Thought it would be interesting to see what others feel, think, or have observed in Year One coaches at higher profile schools. Given portals, recruiting, records this year, expectations. Grade hires. Brian Kelly (A - I hate him but he has far exceeded expectations) Lincoln Riley (A - First Year, in contention for Playoffs) Marcus Freeman (B Plus, rocky start, but team has jelled nicely and doing well) Mario Cristobal (F, Recruit ace but ends there. Team is not part of their vocab). Billy Napier (WHAT DO YOU THINK) Brent Venables (C-Minus) Dan Planning (B Plus) Actually a much better "team" than with Mario there. Sonny Dykes (A) First year in contention for playoffs.
I would give Napier a C. Not sold he can become a championship contender, but not going to judge his on the field product with the pieces he was given.
I'm not sure I would use the "pieces he was given" excuse to rate him. 2022 College Football Team Talent Composite
Thanks for posting the '22 Team Talent Composite. This is why UF should not be losing to teams like Vandy and UK. So many posters on here continue to bemoan the dearth of talent that Napier inherited. Twelfth strongest composite isn't exactly "ham and eggers!" Coaches need to look in the mirror and ask "how can I prepare this unit to play better?"
Most every team has holes. The key is what are you doing to A) develop players, B) play to your strengths C) compensate for your weakness. (ie, if you have a poor OT you help with a TE, poor db's you disguise coverages or blitz more. It may not always work but you become creative. Talent wise we are better than 3 teams we've lost to.
We’ve underperformed our talent level. Year 1 I can be okay with that. Kelly and Dykes overperformed talent level. So has Riley but he brought his OU QB. The other factor are coaching decisions and discipline within the game. CBN has been poor. Compare our 2 minute drill and special teams vs TCU. Massive, massive difference 6 of these coaches have classes in the top 12 right now. So we can’t really point to recruiting Tier 1 (coaching excellence) Dykes A+ Kelly A Riley A Tier 2 (good performance, good recruiting) Freeman B Lanning B Tier 3 (mediocre performance, good recruiting) Venebles C Napier C Tier 4 (disaster on the field, good recruiting) Cristobal D
Look the actual players listed and blame previous staff for the remnants we are using and the ones who choose to leave. Interestingly the WR targeted on last drive was a NA star rating. The ratings go down drastically given who is on the field. Also look at the star rating and classification of LB, OL, DL, WR. We are a paper tiger wrt to functional elite talent across the starting 22. I dare say we are closer to 3 stars than 4 stars with our lineup yesterday
In fairness to CBN this thread would be better evaluated if all things are considered and that would require the results of early signing day and how this season, including the bowl plays out. Right now, just as playcaller, the performance of the team and the current record (6-5) I grade him at C-.
But a win over FSU, hauling in a top 5 class and preparedness for a productive offseason, that grade moves north considerably.
Billy needs to give up the OC job for longtime security. He needs a professional DC, and for special teams, at least someone from the SEC Who can turn it around. I think we as a team in the SEC has gotten negative yardage, considering the 25 yard line is given to you if you take it. We have had 1 positive return this year and endless negative yardage situations. This goes without saying, CBN should be able to tell return men unless they catch a short kickoff, take the 25 yards they give us and I will be happy. To see this go on all year, blows my mind. This isn’t coaching from what I have seen in football, we have a group of posers, sorry. OC, DC and special teams coaching should be replaced quickly. Billy can be a good guy and keep them, but we will end up firing him pretty quick. We have been down this road before.
to what a C+...thats is high its going to get. May be an awesome coach from Sunday to Friday but what happens on Saturday is more important.