Just not up to standards. Nick:                         You win the tournament, but you do get your first loss of the year. Baseball had to come back on Friday, but looked pretty dominate against a William & Mary team that was a regional team last year. Andrew:                 I didn’t get to watch very much of it because of softball going on, but did get to catch a little bit of Sunday’s action, and it seemed like Kowar was on. It seemed like the offense was going. I know you said that JJ Schwarz did well over the weekend. Five runs, eight runs and 11 runs, you’ll take that any day of the week. Nick:                         Yeah. The thing with JJ that I really took away from this week is that he’s really not pressing, and he’s hitting the ball where it’s pitched. JJ had hits where he’s pulling the ball, he’s taking the ball the other way, he’s going back up the middle. It looked like he was more relaxed. He kind of struggled, didn’t have a great game Sunday, but throughout the weekend, last year you saw him trying to pull everything, trying to kill some balls, and this year it’s kind of maybe a more mature approach where you’re thinking, “I’m just going to hit it where it’s pitched. Everything’s not going to be a homerun. If I get a ball low and outside that I can hit, I’m going to take it the other way, shoot it past the second baseman.” Andrew:                 I noticed, I believe it was Saturday or Sunday where it was first and second, and he drove one to right center. That was something you didn’t see. Looked like overall the protection behind him was there. That’s something we’ll talk about here in a second with softball, having a five hole hitter is one of the biggest things in sports, to have someone protect your big hitter overall. Just a quick look at the stats here. Looks like overall a lot of guys had productive weekends. Dalton Guthrie supporting a .412 batting average after the first weekend, and JJ at .400. Overall, a lot of positives. Any surprises at the box for you? Nick:                         Nothing really surprising. I thought Alex Faedo would have a better outing on Friday. He kind of struggled to find his spots. I think Brady Singer got into a little bit of trouble too. I think those two guys will be better. Nothing really surprising. I think what we really learned this week is that this team’s going to hit. I really liked the lineup to start, and I think Jonathan India is going to be the key this year. Jonathan India, your third baseman, sophomore, hitting third. That’s going to be your guy. I called his homerun on Saturday. I said, “India is going to be the first one to hit a homerun. He’s going to hit one today.” We were all taking bets on who would be the first. I think he’s going to be your key. He’s going to be a guy you need to hit probably 8-10 homeruns, and he’s going to be hitting third. Need him to hit high .300s, mid .300s. He’s capable of that. He’s taken a big step forward from a great freshman year. I love one, two, three. Guthrie, Liput, India. Then you’ve got JJ hitting fourth, and you’ve got options for five. Austin Langworthy, the kid just hits. He might only be 5’10” and 170 pounds, 180 pounds. I don’t know what he’s listed at,

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we talk about the first impression the Florida Gators new coaches gave off during their first press conference as Gators. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre talk about why those three coaches gave us positive impressions, plus what we’re hearing on those guys. Andrew and Nick also preview the opening of baseball season this weekend, plus preview the softball weekend for the Gators. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, finally the diamond sports are here. Baseball has reported for spring training. The Gators get underway. Softball, 6-0. Are you surprised? Nick:                         No. Not at all. I said it two years ago. Tim Walton’s a guy that got that machine moving. Andrew:                 He just adds oil. Someone told me this the other day, and I thought about it with baseball too. They said, “How come every year we talk about it that the team has four seniors? Four seniors, five seniors.” It’s easy. These two coaches, Walton and Sully, they just reload every year, and they’ve never top heavy. They’re never bottom heavy. They’re just reloading every year. Nick:                         Success kind of breeds success. We talk about how recruiting is the lifeblood of football. It’s the lifeblood of every sport. When you put together, talking to Blake Reese, who turned down a scholarship at USF to take less to come to Florida, he’s like, “Sully just put down the numbers in front of me. It’s there in black and white. These are the guys that we put in the draft. This is how many SEC Championships we win. This is what we do. We win here, and we set guys up for their future.” When you look at Tim Walton, “Come here. We’re going to win.” Whether or not you come, we’re going to win. If you come, it’s going to help. That success just breeds into it. That’s why I say, Tim Walton’s got the machine. It’s almost like Tim Walton doesn’t even need to go out on the road and recruit. He should just send them letters with, here’s our track record. If you want to be a part of it, cool. If not, somebody else as good as you does, and we’re going to keep doing what this paper says. Andrew:                 Just send them a bunch of baseball cards of the