1 » Though a leave of absence is looming in his near future, Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer is still very much involved in the program at this point in time. Recruiting is one of Meyer’s passions and staying off the road (at least right now) is surely frustrating him, but he is still making an impact with high school players over the phone. He is simultaneously trying to fill out the remainder of his coaching staff. The Gators have lost four assistants (and a graduate assistant) since the 2009 SEC Championship, but Meyer has already filled in three staff spots with only one more to go. Once his staff is complete and National Signing Day passes on Feb. 3, Meyer will take a step back from the program – hopefully temporarily but potentially permanently.

2 » Florida may have landed a commitment from four-star wide receiver Chris Dunkley (Pahokee, FL) at the Under Armour All-American Game, but the team is still looking for more pass catchers to fill out its 2010 recruiting class. Enter four-star WR Christian Green (Tampa, FL). Though Green is seemingly favoring the Florida State Seminoles (he is a lifelong fan of the team and much of his family went to FSU), he is also considering the Georgia Bulldogs and Gators. “I like the Florida program,” Green told Gerry Hamilton of Scouts, Inc. “I feel like Coach Meyer and those guys motivate players to win and they are going to make you better as a player. That and they win national championships. I think that’s important to go to a school that is going to win national championships, and they have proven they can.”

Tags: All-American, Chris Dunkley, Christian Green, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, National Signing Day, SEC Championship, Under Armour, Urban Meyer

1 » Redshirt freshman wide receiver Andre Debose was supposed to play a big role in the Florida Gators offense this past season. However, after injuring his hamstring while running the track and undergoing season-ending surgery, Debose received his medical redshirt and has been rehabbing ever since. According to Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel, Debose is running in the pool and his rehab is coming along quite well. “I’m happy with my results so far,” he said. “They’ve been positive.”

2 » Fowler also spoke with Nicki Meyer, head coach Urban Meyer’s 19-year-old daughter, about her father’s health and future. Nicki spoke in-depth about the Christmas conversation her father had about stepping down as well as what the family hopes to accomplish with his time off. “I just want my dad to be healthy,” Nicki said. “I want his heart to be OK. I want his anxiety level to go low. I want him to enjoy [coaching] again like he used to. The fact that he’s going to pull himself together again, that means so much to me. He needs to learn not to put everything on himself all the time. It’s a loss, he would take it as himself. He’d say, ‘That’s my fault.’ If a player gets in trouble, he thinks, ‘That’s my fault.’ We don’t want him to completely close the door on coaching, because that’s what he loves. We know he’s good at it, obviously. He’s so young. If he can come back and get healthy and start coaching again, we want him to do it. We want him to stay healthy. He needs to be around football, and we know that.”

3 » Now that the 2009 season is over, Meyer will be meeting with his coaching staff to work on a few issues before taking his official leave of absence for (at least) the summer. Among the issues will be replacing defensive coordinator Charlie Strong (probably cornerbacks coach Vance Bedford, too) and finishing up recruiting before National Signing Day in a month’s time. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep this train going in the right direction,” Meyer said. “That will all be discussed in the next few days.”

4 » Catching up on a story that OGGOA purposely skipped over during the week, Tennessee Volunteers senior forward Tyler Smith, junior center Brian Williams, junior point guard Melvin Goins and sophomore guard Cameron Tatum are all facing misdemeanor drug, gun and alcohol charges after being stopped on Friday by Knoxville, TN, police for speeding. Head coach Bruce Pearl has suspended all four players indefinitely and has said that dismissal is an option depending on what information is revealed about the incident. “This is tough,” Pearl said. “This is so hard because we’ve worked so hard to try to do the right things.”

Tags: Andre Debose, Brian Williams, Bruce Pearl, Cameron Tatum, Charlie Strong, Melvin Goins, National Signing Day, Nicki Meyer, Tennessee Volunteers, Tyler Smith, Urban Meyer, Vance Bedford

1 » Discussing Southeastern Conference basketball in his latest column, ESPN’s Andy Katz paints the picture that the Florida Gators have a legitimate chance to overcome their recent woes. Calling the Gators the most surprising team in the SEC thus far, Katz says: “Even though Florida has struggled in its past three games (losing to South Alabama at home is rather inexcusable), the Gators are still a surprise overall in the conference. Beating Florida State wasn’t a total shock since the game was at home, but it’s still a quality win. And taking out then-No. 2 Michigan State in New Jersey was a stunner at the time. The Gators have proven that they can knock off big-time teams, and they’ll need to do that going forward in the SEC if they are to avoid a third straight NIT appearance.” Even so, Katz projects Florida as one of “at least five squads [from the SEC] in the Big Dance.”

