Going further in-depth: Florida Offensive Line recruiting

I was a bit taken aback by some of the feedback I got regarding my post from yesterday regarding Florida's performance in recruiting elite offensive linemen in recent years. Then again, I guess I shouldn't have been. The post was designed to show the state of the offensive line in a somewhat positive light, when many hard-core UF recruitniks seem to be quite down on the performance of Tim Davis on the recruiting trail. But everyone is entitled to their opinion, so it doesn't matter if people disagree with me. Still, I do feel the need to explain myself a bit. So, bear with me, as I go a little more in-depth on my original post and try to clear up any confusion.

– First off,  I find the refusal of some Florida fans to credit Tim Davis for the additions of Max Garcia and Tyler Moore simply humorous. They don't count because they transferred in from other schools? How does that make sense? They do play for Florida right now, correct? I wholeheartedly agree that relying on players with resumes like Garcia and Moore to be available on the transfer market isn't a sound way to do business on a year-to-year basis. But circumstances allowed the Gators to go out and get those guys. Just like various circumstances caused the Gators to miss on a few of their higher-rated targets in recent years, some of which were simply beyond the control of the staff. I'm sure Muschamp and Davis are well-aware of the fact that there was a bit of luck involved with landing Garcia and Moore, but it happened nonetheless. They shouldn't have to apologize for it, and I'm betting they don't expect that particular scenario to play out again any time in the near future. Moore fell within the particular scope of top offensive linemen I was looking at. He originally signed with Nebraska, and is now at Florida. So I count him for Florida.

– My focus was on the big-name prospects for a reason. Those are the guys who draw the most attention on message boards, Twitter, etc. The latest news and buzz on guys like Laremy Tunsil and David Sharpe moves the needle considerably more than prospects like Octavius Jackson and Travaris Dorsey, for instance. This is, in part, of the rankings attributed to the prospects, as well as their projected positions. Sharpe and Tunsil, after all, do play the more "glamorous" left tackle position.

– Of course (and in looking back I realize I didn't point this out in the post from yesterday), finding the diamond-in-the-rough and sleeper prospects is just as important as landing the "national" All-American types. I avoided delving deeper into that side of offensive line recruiting from recent years because I was more interested in tying the post into the David Sharpe storyline that has dominated headlines for Florida fans in recent weeks. Being able to go toe-to-toe with the national powers for the top prospects and come away with victories is nice (and important), but an assistant coach being able to go out and find the other guys who are off the beaten path a bit is just as critical.

– While yesterday's post did focus more on the All-American prospects, as opposed to the quality of evaluations among those who were not highly recruited, I did note that of the "elite" recruits that Florida has hotly pursued in recent years, those guys very much proved to be a mixed bag as it relates to success at the college level: 

Does getting the elite talent even matter? Yes and no. Like recruiting in general, it's a bit of a crapshoot. Benedict was an excellent prep lineman, but he never fully recovered from a freak injury suffered during his senior season at Bolles and has never been the same. Green and Silberman have been largely quiet during their careers at Florida, while Linder has been solid at Miami and Flowers made a quick impact in Coral Gables as well. Dunker has already been dismissed at UF. It's a little early to say anything definitive on most of the other prospects at this time.

– I was asked about the importance in the using 2010 as the starting point for that post. It was simply to allow for a little perspective on the big picture, and also since the guys signed that particular year are still on the team and with eligibility remaining after this year. I realize and am aware that Addazio (Harrison, Halapio, Koehne) and Verducci (Humphries) deserve as much of the credit (if not more, in the case of Addazio) for putting this offensive line unit together as Davis does. But I didn't try to argue otherwise, either.

– One other note that I wanted to throw in. The Gators are currently in line to return 12 scholarship offensive linemen next year. Compare that with my (unofficial) tallies of what some of the other top programs in the SEC are slated to return in 2014:

South Carolina: 15

Auburn: 14

Arkansas: 13

Georgia: 12

Vanderbilt: 12

Alabama: 11

LSU: 11

Ole Miss: 11

Texas A&M: 10

That number puts Florida right about in the middle of the pack. They could probably get away with signing as few as four offensive linemen in this class. But as always, when projecting numbers, knowing what potential attrition lies on the roster after the season is key as it relates to how many players the Gators actually take come National Signing Day.