guys. We’re going to talk football here for a second, but I’m going to nerd myself out a little bit. You know I love my minor league baseball, Nick. Too much at times. I was watching the top 100 Baseball America put out the other day. Harrison Bader, AJ Puk, Logan Shore, Dane Dunning, Buddy Reed was on there, Taylor Gushue was on there. I believe, and don’t quote me on this, because it was last Tuesday, but I believe it was eight players from the last three years were in the top 100 from Florida. Nick:                         One of the D1 baseball guys said this year that if Brady Singer, who’s only a sophomore, not draft eligible, if Brady Singer was eligible this year he would be a potential 1-1 guy, potential first pick, first round guy. Andrew:                 That’s impressive. Nick:                         Brady Singer, I forgot almost, so I’m sure people listen have forgotten. He was drafted in the second round by the Blue Jays. Somebody got fired. Somebody got fired, because you don’t plan on drafting somebody in the second round and not having them in your farm system. Said he’s throwing 98 with sync on Saturday. Andrew:                 That was crazy. It’s wild. Let’s talk football first. Thursday was a big day. The Gators introduced Ja’Juan Seider, Brad Davis, and Corey Bell, the three new assistants. They announced them with Coach Mac. Coach Mac didn’t talk very much, just introduced those guys. Mac speaks next Thursday or Wednesday, Nick? Nick:                         Mac will speak Thursday. That’ll be the start of spring. Spring’s weird,

Gator Country brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators big recruiting weekend last weekend, plus talk about the basketball team. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also break down how the new coaches are doing in recruiting, plus update you on how this staff is different from years past. Andrew and Nick also recap the Florida Gators softball season-opening tournament and talk about the upcoming baseball season for the Gators. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here again with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, softball under way. Pitchers and catchers reporting today. Junior Day, baseball starting, basketball, lacrosse. You name it, it’s going on. Nick:                         Lots of stuff going on. It’s a busy time of year with softball getting going last weekend at the USF tournament, baseball gets going this week with William & Mary, and then, of course, recruiting. Recruiting’s back on after basically a one week hiatus. Andrew:                 I want to talk about this, Nick, real quick. The reason I bring it up is some people accuse you and I of being hard on the new hires. I personally didn’t take it as us being hard. I personally took it as you and I having some questions that we wanted to be answered. Not that it was a bad thing, just simply us looking. I do feel like we’re a fair and balanced podcast here, and so when we find out the information we relay it back. That is that we’ve heard nothing but positive things about the new hiring, the new coaching staff at Florida. What Ja’Juan Seider, Corey Bell, and Brad Davis did over the weekend with connecting to these kids was impressive. The kids really liked them. For the first time in a really long time, offensive linemen walked away saying that they liked chilling with their offensive line coach in Coach Davis. That’s not to say that they didn’t like Summers. It was just they didn’t connect on a personal level. They didn’t have that relationship, tight-knit relationship, with him. That’s something we heard this weekend. Like I said, we’re fair. I’ll say that a lot of my questions about how these guys would come together has been answered. Nick:                         Everyone I spoke to out at Junior Day on the players’ standpoint really enjoyed Coach Davis. Talked to a couple staff members, and they all really enjoyed, are enjoying, all three of the new coaches. I had one person say, “I think Ja’Juan Seider is the best recruiter on staff.” They said that with the caveat of, “You know how good I think Tim Skipper is as a recruiter.” It’s really a testament to the staff hires. Listen, people are saying, “Portland State, where are they getting these guys from?” You’re really looking for people that can connect to kids on the recruiting trail, and then once you get them there you want to see how they develop them. Right now, the connections are being made on the recruiting trail, and we’ll see. Spring practice is not too far away. We’ll see how they are as coaches on the field too. Andrew:                 It’s like I said to you over the last week. Name me 10 offensive line coaches. Can you name every one of them in the SEC, Nick? I can’t. I’m just going to be honest. I can’t. Nick:                         No. My dog, Herb Hand’s there. Andrew:                 Herb Hand. You got Brent Key, but that’s about it. I can name a few more. When the rumors are going around that Silverfield or whatever from Memphis was a candidate, you and I both said, “Who?” We had to go research it to find out who it was, because we didn’t know. Nick:                         That’s another thing. One rumor comes out, and then people just, for whatever reason, that’s if you don’t get that guy, then everything else is screwed. Then you don’t get that guy, and you hate the hire. It’s like, you didn’t know who that guy was before you read Footb...

