Talent alone doesn't explain Florida Football's struggles over the past decade

The past decade for Florida Football has been a frustrating one for Gator fans. Florida has had some solid seasons, winning 10 or more games three times over the past ten years. But Florida has also won seven or fewer games five times during that same span.

And while recruiting for Florida hasn't been at the level most fans would like to see, it isn't the sole reasons why the Gators have been middling more times than not over the past decade.

Florida Football: Less With More

There have been some recruiting classes over the past decade that haven't been the greatest. According to the 247 Composite, the class of 2015 finished 21st, the class of 2022 was 18th, and the highest the Gators have been able to get to over the past ten years was 8th in 2020.

But in the grand scheme of things, recruiting classes hovering around 12th should make it difficult to top ten or more wins, but still leave the cupboard full enough to at least reach eight or nine wins with consistency.

To that point, the X account College Football Report tweeted out a graphic looking at the relationship between how well teams across the country have recruited compared to how many wins they have averaged over the past decade.

Grouped in with FSU, Texas A&M, Texas, Auburn, Tennessee, USC (the one with academics) and Miami, Florida has seemingly underachieved over the past decade given the level of talent they have had.

Teams like Washington, Utah, Oklahoma State, Iowa, and Wisconsin have all averaged more wins over the past decade than Florida despite having nowhere near the recruiting classes of the Gators.

Yes there are some schools on this list one can attribute to having an easier schedule, but there are plenty of teams on this list the Gators have lost to over the years despite having superior recruiting classes (Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Utah among others).

So while we can also chalk up some of Florida's recruiting classes as being inflated to boost their ranking, we can't act like its been the Bad News Bears out there when it comes to talent. Things like development, culture, and overall play calling have all played a part as well.

And given the current state of Florida's recruiting, it needs to start winning what they are expected to given what they have before they will be able to make the leap back into the elites of the recruiting world.