Florida Football: Whiff on Cormani McClain not great, but 2023 class solid

It used to be that the focus of Florida-Georgia week was on just that, Florida and Georgia. Given the state of Florida football and the prospects the Gators have to emerge victorious tomorrow, much of the hype this week surrounded the announcement of five-star defensive back Cornmani McClain making his commitment.

McClain seemed like as solid of a lock as the Florida Gators could have expected. He plays at Lakeland High, the pipeline of numerous Gator greats. He has Ahmad Black as a coach on staff. He had every insider convinced he was going to Florida.

Then it came time to pick up a hat.

And it wasn’t the Florida Gators.

The reaction from a solid sector of Gator Nation is that the sky is falling, and while whiffing on McClain isn’t great, we need to be reminded that Billy Napier still has a solid class going for 2023.

Florida Football: Highest bidder wins

We highlighted earlier this week that Florida football was about to have a top-five class and didn’t need the money from Miami Hurricanes mega booster John Ruiz to do it.

We might have jumped the gun a little bit on that one.

Much like missing out on Jaden Rashada, if you believe the rumblings the Gators missed out on McClain, not because of anything Napier and crew did wrong. They missed out because Ruiz simply bid more money.

We have said this multiple times, college athletes deserve the right to get paid and if Miami put up a number that McClain couldn’t refuse then the frustration shouldn’t lie with McClain.

We have also said that there is danger in putting a team together who are only at your school because of money (see Texas A&M and Miami).

Players for the Gators are getting paid, don’t get it twisted. Anthony Richardson has a deal with Fanatics. Justing Shorter just signed a deal with Outback Steakhouse. The entire offensive line has a deal with Sonny’s BBQ.

But Florida hasn’t been willing to write the blank check needed to secure the top-tier recruits as others have. That doesn’t mean Florida won’t end the 2023 recruiting cycle with a weak class. Even with the whiff on McClain, Florida football is still sitting in 9th and is still running for several others.

In this new age of NIL money, having a top-ten class period is a great place to be. Georgia is ahead of Florida in recruiting, and that is true. But Georgia has been pumping out top-five classes since the dawn of time and only lately after Dan Mullen just stopped recruiting and stopped coaching did the gap between the two programs emerge.

Other schools ahead of Florida in recruiting right now like Notre Dame, Texas, and Miami have done this song and dance before with big classes they do nothing with. Oklahoma has a top-five class but looks like a shell of itself on the field right now.

The reality is that Florida have lost to teams this season that on paper the Gators were still more talented than (Kentucky and Tennessee). Recruiting is one piece of the puzzle, but it isn’t the entire puzzle.

And if Billy Napier can keep building team culture and tighten up his defensive schemes, Florida is going to be just fine with the guys he’s getting going forward.