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we talk about the latest Florida Gators coaching news, plus preview the Gators junior day this weekend. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also preview the Florida Gators baseball and softball teams as Tim Walton and softball gets underway this Friday. Andrew and Nick break down how they think the Gators diamond teams will do this year, plus how big this weekend’s junior day is for Florida. TRANSCRIPT Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, it’s about to be our favorite time of the year, my friend. Nick:Pitchers and catchers reporting. Andrew:Pitchers and catchers reporting is always a good thing. Softball starts on Friday. Some teams started on Thursday, and then baseball, a week from Friday it gets underway. Nick:Baseball should be exciting. Softball, we’ll talk to you about how they’re going to be, but baseball is stacked. They were actually picked on Thursday to win the SEC outright again. Andrew:Who do they start with next week? Nick:William & Mary, the Tribe. Andrew:Okay. Then it’s Miami, right? Nick:Yeah. William & Mary, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Then back to back with JU. Tuesday the 21st they’ll be in Jacksonville, and then 22nd they’ll be in Gainesville. Then Miami’s in town. Andrew:Big weekend. Gators softball heads down to Tampa for their annual trip down to the USF DeMarini Tournament. Always some good talent down there. Michigan and Florida is always the big dog. Nick, let’s get some football news here, before we move on. Still no other changes. I know Brad Davis has put on his Twitter account that he’s the OL coach, and Corey Bell’s put he’s the DB coach. Coach Seider still has nothing. Nick:Coach Seider is sticking to the plan. Andrew:Yeah. Nothing is new on that. Nick:Florida hasn’t announced anything, but it was pretty easy to put those pieces together. Andrew:I think there might be another piece that comes down the road, and that determines where Seider coaches. If Tim Skipper moves, and so on with that, but that’s not anything that’s been done yet, but should be done soon. You got spring ball. We’re taping this on the 9th, so 19 days away before spring ball starts. You would think something would be coming down the alley pretty soon if it was going to happen. Nick:Yeah. You saw Gene Chizik. After Signing Day there’s always that furious coaching shaking and moving, going all places. Chizik stepped down today at North Carolina. I thought maybe it was done, just based on the time and how spring is coming up. Spring’s a little early this year for Florida. I don’t know what you’re waiting for, and the longer that it goes I start to think maybe it’s not going to happen. Andrew:The only thing that I say is just with them not announcing it something’s up with that. To go on a little further with Chizik, they hired North Texas’ defensive coordinator to come over there, and there was no spot open. You knew someone was having to leave. There had been rumors a little bit that Gene wanted to get out, talking about going back into broadcasting. That’s kind of what he did. Also, wanting to be around his family more. Good move for him. One thing Florida did announce this week though, Nick, was Director of Player Personnel, Drew Hughes leaving to South Carolina. That was huge. Nick:I tweeted it out. Drew Hughes is not supposed to be out on the road recruiting. That’s not what he signed up for, not part of his job description. All three years that he’s been here he’s had to. He’s been here four years, all three years under Mac, based on coaches leaving, just based on not having enough coaches, he’s had to do a coach’s job and go out on the road and recruit. He’s the in-house guy. He really,