2 » Though he is still trying to decide between the Gators, Texas Longhorns and Ohio State Buckeyes, four-star linebacker recruit Jordan Hicks (West Chester, OH), has decided to announce his college choice sometime in January instead of on National Signing Day, according to Bill Kurelic of ESPN. Hicks is believed to be favoring Texas at this point, but Kurelic predicts “Florida as the eventual winner in this tug of war. The Gators got the last official visit and Urban Meyer is assembling what some feel will be his best recruiting class ever. If in fact he can land Hicks, he will have the No. 2 prospect in the ESPNU 150 and the country’s top linebacker.”

Extra Bit » While reading a column by CBSSports.com’s national columnist Mike Freeman about the recent issues surrounding USC Trojans running back Joe McKnight, OGGOA came across this shot at the Gators that we found particularly disturbing and ridiculously exaggerated. Qualifying the magnitude of USC’s recent off-field issues, Freeman says, “The Trojans aren’t the Florida Gators, who are soaked in DUIs and gun toters, but it’s getting pretty bad out there in Trojanland.” Thoughts?

Tags: Joe McKnight, Jordan Hicks, March Madness, National Signing Day, Ohio State Buckeyes, SEC, Texas Longhorns, Urban Meyer, USC Trojans

Over the past two weeks, OGGOA had you participate in three polls. First, we asked you how the suspension of Florida Gators junior defensive end Carlos Dunlap would affect the team. Then, after the Gators lost the 2009 SEC Championship, we wanted to know the biggest reason why. Finally, you told us what you were most looking forward to since the loss. 715 combined votes (238 average) were cast, and the results are in:

Losing DE Carlos Dunlap to suspension…
hurts the Gators’ chances of winning. (58%, 105 votes)
does not matter in the long-run. (38%, 69 votes)
improves the Gators’ chances of winning. (4%, 7 votes)

The Gators failed to win the SEC because of…
immense defensive failures. (43%, 131 votes)
Alabama’s overall game plan. (33%, 102 votes)
poor offensive playcalling. (21%, 66 votes)
lack of discipline (penalties). (3%, 9 votes)

What are you most looking forward to?
National Signing Day (39%, 88 votes)
2010 Sugar Bowl (38%, 86 votes)
Florida basketball…fantastic! (21%, 49 votes)
Gators spring sports (2%, 5 votes)

OGGOA is going to call the last poll a tie between National Signing Day and the 2010 Sugar Bowl because the majority vote changed all week long, including the day the poll was closed. I was kind of expecting fans to be looking toward basketball to fill the void now that football suffered a heartbreaking loss (especially with the big game against Syracuse last week), but I was happy to see that people still see the Sugar Bowl as a priority even though the title is not on the line. Take a moment and vote in our brand new poll in the right column: How will Tim Tebow fare in the NFL?

Tags: Carlos Dunlap, National Signing Day, SEC, SEC Championship, Sugar Bowl

It has been a slow weekend as far as Florida Gators news goes, but OGGOA has done its best Sunday morning to provide you with a few notes to wrap up the weekend. Expect more from us later in the day, so stay tuned!

1 » A dozen Gators commits and recruiting prospects including five-star safety Matt Elam (Fort Lauderdale, FL) visited Gainesville, FL, this weekend for official visits with Florida coaches, staff and current players. In what will be a crucial weekend for Gators’ recruiting after losing defensive coordinator Charlie Strong and wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Billy Gonzales to other schools, Florida hopes to secure commitments it has already received and establish new ones, possibly pulling players away from other teams. With National Signing Day approaching at the beginning of February and early enrollment for the spring semester (and spring practice) less than a month away, expect to hear a bunch of recruiting news come out over the next few days and weeks. Commits: Elam, four-star DE Neiron Ball (Jackson, GA), four-star OT Ian Silberman (Fleming Island, FL), four-star ATH Travon Van (New Berlin, NY), four-star CB Jaylen Watkins (Cape Coral, FL), three-star QB Trey Burton (Venice, FL) – Recruits: five-star LB Jordan Hicks (West Chester, OH), four-star WR Chris Dunkley (Pahokee, FL), four-star WR Justin Hunter (Virginia Beach, VA), four-star OT Morgan Moses (Fork Union, VA), four-star C Brandon Linder (Fort Lauderdale, FL), three-star CB Robert Clark (West Palm Beach, FL).

