Landing Jason Zandamela continues Billy Napier's positive momentum

Jason Zandamela has yet to play a college football game but the fact that he will be a Florida Gator has a ripple effect throughout college football. The big kid (6-3, 305) from Clearwater chose the Gators Thursday after spending one semester as an early enrollee at Southern California. When he signed with Southern Cal back in December, Zandamela was a consensus 4-star prospect that 247Sports ranked the No. 46 player in the nation, the No. 1 interior lineman. In the transfer portal, 247Sports ranked him the No. 7 player in the entire country.

Coming out of high school at Clearwater International Academy, Zandamela had more than 30 offers, but he chose Southern Cal over Florida State and Oklahoma. When he chose to transfer to be closer to home, family and his personal support group, the choice narrowed to Florida and UCF. Florida was already winning the battle for Zandamela when a recruiting dinner at Spurrier’s sealed the deal for Billy Napier and the Gators per a couple of people who were in the building at the time.  

Zandamela will set up personal shop in Gainesville in a couple of weeks, arriving with high expectations. Florida’s offensive line, which did a dandy impersonation of a sieve a season ago, looked much improved in the spring in large part due to the impact of transfers Devon Manuel (Arkansas) and Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (San Diego State) at the tackles. The weak link in a line that had Knijeah Harris at left guard and incumbent Jake Slaughter at center was at right guard and that’s where Zandamela will have a chance to make his presence known.

Because he missed spring practice, Zandamela has plenty of catching up to do, perhaps too much to get into the August rotation but landing him isn’t so much about playing time as much as it is about perception. The perception about Georgia and Alabama is that they don’t miss when they target a key recruit, particularly those that inhabit the lines of scrimmage. With the 2024 recruiting class, now bolstered by the addition of Zandamela, Florida is beginning to shed the perception that it settles for leftovers and is capable of competing and winning recruiting battles for top tier prospects.

Perceptions are important. Since 2010 the image of Florida football has gone from consistent championship contender to that of a program on the brink of falling light years behind in an SEC whose already bulging biceps popped a few veins with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. Three straight losing seasons, two on Napier’s watch will do that for you. So will a brutal fall schedule that closes with a murderer’s row of Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State.

But perceptions change. The schedule is still the same and won’t get any easier, but the same Billy Napier who has been a walking bullseye for every dart and arrow shot in his direction is now being perceived as a coach who might actually have a clue about what he’s doing. For that we can thank the following five events: (1) The return of quarterback Graham Mertz for one more season; (2) landing an outstanding recruiting class headed by 5-star quarterback DJ Lagway and 5-star EDGE LJ McCray; (3) selectively adding experience at all three levels of the defense and the offensive tackles through the portal; (4) an excellent spring practice in which there were no injuries of any significance; and (5) last week’s NFL Draft.

Focus on the draft, a draft that saw only one Gator (Ricky Pearsall, first round) selected, the worst UF draft since 1980. Alabama had 10 drafted while Georgia had eight, further proof of just how far behind the SEC’s two most consistent programs that Florida has fallen. This didn’t happen overnight, but since Urban Meyer’s resignation in 2010, it has been like death by a thousand cuts.

The roster Napier inherited when he took the Florida job in December of 2021 looked nothing like one capable of competing for championships. It has taken two years to apply the bandages and tourniquets when necessary just to stop the bleeding. Only now are all the critics starting to understand why Napier felt the need to bring in his “army” of analysts and recruiting specialists. That’s what it takes to compete for talent with the likes of Georgia, Alabama and Texas. It’s like that old southern adage, you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight because recruiting in the SEC is like the shootout at the OK Corral.  

When spring football ended, Napier talked about how much he likes this football team. He should. He’s rebuilt it from the ground up and only now does he have what can be called an SEC roster. In other words, when the Gators take the field this fall they won’t look like kids trying to compete against grown men.

Back in January, Napier’s tush was supposedly hotter than the proverbial pepper sprout Johnny and June Cash sang about in the song “Jackson” back in 1963. Until he wins on the field, there will be no shortage of critics claiming a hoard of buyout cash is at the end of his rainbow, but don’t buy into whatever it is they’re selling. Napier is being given the time it will take to put a firm foundation under the program. Of course, he is going to have to win, but it’s like building a house. The roof doesn’t go on until the foundation is dug and strong walls are in place to hold it up.    

He's made enough progress that even some of his harsher critics such as Paul Finebaum have taken a more moderate tone when speaking of where the Florida program is trending. Some, such as ESPN’s Cole Cubelic, believe Napier has turned the corner and wins will follow. He thinks the Gators will be one of the surprise teams in the nation this year.

“Some people are saying three and four wins for this Florida team, you’re out of your mind,” Cubelic said. “It’s the Florida Gators, man. That’s not going to happen. I think the Florida Gators are going to be just fine this year.”

See how perceptions have changed? And that brings us back to Jason Zandamela. He, also is proof of how perceptions have changed. The Gators recruited him out of high school in Clearwater, but back then he wasn’t interested. When, after four months in LA he decided he needed to return home, he could have just as easily signed with UCF, Florida State or Miami but instead he’s going to be a Gator.

Jason Zandamela isn’t the savior of the Florida football program. He hasn’t strapped it on for even one practice yet but that isn’t important at this stage of the game. What is important is the ripple effect of Florida winning another recruiting battle for a high profile player.

Also important is that Billy Napier is doing a rather good job of restoring the Florida brand. It has been way too long since Florida and success on the football field have been synonymous. Success on the field is still a necessity, but winning on Saturday doesn’t happen unless you win the talent acquisition battles.