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Gators Get GOOD NEWS! Elite OL Samuel Bailey COMMITS to UF Football! 🐊🔥 · A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators

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  Speaker 1: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to a peek inside
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Gator Football Alley. Peek here. This video is presented to
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  Speaker 1: you by PrizePix. Don't forget, download the app. New users
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  Speaker 1: can play a $ 5 lineup and use our code. It's HMA.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: And if you win, you'll get $ 150 in lineups instantly.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: So apparently beating a top five team by 24 points
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  Speaker 1: in front of an absolutely bonkers, insane crowd inside the
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  Speaker 1: swamp is pretty good for recruiting. Who knew? Who knew?
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  Speaker 1: Florida has picked up another major commitment in the 2028 class,
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  Speaker 1: and this one is big, literally. Six foot five and
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  Speaker 1: a half, 300 pounds. Four-star offensive lineman Samuel Bailey out
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  Speaker 1: of Jemison High School in Huntsville, Alabama, has committed to
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  Speaker 1: the Florida Gators. And guys, I really like this one.
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  Speaker 1: When you start to look at what Coach Summerall is
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  Speaker 1: trying to build at Florida, and when you look at
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  Speaker 1: the identity of this football team through the first month
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  Speaker 1: of the season, and then you look at the kind
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  Speaker 1: of player that Bailey is and the schools that Florida
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  Speaker 1: had to beat to get him, this commitment makes a
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  Speaker 1: whole lot of sense. So let's talk about Samuel Bailey,
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  Speaker 1: why this is such a big recruiting win for Coach
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  Speaker 1: Phil Troutwine. what that Ole Miss game may have done
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  Speaker 1: for Florida recruiting-wise, and why I think we're beginning to
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  Speaker 1: see the foundation of what could be a really, really
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  Speaker 1: good 2028 class. Florida isn't just collecting commitments right now.
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  Speaker 1: They are starting to build this thing with a very
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  Speaker 1: clear identity. And Samuel Bailey fits it perfectly. Okay, so
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  Speaker 1: Bailey is a four-star offensive lineman from Huntsville, Alabama. He
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  Speaker 1: is 6'5, about 300 pounds, and according to rivals, he
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  Speaker 1: is the number 23 overall prospect in the entire 2028 class.
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  Speaker 1: Not the number 23 offensive lineman, the number 23 player.
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  Speaker 1: He's also ranked as the number four offensive lineman in
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  Speaker 1: the country and the number one overall prospect in the
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  Speaker 1: state of Alabama. That last part's important. Where is Florida
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  Speaker 1: going to have to recruit if it wants to compete
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  Speaker 1: for championships in the SEC? Yes, you have to recruit
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  Speaker 1: your own backyard. You have to recruit Florida. You have
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  Speaker 1: to recruit Georgia. And you'd better be able to go
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  Speaker 1: into Alabama too. And Florida didn't just go into Alabama
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  Speaker 1: and take some lightly recruited developmental prospect here. Look at
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  Speaker 1: this offer list. Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Clemson, Oklahoma.
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  Speaker 1: Pretty much everybody who routinely shops at the front of
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  Speaker 1: the store when it comes to offensive linemen wanted this kid.
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  Speaker 1: And Florida got him. I know he's a 2028 prospect.
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  Speaker 1: I know we're talking about a kid who still has
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  Speaker 1: a long way to go before signing day. Recruiting changes,
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  Speaker 1: coaching staffs change, kids take visits. All of that is true.
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  Speaker 1: But I would much rather be the school he's committed
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  Speaker 1: to right now than the school that's trying to flip
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  Speaker 1: him later. It's a lot easier to play defense than
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  Speaker 1: it is to play offense. And when you have a
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  Speaker 1: prospect this highly regarded this early in the process saying,
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  Speaker 1: I am all in on Florida. Yeah, you take that
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  Speaker 1: every single time. I'm going to talk to you guys
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  Speaker 1: about why he picked Florida, but before I do, I
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  Speaker 1: want to tell you about something exciting. We are now
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  Speaker 1: available on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify. You guys have
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  Speaker 1: sent me messages and emails. You've asked me in person, like, hey,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: when are you going to be available on audio platforms?
