I've seen a few doubters still out there recently, but BDB and his army are really killing it on the recruiting trail. With the big commit from Torrence today, the Gators are now up to #14 in the overall recruiting rankings which is a combination of HS recruits and transfers to give a good sense of the entire class. He inherited a class way, way down the list. We have made some tremendous progress in a very short period of time.
We're up to 3rd in the transfer class rankings with a higher average ranking and one fewer transfer than the two teams ahead of us (LSU and FSU) plus guys like Baker from Bama and a couple others who are rumored to be interested/Gator leans. Also, we're now 35th in the HS recruiting class rankings with several big targets out there to potentially close on in the next couple weeks (Perkins, Mathews, Citizen, Douglas, Boardingham, Winston, etc.) which would obviously send us up the rankings. We have a pretty realistic chance to finish in the top 15 in the HS rankings. Signing just 3 of the players I just mentioned (a trio of Mathews or Perkins, plus Douglas and Boardingham, for instance) would bump us into the top 15 as it stands today based on the class calculator. That is certainly not out of the question.
As for the transfers, he has now landed the top available inside OL in the class in Torrence as well as the 3rd ranked Tackle/5th overall OL in Waites. Plus, we have added guys like Johnson the RB from ULL and Miller the QB from Ohio State who are multi year guys at important positions where they will provide nice depth and protection in case of injuries.
The staff he has put together is what I believe is a very nicely balanced group of veteran, bigger name coaches (Raymond, Bateman, Spencer) and some exciting younger guys (Sale, Toney, Colbert, Peagler, Juluke, etc.). For all the talk about him bringing mostly former ULL coaches, the final results show that was mostly overblown. Most successful coaches bring several guys they have worked with previously to join them, for obvious reasons. And of course those would be the first hires a new coach makes, anyone who spends more than a min
... keep reading on reddit β‘I am in need of some perspective from Gator fans who have been around longer than I have. There is no doubt Coach Napier has generated a ton of positive buzz in his first couple weeks. I certainly cannot wait to see his team in action come Fall.
Is the buzz he has generated pretty standard to any new hire at the head coach position? Or is there something different about his start and the hope you feel compared to when Mullen, Mac, and Muschamp were hired?
I appreciate any and all thoughts. Go gators!
https://twitter.com/gatorsfb/status/1465048933369987075?s=21
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/1467320208364691459
https://twitter.com/rossdellenger/status/1465034982301315077?s=21
Hey y'all,
David Wunderlich is one of my favorite published journalists covering the Gators. I will always make time to read him and he, along with Conelly and Zlat, probably got me into recruiting and data more than anybody else. He has a great article out about what he feels Napier needs to do to get UF back to mazimizing its potential. Lots of comparisons to what Spurrier was able to do, then Meyer, Mus, Mac, and Mullen. Article here: https://www.gatorcountry.com/feature/can-billy-napier-get-florida-back-to-the-peak-of-its-potential/
Of all of the points he makes, I think that the cronyism point is the biggest. I'm not one of those people who has a problem with Napier bringing folks over from ULL that he trusts--and I do admit Toney seems young for a DC, but maybe it works out fine. I think that being willing to drop dead weight and adjust things as well is what I'm most hoping to see, as needed.
I think the conservatism point is a good one, too. I'm not of the mind that we need to necessarily only win games in sexy, high-scoring ways. Of course we all want that, though. But we need to be taking the fight to them and I did notice a tremendous tendency to take their feet of the gas for both Mullen and Mac. I'm not saying I need to see Napier run up the score unnecessarily. But nothing wrong with a cushion. Let's remember (if memory serves_ that "scared money don't make money," came from an instance where he already had a lead and elected to go for 7 before the half instead of 3.
The one thing this doesn't cover that matters to me anyway. The article kind of hints at it. But the cronyism point goes hand in hand with reflection. I'm not gonna sit here and say I don't think Napier should call the plays. He's my coach and he has forgotten more about football than I'll ever know and it isn't close. I had hoped to see a sexy OC hire when Napier first came onboard. If him calling plays doesn't work out, I hope he is self-reflective enough to acknowledge and make that change.
Anyway, hope anyone enjoys the article.
Georgia delenda est.
I am being optimistic but so far signs are positive that we found a gem or a gem found us. Either way Napier seems to be a young coach with a clear vision. Players are liking him but still feeling him out. Previous players and coaches respect the hell out of him. He's pulling in personnel from big programs and the NFL. Assuming his plan bares fruit and is sustained, what will be a nickname for a field general?
Some notes on Napier's team meeting and some appreciation for Kamari Wilson, y'all. Traveling this week so will probably only be able to do one of these a day with substance but will post anything I see that hasn't already been posted. Apologies in advance if I inadvertently duplicate anything.
Georgia Delenda Est.
------------------------------
So, Brett DioGuardi posted some notes he got from the team meeting held today. I wanted to flag the high-points and that will dovetail nicely with my point about Kamari.
