It’s no wonder Florida was able to bring in what many recruiting analysts are calling one of the best classes in recent memory.
Urban Meyer’s short-lived retirement turned leave of absence left him with one helluva sales pitch.
The latest you-wont-believe-this message board story comes right from The Man Upstairs, through Urban Meyer’s lips and to new UF commit Sharrif Floyd, the No. 1 defensive tackle prospect according to Rivals.com.
Here’s what’s being floated around and attributed to Floyd’s high school coaches:
“Sharrif was really confused and put a call into coach Meyer. When they spoke, coach Meyer told him that he had a ‘dream’ the night before, and that coach Meyer saw himself on the sideline coaching Sharrif. Told him that it was a ‘message from God that I should come back and coach, as I guess if it’s my time to die, I’d rather die on the sidelines coaching you than anywhere else in the world.’
“Sharrif talked to us the next day and said Ohio State is great and all, but coach Meyer said he would DIE for me. That’s pretty intense. From that day on Sharrif mainly kept to himself. But that was the turning point in my eyes.”
This report hasn’t been confirmed by either Meyer or Floyd, and we will never know whether this actually happened.
True or not, it says something about how crazy the recruiting process gets.
Either Meyer played the God card to solidify a commitment from a kid who was on the fence, or someone floated a rumor out there about Meyer going to such lengths with the intention of soiling his reputation.
This easily tops the story of Meyer telling Jevan Snead not to worry about competing with Tim Tebow for snaps at quarterback because Tebow was going to play linebacker for the Gators.
Again, I can’t be sure if either of these stories are true. The only people who know for sure are Meyer, Floyd and Snead.
One thing I’ve learned as a reporter is that rumors usually aren’t true, but that doesn’t mean they’re never true.
Here’s where I may differ from some people out there who sometimes chose to believe stories like these: I don’t care if Meyer did say these things.
Recruiting is so clearly full of lies and deceit, and anyone — coaches, media members or players — who chooses not to take that as fact is only being naïve.
Coaches lie to players to get them on campus. Players hopefully understand that.
And guess what, players also lie to coaches; something Meyer knows first hand.
Former Tennessee wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson was committed to the Gators up until signing day and even told the Gainesville Sun’s Ed Aschoff that he was coming to Gainesville AFTER already signing and faxing his papers to Knoxville.
It’s not always the big bad coaches taking advantage of the young gullible players.
UF recruits likely have to wade through a fair amount of B.S. from Meyer, but be sure that Meyer also has to guard himself against potential Richardson situations.
As long as everyone understands that recruiting is a two-way street filled with broken promises and abused trust, we can all learn to laugh at stories like these.
To quote Omar Little from HBO’s the Wire: “It’s all in the game.”