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  Speaker 1: So we're making that happen for you. So if you
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  Speaker 1: want to listen on your way to Gainesville on a
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  Speaker 1: Saturday morning, all the shows for the week, back to
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  Speaker 1: back to back, it's an option for you now. You
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  Speaker 1: want to do it while you work out. You want
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  Speaker 1: to do it when you can't have your phone in
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  Speaker 1: your hand to see the screen because Now this is
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  Speaker 1: an option for you. So make sure you follow us
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  Speaker 1: over on wherever you consume your audio. And we look
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  Speaker 1: forward to you checking us out over there too. All right.
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  Speaker 1: So this might actually be my favorite part of the
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  Speaker 1: whole thing. Bailey told Gators Online, quote, I'm all Florida.
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  Speaker 1: I'm committed. They recruit me like family. Everything is like
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  Speaker 1: a family. And that's exactly what I'm looking for. I
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  Speaker 1: love them. And there's that word again, family. We continue
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  Speaker 1: to hear it from recruits talking about this staff. And
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  Speaker 1: you can roll your eyes all you want at recruiting
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  Speaker 1: language because I know every program talks about family. Everybody
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  Speaker 1: says relationships matter and every coach tells a recruit how
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  Speaker 1: important he is. But eventually you look at results. Is
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  Speaker 1: the staff actually getting the players? And Florida's getting them.
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  Speaker 1: Bailey becomes commitment number three in this 2028 class, joining
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  Speaker 1: four-star wide receiver Amari Strong. and four-star safety Sion Smith.
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  Speaker 1: Smith committed over the weekend. Three commitments, three four-star prospects,
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  Speaker 1: a high-end offensive skill player, a high-end DB, and now
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  Speaker 1: a potentially elite offensive tackle. That is not a bad
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  Speaker 1: way to start building a class. And there's something else
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  Speaker 1: about Bailey's recruitment that I think is really interesting. Florida
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  Speaker 1: didn't suddenly show up after the Ole Miss win and say, Hey, Samuel,
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  Speaker 1: how you doing? He'd already visited Gainesville twice this offseason.
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  Speaker 1: Phil Troutwine and this staff had already been building that relationship.
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  Speaker 1: They had already made Bailey a priority. The Ole Miss
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  Speaker 1: game didn't create the relationship. What it did was validate
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  Speaker 1: everything that Florida had already been telling him. And that
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  Speaker 1: is where winning can become incredibly powerful in recruiting. Think
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  Speaker 1: about what Bailey saw on Saturday. This kid has already
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  Speaker 1: been recruited by Alabama. He's been recruited by Auburn. He's
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  Speaker 1: seen big-time football. He understands what SEC football looks like.
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  Speaker 1: And Bailey basically came away from Florida Ole Miss saying, wow.
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  Speaker 1: He talked about the energy. He talked about the physicality.
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  Speaker 1: He talked about how Florida played. And then he said
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  Speaker 1: something that should make Gator fans smile. He said he
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  Speaker 1: didn't think anything could beat the atmosphere that he had
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  Speaker 1: experienced at Ole Miss LSU. Until he came to the swamp.
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  Speaker 1: He said Florida Ole Miss completely trumped that atmosphere and
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  Speaker 1: he called it, quote, next level. That matters. We talked
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  Speaker 1: about this after the game. When the swamp is really
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  Speaker 1: the swamp, when Florida is good, when the crowd believes,
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  Speaker 1: when the game matters and the place is absolutely shaking,
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  Speaker 1: there are very few environments in college football that can
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  Speaker 1: touch it. And recruits notice. Do not underestimate what Saturday
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  Speaker 1: could mean for this program beyond one win. Florida had
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  Speaker 1: a huge recruiting weekend. You had some of the best
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  Speaker 1: prospects in the country standing on that sideline and sitting
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  Speaker 1: in that stadium. And what did they watch? They watched
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  Speaker 1: Florida run for 302 yards. They watched Florida score six
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  Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns. They watched the offensive line impose its will
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  Speaker 1: on a top-five team. They watched Jaden Baugh run for
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  Speaker 1: 142 yards and three touchdowns. They watched Dallas Clark go
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  Speaker 1: for 125. They watched Florida put 52 points on Ole Miss.
