GAINESVILLE, Fla. _ OK, all of you nattering nabobs of negativity _ all of you message-board malcontents and Gator Nation naysayers _ go up to the blackboard in the aftermath of National Whining Day and write it 100 times.
"I believe in Jim McElwain.
"I believe in Jim McElwain.
"I believe in Jim McElwain."
"There's no doubt, the negative piece out there is something you always have to battle," McElwain said on a triumphant National Signing Day when he shooed away the vultures, shut up his critics and pulled in a top-10 recruiting class. "I think the biggest thing is to understand that every coach that has been here before me has told me that, all right? They're aware of it. In fact, it might have driven a couple of 'em out."
A week ago, the Gators were 31st in the composite recruiting rankings and McElwain was being barbecued on the UF message boards as being the worst recruiting bust in Gainesville since Bobby Sabelhaus. Coach Mac was suddenly a terrible recruiter. His staff was terrible. His personality was terrible. Even his wife, Karen, was being blamed for letting recruits feed carrots to the family horses.
"Recruits don't relate to horses," one grumpy Gator fan complained.
Now, after McElwain's recruiting success on National Signing Day, they are seeing a horse of a different color. McElwain's class is ranked No. 9 by Rivals.com _ ahead of USC, ahead of Penn State, ahead of Notre Dame and a whopping 12 spots ahead of national championship-winning Clemson.
No, McElwain's class isn't as good as the one hauled in by Alabama's Nick Saban, who recorded a seventh consecutive No. 1-ranked recruiting class but, then again, Saban is in a class of his own. The Sabanator doesn't have to reel in the big fish anymore; he just waits for them to jump in the boat.
For what it's worth, Florida's class is a few spots behind Florida State (ranked No. 5 by Rivals). If there is one criticism of UF's class, it's that it doesn't have any elite "five star" recruits compared to four for FSU. However, there are 15 four-star signees _ six more than FSU.
Of course, the star rankings are mostly arbitrary and certainly aren't accurate predictors of how good a player will turn out to be. Here's all you need to know: Alabama signed twice as many four- and five-star recruits than Clemson over the last six years, but Clemson beat Alabama for the national championship. And according to 247Sports, a college football recruiting service, 61 percent of the starters in Sunday's Super Bowl weren't ranked among the top 500 overall in their recruiting class.
The point is this: When it comes to recruiting, fans should trust their coaches more than the recruiting services. And it's certainly time for many Florida fans to start trusting McElwain, not trashing him.
In his first two seasons at Florida, he's 13-3 in the SEC and has taken UF on back-to-back trips to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. That's not so easy to do.
Although McElwain says he doesn't read the fan message boards, he has assistants who do.
"They tell me, 'Mac, you're taking shots from all over the place,' "McElwain said. "... People love to harp on the negative. It's human nature. Well, we're harping on the positives. We got a lot of really good things going on. I know where we're headed. I know the direction. The administration knows the direction."
Obviously, McElwain had more faith in himself Wednesday than many fans and media members had in him. Some of us showed up at McElwain's signing-day news conference expecting to write his recruiting obituary, but instead we were met by a pep band playing the fight song and cheerleaders chanting, "It's great to be a Florida Gator."
It was the first time in history the Gators have ever held a pep rally on National Signing Day.
"No matter what the event, let's shake it up a little bit," McElwain said of the change in format. "Let's not do the same old song and dance."
As McElwain left the building, he went over to where the pep band was playing and did a little two-step.
He was headed home to celebrate.
