Reports of Florida's recruiting demise are greatly exaggerated

With all due respect to the late, great Mark Twain, we need to put a 2021 spin on and take a couple of liberties by paraphrasing one of his more frequently used quotes. It goes like this: Reports of the recruiting demise of the Gators has been greatly exaggerated. That’s because on the day when Florida fans everywhere were expecting the worst, Billy Napier sent a shot across the bow of all the naysayers.

Not only do the Gators have a pulse – and a strong one at that – but they are going to be a force on the recruiting trail from here on out. This was simply the opening salvo and you’d better believe it got the attention of the coaches you normally associate with great recruiting classes. The Gators landed only nine players, not enough to crack even the top 40 based on the way the recruiting services do their rankings, but it was more than anticipated both in terms of numbers and quality. It was also enough to advance the Gators about 30 spots from where they were Tuesday. Rivals has the Gators at No. 47 while 247Sports has UF at No. 50.

This is just the beginning. Things are going to get better.

“We're going to add to this group,” Napier said Wednesday afternoon as he spent 30 minutes answering questions about stage one of his first University of Florida recruiting class. “We've got a lot of work left to do here with plenty of room. We've got to keep building here, and I think it's important for us to realize this is going to happen one day at a time and one person at a time.”

The one day at a time approach is working just fine because Wednesday the Gators raised plenty of eyebrows, and not just those of the Gator Nation, which woke up expecting nuclear winter. Schools like Georgia, Alabama and Notre Dame that are used to having their way on the recruiting trail were surprised that Billy Napier and Florida elbowed their way in to grab some players that were expected to go elsewhere after the coaching change at UF.

The ultimate eye-opener was safety Kamari Wilson (6-0, 201, Fort Pierce, FL/Bradenton, FL IMG Academy). The recruiting gurus had him penciled in for Georgia and as everyone knows, Kirby Smart doesn’t lose recruits to Florida.

Well, not until Wednesday when the 5-star safety cast his lot with Florida, with the help of two newbies to the staff – highly regarded cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond, who made LSU synonymous with the phrase DBU, and Jamar Chaney, who arrived as a defensive analyst from Mississippi State. Chaney, it turns out, is from Fort Pierce and is a family friend. Raymond’s reputation and Chaney’s relationship with the family opened the door and Napier slammed it shut on Georgia. When Napier and assistant head coach/strength and conditioning coordinator Mark Hocke visited Wilson at IMG, there was an instant connection ready to be made.

“We actually were there at IMG, had a good talk,” Napier recalled. “He [Wilson] said, ‘Hey, Coach, I think you need to go see my mom, and we quickly made a quick trip over there. Next thing you know I’m standing in a Sam’s talking to Mrs. Wilson, and it was really good. So, they agreed to take the [official] visit. We had an incredible weekend and I think Kamari made a life-changing decision.”

Shemar James (6-2, 210, Mobile, AL Faith Academy) tugged on Superman’s cape twice on unofficial visits since October 20, but when it came time to sign his LOI papers, he chose the Gators. James decommitted from the Gators back on October 20 after the Gators had lost to LSU and buzzards began circling the UF football complex over the future of Dan Mullen. He visited Alabama twice, Florida State and just last Friday he was at Georgia on an official visit weekend. Alabama wanted him. Bad. So did Kirby.

When it comes to recruiting Alabama kids, Nick Saban is Superman. Alabama kids don’t say no to Nick but Shemar James did.

That’s two 5-star recruits (Wilson and James) to Florida, whose only 5-star on the current roster not acquired via transfer is defensive tackle Gervon Dexter (signed in 2020).

Three 4-stars also picked Florida. Devin Moore (6-3, 190, Naples, FL), defensive tackle Chris McClellan (6-3, 305, Owasso, OK) and tight end Tony Livingston (6-5, 225, Tampa, FL King) signed. With co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney leading the recruiting effort, the Gators were able to fend off Notre Dame to land Moore. McClellan could have slipped through the cracks when Brent Venables was named Oklahoma’s head coach, but he stuck with UF. Livingston committed to Florida back in March and stuck with his commitment even with the coaching change from Mullen to Napier. He has slimmed down considerably and was recruited by Napier as a tight end.

