The first order of business for newly-appointed Florida coach Jim McElwain? Win the recruiting battle against fellow pigskin powerhouse Florida State. And that starts right with the Gators' and Noles' home state, long considered one of the hotbeds of high school football talent in the entire nation.
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“We have to capture the state of Florida,” McElwain said to Jacksonville radio station 1010XL on Monday afternoon, via Sports Illustrated's FanSided.com.
McElwain said he especially wants to seek out high schoolers who have grown up Gators fans in their personal lives.
“A lot of kids growing up want to be in that orange and blue. We’re going to give them that opportunity,” McElwain said. “We’re offering a new opportunity to be a Gator.”
McElwain also talked about his new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins, who he had hired from Dan Mullen's Mississippi State staff. McElwain said Collins was "a natural fit," due to their shared experience under Nick Saban (McElwain was Bama's OC from 2008-11, Collins the team's Director of Player Personnel in '07), and said that "there's no replacing" his experience working in the SEC.
The current UF team will be taking on East Carolina in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl this January. McElwain will not be coaching that game from the sidelines, but he will be in the stands observing. Sources have said that the team is treating their bowl game like a "tryout" for the new head coach.
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The Gators are McElwain's second career head coaching gig. He was 22-16 in three years with the Colorado State Rams.
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