Dan Mullen and his Florida program did a poor job recruiting, according to Dan Mullen.
"I'd think we did a poor job recruiting if guys were coming in and then immediately walking out the door because it was something different than what they thought it would be and we lied to them during recruiting, or we sold them on a dream that wasn't true," Mullen said in March.
Two months later, Mullen is facing that exact scenario. On Thursday morning, according to multiple reports, freshman cornerback Chris Steele was in the transfer portal. Steele is a former four-star recruit who flipped from USC to Florida late last year and, as the No. 42 recruit in the country (247Sports), was the Gators' highest-ranked recruit in the 2019 class.
"The decision stems from a request Steele made to the staff during his first month on campus, the source said," reported Zach Abolverdi of Gator Sports. "He asked to be moved to a different dorm because he was uncomfortable rooming with quarterback Jalon Jones, his classmate."
Steele's request was not granted until several months later.
Last week, the Tampa Bay Times reported Jalon Jones was accused of two sexual assaults on April 6 (30 minutes apart). Both women declined to press charges, but there were police reports of both incidents, at least one of which was referred the university. Jones was also a four-star signee in Florida's 2019 class and, before the Times' report, entered the transfer portal. The exact reason behind Steele's room request remains unclear.
Mullen's "walking out the door" comments came two months after Georgia lost freshman quarterback Justin Fields to transfer, and while Mullen didn't mention Fields by name, it was widely believed the second-year head coach was referring to him. Fields was in Athens for one full year, while Steele was in Gainesville for a few months.
Comments aside, Mullen has some explaining to do about the Jones accusations and Steele's room request.
