Billy Napier isn't out-recruiting Dan Mullen at Florida...more good than great!

so in Gainesville the headlines not great because you are at the center of one of the biggest stories of this late uh recruiting cycle you know these last weeks and these last months if you're talking about recruiting to somebody who maybe only watches a little bit of college football or is just kind of around the college sports atmosphere we're talking about Jaden rashada uh the reports of a 13 million dollar nil deal that ended up not falling through he's released from his National letter of intent and then here one of the big stories of the day is Jane rashada admits to Arizona State Billy Napier however has been working on a lot of prospects in a signing class it does not include Jane Machado uh but still is also very important for the Gators moving forward coming off somewhat of a disappointing year one certainly a very disappointing finish uh to year one with that bold performance against Oregon State what's good about the Gators class and what are you encouraged by because clearly when you're number 12 there are very good pieces here that are going to be very important uh to Billy Napier and the the future of the program exactly so 12th in the country fifth in the SEC right we just saw South Carolina have a really strong day as well so they're kind of nipping at their heels there but when you add in Oklahoma and Texas now all of a sudden you're seventh in the SEC and that's not where Florida wants to be Florida wants to be at the peak of Spurrier recruiting right Urban Meyer when he was at his best recruiting heck Ron Zuck who recruited really well didn't win with those players but certainly set up Urban Meyer's National Title runs with the recruiting that he did they they did have the embarrassment of of the rashada situation which they flood and you had cormani McLean's recruitment if we can go back a couple months who he went to Miami and then I knew he was going to Colorado now but at the time Florida was kind of expecting that to be a bit of a coronation and instead he went to the Hurricanes at the time and it overshadows I think some of the good work that Florida is doing in this class right they really needed some help on the defensive line Kelby Collins is a Difference Maker I think I I liked him a lot during All-Star season he has the length he has the quickness to be a really special player for them I think Cameron James is another really nice SEC body that the Gators brought in and my favorite guy in their class maybe my favorite player in the entire recruiting cycle this year is jakeem Jackson is a guy that Ivan said I saw during a seven on seven like way back during covid and he was a receiver who was just starting to learn how to play corner and we were like oh this this guy might be the next Xavier Rhodes out of the state of Florida who if you guys followed recruiting or high school ball Xavier Rhodes receiver at Miami Norland switched to the corner and collagen was now like a you know 10 or 12 year Pro in the league so I like what they're doing from a defensive standpoint as well also Eugene Wilson is a really really explosive receiver for the Gators I think he's a guy that's going to get on the field pretty early at quarterback for UF here's the key they have DJ lagway committed they're you know five-star 2024 kit they just have to win I think it's fair to question like is ligo you're going to stay committed to them if they put up another losing record they finished split six and seven this year but if they have a nice year on the field which is possible you've got to look at the schedule they do open at Utah which could be tough then we might just totally forget about Jaden rashada in Florida because lagway can play and if they have a good year on the field I would guess that he would stay committed if they don't show improvements on the field and then lagway doesn't stay committed then I think that's when you might run into some problems so for Florida it's a nice Base Class I think it could set them up to have an even better class next year if they have a good year on the field and solve their quarterback problems but let's be fair here they fired Dan Mullen in Gainesville for having recruiting classes that rank 9th and 12th and this one ranks 12th the expectation for Florida which has won multiple national championships in both our lifetimes is to be up in that top five not in the top 15. so I understand why they're angry in Gainesville what what can close that Gap what would is it as simple as getting everybody in line uh off the field is it as simple as maybe some staff changes or you know a key hire here or there because you know Billy Napier had been a head coach for a while I mean heck he's he knew he knows Big Time college football he was at Alabama but he's here at Florida and things do not seem to all quite be in line one of the big compliments after the hire was made was that he was able to use that blueprint that he had from Alabama and from some of the other power five stops that he'd had to be able to say no this is what we need we need to staff up in this area we need to staff up in this area we need an investment in this football program that wasn't necessarily there and you would think that that would lead to the recruiting success in closing the Gap so I guess my question is what's stopping Florida from being able to make that jump right now it's a great question you use the word get in line I'm going to use the a word alignment right is Florida as aligned as they need to be every time we see one of these saving assistants get hired away they all basically preach the same Playbook whether it's Mario at Miami or Jimbo in Tallahassee or College Station or Pruitt Tennessee or must champ the first time in Gainesville they all kind of preach the same thing but it doesn't always work out a lot of those dudes actually end up failing so I think alignment within the program is is key obviously like not having a rashada situation would be a real real Advantage for Florida going forward if they could avoid that but you know I do think it's a bit of a wasted opportunity because you did have this nice sort of building block of a class that if you had a couple extra special pieces on it I think we'd be speaking much more highly about but you got to have a nicer year on the field this year it I don't know what Florida's recruiting looks like if they were to go you you know six and six or seven and five or or five and seven following up a six and seven campaign that's where I think it maybe starts to get shaky