2 » Though senior quarterback Tim Tebow came in fifth in Saturday’s 2009 Heisman Trophy ceremony, two of his teammates were awarded honors of their own. Juniors cornerback Joe Haden and center Maurkice Pouncey were both named to the 2009 Football Writers Association of America All-America Team. Both are seemingly racking up All-America honors this season, which bodes well for them considering they are (likely) heading into the 2010 NFL Draft.

Tags: All-American, Billy Gonzales, Brandon Linder, Charlie Strong, Chris Dunkley, Draft, FWAA, Heisman Trophy, Ian Silberman, Jaylen Watkins, Joe Haden, Jordan Hicks, Justin Hunter, Matt Elam, Maurkice Pouncey, Morgan Moses, National Signing Day, Neiron Ball, NFL, Robert Clark, Tim Tebow, Travon Van, Trey Burton

Florida Gators wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator Billy Gonzales has accepted a “passing game coordinator” and WR coach position with the LSU Tigers. Apparently head coach Urban Meyer had already begun informing his team’s commitments and recruits that Gonzales will no longer be with Florida prior to this story being leaked Thursday evening.

Aside from having lost two important coaches in the past 48 hours, the Gators are also losing two top recruiters in new Louisville Cardinals head coach Charlie Strong and Gonzales just two months before National Signing Day. Gonzales was a strong recruiter for Florida in the talent-rich South Florida area and has been responsible for the majority of the Gators’ offensive playmaker commitments over the last few years.

Meyer and Gonzales have a long-standing relationship, going back to when the former coached the latter while with the Colorado State Rams over a decade ago. Gonzales has worked under Meyer for the last eight seasons, and a move that appears to be more lateral than promotional may have come due to the fact that offensive line coach Steve Addazio was promoted to offensive coordinator this season instead of Gonzales.

Rumors are swirling that Meyer is expected to hire Zach Azzanni, the current assistant head coach/WR coach with the Central Michigan Chippewas, to replace Gonzales. Azzanni coached the Bowling Green Falcons WRs from 2003-06, after Meyer left the program in 2002, though he was a graduate assistant under Meyer from 2001-02 and works at the Gators’ football camps every summer.

OGGOA will continue to update this story as more information comes to light.

Tags: Billy Gonzales, Bowling Green Falcons, Central Michigan Chippewas, Charlie Strong, Colorado State Rams, Louisville Cardinals, LSU Tigers, National Signing Day, Steve Addazio, Urban Meyer, Zach Azzanni

The NCAA is conducting a “wide-ranging investigation” into the recruiting practices of the Tennessee Volunteers football program, according to an article published by The New York Times. The NCAA has interviewed recruits, their families, head coaches and school administrators about some methods the Volunteers have utilized while recruiting – most prominently the use of “recruiting hostesses.”

N.C.A.A. officials have visited four prospects and are scheduled to visit two others this week in an investigation covering at least three states. The inquiry is unusual in its scope and its timing. It is rare that the N.C.A.A. looks at this wide a swath of one university’s recruits before the players have signed with a program in February.

As the Times defines them, recruiting hostesses are “students who are part of a formal group at the university that hosts all manner of prospective students at campus visits.” Apparently, the NCAA has proof that these students were not only used on campus, but some even traveled to South Carolina (and perhaps other locations) to visit five-star running back Marcus Lattimore (Duncan, SC) at one of his games with signs reading: “Come to Tennessee.” Because these students represent the university, their recruiting of players off-campus would be a violation of NCAA rules.

Tennessee is also allegedly using recruiting hostesses to recruit players through social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, according to the Times. And on impressionable young athletes, the influence of beautiful women can be quite appealing. “You don’t want to go to a college where they ain’t pretty,” Lattimore said.

More relevant to the Florida Gators, one of the prospects visited by the NCAA was four-star wide receiver recruit Chris Dunkley (Pahokee, FL), considered by some to be a heavy Florida lean. Dunkley told the Times that the NCAA did indeed interview him but did not comment any further.

It is not common for the NCAA to hold this type of investigation before National Signing Day, though the Times speculates that head coach Lane Kiffin’s numerous secondary violations may have triggered a closer look into these allegations. For more on the story, please read the Times article linked above.

Tags: Chris Dunkley, Lane Kiffin, Marcus Lattimore, National Signing Day, NCAA, Tennessee Volunteers