The other four who signed are 3-star offensive lineman Christian Williams (6-4, 319, Missouri City, TX Thurgood Marshall), 3-star defensive tackle Jamari Lyons (6-3.5, 298, Viera, FL), offensive tackle David Conner (6-5, 295, Atlanta, GA/Deerfield Beach, FL, Deerfield Beach) and 2-star placekicker Trey Smack (6-1, 200, Severna Park, MD). Kickers rarely get more than two stars in anyone’s ratings. Smack has a big time leg.

The nine Florida signees are kids that Napier says “fit exactly what we’re looking for.” He isn’t the least bit worried about the number of players who have signed. He won’t accept anyone who doesn’t meet his standard. Far too many coaches of transition classes try to bump up the numbers by taking flyers on kids who probably aren’t going to make it. When Napier has a full staff of assistants and his “army” of personnel people on hand in January, the evaluation process will be the same. Napier sees no need to take chances on players.

The approach will be always be the same – sign kids who fit his vision for where the program has to go to be successful. That means high school, junior college and transfers. Napier will start interviewing players on the current roster on Sunday to determine who wants to be Gators and who might be thinking the grass is greener somewhere other than Gainesville. Also, with the early signing period over, he will have the chance to spend time watching players practice for Florida’s Gasparilla Bowl game in Tampa next week against UCF.

The bowl game, he says, is a blessing.

“I think one of the things that we're very fortunate here is that we beat Florida State University and had an opportunity to play in a bowl game,” Napier said. “We're going to get a chance … we had a few practices last weekend. We'll get a chance to do that a little bit more here over the next couple days, and spend time with the players. As we add coaches we're able to develop some relationships. You can imagine what a nightmare it would be if they weren't in a bowl game in terms of having some time with the players.”

Recruiting new players, re-recruiting old ones and figuring out what kind of roster he will have going into the spring is all part of roster management, which is complicated because every player who was part of the 2020 COVID year has a free year to play. The transfer situation is changing by the hour. While Napier was talking to the media about his recruiting class, for instance, quarterback Emory Jones tweeted out that he’s going to transfer. Earlier in the day, edge rusher Khris Bogle announced he’s leaving for Michigan State.

Almost certainly, others will be leaving.

“Certainly as we hire coaches and they get here, they can start working on that, but this big algorithm of roster management certainly is very fluid, and it changes each day,” Napier said.

That’s where the personnel department will be working overtime. Not only will they be evaluating the players who didn’t sign in December to determine the right targets for the National Signing Day in February, but they will also be compiling data on transfers. There were 2,626 transfers last year. That number is expected to increase this year and Florida will be active in the portal to find plug and play types at positions that need a boost.

Ultimately, the goal is to make Florida such a desirable place to play, that very few want to leave once they are in Gainesville.

“Certainly, the transfer portal is a part of college football now, and certainly a lot different dynamic because they can go play immediately,” Napier said. “I think you're going to see this is just part of the game now, and certainly what we need to do is build a really good culture here where players want to be as part of our organization and play for the University of Florida, and hopefully we don't have to deal with those issues unless we're wanting to deal with them.

“But in the meantime, there's going to be some attrition. I think that's reality … That creates opportunity, and we'll go to work. It's another way to acquire a player much like NFL free agency. The problem is we don't have a salary cap and we don't have schedule parity, so it's a little bit different dynamic.”

The greatest takeaway from the first early signing day of the Billy Napier University of Florida era is that the Gators have a head coach who not only loves the challenge of recruiting and going head-to-head with the likes of Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher and Dabo Swinney, but enjoys making the parts fit properly in his roster puzzle. It’s clear that he has studied every aspect of acquiring players from the physical aspects to their ability to fit in with academically and culturally with the culture that he is going to build at the University of Florida.

Nobody has ever accused Billy Napier of being an offensive savant like Dan Mullen. Of course, nobody ever accused Mullen of embracing every aspect of recruiting. If he had, he would probably still be Florida’s head football coach. Having a head to call a spectacular ball play against any defense may not be Napier’s long suit, but understanding the dynamics of building a roster by systematically putting all the right pieces together is.

What he has shown us since he took the Florida job and especially with the first nine players he signed to scholarships is that Billy Napier has a plan and we’re only just beginning to see how it’s all going to work out. The demise of Florida’s football recruiting has been greatly exaggerated. This new guy is the real deal.