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we break down the latest Florida Gators football hires that took place over the weekend. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre give you their thoughts on the coaching hires, plus what these guys bring to the table. Andrew and Nick also break down the Florida Gators basketball team’s recent success including a blowout win against Kentucky on Saturday. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, another weekend full of drama in Gainesville. Nick:                         I say it. I don’t know if people listen to it, or if it resonates with them, but when you cover this team there is never a dull day, never a dull moment. There’s always something going on in Gainesville. Andrew:                 I have tried since Signing Day to take a day off, and still haven’t got that day off. Nick:                         Not happening. Andrew:                 It’s going to happen, very soon. I’m just going to shut it down, and whatever happens, happens. That’s about where I’m at. We knew coaching moves were coming. We had been kind of hinting at this Jajuan Seider hiring for Florida. It finally happened on Friday. It basically happened on Thursday. Then, Torrian Gray leaves for the Washington Redskins. That one was a little bit out of nowhere. I knew he had interviewed or had talked to people, but that he was going to get the Redskins job was a little out of nowhere. Nick:                         To me, I think it’s a little different for you, the NFL is the pinnacle. I grew up in a pro sports town. You grew up in Alabama. You don’t really have a pro sports teams. There’s no pro sports team in the state. We can argue that maybe the way that Nick Saban runs his organization there that maybe that’s not really amateur, that’s pro sports down there, but that’s just … I’m just kidding there. There’s no pro sports team. For me, a coach coaching in the NFL is better than coaching in college. It’s just a bigger league. To you, your first thing to me was why would you want to go to the Redskins? Andrew:                 My first thing wasn’t exactly that it was a surprise that he went. It was more of we had heard that he really liked recruiting. Now, he had a bad year in recruiting. We said it all year long that he was struggling a little bit. My first thought is he got tired of recruiting in a hurry. The one thing that you will always here about Gray is how great of a coach he is. For a guy that just likes to coach, the NFL’s the spot for him. I don’t know. Like I said, it was a little bit of a shot out of nowhere, but then when you start to ask other people, they say multiple NFL teams had really interviewed him. Definitely looked like he was going to get a job when you hear that. Nick:                         Yeah. The track record is there. You mentioned recruiting this year, but the track record is there. Not just recruiting, but also developing. You still have to develop, especially when you check out, every year the guys going into the NFL as underclassmen the number just keeps getting bigger and bigger. There is still some of that developing. Nick Saban went to the NFL with the Dolphins and found out this isn’t what I’m into coaching for. It’s not the same as far as developing. You don’t have the same kind of power that you do over a college kid when you’re coaching at the college level where they’re student athletes. You’re a coach in the NFL, and you’re saying, “You got to run these wind sprints.” “Sorry, Chief. I’m a 13 year veteran left tackle. I’m making $20 million this year. You’re making three, and it’s in my contract that I don’t have to do these sprints. Figure that out, but I’ll be here standing next to you while everyone else runs.” That’s different. With young people, with how young it is getting in the NFL with all the...

