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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 1, 2017

Jim McElwain

Gainesville, Florida

COACH McELWAIN: How is everybody doing? It's been a while. I can't tell you how excited him for the day, how excited we are as a program, how happy I am for the guys who chose to be Gators.

Moving forward, even the five guys that are joining us early for spring practice, there's a lot of things that go into it. A lot of relationships, a lot of things to be built. Things are still trending so fastly upward I can't believe it. We're getting there with the facilities, which has been a huge asset for us as we continue to move forward collecting future Gators.

The class itself, as we looked at it when we got here, one of the key areas we needed to do was to make sure we took care of areas that we felt were always big to the Gators. We started those inroads in that Tampa area. We spread throughout the state. We focused on the fact that we got a number of guys that were highly rated in the state of Florida, and those numbers will continue to rise as we move forward. That's something that's exciting.

We've been able to get around to some other areas because of that Gator brand and open a lot of doors. That's good.

One of the things that I would really like to say how excited I am about the former players who got behind what we were doing in recruiting and believed in the direction we're headed, have been so supportive in everything that we're doing.

Part of the needs, some bigger bodies. Obviously the secondary is big. As we looked at it, we tried to stay balanced throughout each position group so we don't get that big turnover in certain spots. Moving forward, I know these guys are excited about the direction we're headed, the direction the university has allowed us to go. Those are some fun things.

With that, as you know, I'm not anointing anybody freshman All-American, even though over the last couple years I think we've had a few. Some of you guys maybe didn't even know their real names before they came here. We're excited to welcome this group in and usher in a new group of Gators.

Questions.

Q. Obviously the news that just broke on James Robinson. Talk about how big the addition of his signing is, how everything transpired this past week.
COACH McELWAIN: Obviously, as in all players, the important thing is you do your research and your background.

My guess is there's a few people in this crowd right here that have some regrets on things they've done, and yet at the same time take responsibility for it.

Here is the good thing: We get an opportunity to be involved in his life. We get an opportunity to help him move forward, as we do all the players on this team. I'm excited about him being a Gator.

Q. You signed the most players in the state of Florida in the top 50. Coming into this cycle, that was a goal you had. How nice is that to be here on this day with those results?
COACH McELWAIN: No, I tell you, it is a true process as you're doing it. It's not just about the numbers and who, but how they fit. That's a good thing. We're excited about that fact.

But we've got to continue now. We've got to continue to go. That's already started. We've had some junior days. We had some guys up here. We'll continue to have guys up that are freshmen and sophomores.

The relationship piece that is being built, we're able to get on these guys a lot earlier. That's helped with this class in some areas in looking forward to the classes in the future.

Again, we talk about that footprint. We're going to continue to keep pounding that footprint.

Q. I don't think it's any secret you faced a lot of negative recruiting down the stretch. How pleased were you that you were able to overcome some of that late?
COACH McELWAIN: I always get a kick out of that. It's something we will never do. It's something that we just don't believe in. Here is the interesting stuff. Some of that catches fire and then all of a sudden the truth comes out. Who looks like the idiot? The guy who reported it, right?

Yet that's okay. That's all part of it.

The one thing is, when you're at a place like the University of Florida, you're a target because everybody knows the ability and what can happen as this thing keeps growing.

We'll take a lot of targets. We'll take some of that stuff, and yet our coaches won't do that. We're not going to stoop to that level because that's not the level that is the Florida Gators. It's that simple.

It is what it is today. The ability to put anything you want out there, really nameless, and not be responsible for it, that happens. We got a good laugh out of it, too, when it was getting hit. The guys who obviously jumped back onboard that they were trying to sway, so...

Q. Down in Tampa you said you hoped to have the assistant coaching position going into that recruiting stretch. Being down two full-time assistants do to you guys? Did that affect you at all?
COACH McELWAIN: We kind of had the guys targeted already. We kind of knew where we were, even in the positions.

The one thing we wanted to do is make sure we get the absolute right fit. The plan was there. We had the plan. That will happen here shortly. Yet the guys did an outstanding job that had the relationships with the guys already.