- Napier emphasized relationships and made guys talk to teammates they don't know that well--how they couldn't know their teammates after this amount of time is beyond me and I question WTF Mullen was running.
- No phones allowed; moreover, all players were required to bring a notebook and a pen.
- Team will now have breakfast together from 7-10 during the week.
- Team workouts will begin January 18.
It's clear--based on what evidence we have so far at least--that Napier isn't just selling--he is as focused on relationship-building and discipline as we had hoped he'd be.
This leads me to Kamari. Two tweets I saw today that make me freakin' love this kid.
First, from newly-hired Katie Turner. https://twitter.com/katieturner0087/status/1478543547934588930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478543547934588930%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=
This is Kamari showing up 20 minutes early to the team meeting. I like that about the kid but I also like that we are spotlighting it and making it the type of thing we want the kids to aspire to/showing it doesn't go unnoticed. I don't recall ever seeing anything like this from the previous regime.
Second, if you've been following recruiting or some of the posts around this sub from myself and others, you know Kamari is fast becoming Nick Evers 2.0. He is a very active and vocal recruiter for us. Mario Williams (4* - 0.9802) WR is transferring out of Oklahoma. Kemari tweeted this: https://twitter.com/Kamariwilson1/status/1478495174544211970 Now, do I think we get Williams? No. I suspect that both he and Caleb Williams end up at USC. But you still have to love to see Kamari not only putting in the work but hyping up that work. Suc
... keep reading on reddit β‘Per Goldkamp on 247
No reason given yet.
Letβs watch our new coach take home some hardware!
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Scared money donβt make money. Go Gators.
Hey y'all,
No big news today that hasn't already been reported--the biggest news being our UGA transfer, 4* Jalen Kimber at CB. The visiting weekend continues on and apparently everyone went to Spurrier's last night--where Napier sat next to Perkins at dinner, per Spivey and I think Alderman. Things seem to be going well and I'll update if I see anything. As has been posted earlier, it also looks like Sean Spencer may be joining the staff. One other note: Citizen is visiting, but he's doing an unofficial next weekend.
UPDATE: I'll also update to add that Chauncey Gardner-Johnson made it on campus to meet with kids. https://twitter.com/CGJXXIII/status/1482500193056604162?s=20. As a reminder, he seemingly reached out over Twitter to ask if we'd let him come. Katie Turner and the staff happily obliged. Regardless of the background to this, it's good to see alums on campus to impress croots.
Finally, I promise I'm not trying to plug OC for malicious reasons, I just think this will lead to lots of useful posts later as this class and future classes come into focus. I posted earlier about beginning to track recruits by state and, for FL, region, going forward, so we have a sense of where we are and are not capitalizing. I'm adding that to my big roster spreadsheet (link below for those interested), but I wanted to post it here separately in case anyone is interested in the data so far. I'm also really interested in folks' thoughts on:
- How do the Florida regions look? Thanks to everyone who helped out in my prior post, most particularly MHulk, gbpackerfan5212, lsimmons79, and BullAlligator who all gave me a lot to think about in doing this. For now I'm going with the simplest model, but if folks think this doesn't accurately reflect recruiting hotbeds, would love to know.
First comprehensive list Iβve seen.
ON-FIELD ASSISTANT COACHES (6/10)
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Jabbar Juluke - Running Backs /Associate Head Coach (Offense)
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Keary Colbert - Wide Receivers
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William Peagler - Tight Ends
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Darnell Stapleton - Offensive Line
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Corey Raymond - Cornerbacks /Assistant Head Coach (Defense)
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Patrick Toney - Safeties / Co-Defensive Coordinator
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Mike Peterson - OLB coach and Alumni Liaison (1/04)
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Rob Sale - Offensive Coordinator and OLine Coach (1/11)
SUPPORT STAFF
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Mark Hocke - Associate Head Coach/Director of Football Strength and Conditioning
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Karmichael Dunbar - Assistant Strength and Conditioning
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Edward Thompson - Assistant Strength and Conditioning
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Ryan O'Hara - Offensive Analyst, QBs
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Joe Hamilton - Personnel Analyst, Offense
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Nick McDonald - Personnel Analyst, Offense
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Jamar Chaney - Defensive Analyst, ILB/OLB
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Andrew Burkett - Director of Research and Evaluation
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Jacob LaFrance - Director of Player Personnel
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Joe Danos - Director of Player Athletic Development
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Doug Domingue - Director of Recruiting Innovation
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Vernell Brown - Director of Student-Athlete Development (Retained)
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Marcus Castro-Walker - Director of Player Engagement and NIL
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Katie Turner - Assistant Athletic Director of Recruiting Strategy
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Ashour Peera - Assistant Director of Football Operations, Logistics and Analytics
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Kyle Kazakevicius - Assistant DFO for Quality Control and Assistant to the Head Coach
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Frank Ogas - Assistant for Player Development
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Matt Bergeron - Offensive Analyst, WRs (12/28)
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Bri Wade - Director of On-Campus Recruiting and Football Events (12/28)
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Paul Pasqualoni - Director of Advanced Scouting and Self Scout (12/28) (Retained)
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Kelsee Gomes - Director of Sports Nutrition (12/29)
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CJ Wilford - Defensive Quality Control Coach (12/29)
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Braxton Morris - Quality Control Defense (12/30)
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Bird Sherrill - Director of College Personnel (01/03)
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Tony Hill - Associate Director, Sports Health for Football (1/06)
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Alex Watkins - Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach (1/07)
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Tiger Jones - Director of Speed Improvement & Skill Development (1/08)
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Paul Silvestri - Director of Sports Health-Football (1/09) (Retained)
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Kareem Reid - Quality Control Coach of Defensive Line (1/10)
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**Cheston Blackshear - Quality Control - Offensive Line
Hey y'all, I enjoyed reading this piece, though I don't fully agree with it. Ethan Hughes goes through his thoughts on the rounded-out staff.
