DE Jeoffrey Pagan decommitts from Gators

By Adam Silverstein
November 29, 2010

The third commitment for the Florida Gators’ 2011 recruiting class, four-star defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan (Asheville, NC) decommitted from the program on Sunday, according to an interview he conducted with Rivals.

Pagan, who committed in April before being iffy with his decision in May and ultimately reaffirming his choice in July, told Rivals that he pulled back his commitment on Sunday because he was “missing out on some stuff and wanted to get back into everything.”

He also admitted that Florida losing assistant head coach and defense/defensive line coach Dan McCarney to North Texas “play[ed] a factor” in his decision. McCarney personally recruited Pagan, who is Rivals’ No. 36 overall player and No. 3 DE for 2011.

ESPNU ranks him No. 19 overall and believes he is the fourth-best DE in the 2011 class.

Pagan was unanimously considered UF’s second-best 2011 commit behind only five/four-star quarterback Jeff Driskel (Oviedo, FL).

Head coach Urban Meyer promised after Saturday’s loss to Florida State that he and the coaching staff would “recruit our butt off” while simultaneously preparing for the Gators’ bowl game. Meyer has reportedly been hot in pursuit of four-star Miami DE commit Anthony Chickillo (Tampa, FL) who was also being recruited by McCarney.

Photo Credit: Asheville Citizen-Times

40 Comments

  1. Gatorbuc15 says:

    He pulled his commitment because he was “missing out on some stuff and wanted to get back into everything”, what????????????

  2. Gatorken says:

    If Urban does what he says he’ll do and hires a more complete staff we’ll get him back. Though McCarney wasn’t an issue coach but our D-line was not very productive.

  3. G8trpls says:

    Translation. He doesn’t want to play for a team like the one he saw this past Saturday.

  4. E-Pain says:

    He saw how much Cam was getting paid, wants the same treatment…

  5. vsherrel says:

    He pulled his commitment because he didn’t want to play for a program that is in disarray. Frankly, I cant blame any of these kids for not wanting to play in Gainesville given the current circumstances.

    • When a team wins two titles in three years and has three one-loss seasons in four, you don’t jump because of one bad year. That could be A reason, but it’s not THE reason. If you followed his recruitment, you’d know he was probably leaving at one point or another eventually.

  6. G8trpls says:

    Adam you seem to have the inside scoop….Any recruits leaning in a positive direction towards the Gators, instead of away, like Tim Jernigan, Tony Steward. I know it’s purely speculation, but any thoughts?

  7. vsherrel says:

    Basically the entire staff has turned over since 2008. We have Meyer and everyone’s favorite play caller remaining from the championship year (along with Heater). This kid can pick ANY school in the country to play college football and help him try to make it to the pros. Can you honestly tell me that if you where in his position you would even consider picking Florida? Im not saying UF is not an elite program. I just think that given the current state of affairs, I understand recruits being reluctant to choose Florida over other top tier programs who have coaching stability.

  8. Andrewgator says:

    You give these kids too much credit. Recruiting rankings are bs anyways. Let’s stay away from prima donnas like this kid and get some tough ass players.

  9. SaraGator says:

    You don’t commit to a coach. You commit to a school. Everybody knew that McCarney had one foot out the door.

    Recruits change their mind – constantly. We have to keep in mind that one recruit doesn’t make or break a program. Football is a team sport.

  10. OleballCoach says:

    And the exodus begins because Urban has been exposed.

  11. PGator says:

    Come on down Anthony Chickillo.

  12. G8trpls says:

    That Chickillo kid is on The Dan Sileo radio show in the morning’s every now and then. He is going to the U..his whole family went there. And that Sileo Jack*ss is in his ear about the U..Urban has his work cut out for him, to get this kid

  13. Matt says:

    What irks me is if I recall the kid tore his knee up and Florida stood by their scholarshipp offer. Florida has a down year…understatment I know, but you would think a character person would stick by them…then again maybe this kids has none?

  14. Gatorgrad79 says:

    Who wants to be a deck hand on a PERCEIVED titanic…unless definitive chsnges are announced soon, recruits and PARENTS will want a stable environment for their player.

  15. HardToKillGtr says:

    Talk about coaching stability. The Eeeyou has a slight problem with that at the moment. Plus, they don’t don’t have the money for for an elite program.

  16. Joe says:

    It doesn’t matter, plain and simple. Florida needs to be able to develop talent as it did with it’s first NC. I’ll take the three stars who want to work there ass off at this point.

  17. Swift_Tech says:

    He was wishy washy the whole time, he just needed a reason to leave and now he has one. Fear not gator fans. With Powell and one end and lynden trail at the other, we will having flashbacks of Harvey/Moss before u know it. Plus the kid just tore up his knee, that coupled with bein a true freshman lineman he probly wouldsnt contribute until his soph/junior year. Plus we still have Martin 5tar from cal who tranferred he will be ready to go next year, plus green, mccray, and johnson. Which has to be better than what we had this year. WE WILL BE BACK, THIS IS NOT FSU. GO GATORS!!!!!

  18. G2 says:

    Whats the point of a bowl game except for the practice time? We’ll just go out and stink it up again.
    Not sure we can beat any decent team right now. Never seen something go so far south in such a short time. One game away from 3 NC games in 4 years. Now this, total mayhem. Urb has to grow some nads and replace SA with a top notch OC, pull Brantley and the 3 headed qb, and get some new tough ass coaching to find some tough ass players and build this thing up the right way.

  19. Scooterp says:

    It was bound to happen sooner or later and he won’t be the first. One or two more are likely to leave as well. It happens every year – Reid, Nu’keese, Dorsey – whether your playing well or not.