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators recruiting class after national signing day on Wednesday. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down how the Gators finished so strong on signing day and who they finished the class with. Andrew and Nick also talk about Jim McElwain’s press conference and what he said about the Gators class on Wednesday. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, my oh my, what it means in a couple of days for Gator Nation. Go from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. Nick:                         A little awkward. I had to tell Coach Mac, when I saw him at the press conference yesterday, I said, “Coach, I don’t know why you’re here. You were fired a couple weeks ago. You’re not supposed to be here anymore.” Quite a finish though. Andrew:                 I’m going to be honest, Nick. Nick:                         You didn’t see it coming. Andrew:                 I eat crow. People give you and I shit all the time. I do feel like we’re very fair, and I’ll be honest. I said I thought it would be 15-18, that would be the finish. I admittedly was wrong. They finished 8 in Rivals, 10 in the rest of them. I don’t recognize the rest of them, but 8 in Rivals. What a finish. It was a good finish. Had you told me they’d have finished with Henderson and Edwards, I’d have probably told you no. I thought they would probably split those guys. Then, to get Robinson and Lemons in, we’ll talk about that in a second. Props to Mac for that. It was a finish, and, Nick, I’m going to really say this. I think we’re all going to look back to January 28th as the day the Coach Mac era turned around. You say, what is January 28th? That was the days the lies on Mark Richt were discovered. That was the day that everyone rallied against Miami, and things changed. I really think in a couple years we’re going to talk about January 29th as the turning point for Jim McElwain at the University of Florida. Nick:                         Mac took a little shot at them yesterday as well. Andrew:                 Oh, he took after me. Nick:                         He took after you. Andrew:                 I mean, people can say what they want, now. There was only one guy that was willing to go after Mark Richt, even when he was at Georgia, for being a sleazebag. Nick:                         Yeah. I still, I hadn’t believed it, because there’s the whole he’s a good, God fearing, Christian man and all this. There’s a certain narrative out about Mark Richt, and everything you said didn’t jive with that. Right? Andrew:                 No. Nick:                         You know what I’m saying. The perception of Mark Richt is that good, Christian man, does everything the right way. That’s the general perception, not yours, but the general perception of Richt. Andrew:                 Yeah. Nick:                         Everything that you said to me just flew right into the face of that, did not agree with it at all. Andrew:                 But now. Nick:                         So, Mac was asked about the negative recruiting yesterday, and he said, “It’s something we’ll never do. Something that we just don’t believe in. Here’s interesting stuff. Some of that catches fire, and then all of a sudden the truth comes out. Who looks like the idiot?” Andrew:                 That was powerful. That was powerful. Nick:                         I chuckled. I laughed, because that’s pretty pointed right there. Andrew:                 I didn’t laugh, Nick. I clapped. I literally did. I clapped. I was excited. I said this, and I said this on Twitter. I was proud of Mac for saying that. Mac usually takes the high road here, but he does. Here’s the thing,

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we preview National Signing Day for the Florida Gators recruiting class. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down how the official visits went last weekend, plus recap the three commits the Gators got. Andrew and Nick also preview how they think the class will end up on Wednesday, plus they address the recent stuff from Miami that they were telling Florida commits. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, what a weekend, my friend. Nick:                         Talked about perception. Talked about momentum. Got a chance in momentum, and a change in perception this weekend. Andrew:                 You did. The Miami crock of shit turns against them. The truth comes out. When the truth comes out, as everyone says, “The truth will set you free.” It did. It came out. What are we surprised for, Nick? I’ve been preaching on this podcast for what? Two years now. Mark Richt’s not a saint, and the world found out on Saturday. Nick:                         Interesting. We’ll do some facts. Andrew:                 We’re bringing facts now? This ain’t Mark Richt then. Nick:                         Somebody’s got to bring them. The Miami coaches didn’t start the rumor, but that doesn’t clear you from judgment. It doesn’t mean that you’re not in the wrong. Trying to take advantage of a rumor, whether or not you started it, can be just as bad, especially when you know that there’s not validity to the rumor. It would even be different if there was a shred of evidence, or a shred of truth in it. Okay, that’s some dirty recruiting to try to stretch the truth a little bit, but when you know that there’s no truth whatsoever to something, and you try to take advantage of it, it doesn’t matter if you start it or don’t start it, you’re just at fault. You’re guilty by association. Andrew:                 Yeah. Here’s the thing. I got some blowback for the story I wrote on Saturday from some Miami fans, saying, “Well, it’s negative recruiting. Everybody negative recruits.” Yes, they do, but when you start talking about an NCAA rumor, Nick, you’re talking about effecting a man’s livelihood. You’re talking about a man getting fired from his job, like Joker Phillips got fired for the whole thing he did back in the day. You’re talking about getting someone fired. There’s a whole different thing about negative recruiting and then this. I kind of compared this with someone. It would be like a man going and telling a woman that her husband was cheating on her, was having an affair, with no evidence, just so you could get with her. There’s no morals there. There is no gentleman’s code in recruiting and any of that, but there’s a moral standpoint. For me, it is what Miami is, and it is what Mark Richt is. He’s a dirty sleazebag. I don’t understand why people don’t get what he’s about. He’s a sleazebag. He puts up this motto of he’s this great Christian man, and I’ll never question a man’s faith. Maybe he is a good Christian man, but that’s on Sundays. The rest of the time he’s a sleazebag. The guy’s a sleazebag. I don’t understand why people in our business, Nick, and people around take his persona as what he is. He’s a sleazebag. He is a sleazebag when it comes to it. He’s surrounded by sleazebags around his staff, and it is sickening to hear what he does. He calls Malik Davis up, tells Malik Florida’s going on probation for something they didn’t even do. Homestead sucks. They ain’t had a recruit since Ermon Lane, and you can really question Ermon Lane wasn’t even a recruit. He moved to DB. There is no morals. It’s sickening that you would do this. I told this to someone, if Florida was doing the same thing, I’d be just as pissed off about it as I was Miami was doing it. You don’t use that. That is crossing the line for me. That is sickening.

