Twitter Tuesday: Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech

This week's Twitter Tuesday file offers early thoughts on Florida's search for a new head football coach, Oklahoma's massive recruiting weekend, Oregon's shot at the CFB Playoff and more.

GODFATHER AND GORNEY PODCAST: McElwain headlines coaching chaos

This should be interesting to follow. Mississippi State's Dan Mullen would be my first choice, but there is some talk that his exit from Gainesville years ago not being that smooth and that he doesn’t get along that great with Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. If that’s the case, it would be the Gators' loss because Mullen would be a perfect fit otherwise as an offensive coach who can recruit and develop players.

Scott Frost has been mentioned, but I think that would be a risky hire. People are talking about Chip Kelly, but his past recruiting transgressions would worry me if I’m Florida.

Whoever the Gators hire, it better be an established head coach who can help fix the offense and can handle the pressure. When Jim McElwain was hired, I questioned the choice because I didn't think he was an overly impressive offensive mind.

For me, if I’m a Gators fan, I want Mullen.

This is a great question because I honestly feel that McElwain wanted out as much as Stricklin wanted him gone. The way McElwain was relieved of his duties after the mention of death threats is one of the more interesting exits I’ve seen in college football. Based on his demeanor in press conferences and on the sideline, he didn't look like a guy who wanted to be coaching at Florida. I know he said that UF was his dream job and all of that, but sometimes two plus two equals four and McElwain has as much responsibility for ending this as his bosses.

Bottom line: He was either in over his head or just miserable with the scrutiny that comes with such a job and didn’t know how to handle it.

Oklahoma's 2018 recruiting class is currently ranked No. 9 in the Rivals.com Team Recruiting Rankings and the Sooners' great visit weekend sets up the program for a push up the rankings sooner than later.

Many expect offensive lineman Reuben Unije to commit to Oklahoma on Nov. 19 and I would be surprised if he didn't.

But what will be very interesting is how some of the committed visitors are impacted. We saw a lot of indications that there were multiple commitments over the weekend with Ronnie Perkins the only one who went public, but what about Nebraska commitment Brendan Radley-Hiles, Texas A&M commitments Leon O’Neal and DaShaun White or Texas commitment Ayodele Adeoye? It appears that Oklahoma made quite an impression on every visitor and a few flips from some of these big names wouldn’t be stunning.

Baker Mayfield is clearly the best quarterback in the country, so I’m not really sure where you’re getting the idea that the mainstream media doesn’t think that or that no one cares. He’s at or near the top of most Heisman boards.

It puzzles me why Mayfield doesn’t get more love from NFL scouts. I understand the size issue, but with guys like Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and others having success in the NFL, size doesn’t mean a lot anymore. Sure it would be great if he were 6-foot-4, but look at the intangibles – great leadership, a strong desire to win, solid arm strength, good accuracy overall and, most important, the ability to make something out of nothing. I think Mayfield is going to be a very, very good NFL quarterback before all is said and done. He should be considered as a late first-rounder by many teams, but for some reason he's still projected as a middle rounder by most. It’s puzzling.

The Hokies will be a perennial contender in the ACC as long as Justin Fuente is their coach. However, he is such an excellent coach that you can bet other programs - perhaps with deeper pockets, more history or both - will make a run at him at some point. So the main question is whether he be a lifer like Frank Beamer? If he is, watch out. The Hokies need to recruit a bit better in-state, but winning will bring out the in-state interest.

Virginia Tech has a chance to go to a second-straight ACC title game and would give Clemson a real run for its money. That's all because of the job Fuente has done with his quarterbacks and offense while letting Bud Foster do his thing on defense.

This will be interesting to follow because Washington replaced Oregon over the last few years as the hot program in the Pacific Northwest.

The Ducks will be back in a couple of years based on the way Willie Taggart is recruiting. The cupboard was left a bit bare at many positions, so this won’t be an immediate turnaround in Eugene. If Taggart keeps amassing talent, you can look for eight to nine wins next season and perhaps double-digit wins the year after that.

If Taggart is as good a coach as many think he is, a run toward the College Football Playoff in three or four years is not out of the question at all. I’m impressed with his early success and he has one of the best staffs in college football.