Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain told Jacksonville radio station 1010XL on Monday afternoon that his early goal was to rekindle recruiting in the state of Florida, vowing to look two and three years out for good recruits. He also said that he’s out to capture excitement over Gator football among recruits who grew up following Gators football.

“We need to maximize the whole infrastructure to be successful,” McElwain said.

“We have to capture the state of Florida,” McElwain said.

On hiring Geoff Collins away from Mississippi State to be the defensive coordinator, McElwain said he liked that both Collins and former coach Will Muschamp shared a background at Alabama.

“They fell out of the same tree with that Nick Saban defense, so it was a natural fit,” McElwain said. “And, he’s got experience in the conference, there’s no replacing that.”

McElwain is heading back to Colorado for Christmas, but will return to work soon after and will “hit the ground running right after the first of the the year.” He said that his recruiting visits have showed that a lot of potential stars are intrigued about what’s happening with the coaching change at Florida.

“Alot of kids growing up want to be in that orange and blue. We’re going to give them that opportunity,” McElwain said. “We’re offering a new opportunity to be a Gator.”

Regarding his current roster, he had no preconceived notion of the current players and talent, but added that there was work to do to regain “roster balance” at some positions.

“That’s something we need to attack immediately, getting quality numbers at the spots that we need to,” McElwain said. He also said that his rebuilding effort will also include a “look at the inside of the program.”

“We need to maximize the whole infrastructure to be successful,” McElwain said.