It wasn't one of those things where that one was going to turn one or another, and we felt making sure that it's the right fit, number one, and guys that absolutely want to be Gators, number two.

Q. I know you're often oblivious to your fan base when they get negative.
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah.

Q. It got pretty negative a couple weeks ago with a certain guy that decommitted. Is there ever a point where you want to say, Hey, you guys aren't helping here? Don't worry, we've got this under control. Do you have to kind of just ignore it?
COACH McELWAIN: I think the biggest thing is to understand that every coach that has been here before me has told me that, all right? They're aware of it. In fact, might have driven a couple out. That's okay. That's all part of it.

As you know, even being around our guys, being able to affect the people around you in a positive way, is really what it's all about. That's what our team does.

No one can ever control, again, what is out there. Yet here is the good thing. Something's out there. People do care. They're passionate. How they maybe show their passion...

I got a lot of people I know that they really get their kicks out of just being negative. There might be a few out there.

At the same time, for every one of those, there are multiple people that are really excited about what we're doing and what we're building. As you see the direction of the administration, what they're allowing us to do in moving forward, has been nothing but positive.

There's no doubt the negative piece out there is something you always have to battle, yet we're not the only staff that's ever had to battle that either.

Q. Do you ever read the message boards?
COACH McELWAIN: No.

Q. You've never gotten on a message board and said, What are these guys talking about?
COACH McELWAIN: No. I have people in the office that say, Mack, you're taking shots from all over the place. We get a kick out of it, too.

Here is the one thing. We live in America. We have freedom of speech. I get it. I know where we're headed. I know the direction. The administration knows the direction. The support out there.

As I said, the amount of even letters, old-school, handwritten letters we get about the positive things we are doing, the direction we are headed, really outweigh all of that.

Yet we love to harp on the negative. It's human nature. We're harping on the positives. We got a lot of really good things going on.

Q. Midway through this recruiting process, when there was a lot of negativity, does it bother you?
COACH McELWAIN: You must read it. Okay, gotcha.

Q. Does it bother you when people were questioning your recruiting prowess?
COACH McELWAIN: No. I think you take a look at what we've done, the amount of young guys we've played already in the first two years, you know, they fit. Some of them have become freshmen All-American, in fact.

I think once you get caught up in whatever the names and all that, not worry about making sure that positionally you get the fits you need, that sometimes hurts you a little bit.

Now, did we get every single guy? No. Did we get a lot of them that maybe some other people weren't recruiting as highly or whatever but we actually had ranked where we had them ranked in our evaluation? Yeah, absolutely right. We're excited about those guys.

Q. Can you talk about the South Florida effort, Miami, Dade, Broward. Can you comment on the Randy Shannon effect, what people were saying after you promoted him to D.C.?
COACH McELWAIN: Well, from the time we were able to hire Randy he's been a right hand guy of mine. Comes with unbelievable credibility from that area as well. We've had some other guys down there helping. But his name, recognition, more so how he is also a part of wanting to make sure that he affects young men's lives in a positive way, he knows he can be trusted.

He's a heck of a ball coach, too, now. That transition into the defensive coordinator spot was something that was pretty simple and we could make in a hurry. We're excited about that.

As a lot of our coaches, a lot of people speak very highly of him.

Q. Talk about the secondary class, how important it was to fill that need.
COACH McELWAIN: I mean, just look at the numbers. If we wouldn't have hit on a couple of those it could have been like our O-line was the first spring I was here. We weren't just trying to fill with bodies, we got some quality. That's what's exciting.

Q. In the class, are you done recruiting now? Are there other guys you're waiting on?
COACH McELWAIN: We still got a couple spots. I think a couple more will hit here. Some things we know are in motion for later down the road. All our spots will get filled, yeah.

Q. Back to the so-called rankings. You put your faith in evaluations is kind of what you're saying. So the Jim McElwain rankings, you have a number of elite players in this class, in your opinion?
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah.

Q. What are your thoughts on the rankings?
COACH McELWAIN: I think it's great. It's the time of year you get another chance to go out there and compete for a scoreboard, I guess. It is what it is. I don't know where we're going to finish.

I know this: I sure like the guys we got.

