One of the Tennessee Vols' main SEC rivals just got some bad recruiting news
One of the Tennessee Vols' main SEC rivals got some bad recruiting news on Wednesday. 2023 four-star edge rusher Isaiah Nixon flipped from Florida to UCF on the first day of the early signing period. Nixon is rated as the No. 32 edge rusher in the 2023 recruiting class. The Florida native told On3 that […]
One of the Tennessee Vols' main SEC rivals got some bad recruiting news on Wednesday.
2023 four-star edge rusher Isaiah Nixon flipped from Florida to UCF on the first day of the early signing period.
Nixon is rated as the No. 32 edge rusher in the 2023 recruiting class.
The Florida native told On3 that he had a way better relationship with UCF's coaches than he had with the Gators' coaches.
“I had a way better relationship with the coaches than Florida and I wanted to play my freshman year,” said Nixon to On3. “So to me I thought that UCF would be the star and lift the program up and make it a better college. As for Florida, I didn’t really have a good relationship with the coaches and Florida was already a big school.”
Losing this one player won't significantly impact the trajectory of Florida's program under Billy Napier.
But the comments about not having a good relationship with Florida's coaches has to be concerning. Even if this ends up being a situation where the Gators told Nixon to look around, that comment is still a bad look for Florida.
If a coaching staff wants to build a good reputation as recruiters, they need to be careful about how they treat every player they recruit — not just the ones they sign.
This is especially important in the NCAA transfer portal era. It's also just important in general. Word gets around quickly about a staff. And it's not out of the question that rubbing a recruit the wrong way in the 2023 class could impact Florida's efforts with kids in the future that come from the same area.
It's still too early for a final judgment on Napier in Gainesville, but I can understand why some Florida fans are already starting to wonder out loud if he's the right guy for the Gators.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
