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* Thamel: Inside Mullen's hectic first signing day
* Reaction to Florida flipping Jones
* Florida an Early Signing Day Winner
* Florida moves up 30 spots in recruiting rankings
* Florida lands Rivals250 defensive back Dean
* Breaking down Jones flip to Florida
* Florida lands Rivals100 quarterback Jones
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Normally The Day After Breakdown is reserved for Inside the Gators to look back on the previous day's football game. We're going to switch up somewhat today and use it to take a more in-depth look at Florida's Early Signing Class of 2018.
Keep in mind, there are six weeks remaining in this recruiting cycle, these are not the final grades - they are based upon the prospects Florida has signed to this point.
DEFINING MOMENTS
There were quite a few -starting with Florida's incredible role beginning in late July at Friday Night Lights. Then of course, you had Jim McElwain falling off a cliff with his death threat comments, which in turn led to his parting of the ways with Florida, and in turn resulted in 10 decommitments which dropped Florida from inside the top 10 to outside the top 50 in recruiting rankings.
However, the rebound at the end saw the Gators move inside the top 25 on early signing day.
The overall five biggest moments:
#5 McElwain leaving - Though he was never thought of as a top recruiting coach, the winds were blowing in his favor this cycle as the Gators were sitting inside the top 10 in Rivals recruiting rankings thanks to that late July run-up. When McElwain left, so did the Gators chances of holding that class together.
#4 The commitment of Matt Corral - Going into Friday Night Lights, all eyes actually were on Justin Fields. However, by the end of the weekend, Corral was corralled and Florida was well on their way to a top 10 class.
#3 The decommitment of Ja'marr Chase - In the first 10 days after McElwain left, Florida's top 10 class remained intact. Not a single decommitment. Then, Chase made his decision, which seemed to crack what had been a shut door. In the end, nine other previously committed prospects followed him out.
#2 The decommitment of Matt Corral - Losing him, because it took place under a new head coach and thus called into question his ability to recruit and the thought process which led to him not being visited in the first two weeks, was a bigger story than his actual commitment.
#1 The commitment of Emory Jones - Florida gets a much needed dual-threat and his pledge helps set the stage for the last six weeks of the signing period.
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