I did like that he noted the flexibility of the coaches (e.g., Peagler being a former RB coach). He of course praises the Peterson hire and notes that this staff is a massive upgrade in recruiting, which is clear to anyone with eyes on work ethic alone much less chops.
His biggest "ding," if we want to call it a ding, is no QB coach. Now we have a QB analyst--with Napier coaching QBs directly--but the thrust is that with QB coach, play-calling, and HC duties, Napier may have bitten off a lot. Hughes would've preferred to see a QB coach and one less OL coach, so Napier could focus more on the CEO role and also offensive game planning. I don't really know if I agree. If Napier was going to give anything up, I would've preferred it to be play-calling. While I think he is totally fine for that and I'm not saying he shouldn't do it, I think it's [1] a bigger responsibility than QB coaching, week to week; and [2] an area where I was kind of hoping to see a Dan Mullen type (don't jump down my throat) hire come in. That being said, I think that we can win either way and I'm personally (like it matters) not overly fussed about Napier taking on all 3 roles. Just, if he was gonna give one up, that would've been my preference over the QB coaching.
Georgia delenda est.
https://twitter.com/petethamel/status/1465014776459898885?s=21
https://twitter.com/delatorre/status/1468602847038214144?s=20
I would like to share a rational and level-headed take on what's been happening the past couple of days. I've spread out a few comments over several posts but I'll just make one all together that hopefully people can refer to when they look like this https://imgflip.com/s/meme/Mega-Rage-Face.jpg, so that they can transform into this https://www.meme-arsenal.com/memes/f3133a8e04ef7fccd4dfa00d02806411.jpg.
A lot of people are upset that Napier and Staff went straight to LA/TX/OK, there is a very simple reason for this. Napier has already evaluated and spoken to these recruits, he knows all about them and what they bring to the table. He knows that they fit the program that we want to build here at UF. Now, as someone has already said (I won't name any names), "Ok great, lets just get the Sun Belt players!". Slow down there, Cowboy. Every single recruit that we have reached out to has major P5 offers, and about 85% of them have been in contact or have offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and A&M. Three of those schools are the top 3 recruiting classes in the NATION. Stars are not everything, Napier helped Dabo develop the majority of his recruiting and evaluation tactics. Napier spent time with Saban and learned the proper way to thoroughly evaluate a prospect. If you think Alabama just offers a kid because he's a 5 star and doesn't look into him and make sure he qualifies by their standards, it's time to go do some research.
Secondly, and this will pertain to the paragraph above, it is unfortunate that Nick Evers decommitted, yes. It is not ideal that Chandler Smith decommitted, sure. I just ask you to keep these things in mind, every single one of those recruits are guys that our previous staff recruited, not our current staff. The issues that have plagued UF go far deeper than recruiting, we are in dire need of an entire overhaul, a major culture shift. Napier needs to make sure that all of these players are capable, and are the right fit to come into the situation that we are currently in. No coach who is seriously about their word and the school that employs them is going to just take prospects that have not been vetted. Not one. We are building this from the ground up. A new foundation is being laid
... keep reading on reddit β‘https://twitter.com/colecubelic/status/1450126502163591174?s=21
First real report forma reputable source I have seen: https://twitter.com/petethamel/status/1465014776459898885?s=21
E: Feldman also now reporting that he is expected as coach
https://twitter.com/coach_bnapier/status/1469673047804239874?s=21
This man was beloved by the community and his players. Sucks to see him go, but man if I am a UF fan, this video has gotta fire you up!
https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottMimic/status/1466892765959274496
I like what they have to say about Napier
Not going to lie. Has no idea what to expect from Billy. But man, did not know what we were missing until he got here. Looking at his game tape. He runs every offense. AR15 is going to be beast mode. His recruiting skills are insane. Pulling in these 4 and 5 stars with a week to work with.
