I forgot the gambling thing. Thanks for the correction. My point remains though, that the assertion that Spurrier inherited a mess with no QB in sight was not really the case. JMHO.
His recruiting alone will be the determining factor, but if he can land what I think will be one of the best classes (the 2023 class) then he should have the Gators winning big-time and I will be happy to have him. I really like coach Napier and I am rooting for him... and Gator football... all the success that he deserves... especially considering all the hard work he puts into his profession.
Last year it wasn't recruiting season, this year it's we won't play this weak? Our fanbase is becoming too permissive.
Except Spurrier inherited a lot of talent. Hall was an outstanding recruiter, even during the probation years.
I've been a fan since I came to UF in 1980, and, the lowest point for me was giving up 52 points to lowly Samford last year and watching them run up and down the field against our defense at will. I'm sure 0-10-1 1979 would have changed that for me, but, luckily, I missed that year. But the Samford game was my lowest level of optimism as a Gator fan, and, that includes Georgia Southern Day, too. We've got to fix this defense. Recruiting is promising in that area, though. We obviously don't have the talent (or at least coachability) right now on some parts of the defensive roster.
Without getting too far afield, my earlier posts to the "be patient Saban lost 6 games in year one" was to point out in year 1 SOS won a bunch. With a team that was 7-5 and 7-5 before SOS arrived. Funny how coaches who get fired can't win what all that talent. So right here in our own building we had a guy who was able to get it done year one. Let's compare CBN to guys who coached here - or else those who use the Saban year 1 need to be ready to talk about Saban year 2 (12-2). POINT? CBN is the right guy - look to Dabo and what he built. It took time and patience. Or Gundy at OSU. There was talent when CBN arrived. The Gators are one of the most talented teams in the country per 247Sports I'm patient. I just hate seeing him compared to season 1 saban .
We are in many ways the same team that lost most SEC games last year and lost to UCF in the Bowl game. Will not turn this around overnight. In 2 more years when players are experienced in his system and he has more players that fit his schemes we should be humming. If that is not the case in year 3 than we can have further discussions, The portal allows you to turn things around more quickly. We are a good QB away from winning the close ones. Someone that is accurate, reads the field and defense well and picks apart them with their passing ability can still carry us. Trask was better than Franks because he was calm or poised on pocket, intelligent, read the field well, and was highly accurate. Franks was the better athlete, better arm strength, better runner, …, but not the better QB.
We are the 12th rated composite rated team on 247. However, I look at some of our highest rated players and notice a trend…either they haven’t panned out or they were way overrated to begin with. For example, gervon Dexter is listed at .9946 but he’s nowhere near that in effectiveness. Lingard is a .9861 and he doesn’t really play as of yet. Jason Marshall is a .9855 but he’s not having a good year so far. The current staff has effectively been with this group for less than a year so I don’t know how accountable we can hold them. It just seems the development is not there and this could simply reflect transition or bad luck.
Disagree here. We were behind significantly to LSU and Tennessee and if not for late rallies could have been beaten pretty handily. I also thought beating UK was a long shot in the second half when our offense folded. I think we are lucky to have the record we do. Utah and USF could easily be losses.
To have stayed competitive in games with legitimate top 25 teams with an inherited inept defense and an inconsistent QB reflects well on our coaches. As a team tho we are not near winning all those games yet. Winning them would have represented extreme luck.
