The Napier rebuild plan finally starts to make a lot of sense

“Though this be madness, there is method in’t” – Polonius, Act II, Scene 2 of Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Three full seasons and four recruiting classes since he was hired in December of 2022, Billy Napier seems to have finally shed the village idiot label, thrust upon him by zealous Florida football fans who were convinced he was leading the Gators past a point of no return as well as a fairly large contingent in the sports media who thought he was living proof of the Peter Principle. Four-game winning streaks that include back-to-back playoff kills of LSU and Ole Miss along with a stomping of the dratted Seminoles and decisive bowl game win over a very good Tulane team have moved the Napier needle significantly in a positive direction.

Throw in a recruiting class that three of the four major services placed in the top ten and some folks are starting to see the light, that maybe Scott Stricklin really did know what he was doing when he plucked Napier from Louisiana to rebuild the Florida football brand. The wait to get to this point where perceptions have changed, has been painful but winning does tend to cover a number of ills and perceptions.

“Obviously, the wins help, certainly to finish with some momentum,” Napier said Wednesday morning at The Heavener Center. Years ago, National Signing Day Wednesday was a very big deal. People arranged their sick days to coincide so they didn’t miss out on recruiting news. No more. The first Wednesday in February is just another day that schools round up a few strays to finish off their recruiting classes. For Florida, it was Onis Konanbanny (6-0, 177, Columbia, SC Heathwood Hall Episcopal), a corner with a huge upside who flipped from Tennessee, and long snapper Mack Mulhern (6-1, 223, Scottsdale, AZ Horizon).

There is a carryover of momentum from the 2024 season. Napier has coached his way into the good graces of most of the fan base and the media is, for now at least, laying in wait to see if the Gators lay an egg in September. The Gators have the quarterback of the future in DJ Lagway, maybe the best returning offensive line in the SEC, a running backs room to die for, and studs galore in the wide receivers room.

That’s just on offense.

On the other side of the ball, Napier has brought in Vinnie Sunseri from Washington to coach the safeties and, per Matt Zenitz, the national reporter extraordinaire for 247Sports, Robert Bala from that same Washington staff is getting the details worked out on a contract that will bring him to Gainesville to coach the inside linebackers. Hiring Bala will allow defensive coordinator Ron Roberts to roam the practice field to figure out who’s hot and who’s not.

Additionally, Napier let it be known that defensive line coach Gerald Chatman, who interviewed with the Chicago Bears, signed a new contract a couple of weeks ago. The D-line improvement from 2023 to 2024 was dramatic. Napier confirmed that most of the  coaching staff has signed new deals and those that haven’t are working out details.

So, it is a good time to be Billy Napier. In nearly every early 2025 poll, the Gators are in the top 25. Fewer players want to leave the program and far more of the nation’s best recruits list Florida as a serious possibility. The foundation is stronger than when he first arrived and certainly facilities have caught up to the rest of the Southeastern Conference.

"We're getting better,” Napier said. “I think we have the resources to retain. I think that's No. 1. And I also think that we have relationships with the players. We recruited the players. We know the families, we know the dynamic. Typically, that's the challenging thing when you take over a program. It's like, someone else established rapport and relationships with the players you inherit. They're out there in college football, you know, and then you're trying to establish trust, you're trying to evaluate them, they're trying to decide, 'Does he like me?' So, again, we're through that. We've done the heavy lifting. I think we're on the other side of that. I think there's four players maybe that we were here when we first started and they're some of our better players."

When the Gators take the field in 2025 it will be with a mostly home grown roster supplemented by a few transfers. In building his roster, Napier could have chosen the route taken by Lake Kiffin (Ole Miss), who seems to have mastered the portal, or the one favored by Dabo Swinney (Clemson), who only this year has begun welcoming transfers. Napier’s approach is in between Kiffin and Swinney. This year, for example, the Gators signed 27 high school kids and so far, only five from the portal.  

If this is a typical spring, there will be attrition although probably less this year than in the previous three. Some guys buried on the depth chart will be looking for a fresh start while some others who feel undervalued will leave in search of a better NIL deal. Whatever the reason, things will open up to add a few more from the portal.

“There's another cycle in the spring,” Napier said. “We have typically gotten through spring ball, assessed the roster. What do we need to go try to go address some things? Like (Elijhah) Badger last year. I think we were able to get a couple: Cormani (McClain), (Jason) Zandamela, trying to think off the top of my head here, but we added some pieces there in the second cycle that proved to be beneficial for the team. Look, you've got four opportunities currently to add players to the team. So we're going to use each cycle, take a good look at what we got and then trying to make good decisions.”

For the most part, Napier, his coaches and army of analysts have made good decisions about transfers. Not every transfer has been a success, but the Gators got it right with All-American right guard O’Cyrus Torrence (Louisiana), running back Montrell Johnson Jr. (Louisiana), quarterback Graham Mertz (Wisconsin), wide receivers Ricky Pearsall (Arizona State), Chimere Dike (Wisconsin) and Badger (Arizona State), defensive back Trikweze Bridges (Oregon), right tackle Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (San Diego State) and nose tackle Cam Jackson (Memphis).

