On Wednesday, we may all be witnesses to a miracle.
The Big Three of recruiting gurus — ESPN, Rivals.com and Scout.com — are on the verge of agreeing on which school has the nation’s top class.
Since 2006, when ESPN joined the game, the three have never come to the same conclusion, but with just a day to go until National Signing Day, Florida is a unanimous No. 1.
In a business so heavily based on often-arbitrary opinions, and where analysts can garner attention simply by being different, this is quite the accomplishment.
And it’s a miracle in more ways than one.
If it holds, and these players resist their natural inclination to create drama, it’ll be the most impressive recruiting job of Urban Meyer’s career.
And it puts the Gators back where they were before that beatdown loss to Alabama — on top.
A few months ago, Florida was the unquestioned best program in the nation.
It had the best coach, a quarterback in the discussion for best college player of all time and was favored to win a third national title in four years.
Then, UF lost, Meyer started buggin’ out and Tim Tebow went from being The Man to one of the most scrutinized NFL Draft prospects ever.
The Gators fell out of the spotlight by losing to the Tide, and questions about Meyer’s future made an easy target for opposing coaches to use on the recruiting trail.
This is a crucial time for the program, and in the face of it, Florida has amassed another stacked recruiting class and pulled in kids from all over the country.
And it looks like Meyer is fostering the same kind of atmosphere Pete Carroll had while he was at USC, where highly rated players sign regardless of how many other big-time guys have committed to play the same position.
By Rivals.com’s rankings, Florida has commitments from the Nos. 1, 7 and 19 weakside defensive ends, the Nos. 1, 2 and 11 defensive tackles, the Nos. 3, 4, and 11 cornerbacks and the Nos. 2 and 12 safeties in its class.
Of course, recruiting rankings are far from an exact science, and star levels don’t translate into wins, but this certainly can’t be seen as a bad thing.
Even with a somewhat shaky situation surrounding Meyer’s future, the Gators have remained the dominant force when dealing with recruits.
When Lauderdale Lakes Anderson High four-star safety Demar Dorsey started having second thoughts about his commitment to UF, the Gators kicked him to the curb.
Things could easily have taken a turn for the worse during this recruiting season, but as of now, Florida has pulled off a big win.
If this class stays intact, it’ll offer something that seemed impossible a little more than a month ago: stability.
