Georgia football vs Florida: The culture gap grows

Lets talk about recruiting shall we

It’s also worth pointing out to Mullen didn’t need a story like this on the recruiting trail. He’s quite frankly struggling enough, and the last thing he needed was more fodder for coaches like Kirby Smart and others to use against him when it comes to recruits.

Writers like Bianchi who raved about his 2019 recruiting class seemed to ignore that he signed zero 5-stars according to 247Sports rankings and was a long way behind Georgia in every possible way.

His class was fine, but this is the time where he should be killing it on the trail as a new coach who can sell playing time to the rich talent base that is Florida. Instead, Mullen continues to lose elite level talent to other programs and instead settles for middle of the road guys.

Georgia took Carson Beck, the local QB Florida fans had their hearts set on right from under Mullen’s nose, and they did it in about two weeks after Mullen had spent two years wooing him.

Demarkus Bowman was supposed to be the next great Florida running back, but he’s going to Clemson. He just lost two more 2021 commits both of whom are actually good. Georgia fans can confirm that these are not the sort of results that an elite recruiter has.

To make matters worse for Mullen, Smart and his coaches continue to crush the recruiting game. In the past week, they’ve received commitments from 5-star LB Mekhail Sherman and 4-star OT Tate Ratledge. These are the kind of players that would literally define a Mullen class, but for  Smart, they’re just another talent added to an insanely stacked roster. They have a top 5 ranked class with only nine players and are expected to once again be in the top 3 on signing day.

What we cannot ignore is that this rivalry has never been more one-sided from a recruiting perspective. Players just don’t seem to want to play for Dan Mullen as much as they want to play for Smart and there’s a reason for that. It’s not money Florida fans; it’s culture.