Elmhurst is just a few exits west of us. Might have to catch one of their games. Saw somewhere that we're pursuing a player from Kankakee.
...and Clyde Crabtree, Walter Mayberry, Charley Laprad, Chuck Hunsinger, Rick Casares, Wes Chandler, Larry Smith, Carlos Alvarez, John Reeves, Tommy Durrance, etc., etc., etc...
Trick question! Football didn’t exist before 1990. Sadly, alot of truth to this.............. at least when it comes to Championship level football. Which makes me wonder why so many UF fans, including on this board, seem to ignore the history of UF football. Yes Pell won a couple of SEC titles that were not officially recognized, not recognized by cheaters, whom were appalled Pell used the very same tactics, as themselves. (Good ole boy SEC crew). SOS did not sniff a title while he was QB, nor did John Reeves, or Wayne Peace. Doug Dickie? Should be burned in effigy every year at homecoming as a reminder as to whom "NOT TO HIRE". That crap STILL RANKLES. We had a terriffic coach! UF went DECADES with a mediocre brand of pigskin. Hell, half centuries. Finally broke through in the 1990's (5 straight SEC titles, 1 national title) and then again with Urban. As much as I enjoyed that run from 1990 to 2008 - Thats 15 years in the past. We are living on old, frozen meat that no longer satisfies. While we currently must suffer through the humiliation of our most hated rival, UGA, doning a second consecutive crown. Time to face the music, 6 - 7 and 6 - 7 with a projection to be somewhere around that figure again in 23. Maybe worse. As much as I love UF we ARE NOT a dynastic football power. Had a chance.........until Urban went bonkers. Ain't been much since if you ask me. Getting beat by Bama over and over with PB and J and CDM, mostly by blowouts, in the SEC championnship game is not much to brag about. Whats our current 5 year record against Vandy and Ky????? 4 - 6 or something like that? Vandy and Ky...............(OMG). Hey, we bottomed out. I will leave it up to the experts to explain why, although I could care less about the past failures. We are not the only ones.........FSU and Miami both hit the skids, although FSU did resurface last year. I do not agree with the posters that say UF just needed the right coach and we would bounce back in a year. I say B.S. on that. Our program developed foundational rot, looked for quick coaching fixes, and did not want to compete with the infrastructure, recruiting and capital requirements established by other successful programs in the conference. FWIW I do think UF took a long look in the mirror and decided it did want to compete in the SEC. The Lemerand Facility, the hire of Napier and continued capital improvements, NIL adjustments, all demonstrate that committment. Now, it's about time and patience. We will suffer next year, maybe even the next 2 years, record wise, but if Napier continues to recapture the state in recruiting, especially in the top 100 and top 50 categories, UF will be back in a position to compete for championships. (IMO).
Great post. There’s so much perspective about our program that many people here don’t have. We stand no chance for a return to greatness without stability. 4 to 5 years minimum without a coaching change, at a bare minimum. But here’s the dilemma: giving every coach 6 years of patience isn’t a solution either. Giving Muschamp, Mac, and Mullen more time would have only set us back farther. So we need patience, but we can’t waste time being patient with the wrong guy. On the other hand, if we don’t give a new coach sufficient time to prove himself, we’ll continue to have a revolving door and no championships. For the sake of sanity and respect in our discussions, we need to consider everything associated with Coach Billy Napier’s first 18 months here (including, but not limited to a 6-7 record last season) and objectively evaluate what we have. Objectively look at “pros” vs. “cons” of the man he is, and what he’s done so far. We also need to factor in the reality of the situation he stepped into, and what he’s doing about it. We need to focus our exchanges on the facts - or at least our interpretation of the facts, without letting emotion, frustration, or impatience get in the way. We won’t all reach the same conclusion, but it might make our discussions more purposeful because we all (well, most of us) want the same thing in the end. My take: the only big “con” I can think of so far with CBN is a shitty first season. The rest of his vital signs look quite solid. I think the “pros” far outnumber the “cons” at this early stage. So what say you folks? Objectively, based on all we’ve seen so far from CBN, where are you on the “pros” vs. “cons”?
I'll bite. Pros 1. He has a documented plan: Every detail matters - GatorMade, recruiting, practice, support staff, nutrition, work outs, classroom, etc... everything has been outlined of exactly how/when/why it should be done. It worked really well at his last stop. 2. He fits the profile: He is someone we can be proud of and represents the university really well. (McElwin was an odd dude, Boom was embarrassing on the field and Mullen was too abrasive. When you start losing the personality of the coach will accelerate their demise.) 3. Recruiting: He built an army of recruiters and has made this a priority. If he doesn't work out the next guy will have a lot of talent. Cons: 1. Plain Jane Is he too vanilla for UF? Gator fans like to score points. Napier is going to win by playing ball control O, dominate on D and win the ST battle. We aren't putting up 35 on many SEC opponents. TBD: 1. X's and O's It's too early to have a strong opinion on this. On D -- I love his defensive hires and think we'll be very happy with the results on the field. This group will be the strength of the team in 2023 and dominate in 2024. On O -- I appreciate a strong ground game but that isn't enough anymore. Without a mobile QB, we have to develop a decent mid-range passing game. As @Gatorrick22 stated, a few 4 wide sets might be needed this year. ST -- We have staffers that are paid to find opportunities vs each opponent ... and Napier sees the value in ST so they'll rep it in practice to capitalize on those opportunities. We have some shifty players now so I'm assuming we'll be excited about our return game again. This group should improve in 2023. Summary - we got the right guy.
Thank you Skink and back at you - great post! I agree with everything you posted. My eval of Napier: He did, and said everything I was hoping to hear when he hired in. Enthusiastic, personable, he had a SERIOUS program plan he wanted to implement - I think he calls it the 8 steps? I was happy. Then - Came some realities: Slow out of the gate recruiting. (Talking bump class) Slower and less productive than I anticipated. But to be fair, he faced the biggest changes ever experienced in college football with NIL, the Transfer Portal and Conference Re-Alignment. The season - Boy did I drink the Cool-Aid. It was tough. Inconsistent as hell and the defense just plain stunk. Finished with a whimper. Defense was terrible, special teams was pedestrian and thats probably over-ranking it. QB play and the passing atack was really dissapointing. The bowl game was a horror show. Good news is CBN gained good momentum recruiting Florida based kids, but that was in the under top 100 state of Florida HS rankings category. Transfer Portal - I defer to more knowledgable posters but it seems to me it was a "wash" when you consider whom came and whom went. Sure seems like FSU does better than UF in that area. I wrote 2022 off. I place it at the feet of the previous staff and the administration. 2023 - Recruiting is hot out of the gate and more importantly we are getting those top 100 types early, which UF could not do last cycle. For me - I can take being fair to middling AS LONG as CBN is recapturing the state recruiting wise. Oddly, UF is doing wonders in Texas, I want to see more of that in Florida in the coming months. I'm on the ship that is looking for UF to be competitive the next couple of years on the field, but recruiting MUST be in the top 5 in the country, not just the SEC, the entire country. Anything less means the Gators are losing traction when it comes to dominating the East and hopefully the SEC. I want to see what this staff can do coaching wise when they have studs at every position. Then we will find out if they can coach a lick or not. Sorry for the length..........
After Kirby pulled the fake field gold against Bama, everybody was certain that he was too stupid to win a national championship. He’s not a dynamic coach, but if you can recruit at a high-level, you can win.
The only thing I might disagree slightly with is top-five recruiting. We need to get in the top five every other year or so but think about who the top five schools are it might be closer to staying within the top six or eight and bumping up to the top classes once in a while.
