This article does a good job of explaining the attrition Napier has experienced. The Gators’ 2023 roster is nothing like what Billy Napier inherited If I had to guess next year will be ugly, perhaps losing season ugly. The bowl game was probably a glimpse. I hope fans are willing to give Napier the chance he deserves.
A rebuild will always have a number of existing players move on for several reasons. Here are two. 1, They did not like the new coaching staff. 2, They did not fit in with the change of direction the team was going with.
The biggest surprise is the loss of two starting offensive linemen. Also, Napier painted a picture of players playing for the team and it looks like players didn’t buy into it. If players Napier brings in end up transferring out, then there might be trouble down the road.
We already have a better roster for 2023 than we did for 2022. I know that's hard to see right now, but when the sting of the transfers (everyone sees them as "losses" and guys "we have to replace") wear off, you'll see that we'll be better on the field in 2023. Happy to revisit this in May, when the roster is complete and ready to go for August.
I am not certain there is enough evidence to support that conclusion at this point. There should be some improvement in 2023 at some positions, but at others, I don't see it (e.g. QB and O-line).
Or he might be more like Saban, and Kirby (that's good when when it comes to the "talent acquisition business part"...) than we realize. We most certainly will see more attrition in the coming years, so you should expect this to be the new norm from now on. However, I would like more effort to keep our starters and talented backups on the team. That part does have to be fixed. Lol... I forgot to mention that I ignored them all.
Perhaps, but its a fools errand to count on true freshmen to start and be effective immediately. Perhaps a better statement would be we have a better, but less experienced roster for 2023 vs. 2022.
You can't win with the majority of the team being freshmen. They might be good but none are 5 stars and I doubt if any could start at Ga. LSU or Bama.
We still have more time to find good experienced talent in the portal. Wait till after the spring games...
I am not counting on freshman, never do. I appreciate your suggestion, but I'll stick to my statement. lol...Just messing with you. We have 6 slots left....Let's see how this shapes out.
I am ready to conclude that, yes. I was never affected by the transfers - only a few were "losses". Maybe just one, actually. I am not suggesting we're a complete team, but we're already better than last year. I am 100% ready to conclude that. Just take a little dive into the DL - we're going to be light years better than last year. Our glaring gap is at safety...we need 1 transfer there really bad. And while we all want a well-known and established QB....Replacing the production (not the ceiling), leadership, presence, etc of AR is going to very doable with Mertz.
At the least the Gators will have the second Napier signee class, and Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Class of players starting their second year in his system. The players and the coaches will be more familiar with each other. In other words there will be more effective teamwork going on. This will have a big impact on the Freshmen and the incoming Portal players.
The majority of the guys that'll play are not freshmen. As of today: SR = 5 JR = 24 (22 of which played a lot in 2022) SO = 17 (some major contributors are in this class, too). The overwhelming majority of the 2023 production will come from the Jr's and So's, with some RS and True freshmen production sprinkled in.
You need to make the distinction that Mullen players didn't. Doering was on I believe Finebaum and said he heard the current staff was happy at who transferred out. They were Mullen players that were never going to buy in or not talented enough for what the current staff wants. And we all know how poorly Mullen's recruiting ranking were so there is no arguing the talent was down with his rosters--and that's the ones who actually showed up on campus.