Q. Being able to sign James Robinson, what type of jolt does that give to you guys on the team last minute? What does that provide for you guys?
COACH McELWAIN: I think he's just part of that class. There's a really good class. We're excited about him, as we are a lot of the guys, obviously all of them that are with us.

Together these guys will keep growing and keep getting better. That's what it's all about.

Looks like we have another one. We'll just keep it a secret (smiling).

I guess we just got Adarius Lemons, a runningback out of Clearwater.

Q. What is your evaluation of him and what does that bring to the table?
COACH McELWAIN: I think that adds to that group in the state of Florida that somebody asked about, right? Because he is from Florida. Yeah. Pretty decent guy, yeah.

Q. You said you were on a positive trajectory here. What is the next thing to fix?
COACH McELWAIN: I think that new facility you're going to see right over there is going to have a big thing to do with it. Obviously attacking the dorms is going to be a big thing to do with it. There's a lot of things that need to be fixed, yet you can't do it all at once. Those are things that happen over time.

Here is a good thing: we got a commitment towards it.

Q. How significant is it to get Slaton in here? Is he definitively going to be a defensive line guy?
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah, he's a guy, again, big body, right? We needed to do that. That will be the first spot that he'll be at.

Q. How important was his signing, given the lack of depth at D tackle on this team?
COACH McELWAIN: Man, I'm telling you, the body types. That's what I'm getting at. Like I said, there will be some more spots as we kind of go, yet that was a body of need for us.

Getting Conliffe early yesterday really helped, too.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH McELWAIN: There's enough clips on that where he's been in there, as well. Been able to play both sides.

Q. Defensive line, specific interior, was a big need for you guys. Do you feel with the guys you were able to bring in you set a foundation for the coming years?
COACH McELWAIN: Here comes the important part now. Guy like Khairi Clark, Taven Bryan, and those guys, making sure they help, just like guys help them on the inside. Just like Joey did with them, and Caleb. Being able to really push those guys and teach them what it is to play.

Obviously, as you know, they're going to have to play against Michigan that first game. There's going to be a lot of new bodies in some of those spots. We're going to have to grow up quickly.

Q. You were at the basketball game the other day and said next year you want to kick the door down in Atlanta.
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah.

Q. How hard is it going to be to kick the door down with Alabama? Seventh straight number one recruiting class. How do you compete with that?
COACH McELWAIN: Get a bigger hammer. Steel-toed boots this time instead of tennis shoes (laughter).

No, we're looking forward to it. I know this: We've got a good football team. We've got a bunch of good players. We got a bunch of guys committed to something that, you know what, our first recruiting class now has been to Atlanta back-to-back years. I don't know how many recruiting classes in the SEC have ever done that.

They understand what it is and what it is. Now, what they need to do is they need to impart some of that with these guys and really get them indoctrinated in the way we're going to do things. Part of it is an expectation. Part of it is a mindset about how you go about your work.

We're going to find a lot out in spring. I would say we're going to find the most of it out in the summer as we prepare to play Michigan in that first game.

Q. Also, I think this is the first time there's ever been a pep rally at the recruiting press conference. Was that your idea? Why did you come up with it?
COACH McELWAIN: You know, I'd love to take credit for all of great ideas. Do you like it?

Q. Sure.
COACH McELWAIN: Okay, if you like it, it was my idea (smiling).

I don't know who did it.

Here is the one thing: You've got to continually evolve no matter what you do. You can't stay the same. In doing that, no matter what the event, let's go ahead and shake it up a little bit. Let's not do the same old song and dance.

Having the band here, having these two reptile people here, having the squad here, it's about the students, too. One of the things that's lost, I think, is we're a representation of our students and obviously the University of Florida.

To have them around, man, that's pretty awesome. None of you guys are missing class, are you? Oh, there's one back there. I'll write the note, though. I'll excuse you (smiling).

Q. What changed in the last couple days regarding Robinson? Was there misinformation?
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah, I think there was a lot of misinformation out there, as somebody I think alluded to about negative reports. It just blows me away sometimes as far as what is actually said and what is real. Yet that's okay. I mean, everybody deals with it.