Former transfers Caleb Banks (Louisville), Pup Howard (South Carolina) and George Gumbs Jr. (Northern Illinois) will play prominent roles in the 2025 defense. Wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant (from UCLA), who has 123 catches for 1,667 yards and 13 touchdowns, is the plum of the 2025 transfer class. Former Tennessee and Louisville quarterback Harrison Bailey gives the Gators an experienced backup for Lagway.

Whether it’s high school players or experienced guys from the portal, there is no one size fits all approach to adding to the Gator roster.

"I just think about putting together the best team cycle,” Napier said. “And look, you're evaluating the film, the production, and then you get into the measurables. Do they fit within the position description? Do they have the height, length, speed, the mental makeup, the character, the circle of influence? And then, now, there is the budgetary component, right? So, you got this huge puzzle that you're putting together. I think that every cycle we're going to sign players that we think fit and we don't reach. We don't take one that we don't (like). We just go to the portal or we go to February or we go to the spring portal. We just keep moving and keep evaluating players until we find someone that we think fits."

Going strictly by stars and big names, the high school class which features perhaps the best wide receiver group in the country – 5-star Vernell Brown III (5-11, 173, Orlando, FL Jones), 4-stars Dallas Wilson (6-3, 200, Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Tech) and Naeshaun Montgomery (6-1, 180, Miami, FL Central) and 3-star Muizz Tounkara (6-4, 195, League City, TX Clear Springs) – is the best of Napier’s four recruiting classes. The combination of end of year success and Lagway had a lot to do with how the Florida recruiting class went from rock bottom to top ten. Everybody wants to play for a winner, particularly when there is a dynamic force like Lagway who’s going to be around for another two years.

But it isn’t always about getting the biggest name. It’s about finding the right fit and players who figure to have productive careers.

“We haven't always signed the flashiest name out of there but I think we've been pretty spot on in terms of the production that we get,” Napier said. “So we're hopeful we’ve done that.”   

2025 HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS

WR Vernell Brown III (5-11, 175, Orlando, FL Jones)

CB Ben Hanks Jr. (6-1, 170, Overtown, FL Booker T. Washington

WR Dallas Wilson (6-3, 200, Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Tech)

EDGE Jayden Woods (6-3, 229, Shawnee, KS Mill Valley)

S Hylton Stubbs (6-1, 187, Jacksonville, FL Mandarin)

OT Tavaris Dice (6-4, 302, College Park, GA Langston Hughes)

S Lagonza Hayward (6-1, 200, Lyons, GA Toombs County)

EDGE Jalen Wiggins (6-5, 257, Tallahassee, FL Rickards)

LB Ty Jackson (6-1, 200, Fort Lauderdale, FL Seminole Ridge)

RB Waltez Clark (6-1, 197, Tampa, FL Plant)

QB Tramell Jones (6-0, 183, Jacksonville, FL Mandarin)

WR Naeshaun Montgomery (6-2, 178, Miami, FL Central)

DL Stephon Shivers (6-4, 384, Brentwood, TN Brentwood, TN)

TE Micah Jones (6-4, 242, Madison, MS Madison Central)

DL Jeremiah McCloud (6-3, 289, Sylvester, GA Lee County)

RB Chad Gasper (5-11, 208, Katy, TX Jordan)

OT Jahari Medlock (6-5, 281, Riverdale, GA Charles Drew)

TE Cameron Kossmann (6-6, 240, Chesterfield, MO Marquette Senior)

P Hayden Craig (6-2, 190, Mercier, Quebec/Bridgton, ME Bridgton Academy)

DL Joseph Mbatchou (6-5, 283, Loganville, GA Grayson)

LB Myles Johnson (6-1, 213, Brewton, AL T.R. Miller)

RB Byron Louis (5-11, 206, Fort Lauderdale, FL American Heritage)

CB Onis Konanbanny (6-1, 180, Columbia, SC Heathwood Hall Episcopal)

WR Muizz Tounkara (6-4, 195, League City, TX Clear Springs)

OL Daniel Pierre Louis (6-4, 332, Loxahatchee, FL Seminole Ridge)

PK Evan Noel (6-2, 154, Bay St. Louis, MS St. Stanislaus)

LS Mack Mulhern (6-1, 220, Scottsdale, AZ Horizon)

2025 TRANSFERS

QB Harrison Bailey (6-5, 230, from Louisville)

CB Michael Carraway Jr. (6-2, 195, from Southern Miss)

EDGE Kofi Asare (6-5, 250, from UMass)

WR J. Michael Sturdivant (6-3, 205, from UCLA)

P Tommy Doman (6-5, 215, from Michigan)