LOOK: New Florida recruiting staffer trolls Dan Mullen
Katie Turner, Florida’s new assistant athletic director of recruiting strategy, is ready to get started in her new role because, of course, it is always recruiting season.
Turner’s inclusion of “I promise, recruiting time is never out of season!!!” will bring back bad memories for Florida fans of their former head coach, Dan Mullen.
“We’re in the season now,” Mullen said back in November. “We’ll do recruiting after the season – when it gets to recruiting time we can talk about recruiting.”
Mullen was widely criticized for the recruiting remarks, especially given Florida has not recruited at a level to keep up with the top of the SEC in recent years. The 2022 class was particularly glaring, as they finished 13th in the conference on Early Signing Day. While new head coach Billy Napier had some recruiting wins, the class is largely a result of Mullen’s tenure with Florida.
The former head coach had three full recruiting classes while in Gainesville, and within the SEC they finished sixth in 2018, seventh in 2019 and fifth in 2020.
Turner brings wealth of SEC experience to Gainesville
Turner has been a part of numerous recruiting wins at prominent programs, including two in the SEC. She spent the last two seasons at Georgia as their director of recruiting operations, years in which the Bulldogs had the No. 1 and No. 3 classes in the nation, per On3’s Consensus Team Rankings. Turner was the director of on-campus recruiting at Louisiana under Napier, and the Ragin’ Cajuns had the top recruiting classes in the Sun Belt during her tenure.
The Buffalo N.Y. native began her stint in recruiting as a student at Alabama, serving as an assistant from 2013-2016 when Alabama had the top classes in the nation. She worked in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills for a few years after graduation before returning to college football.
Napier’s first test: the Gasparilla Bowl
Before the Gators turn all of their attention toward the future, they have one final task in 2021. Florida will play UCF in front of a sold out crowd on Dec. 23 in the Gasparilla Bowl. They are looking to avoid their second seven-loss season in five years.
Florida’s biggest issues this season came on the defensive side of the ball, as their very young offense largely answered the call. The Gators averaged 209.1 yards per game on the ground, nearly 80 yards more than last year. The offensive scheme in 2021 was different from 2020, but the unit often found a way to make things work.
On the UCF side, Knights head coach Gus Malzahn will face his first SEC opponent since Auburn parted ways with him last season. Statistically, the 8-4 Knights improved defensively from last season but struggled offensively after four consecutive years averaging over 500 total yards per game. Granted, they suffered numerous injuries, including to former starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Florida is a 6.5-point favorite for the game, which kicks off from Tampa on Dec. 23 at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.