So what's the excuse now

I think the issues which will always remain are:

The 7/7 culture in South FL produces a lot of "me first" kids which is at odds with Mario's message, but also surrounds these kids with terrible human beings, like that fat ***-back Jay Winbrow and his fury fetish friends (true story, ask around).

There are some kids who will take to the SEC, B1G environments more than UM. That is what it is. I suspect this is a small proportion, but it will happen and the margin for error for UM with these kids will always be smaller because their inclination is to go elsewhere.

Lastly, the ACC. By far the biggest issue. It's a pair of cinderblocks around our legs. For starter, the bulk of the conference is irrelevant to football and totally indifferent about their futures in the sport. They're literally basketball schools. The environments suck, they're sterile and an elite athlete is not juiced up. It's managed terribly, administered terribly and officiated by the mob. It's the age of the megaconference. If you're not in, you're an outsider. So get out.
 
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Recruiting has been nationwide for some time now. The world is a 'smaller' place these days.

Kids can transfer high schools. Easier and easier, kids can take visits all over the place.

Local isn't really a thing anymore. The explosion of social media is a contributing factor.

Even if a HS kid signs to his local school, he can portal out whenever he chooses.

Edit: And NIL. All schools have 'above the table' money to pay. Money talks.

Local ties to a school are just less and less these days.

I don't think that's bad, its just different.
 
Money
Winning
NFL Draft record
Coaching relationships
Playing time
Teammate relationships
Girls (or a specific girl)
Media attention
Friends & Family proximity
Game Day experience
Academics
Location
Alumni relationships
Nightlife/Social life

I think we've addressed as many of the factors as we possibly could. But there will always be local kids who choose to go elsewhere for a variety of reasons. Mario has put the program in a position to recruit at a tp 5 level going forward. No one who follows recruiting should think there's ever an "easy button" no matter how good you are, much less an auto-pilot mode.
 
Honestly who gives a ****? We are targeting fewer local kids because the bar has been raised, and the ones we are brining in need to be dogs like Bain or Toney, otherwise they can **** off and we’ll bring in ****** dudes from Atlanta or Orlando or whatever.

I’m sick of these ******* divas … most of them are closer to mark pope or whatever than they are to an actual difference maker.
There are dogs everywhere ! Jakobe Thomas from a Tennessee town with less than 30k people. Biggest thing in tullahoma is Arnold AF base.
 
There are dogs everywhere ! Jakobe Thomas from a Tennessee town with less than 30k people. Biggest thing in tullahoma is Arnold AF base.
There is talent all over and since Mario arrived he has done well recruiting nationally. However, there is just something about them South Florida dawgs that just permeates throughout the whole team. So even the players that aren't local tend to develop that chip on their shoulders too. So yes we should recruit nationally, but the heart and soul of our team, the leaders of our team, need to be South Florida locals.
 
To me by far the largest issue is conference. It's just more of a brand issue for us. It has it's pros and cons. If FSU and Clemson aren't strong, VTech may take 2 years to work back up, etc... Well its a double edged sword. It SHOULD make the path to CFP easier for us. And ultimately if you're not going far in CFP and collecting the payouts, then you're at a big financial disadvantage to B1G and SEC programs....

What will become more of an issue is playing time. The better you recruit and more stacked you are, and guys show out early (like Toney), the less PT there ends up being. AND separately the better you are the more other teams will try to get your backups and young talented depth with promises to start. Tough to keep guys developing on the bench behind an entrenched starter like a Toney/Fitzgerald/Our Outside CBs without losing them to other teams willing to pay the same and start.
 
You all overrate the "crowd" issue by a ton. There aren't that many programs with a consistently better gameday atmosphere. Most college stadiums are empty. Most don't have extensive tailgating.

UF and FSU don't fill up their place when they suck.
 
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There are no excuses now. And the excuses are irrelevant. If we consistently pay the most in the country, have a beautiful campus, and environment, good academics for jits that care about that, and elite environment to succeed, F all of them that dont want in.
I walked on the campus for the first time last summer. Went to Miami for a cruise and had to go. I was walking around thinking who wouldn’t love this!
 
Despite what The U documentary may have told you, Miami wasn’t signing every elite kid in South Florida even during the height of the program.
 
Some kids need to leave their home towns after high school, but this is true of every place in America. Yes we will lose a greater number of local athletes than in Lincoln, Nebraska, but that is because there are so many more great athletes in S Fla that most places in America.

It’s more a numbers thing than a percentage thing going forward because only the kids who need to leave S Fla will leave. The rest will want to play at home.
 
Kids will always have excuses to leave even if it’s honestly just to get away from home to experience something new. Even when we were at the mountain top local kids went elsewhere


It is what it is… get the best you can and fill In the rest via the portal
 
There is talent all over and since Mario arrived he has done well recruiting nationally. However, there is just something about them South Florida dawgs that just


permeates throughout the whole team. So even the players that aren't local tend to develop that chip on their shoulders too. So yes we should recruit nationally, but the heart and soul of our team, the leaders of our team, need to be South Florida locals.
nah. Some of those so called "so Fla dudes" don't want to toe the line with the culture mario wants. mario has been bringing in a very different kind of kid over the past couple of years. He certainly recruits the best of the best of the So Fla kids but he doesn't rely on them.

The leaders of the team haven't all been from So Fla. This year, there are a few. But there are also others from outside of Florida who lead this team. That's what makes it work
 
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