You know what? We're excited that we're going to be a big part of helping him, as we do all our players.

Note one thing: As soon as you start throwing stones at somebody for making a mistake, look in the mirror and see if you've ever made one yourself. Yet the most important thing is knowing he's going to have a great support system here, as all our players do, to help him be successful and learn from different things that go on. He's committed to that, as are a bunch of guys on our team.

The guys on our team itself, they can tell you we truly care, more than just if you can score touchdowns. We have a lot of guys that haven't even ever played that are learning a lot and are given a chance to be successful and grow in life. Ultimately, that's what it's all about.

Q. Personally, what have the few days been like for you? Did you get much sleep?
COACH McELWAIN: In general, I don't sleep very much anyway. It's really nothing there.

We'll come in tomorrow. Got a couple things to wrap up. Got a couple coaches to hire. We'll get that done here shortly. Try to give the guys a little time. We'll try to have guys continually on campus here all the way through spring ball. We'll take a couple days at spring break.

We're going to start spring practice a couple days before spring break, actually get two of our non-padded practices on the install, go ahead and go through spring break, come back, get a good workout in on the Monday, and then start from there.

I'm excited about the spring practice schedule. We're going to do our Friday night gig again, which was really well-received. Thanks to the university for making room for it. Something that has really caught a buzz out there. We've been able to get a lot of players to come to that. We got to get a bunch of former players back to it, too. That's going to be a big emphasis for us, too, as we keep tweaking what we're doing to continually grow.

It should be a lot of fun. The schedule itself, though, as it goes, I know you asked me about rest. There is no rest. You got to kind of continually go. That's what it is.

I think being able to have those days in between where you're not having many back-to-back practices I think really helps you from a learning standpoint to be able to get good study on what you did before. It also is going to allow us extra days to get young guys on campus to see things they haven't seen before.

Q. Is Kadarius Toney going to play quarterback in the spring?
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah, he's the quarterback.

Q. He was listed as athlete.
COACH McELWAIN: He's an athlete, too. He's a good athlete, in fact.

Q. Could he be a receiver possibly down the road?
COACH McELWAIN: Yeah, I think so. The one thing I was probably never accused of was being a receiver. I was kind of stuck.

He is an athlete. But, yeah, he's going to play quarterback.

Q. Will Feleipe open the spring as the starting quarterback?
COACH McELWAIN: You know, hadn't really thought about it. Do you want him to?

Q. Looks like that's going to be the case.
COACH McELWAIN: Okay, let's do it (smiling).

Q. Adarius Lemons, the rollercoaster he's been on, I think he was the No. 1 rated runningback in Florida. Midway through his senior here, his life turned upside down. I know his goal was to get back into your class. Speak to the journey that he's been on, all the work he put in.
COACH McELWAIN: I'm proud of him. When you go through things, you can just say, Hey, I quit. You're talking about some guys who got something to 'em, some distance, guys who have really committed to getting themselves ready.

In some of the cases obviously there's still some work to do. Yet, you know, he's not the only one that's had some tough things go on. There's a lot of guys that are coming in that have had some things.

The key is not feeling sorry for yourself, not using that as an excuse, but rather let's use it as an avenue, really a drive, to go up and do something great.

Obviously to get both runningbacks is huge. Again, part of our focus was to make sure that we did a good job in that area, that area of the state, and I think we've accomplished that.

Q. Defensive back was obviously a huge need for you guys this year. Some kids at some positions, if there's too many guys that commit, they'll say, I'm not going to that school because they're full. You had two guys commit early in Shawn and Marco. They were trying to bring in a bunch of other guys to join them.
COACH McELWAIN: Says a lot about them. Not only that, but usually the ones that say, You're recruiting too many people, do you really want them on your team? I mean, I don't know. If you're afraid of competition, go somewhere else, right?

I think that being used as an excuse might be an out, if that makes sense. Yet the guys who have chosen to come are ready to compete. They know also it takes more than just one guy to lock down a position. You've seen the rotation, how we rotate guys defensively and offensively.

