http://www.gatorcountry.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=46539&forum=1&46 First let me say that I as much as anyone will be forever confused by the final play in the Outback Bowl. Never should have happened but it did so to hell with it. I initally vented like crazy wondering how we could go in one year from 5 POINTS away from the NC game to 5 GAMES away from the NC game. I'll take my lumps with an 8-5 year. One thing I find hilarious is how of all of UF's rivals, the one that it at least seems to me is havng the most "fun" at our expense is the team who's only loss was in fact to UF. (All due respect to ugahairydawgs and some of my pals on The Dawgrun board...a REAL message board btw, unlike the vent) I find this funny because not only did UF beat UGA but while many have tabbed Richt as the greatest thing since sliced bread, tell me please how Richt was one damn bit better than Zook was in his rookie year? Anyone? Someone? Both made decisions that were characteristic of a rookie coach. I would guess that most reading this are aware of what I'm reffering to in both cases. Both beat UT on the road. Both lost "Oh by the way" bowl games. Both won 8 games and I'm just going to go out on a limb and predict that UGA would have lost to Miami had they played them in Richt's rookie year as well. So Richt goes 8-4 and Zook goes 8-5 in year 1 yet I continue to see many UGA fans suggest Richt is the THE MAN while Zook is a sideline Barney Fife. I don't buy it and neither should any of you. Has anyone here forgotten just how close Zook's initial team was to winning the east? If Auburn bats down one pass....one pass, we're in Atlanta. If South Carolina's tailback simply catches a pitch, we're in Atlanta. Yes, I know if we beat Ole Miss or LSU we're in too. Richt on the other hand dropped 3 SEC games in his rookie year. Zook lost 2. Credit to Richt and co for a 13-1 year. The key is for us to make similar strides in '03. This brings me to my next and final point. And these next facts I will lay out CANNOT be blamed on Zook no matter how much some may want to. KEEPING players once you sign them is crucial. From the 2000 class, so far we have only lost 5 out of 28 players so far. (Brock Berlin, Kevin Deaton, Bennie Mills, Earnest Smith, and Santonio Thomas.) Of the 23 remaining, it looks like we MAY lose Vickers as well but still to be heading into the '03 season with as many as 22 players from the '00 class is pretty damn good. We only signed 16 in '01 but really have only 15 left given the tragic death of Eraste Autin. Someone refresh my memory but is Wesley Bryant still with the team? IF he is the number is 15. If not, we have only 14 from the 01 class. What I REALLY like is the fact that of the 19 we signed in '02, 17 of them were redshirted and ALL OF THEM are still on campus. Now here is where we begin to slide, bigtime and sorry sportsfans, NONE of this is Zook's fault but he sure as hell had to deal with it in year 1 as the head Gator..... College football teams expect to be led by and rely most on their veterans, the juniors and seniors. We signed 21 players in '98. Had none of them been redshirted, they all WOULD have been gone by no later than the 2001 season. Only 9 of those 21 players were around for Zook's frist year one of which (Robert Cromartie) only because of a medical RS last year. The other 8 were Earnest Graham, Mojo, Tojo, Jorgy, Lester Norwood, Chris Reynolds, A Walk, and Marquis Westbrook. Of the 12 who were NOT around for the '02 season, ONLY Robert Gillespie played 4 straight years. Caldwell, Capel, Tabious Carter, Derrick Corker, Aaron Deal, David Kearly, Chuck Marks, Mike Pearson, David Wasielewski, and Kirk Wells all bailed for one reason or another. Sadly, the remaining 1 player was James McGriff and we all know that tragic story. So out of 21 players, we only got the full compliment of playing time so to speak from only 9 of them. Now for the '99 signing class. This is a beauty. We signed 22 players. Now again, given redshirt years for one reason or another the longest they are expected to be in G'ville would be for the '03 season. Of the 22 we signed, guess how many we'll have for the '03 season? SIX! SIX FREAKING PLAYERS! They are for the record: Ran Carthon, Daryl Dixon, Matt Farrior, Dwright Jackson, Bobby McCray, and Keiwan Ratliff. Of the remaining 16, only 5 played 4 straight years that being Hardmon, Taylor Jacobs, Tron LaFavor, Mike Nattiel, and Arpedge Rolle. We signed 22 and 11...HALF of the damn class left early for one reason or another. We lost Lito, Jabar, Rex, and Clint to the NFL early and 7 others crapped out or transferred. (Tony Charles, Elgin Hicks, Todd Poitier, Roderick Royal, Marshall Schapp, Chris Stephens, and Roy Williams. So for Zook's first year, he inherited a team that POTENTALLY could have been led by 43 seniors and juniors. Instead of which, he took on a team that had out of the 43 that COULD have been here, had only 22. HALF AS MUCH as he SHOULD have had. I know about attrition but Geez! That is the equivalent of an entire signing class pissed away. I'm not blaming the previous regime by any means. SOS is THE MAN but one sure as hell can't blame Zook for it either. Give the man some time. The amount of time (IMO, 4 years) where we can REALLY see if Zook is the guy. 1 season isn't enough. Hell, if we allowed Pell to hang around 5 plus seasons when his first was 0-10-1, dont we owe Zook at least that much after an 8-5 rookie year? JMHO.