Florida Gators: Signing Day proves McElwain the right fit

How Florida and Jim McElwain were able to survive the recruiting abyss to deliver a solid class.

“Fit” sure is an interesting word. When there’s a fit between two people or entities in the figurative sense, everyone can see it, and amazing feats are possible – whether that’s in the form of a professional relationship or a romantic one. Fit is perhaps the most fascinating intangible, because even when all the tangibles are there, fit may not be. Ever been on a date with someone who had everything you were looking for on paper but something you couldn’t put a finger on was just missing?

All of this is to say that when some one or some thing new is introduced, you’re gauging how you feel about it, and how you feel it’s going to work. As it pertains to Jim McElwain at Florida, it just feels right. There’s a fit there, and it was evident with the miracle work McElwain achieved in the Gators’ 2015 recruiting class.

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Five days before national signing day, Florida’s class ranked 101st. That’s out of 130 teams. And at that stage, how many four and five star commits did UF hold? Hint: you can look through the number. The Florida Gators. Read that out loud.

The Gators finished #23, a jump of 78 spots. On 247sports.com, Florida jumped over 20 spots on the final day. “I’m not going to say that’s unprecedented, but it’s certainly one of the biggest jumps we’ve ever seen,” 247’s director of football scouting Barton Simmons told me.

UF’s class finished with seven four and five star commitments, miraculous considering where they were just a week ago. Yes, the #21 final ranking is the lowest ranking a Gators recruiting class has held since the pre-Spurrier era. That becomes much more acceptable, when you consider all the factors working against them.

Under former coach Will Muschamp, the brand, the overall prestige of the program took a hit the likes of which I’d never seen before. Florida’s offense never ranked higher than 91st nationally during “Coach Boom’s” tenure, and the elite high school play makers simply took Florida off their list. It’s hard to blame them – if your goal is the NFL, Florida wasn’t the best choice for you. You have no idea how hard that fact was for me to face as a Florida alum. That began to change when the likes of D’Anfernee McGriff, a four star offensive athlete once committed to Auburn flipped to the Gators. Simply put, D’Anfernee is not a Gator under the previous regime.

Then there’s the issue of timing. McElwain was hired on December 4, with national signing day two months to the day away. Relationships with recruits are established in many cases years prior. McElwain was forced to compete with that, and when Jim called, many a high school player on the other end had never heard his name. Would you commit to a coach you’ve known for two years or two months? In many cases, McElwain miraculously overcame that. Imagine the quality of the first impression he was making.

I keep coming back to fit. None of this is possible at Florida if that’s missing. Remember Rich Rodriguez at Michigan? A brilliant coach, who experienced success everywhere else he’s been, but failed in Ann Arbor. Why? He wasn’t a “Michigan Man,” and that means something there. The fit wasn’t right, and his poor results there serve as proof. Square peg, round hole.

Contrast that with the feel of Jim McElwain’s signing day press conference at the University of Florida. I’ll ask that you watch the first minute not for content, but for feel, for fit.

The slipper fits. The marriage between Jim McElwain and Florida Gators feels right. He’s winning over “Gator Nation” one day at a time. More than any tangible, that’s why Gators fans are excited. They just weren’t able to put a finger on why until now.

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