Since the end of the regular season Gators head coach Will Muschamp and his assistants have spent the majority of their time on the road recruiting.
While Muschamp is not allowed to talk about specific recruits publicly due to NCAA rules, during Sunday night's Gator Bowl teleconference, he sounded optimistic that UF's 2012 recruiting class will be a good one.
“Recruiting has been outstanding,'' Muschamp said. “First of all, you are recruiting to the University of Florida. It's a great school, it's a great campus. It's great tradition with the football program. And [you have] a great staff and hard-working staff in recruiting, so players can very easily see where we're headed with this.''
Muschamp took over the program from former coach Urban Meyer after last year's Outback Bowl and had a little more than a month to finalize his inaugural recruiting class at Florida. The Gators signed a small class of 19 players, many of them committed to Florida under Meyer.
The Gators currently have less than 70 players on scholarship and after the Gator Bowl that number will be reduced even more due to the departure of this year's senior class, so expect a full class to be signed in February. Muschamp has repeatedly said the biggest goal is to add depth on both lines of scrimmage.
The Gators are also looking for playmakers on offense that can make an immediate difference in offensive coordinator Charlie Weis' pro-style offense.
Muschamp and Ohio State coach Luke Fickell, who is being replaced by Meyer but has an offer to remain on staff, both view the Gator Bowl as important in recruiting especially in the Sunshine State.
A win could make a difference with a player still undecided or one on the fence.
“It's going to be a national game, but every time Florida plays it's a national game,'' Muschamp said. “We need to take care of the state of Florida as far as recruiting is concerned and playing in the state certainly will help us.''
The Buckeyes' roster features 10 players from Florida and with this Ohio State's first bowl game in Florida in 10 years, a win can only help in recruiting according to Fickell.
“We've probably got our second-largest recruiting area outside of our 250-mile radius, is from Florida,'' Fickell said. “It's great for our young guys to be able to go back home and play and it's great for our recruiting base as well."
