Joe Hamilton is back in town. (Photo via Florida Gators)
College football is known for its crazy recruiting flips, changes of heart and even some full-circle roller-coaster ride decisions, but that’s usually an activity relegated to 17 or 18 year old recruits. We don’t see much of it from coaches.
But we just did. Joe Hamilton, who is widely considered to be one of the most well-connected people in the state of Texas in all of college football, decided to leave Florida for Texas A&M back in February. And that move, to be frank, stung: we did an entire YouTube show dedicated to the fallout that Billy Napier was still having to deal with as a result of losing games on the field the previous fall, and how the damage would continue rolling itself out in waves well into the future.
And now, not even five months after leaving for a program in his home state for what was thought to be a substantial pay increase, Hamilton has pulled a complete 360. He’s now back with the Gators, with exactly the same Director of Scouting title in exactly the same office he used to work out of. Why, exactly, he came back, is a great question, one that there is no shortage of theories on.
What we do know is that it’s big news to get him back. As for why, and why it was so devastating to lose him in the first place? Because he was– and is now again– the Texas recruiting guy for the Gators. And that state has quite the pool of talent.
DJ Lagway, for example, came to Florida due to that relationship with Hamilton. The five-star QB from Texas built an extremely close relationship with him during his recruiting process, and his father has even come out and said multiple times that the signal-caller is a Gator because of Hamilton. Highly touted freshman linebacker Myles Graham isn’t even from Texas, but met Hamilton at a recruiting event and grew close with him almost overnight.
And losing him has ended Florida’s chances with a multitude of top prospects from the Lone Star State. The most notable of these was five-star safety commit Xavier Filsaime from this past class, who flipped to Texas shortly after Hamilton left Florida. A number of 2025 Texas prospects have apparently taken Florida off their lists since Hamilton’s departure, too, most recently Riley Pettijohn (who committed to Ohio State).
So for as crippling of a loss to the infrastructure as it was to lose Joe Hamilton in the first place, Napier and Florida have effectively just put that piece right back in place. Five months of missed relationship-building won’t be healed overnight– it cannot possibly be– but now the Gators are starting to get hot on the recruiting trail again, too, and there’s some positive momentum being built in this program. Of course, wins will have to come on the field for any of this to matter, but if they do– hell, with even just a 7-5 season– the foundation for long-term success will suddenly look a whole lot rosier than it did when Hamilton left.
And given where this program has been the past couple of seasons in terms of both overall record and perception, that would be nice to know.
