Dan Mullen has a secret weapon on the recruiting trail, his Florida commits

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- College coaches are always looking for the right fit when it comes to recruits.

There are a lot of reasons for that. Of course the on the field aspect is huge but coaches like Dan Mullen are looking into a player's character as well. At the end of the day, those verbal commitment,s and eventually signees, are still ambassadors to the program even before they step on campus.

According to the Gators head coach, some of his best recruiters are his commits.

"I think that is huge and I think as guys look and these guys get to know each other traveling around and you look and I think even if you look in the state of Florida, there's a lot of great players in the state of Florida, a lot of great high school football players if not one of the best states, if not the best one of the best certainly in the country of high school players here," explained Mullen. "So it means a lot of a bunch of guys they get together and look and say, hey, we are from Florida and we're going to go to the University of Florida. And we're going to represent the Gator Nation and represent this state and go make a statement and those guys kind of stick together and recruit each other and stay together, that's huge. That can help lead to championships and put the Gators back into national prominence as a team that competes for championships on a regular basis."

Florida saw the benefits from it with talented wide receiver, Arjei Henderson. Henderson decided to pledge to Mullen and his staff before his visit.

"I think one of the things that he wanted, that helped is him getting around some of our players at the All-Star Game and communicating and talking to those guys," recounted Mullen. "And he really came out and came out strong and said, coach, I really want to commit to Florida."

In 2019 Diwun Black was one of Florida's most vocal recruiter. Mullen says he is proud of having the four-star athlete representing the program.

"I think if you look at Diwun Black and the amazing job he, the positiveness of the person and the personality and how that can draw other people in and Diwun's an amazing story, I can't wait to get him on campus for us," said the Gators head coach. "He's one that just like Arjei but if you look and with all the stuff he's been through he goes to the Poly Bowl and puts on a show, but I think he's got that personality that as they go recruit, people want to be around."

It is not just about recruiting the talent to Gainesville. Mullen also asks for input from his recruits about anyone they see at camps.

"I'll ask, tell me about this guy and I've, we have, more so than not, you eliminate guys than take guys, to be honest with you," said Mullen. "Like, coach, that's not a guy that's going to fit in our program. That's not, his attitude his demeanor this is a guy that got in a lot of trouble, this is a guy that I don't know that we want around our team. This is a guy I have question marks about. Especially guys you really trust that have been in the program and you know and you know their personality, you know why they make decisions and they say, I question this guy's motive, his passion, whatever it is, there's little things. But it does work the other way, where I have guys that are at the all-star games and they say, coach, we should recruit this guy.

"One, he's interested. Because a lot of times you go these all-star games and you're looking and everybody's got offers from around the country, but they say, hey, this guy is really interested in us," continued Mullen. "And I ask why and he says, hey, and we really should recruit him, because of this, this and this. Boy, he's the hardest working guy, he's the toughest guy for me to cover, he's the toughest guy for, you know, he was the toughest guy to get open on, I tell you what. You go to one-on-one pass rushing, nobody can beat him.

"That type of mindset, the leadership of guys, it is, it's interesting and you hear that from the players and I like to hear what the players have to say. I do, after recruiting weekends, I always go ask our players what they thought about the guys that were in here visiting us and what their thought about those guys were. So all of that is part of the evaluation process during recruiting."