Hey Gator Country brings you a new podcast as we preview the Florida Gators official visits for this weekend which is the last one for the 2017 recruiting class. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also discuss what’s going with the Gators recruiting and why they’re struggling this year with recruits. Andrew and Nick also break down how the Gators could fix these problems and how they can finish this class. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we’re alive, but I don’t know about Gator Twitter, and I don’t know about Gator Nation. Nick:Most of the sky fell last night, so if you’re listening to this consider yourself lucky that a piece of the sky didn’t fall and kill you last night. Andrew:What a wild Wednesday night, my friend. Nick:I was at the gym, so I missed it all. Andrew:Lucky for you. Nick:I was at the gym, so I wasn’t on social media. Had no idea that any of it happened until I got a text from you. Also, drove down to Orlando on Wednesday, had about an eight minute interview, seven minute interview, with Elijah Blades. Didn’t mention decommitting. That’s how quickly things change. Andrew:Yeah. Nick:Changes in the time it takes me to get to and from Orlando. Andrew:Well, it was a wild one, for sure. You look at Blades’ recruitment, and I’ll be the first to admit, I put out my insider report yesterday, and I thought he would stick, thought Henderson and Herbert would go to Miami. It was different. I was told that the conversation was more about his relationship with Torrian Gray compared to other DB coaches, and that’s something that’s there. Later on, Jordan Scarlett goes after him a little bit, and he says he wants to stay closer to home. Is it he wants to stay close to home, or he wants to have a better relationship with his DB coach? I don’t know. Who knows what it is. It’s an excuse, whatever it may be. It’s a reason, and he’s a kid. He has that chance to do that. As far as Kai-Leon Herbert goes, he says the offensive line coach played a factor, not knowing that, and I agree with that, but I think a lot of it was also that Miami filled his head. Miami filled his head with a lot of stuff, and it worked. Nick, we talked about this off the air. You want to talk about this now, about kind of what we feel like is going on here? Nick:Yeah. I think people want to hear that. Andrew:I want you to chime in here as well, because you don’t have to stay in the day to day as much, and that’s nothing against you, Nick. You know what I’m talking about when I say this. Nick:I tell you all the time. I don’t envy your job. Andrew:You get to see a little bit of the broader of thing here. It’s mindboggling to me here, Nick. I’ve been doing this six years now, and I can honestly say that this is probably the worst. That was bad times Will Muschamp put it through. Nick, I just don’t know, man. I can’t figure this out. I told you this off the air. You can’t tell me these guys are just that bad of recruiters. You can’t tell me Chris Rumph just forgot how to recruit. You can’t tell me Torrian Gray just forgot how to recruit. Now, I’ve said it all along, he’s swimming in the SEC. He’s still trying to figure out how to recruit the SEC against the big boys, compared to when he was at Virginia Tech and wasn’t recruiting against the big boys. So, there’s a difference there, but you can’t tell me he just forgot. You can’t tell me Randy Shannon just forgot how to recruit. You just can’t. I just don’t know. You just can’t forget how to recruit, so I’m not sure. It’s not all on the coaches, but I’m just not sure what the overlying problem is here. I said this to you off the air as well. You’re hearing about these kids. They’re talking to talk smack about Florida,