GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The landscape around College football has changed.

Over 1,000 players are currently in the transfer portal, a database that is accessible to programs around the country that allows staffs to see who wants to leave a school and is exploring other options.

"It would be interesting to see how all this shakes out for everybody," said Dan Mullen. "There's a lot of little details to it that I don't think everybody's experienced yet that go into that. That it will be interesting to see how that all continues to play out in the future. I saw there's a kid in the portal one day and out the next... We'll see."

The Gators secured a top-ten recruiting class on Wednesday, after signing four players in the Rivals250, two of which are in the Rivals100. However, Mullen is not shy about adding a transfer or two to fill positions as well.

Actually, Florida has benefitted from transfers. The Gators welcomed three transfer players to the roster in 2018: wide receivers Trevon Grimes and Van Jefferson, and defensive lineman Adam Shuler.

All making significant impact.

As one expects from Mullen, the Florida head coach is very picky on who his staff recruits as a transfer. According to Mullen, his coaching staff is looking for a player that will make a difference as soon as they step on campus, not just another body.

"When you look at grad transfers, you're looking at one year on campus. Or junior college players, it's a much more condensed window of what you look at," explained Mullen."So to me you're not looking at programs where somebody, okay, this program can develop...A lot of times you're looking at a transfer is what's my immediate? Am I getting on the field immediately? So usually when I'm dealing with transfers, you're looking at immediate needs to play. I'm not looking to just build depth.

"Ours is if we're going to take a transfer, it's to take someone that's going to make an immediate impact."

UF is once again set to build talented depth by adding a transfer in this cycle.

The Gators are not only looking to add an offensive lineman, Parker Braun, a grad transfer from Georgia Tech, they have already added Louisville grad transfer, versatile defender Jonathan Greenard.

"I think it's huge when you look at your roster and you look at CeCe [Jefferson], who goes on and he's graduating and going to the NFL.. and Jachai [Polite] makes a decision to declare for the draft and leave early, kind of leaves a big gap at that spot," said Mullen about Greenard. "With Jonathan coming in that has that experience, that has played at an extremely high level, that has been productive, and can make an immediate impact.

"You look at some of our young guys that have the potential to do that with a Mohamoud [Diabate] that's on campus, Khris Bogle who we signed today, Lloyd Summerall is a pass rusher coming off the edge. We think those guys are going to have bright futures," added the Gators head coach. "But they haven't been through it at this level and hopefully they are going to be able to make an immediate impact with us when they get here. But you're talking about a guy that has shown that he can do it at this level and is going to be ready to go play when we kick off the season next year. That's really an important addition for us."

Transfers work both ways.

Although the Gators have benefitted from transfers, they have also had attrition. Daquon Green and TJ McCoy were two players that decided to take their talents elsewhere this year.

"I certainly hope as people look at the transfer deal that they have a legitimate reason for why they are doing it. I've never had a problem with a guy, [asking to transfer]" he said.

Mullen learned this lesson as a young coach.

During his time at the University of Utah, Alex Smith took over the starting role after their then starter, Brett Elliott, got hurt in a game. At the end of the season Elliott asked to transfer.

"I said well, that will put us in a tough situation, because we didn't have any other quarterbacks on scholarship," recounted Mullen. "I said, Brett, I'm going to give you every opportunity to earn the starting job in spring. And he said, I know you will, coach, I believe in you, of course you will. He said, but here's the thing, Alex Smith is a really good player and he's younger than I am and if I don't earn that spot and beat him out and, which I might, I might not, I'm not afraid to compete, not afraid of anything, is, I'm sitting the bench with, he goes, and I love to play. I want to be on the field. I love Utah, I love the program, I love you guys as coaches, and I want to play. And he said, I don't ever want to sit here and look and say, my best opportunity to play is one of my best friends to get hurt.

"I said, you know what, that's a great point," added Mullen. "And so we kind of went through everything, and he ends up transferring and ends up being a first team All-American and winning the National Championship at a smaller school. And I think from that day, as a young coach, I learned a lot of let's sit down and go through all of the reasons why and why that made sense. That made perfect sense. It ended up being really good for him. It hurt the depth within our personal program at the time, but it worked out to be really good for him and his future. So from that point I've always from this day built on that on transfers."

Mullen and his staff have strived to create a family atmosphere around the program. He counts this as another opportunity to help his players navigate college football.

"I have no problem with guys transferring if it's all for the right reasons," said Mullen. "I think that you hope today that they don't make it -- the new rule, everyone says it makes it easier -- does it allow guys to potentially transfer for wrong reasons and not for the right reasons. And I think that can be harmful for the development of young people. And it puts them in bad situations that they might not want to be a part of.

"If this isn't for you, here's why it's not for you, and let's find something good, but learn a lesson to just kind of finish. There's little segments that make sense for when you should look at those things. But to me that's all part of developing and parenting. One of our jobs on campus is to try to be a, somewhat be a parent model for a lot of the players that come here. We're not going to replace their parents, but we're going to be in that mold and helping them. So I treat everybody how I would want my own kids treated and the same way I would talk to my kids about making those decisions."

At the end of the day, Mullen does not want to force a player to stay.

"I want guys that want to be here at Florida, want to be Gators," he said. "I think that is really important to our program, you know, and if you don't want to be, then it's, that's not fun for anybody. Our program's -- we're pretty demanding and we have high expectations and high standards here and want guys that really want to be a part of it."