Florida Gators Travel to South Carolina in Pivotal SEC East Divisional Matchup
By Florida Gators // October 14, 2023
kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA (Florida Gators) – The dominate-and-win-every-game-or-get-fired crowd on social media can get old.
Gators head coach Billy Napier has been a target. Miami’s Mario Cristobal took a turn on the dartboard this week. UCF’s Gus Malzahn can relate. Remember when FSU’s Mike Norvell was not qualified to be a bag boy at the local grocery story, much less in charge of the Seminoles? That’s life on the sideline in the 2020s.
Coaches are paid handsomely and criticism comes with the job. Still, perspective is important and for Napier, 19 games into one of the country’s largest overhauls seems a little soon to hand out a final grade.
The Gators certainly have gone through some public growing pains in the first half of the season, but the roster is young and significantly improved from a year ago. Florida’s trip to South Carolina is the latest opportunity to prove the program is making strides.
But win or lose Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium, the most astute fans should be able to see some promising signs. Napier is building for the long haul in the player acquisition business, and that starts far from what he does on the sideline.
It’s the blueprint he works from for every player he signs and the reasons why.
“We’re trying to develop right now a set of things that revolve around that [talent-fit-immediate-impact equation] — for me it’s not necessarily about whether they’re going to be able to play as a rookie, it’s more about are they going to stick,” Napier said. “Because I think player retention is a really important part of today’s world. You’ve got to get it right on front end or you’ll have this never-ending cycle of turnover that’s hard to deal with. So, you’d like to get stability in the roster and then you can spend time on other things.”
Napier’s talent evaluation deserves a passing grade so far, evidenced by the impact of newcomers on this year’s team.
But to use a word Napier often uses, ultimately wins and losses will determine the final grade. That is the case for every coach at every school.
While Napier and his staff have been solid in the transfer portal with offensive players such as O’Cyrus Torrence, Montrell Johnson Jr., Graham Mertz and Ricky Pearsall, they have built a young defense primarily by traditional means on the recruiting trail. They also got most of them on campus as early enrollees, which speeds up the process.
The Gators still have holes, but not as many as in Napier’s first season.
And if the plan goes accordingly, they won’t have as many holes in Year 3 as Year 2. Look for another wave of newcomers to arrive in January to continue the rebuild.
“I think it’s a big deal,” Napier said of getting players on campus early. “I think you kind of know, but sometimes we’re wrong. The guys you thought weren’t going to be ready to go are ready to go, and the ones you thought were ready won’t be ready. So kind of sorts itself out. There’s no doubt that some positions where maybe you have a need, if you can get them here in January, I think that’s a huge advantage.”