  20. Scooterp says:

    Adam, what happened to your weekly gator mvp poll? No performances worth hi-liting this week?

  21. John S says:

    Damn, but it doesn’t mean much right now. He probably wants a couple nice official visits, Kiffin probably promised him a song girl. He’s heard from his friends how much fun it is to test the waters. We can still land him, we will just have to work for it.

    Keep hope alive, change is possible in the spring and maybe in the month leading to the gator bowl.

  22. G2 says:

    Keep checking the site for any possible late breaking resignations. No such luck tonight?

  23. g8ter27 says:

    Well Adam you answered my question about who graded out as champoins this week. On Pagan…how about these reasons, Powell, Trail, Martin, and many of the supporting cast. The guy would not play next year, if he plays for Butch he probably willand he can stay at home to do it. Oh, Nu’keese and Dorsey, those were a couple of guys I was sure sad to see go. I think we can recruit the best guys, we need to start recruiting the best assistants again because they have all graduated to head coaching jobs.

  24. David says:

    I doubt Trail has gained enough weight to make a difference on an SEC DL. Ideally, we’d have Martin and Powell at DE. However, Martin posted on facebook last night that “Me & 5 Technique do not agree= No PT.” So who knows where that is going. First and foremost, we need a DL Coach and we need a good one. Speaking of Nu’keese, we need players. I wouldnt mind if he came back to UF so long as he says this is where he belonged all along (ala Martin and Elam). We need playmakers.

  25. G2 says:

    Look what happened last year when things were falling apart, still got a great class on paper. Can lightening strike twice? The key is getting some great position coaches, something we don’t seem to have in the past 2 years with all the changes. The SA experiment was a failure, should have never gotten the job in the first place. Last year he had Tebow to grind it out, this year he can’t find anything that works.

  26. Oscar says:

    I would feel much better if Meyer fired Addazio’s ass already, and hired someone that the new recruits know will be there for the long haul and are not dumb***** like Addazio.

  27. g8ter27 says:

    Yes I think Steve’s recruiting ability may have taken a major hit this year after kids see what his play calling is all about. If I am a 4 or 5 star it would go something like this: sure coach I would love to play for the Gatorsit is a dream come true!!!!! oh, but who will be coaching me?…you?…umm let me call you back on that one after I hear from Wofford and Alcorn State. Last year Tebow was the offensive coach…I had no idea that was the case until this year. Last year Spikes coached the defense (eye poking and all) but coached it nonetheless, we have no leaders on either side of the ball and I am sadly starting to wonder about the sideline too…come on Urban…right the ship!!!!

  28. Joe says:

    Don’t expect any really top flight assistants. Jeremy pays the head coach big bucks but our assistants are among the least paid in the SEC.

  29. David says:

    I think Joe hit the nail on the head. We don’t pay out assistants squat. We need to bring in some elitw position coaches and pay them what they deserve.

  30. G2 says:

    A complete house cleaning would be a boost to recruiting at this point!!!

  31. ziggy says:

    Kind of off subjuct and a little late as well, but am I the only one wondering why we have not seen the same offense that played against Georgia? I thought what they did against Georgia was genius. Although it was a rotating QB system (which I know is forbidden from here on out), it was different than anything they have done since. In the Georgia game, either Brantley or Burton would initially line up and then, after a quick glance at the defense, the play was ran immediatly or the other QB was quickly summoned to run the play. This wreacked havoc on the defense because they did not have time to study the play and adjust to it. This, coupled with the hurry up offense, worked pretty dang good against probably the best defense that we’ve beaten this season. I’m just baffled as to why the coaches abandoned this game plan. Was it just a gimmic that they thought would only work once? I also don’t understand why they can run the hurry up offense at a high level like they did when it was first unveiled, and then revert back to an offense that can’t even get a snap off in 40 seconds. It’s just mind boggling to me that the coaches don’t even try to stick to something that worked.

  32. mike says:

    It hurts to say it but MEYER deserves it. He should have stopped putting Brantley into games a long time ago. His poor oversight and decisions will cost many a more recruit, especially if he has the foolishness to play Brantley again. Hey ever think of Putting Burton in at the goal line and throwing it? How about a reverse(once this year?) Let Reed run option most of the game and put Burton in now and then. Watch them improve. They go all the way down the field then on 3rd down they but in JB and oops time for a punt. IF I saw the poor coaching I would decommit too!

  33. npgator says:

    Unfortunately I think we lose a lot of battles with FSU for recruits this year. They will be getting most of the top talent in Florida commiting this year.

  34. DGLgatorfan says:

    Reading some of the comments I have no idea what to think of fellow gator fans. First off he is one guy yes he is a huge get for FL but some of the things I read make it seem like 70 percent of the class decomitted. He always seem like he had a wandering eye he already unofficially visited several schools. As far as he should keep his commitment because he is hurt and the gators did not pull their offer neither did the other 30 plus schools who offered him. He owes meyer and FL nothing same way they owe him nothing and will continue to recruit the spot whether he recommits or not.

  35. athlete10 says:

    Look.. I do not see nothin wrong with a young man of his stature decommitting from a ” Winning School”.. he can play anywhere he chooses…most of you people that are talkin down on this kid are most likely over-weight paper pushes who are unhappy with there jobs and wish they were in this kids shoes but was just to damn sorry for yourselves an didn put the effort in it… So with that said get of his nuts and let him be a man and pick where an what school he wants…..

    • “athlete10” aka Jamil Hawes (Pagan’s teammate – you included your e-mail) – I don’t think the majority of people were truly criticizing Pagan, just questioning the decision. To each his own.

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