One Eyed Observations: Chris Dunkley, Recruiting Linebackers, and Florida Lacrosse
One Eyed Willy. Questions. Answers. Truth.
The Bull Gator: Chris Dunkley to USF. Thoughts? Feelings?
One Eyed Willy: Each year I pinpoint one recruit from the Florida class of commits that I have what the doctors like to call a “healthy man-crush” on. For the class of 2010, that recruit was one Mr. Chris Dunkley. The reason for my infatuation with Chris was quite simple…he went to the same high school and graduated the same year as my “little” brother (TBG Note: The use of “little” is completely appropriate here. OEW’s brother would destroy him.). Well, kind of. You see, Chris went to Royal Palm Beach High School for his freshman, sophomore and junior years (the same school that my brother went to), but then decided to transfer to the football powerhouse that is Pahokee High School for his senior year. I can’t really blame him for that decision given that he ended up at a school with a much better coaching staff and a far superior football program.
I also cannot really blame him for transferring from UF. As UF fans, we want all of the guys that we recruit to end up being all-world in three areas of their life: on the field, off the field, and in the classroom. Unfortunately, Chris’s biggest issues came with the latter. For whatever reason, Chris could not handle the academic part of being a student athlete. I don’t recall Chris ever getting in trouble with the authorities, I don’t recall him ever being suspended from the team, and I don’t recall him ever saying anything negative about UF as a program or about either of the two coaching staffs he played under. Chris simply could not handle the class work at UF and therefore decided to transfer (or maybe was told to transfer).
Now the question becomes where does he go from there? There are some places that are an absolute no-no for an ex-Florida player to end up: FSU, Tennessee, Miami and Georgia are the four that stick out in my mind. But there is one place that ex-Gators should be welcomed with open arms, assuming they are good players and good kids, which I believe Chris to be. That, of course, is my second alma mater, the University of South Florida. So I wish Chris the best of luck in the green and gold on Saturdays – but more importantly I wish him the best of luck in the classroom on Monday through Friday!
TBG: One linebacker was said to have Florida in his final two before he committed elsewhere. Another was said to be a heavy Florida lean before he committed elsewhere. Is this something to be concerned about? Is linebacker a must-get position during the 2012 recruiting cycle?
OEW: Losing Noor Davis and Raphael Kirby is disheartening for sure, but it’s not something to get all bent out of shape about. This is recruiting…you lose guys that you were sure were coming to your school all the time. Unfortunately we lost “locks” within a week’s time and we lost them during the dead season in college football which resulted in a small story becoming a nationwide outcry from Gator fans – or at least that’s what it seemed to become.
Noor Davis is a very smart young man who wanted to go to a program that combined exceptional academics with an exceptional football team. Is there a place in the country that does that better than Stanford? Gator Nation laughed when former FSU safety Myron Rolle chose FSU over UF because of FSU’s superior academics (oxymoron alert!) because we all knew that was a crock of crap. In that same token, we cannot get upset with a guy like Davis who truly puts academics first when picking the place he will be for the next four years.
Raphael Kirby, on the other hand, seemed to pick his school of choice with his heart rather than his mind. I am sorry, but no one can tell me that right now Miami is a better school to go to than UF. But Kirby grew up a Miami fan and a few days after he picked up the Miami offer he went ahead and followed his heart to the U. Again, I can’t really fault a 17-year old kid for doing this as I too attended the school that I had loved since childhood.
As far as LB being a position of need, I would have to say the answer is yes and no. As we have seen this spring, developing depth on a team is a priority and something that our past coaching staff may not have excelled at. This is the SEC, players get injured, and you always want good young talent to be backing up and ready to take the place of your starters at a moment’s notice. But our LBs are actually very young. We currently have nine scholarship LBs (or LBs/DEs) on the team that are capable of getting significant playing time. Of these nine, none are seniors and only two (Jonathan Bostic and Dee Finley) are juniors. The rest are underclassman. In addition, Graham Stewart is an incoming freshman who has the potential to make his name known on the defensive side of the ball in the coming years. So while recruiting LBs is always going to be an area of focus for UF’s coaching staff, I think this year we definitely have bigger needs – have you seen our depth at the offensive line and wide receiver positions? Good grief!
TBG: Obligatory Lacrosse Question: What are you feelings about Saturday’s game against Duke?
OEW: The thing that scares me most about Duke is that they are extremely battle-tested this year. In the 18 games they have played this season, only six of them were against teams not ranked in the top 20 in the country. And they are 8-4 in those 12 games against ranked opponents. Their only losses this season are to #1 Maryland, #2 Northwestern, #3 UNC and #9 Penn. And they just beat that same #9 Penn team last week in the first round of the NCAA Tourney.
Like last week, the best thing that the Gator girls have going for them is that they are playing at home where they are still undefeated this year. Last week I said that Kitty Cullen and Ashley Bruns needed to have big games to beat Stanford. Although Bruns was held scoreless and only attempted one shot, Cullen provided the needed offensive power, scoring four goals against the Cardinal. Janine Hillier also provided some timely offensive sparks by scoring four goals herself. Cullen, Bruns and others will have to once again play up to their potential if they want to beat the Blue Devils. In the end, I will give the advantage to the home team and pick the Gators to win by 2-3 goals.