Your opportunity to play, obviously that line is real short as far as getting a rep. The only way I know you get better is you take reps. Those guys are going to get a lot.

Q. Can you tell us about the ceremony you had for the guys already here.
COACH McELWAIN: I liked that. So these guys that are here at midyear, everybody else right now that's signing in that class, they're on TV, they got whatever, all this stuff. We had our own signing party for those five guys. We had them put the hat on, sign the paper in front of our team. We had them give us their best dance moves. Boy, we got some bad dancers, by the way.

But it was good. It was a celebration for those guys just to be recognized, especially in front of their peers as incoming guys.

Look, I really enjoy being around our team. They're fun to be around. This was just another opportunity to get around the guys.

Q. Safe to assume none of those guys pulled a Levi Jones?
COACH McELWAIN: No (laughter). Here is the amazing thing about that: People think you don't know, right? Everybody knows. I don't know what the suspense is. There isn't anybody in America, a coach, that sits there and goes, Oh, geeze.

I always get a kick out of that. This is a big announcement. Well, the guy told the people 48 hours ago or whatever.

You make plans moving forward is what I'm getting at.

Q. Do you get any personal satisfaction out of proving people wrong? You couldn't get to Atlanta last year or the year before. You certainly were the worst recruiter in America a week ago.
COACH McELWAIN: Still am (smiling).

Q. When you succeed like that, do you get any personal satisfaction out of it?
COACH McELWAIN: Growing up my whole life, kind of the deal. I got this pedigree of all this greatness. That isn't what it is. Yet, I don't know, for whatever reason, we found ways to stay alive, be pretty successful, do a lot of really good things.

Not only winning games, the recruit piece, all that, but being involved in guys' lives. I think sometimes that's lost. It's lost with a whole bunch of people.

I guess no one has ever said I'm going to win a beauty contest. My wife did, though.

Q. She won one?
COACH McELWAIN: No, she said I won. But she did, too (smiling).

Q. Luke Del Rio, any chance he played his last collegiate game?
COACH McELWAIN: No. He did have surgery, so he's out for spring. I didn't even think about that as we were talking about the quarterback situation. Did you pass the torch?

He's obviously in a sling. He'll be out all spring. I'm just going to say how tough this guy was. I go back. I told you that that was totally on me, that Arkansas game. And come to find out, the MRI showed -- we got it fixed, let's put it that way.

Q. You'll like this one. Fans always want to say you had it planned all the way through. You wanted a big finish on national signing day. No? You'd rather have it locked up before then?
COACH McELWAIN: Again, it kind of goes back to what we were talking about earlier. I mean, we knew, yet some of these guys want to have their day in the spotlight, right?

Hey, coach, just don't tell anybody, but send me the papers.

Q. Can you use that, though?
COACH McELWAIN: Here's the beautiful thing: Some of the nomenclature has been created in recruiting over the last years obviously with silent verbal. Huh? Silent and verbal. How do those fit? I'm learning, all right?

Q. You got a few silent verbals.
COACH McELWAIN: We had a whole bunch of them.

Q. You move up from 31 in the rankings a week ago to 11, maybe even top 10 now. Can you take that forward as momentum, kind of build on that?
COACH McELWAIN: I don't know. We don't know what we're doing (laughter).

Q. Elijah and T.J., how does that change the way you feel about this class, have it come together the last couple days?
COACH McELWAIN: Like I said, when you go into it, these are the need areas, these are the number areas. In other words, what you're trying to do. You try to balance what you can. I think we balanced things really well. We've answered some needs.

Now, as I said at the beginning, I'm not ready to anoint any of these guys as sure-fire first-round draft picks in three years, but I will say this: Our track record of developing players is pretty good. We got some pretty good guys, and I'm excited about them.

Q. Since Luke came out, the press release said non-throwing shoulder, but we thought he hurt his throwing shoulder in that game. Was there two injuries?
COACH McELWAIN: It was two injuries and a knee. He had every appendage but one. Tough guy, man.

Guys, you have a great time. Heading back to the office and finish this up. If you don't mind, I think we'll go enjoy a nice evening of celebration with a great class. What was it, a strong finish? Is that what it was? Appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

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