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  Speaker 1: And they watched more than 90,000 people absolutely losing their minds.
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  Speaker 1: If you are an offensive lineman being recruited by Florida,
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  Speaker 1: could you possibly have scripted a better sales pitch? Seriously.
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  Speaker 1: You're standing there watching Florida physically whip a top five
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  Speaker 1: opponent while the stadium is going crazy. Phil Troutwine can
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  Speaker 1: turn around and look at Samuel Bailey and basically say,
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  Speaker 1: you see this? You want this? You want to be
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  Speaker 1: a part of this? Because this is what we are building.
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  Speaker 1: That is different than selling a vision. You can now
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  Speaker 1: sell proof. And that brings me to Phil Troutwine. I
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  Speaker 1: think he deserves a lot of credit here. Troutline has
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  Speaker 1: made Bailey a major priority, and clearly Bailey has connected
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  Speaker 1: with both his coaching style and the way he runs
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  Speaker 1: that offensive line room. Bailey specifically talked about how physical
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  Speaker 1: Troutline coaches. He talked about accountability. He talked about Troutline
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  Speaker 1: being in control of the offensive line room. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: the way he works, I love it. It's just different.
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  Speaker 1: Those comments jump out to me because they line up
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  Speaker 1: almost perfectly with what we're watching on Saturdays. Physical. Accountable. tough, structured.
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  Speaker 1: That's the identity John Summerall has been trying to establish
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  Speaker 1: throughout this entire program. And your offensive line better embody
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  Speaker 1: it more than anybody else. You cannot talk about being
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  Speaker 1: a physical football team and then have an offensive line
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  Speaker 1: that's getting pushed backwards. You cannot talk about toughness and
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  Speaker 1: then be unable to get a yard on third and one.
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  Speaker 1: You can't say you're going to win football games in
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  Speaker 1: November in the SEC if you can't run the football
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  Speaker 1: when everybody in the stadium knows that you're going to
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  Speaker 1: run it. And one of the most encouraging things about
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  Speaker 1: this Florida team through four games is that the physicality
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  Speaker 1: doesn't feel hypothetical anymore. Florida just lined up against Ole
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  Speaker 1: Miss and ran the football for 302 yards, six rushing touchdowns.
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  Speaker 1: That is a statement. And now you're going out on
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  Speaker 1: the recruiting trail and you're finding a 6'5, 300-pound offensive
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  Speaker 1: tackle who wants to play that way. That's roster building.
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  Speaker 1: That is why recruiting and on-the-field performance feed each other.
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  Speaker 1: They're tied. Troutwine establishes the relationship. Summerall establishes the culture.
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  Speaker 1: The players put the product on the field. The swamp
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  Speaker 1: provides the atmosphere. And suddenly, a four-star offensive tackle from
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  Speaker 1: Alabama is saying, yeah, I want in. And I think
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  Speaker 1: there's a bigger story here with Coach Summerall. One of
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  Speaker 1: the things that I kept saying when he was hired
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  Speaker 1: was that Florida shouldn't be difficult to recruit to. And
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  Speaker 1: it shouldn't. This is the University of Florida. You have
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  Speaker 1: one of the best talent bases in America sitting in
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  Speaker 1: your backyard. You play in the SEC. You have elite facilities.
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  Speaker 1: You have a massive fan base. You have a national
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  Speaker 1: championship history. You have the swamp. You can put players
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  Speaker 1: in the NFL. The resources are there. The brand is there.
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  Speaker 1: The only thing Florida has needed is somebody to get
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  Speaker 1: all of those pieces pulling in the same direction. And
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  Speaker 1: right now, everything feels like it's finally connected. The football
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  Speaker 1: is helping the recruiting. The recruiting is reinforcing the football.
