So...about our talent

While I was stuck in traffic post-game that was so bad I got out of my car and argued with two cops about the situation...remarkably not going to jail and actually getting them to more or less do what I wanted...I was partially listening to the 750 am post-game show.

During the show, Dantzler and Mike Cavan were talking about our talent level. It sounded like they were pushing the theory that it's not the coaching. Or maybe they were basically just saying that all our "Top 10 recruiting classes" were overblown. Either way, it sounds like we have huge talent problems per their conversation.

Dantzler's comment was that we're currently ranked 8th nationally by one recruiting service, but that's still only 5th in the SEC in recruiting. His shockingly lucid point being, that talent rankings are all relative.

We'll ignore the fact that 2 of the past 5 seasons, we finished higher in the Rivals recruiting rankings than the Gators. And just let Jeff's point stand on it's own for a minute. From there, I'll just agree the rankings are all relative. Moving on...

I don't care what we are ranked by Rivals, Scout or anyone else. I simply want us in the same living rooms as our rivals/peers, and I want us protecting our home state's top talent as much as possible. I figure if we're recruiting the same guys as UF, UT, Bama, LSU, and/or Miami, then we're usually recruiting the right guys.

With the exception of Cox and Gray, most of our current peers and measuring stick programs wanted most of our starters on offense and defense. Most of the elite programs can be wrong about a few players. But everyone can't be wrong about all our players.

I am not saying that this roster is as talented as the 2002 unit. There are typically less than two teams per year in all of college football that are as loaded on both sides of the ball as that group.

Nor am I saying that our talent is where it needs to be. At QB, RB and DE, we had multple recruiting whiffs that will only sort themselves out with time. As the better players aren't so darn raw or young.

But this roster ain't chopped liver either. We are most certainly more talented top to bottom than Oklahoma State and Tennessee. As well as Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia Tech.

QB is it's own fiasco right now. And that's not a trivial matter. But we're better than our record would suggest.

Or said more briefly -- we ain't the best 4-4 team in America, but we are damn sure the most talented one. And there's no trophy for that.

PWD