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  Speaker 1: And the atmosphere is helping with both. And when recruits
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  Speaker 1: come to Gainesville, they might not be asked to imagine
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  Speaker 1: what Florida might be three years from now. No, they're not.
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  Speaker 1: They're watching it. They watched it on Saturday. That's a
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  Speaker 1: huge difference. You want to sell an offensive lineman on Florida?
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  Speaker 1: Turn on the old mistape. Here's 302 rushing yards. Here's
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  Speaker 1: six rushing touchdowns. Here's a top five opponent getting worn down.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the swamp going nuts. Here's your offensive line coach.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the system. Here's the vision. And now here's the evidence.
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  Speaker 1: That's a lot easier conversation than, hey, imagine what could be.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the 2028 class because yes, it
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  Speaker 1: is early. It's really early. These kids still have to
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  Speaker 1: finish this season and then they have a whole nother
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  Speaker 1: high school football season after this one. So I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to sit here and start calculating class rankings in
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  Speaker 1: September of 2026 for the 2028 recruiting cycle. That would
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  Speaker 1: be insane. Although I am sure somebody is sitting there
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  Speaker 1: on the internet right now, definitely doing it. But what
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  Speaker 1: I do care about this early is the type of
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  Speaker 1: player Florida is getting. Armani Strong gives you a four-star
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  Speaker 1: wide receiver. Sion Smith gives you a four-star safety. Samuel
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  Speaker 1: Bailey gives you a four-star offensive tackle and one of
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  Speaker 1: the highest ranked players in the entire country. That is
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  Speaker 1: how you establish the, let's call it a skeleton of
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  Speaker 1: this class. And getting Bailey specifically is huge because offensive
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  Speaker 1: tackles are precious. Big humans who can move are hard
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  Speaker 1: to find. Everybody wants them. You're competing with every major
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  Speaker 1: program in America for the same group of guys. And
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  Speaker 1: if you can identify one early and establish a relationship
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  Speaker 1: early and get them to commit early, you've done yourself
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  Speaker 1: a huge favor. You also now have somebody who can
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  Speaker 1: potentially become a recruiter for you. And that's really important
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  Speaker 1: in these classes. Players talk to each other. They know
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  Speaker 1: each other. They see each other at camps. They're in
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  Speaker 1: group chats. They visit together. They recruit each other. And suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: instead of Florida's coaches being the only people telling a prospect, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: come help us build this. You've got Armani Strong doing
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  Speaker 1: it for you. You've got Zion Smith doing it. And
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  Speaker 1: now you've got Samuel Bailey doing it. And every time
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  Speaker 1: you add another big-time player, the class becomes a little
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  Speaker 1: bit easier to sell to the next guy. Great players
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  Speaker 1: want to play with great players. And here's another thing
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  Speaker 1: I love about this commitment. Bailey is the number one
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  Speaker 1: prospect in Alabama, according to rivals. Florida went into SEC territory,
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  Speaker 1: and they won. That's something Summerall's going to have to
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  Speaker 1: continue to do. I absolutely want Florida dominating the state
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  Speaker 1: of Florida. But the SEC is a regional league when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to talent. Georgia's going to recruit Florida. Alabama's
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  Speaker 1: going to recruit Florida. Auburn's going to recruit Florida. LSU's
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  Speaker 1: going to recruit Florida. Everybody comes here. So Florida kind
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  Speaker 1: of has to return the favor. Go get players from
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  Speaker 1: the state of Alabama, from the state of Georgia, from Louisiana,
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  Speaker 1: from Mississippi. And when Alabama and Auburn both offer the
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  Speaker 1: number one player in their state and that kid chooses Florida,
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  Speaker 1: put that one on the board. That's a recruiting win.
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  Speaker 1: Now you have to keep him. There's going to be
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  Speaker 1: a lot of programs continuing to recruit Samuel Bailey over
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  Speaker 1: the next two years. Nobody is going to say, oh, well,
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  Speaker 1: he's committed to Florida, so I guess we should stop
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  Speaker 1: calling him. That's not happening. But again, Florida has something
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  Speaker 1: working in its favor now that it hasn't always had. Momentum.
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  Speaker 1: Recruits love momentum. So what does this recruitment and commitment
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  Speaker 1: really mean? For me, there are three things. Number one,
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  Speaker 1: Phil Troutwine is showing he can recruit the kind of
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  Speaker 1: offensive lineman that Florida needs. You're talking about one of
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  Speaker 1: the best offensive tackles in the 2028 class with an
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  Speaker 1: offer list loaded with national powers, and Florida got the commitment.
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  Speaker 1: Number two, that Ole Miss game was bigger than Saturday afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: Florida needed games like that again, not just because beating
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  Speaker 1: the number four team in America puts you at 4-0,
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  Speaker 1: and not just because it got you into the top 10,
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  Speaker 1: but because hundreds of recruits around the country saw what
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  Speaker 1: Florida football can look like when this thing is rolling.
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  Speaker 1: And the guys who were actually in the building, well,
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  Speaker 1: they felt it. Samuel Bailey felt it. And apparently that
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  Speaker 1: was important to him. Number three, this 2028 class is
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  Speaker 1: starting with a serious group of pieces that are really important.
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  Speaker 1: Armani Strong, Cyon Smith, now Samuel Bailey. Now look, we
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: have a long, long way to go. Nobody wins championships
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  Speaker 1: for September recruiting classes, you know, two years out. But
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of good things to pull from this.
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  Speaker 1: This is how you want things to start. Get started.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: talented players, get highly recruited players, get players at premium positions,
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  Speaker 1: build relationships, establish your culture, get them on campus for
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  Speaker 1: games like Saturday, and then close. And Florida closed. I
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  Speaker 1: keep coming back to the same thing with this Florida
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  Speaker 1: program right now. Everything feels connected. The way Samuel talked
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  Speaker 1: about what he heard from Coach Summerall and Trout Wine,
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  Speaker 1: it matches the way that Summerall talks about this team
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  Speaker 1: and how he wants them to play. The way they
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  Speaker 1: play matches the kind of players that they're recruiting. All
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  Speaker 1: of it is connected. The things Phil Troutwine is apparently
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  Speaker 1: emphasizing to Samuel Bailey, physicality, accountability, control of the offensive
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  Speaker 1: line room, are the exact same things we watched Florida
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  Speaker 1: put on the field on Saturday. This is how you
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  Speaker 1: build something sustainable. You don't recruit one style of player
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  Speaker 1: and then coach totally differently. You don't tell recruits you're
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: going to be physical and but then throw the ball
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  Speaker 1: 60 times because you can't move anybody up front. Your
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: identity has to show up all the way through, everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: And right now, Florida's does. Samuel Bailey is 6'5, 300 pounds,
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  Speaker 1: and he's one of the best offensive tackles in the
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  Speaker 1: 2028 class. He's the top-ranked player in the state of Alabama,
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  Speaker 1: according to rivals, and he has offers from Alabama and
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  Speaker 1: Auburn and Ohio State and Georgia and Clemson and Oklahoma
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  Speaker 1: and Ole Miss. and plenty of others, but he chose Florida.
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  Speaker 1: He came to the swamp. He watched the Gators beat
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  Speaker 1: Ole Miss 52-28. He watched Florida rush for more than
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  Speaker 1: 300 yards. He watched that offensive line play physical football.
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  Speaker 1: He experienced the crowd. And afterwards, he said he's all Florida. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's a pretty good weekend in Gainesville. Samuel Bailey is
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  Speaker 1: a Gator. And if you're a Florida fan, you have
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: to like the way this 2028 class is beginning to
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: take shape. Let me know what you guys think about
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Bailey down in the comments. How big of a recruiting
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: win is this for Coach Troutwine? And maybe the bigger question,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: after what we saw Saturday inside the swamp, how many
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: more recruiting wins are going to come because of it? Guys,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: a big giant thank you for tuning in. We've got
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a lot more content coming your way. And a big
• 16:39
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• 16:59
  Speaker 1: see you next time. As always, go Gators.