Reasons for Optimism

Who are Florida-Gators-players who could be picked-in-2024-NFL-Draft?

This article is from April.
Dameion George made the possible NFL draft list.

I've been wondering who on our team would get drafted if they left early. Especially after watching them compete with UGA who lines up 5+ NFL caliber players on each side of the ball.

Princely is probably a 3rd-4th round selection.
I don't think Marshall would get drafted unless he kills the combine.
Barber, Montrell Johnson, Cam Jackson and Jayden Hill - UDFA.

I don't know why Mertz would come back. He's getting killed every game and next year could be more of the same. I think he is a late round pick and could hold a clip board for 10 years and make millions. He's probably CBN's top priority after Lagway.

I have a feeling Montrell will leave since RB's shelf life is not very long.

I think the entire OL is eligible to come back next year except for Hudson.
Jake Slaughter has done much better than I thought. Knijeah and Roderick need a big off season but the OT position needs to take a massive leap forward. A few OL need to hit the portal.

DL will be fine. I don't think Dez is SEC material at 450 lbs but everyone else on the DL is young and just needs more time in the weight room.

The rest of the roster is showing promise and a few potential superstars are emerging (EW3, Boardingham, Castell, Shemar and Scooby).

Coaching should improve too (fake punt comes to mind).

Add the 2024 class to this roster and a few portal players and we'll have a 8 wins next year.

 

You had me until the last sentence…
Have you seen our schedule next year?

 

Dont forget though, we’ll be returning the best QB in the conference. I think everyone we play next year will be having a first year starter (unless they get a vet in the portal)

 

If Mertz doesn't come back I will beg the mods to delete my prediction.
Seven games in the swamp next year plus all of that PT our youngins' are getting this year should help in '24.

And what Bobby said in #163.

 

You never mentioned any injury potentially playing a role in our poor tackling. Correctable doesnt mean with current players it simply means there is a solution to the existing problem. College football isnt the NFL we cant claim someone off of waivers or trade to improve our lot this year.

Wrt your disdain for the term correctable sorry it is what it is, only time is going to allow for additional talent infusions and S & C to bear fruit. We are more talented but underdeveloped this is an experience building year and was set as so with necessity of playing the most Frosh in the country. We are missing pieces and here and there but the nucleus of the program has been established.

many here want a whole home remodel without the resulting mess involved in the process and are dissatisfied midstream until they see finishing touches appear

 

Mertz is slow, but so is Brady in a slew of other Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Protect the man for god sake it will be hard to find an offense of line in the portal. There are a few lesser teams that end up with great lineman but the top 10 teams are all interested in paying them, and they only have a year or so left and want to win now.

 

Eight wins is doable. Don’t run and hide befor you even see the product.

 

Opponents teams' names doesn't mean à thing next year. Team's roster changes every year. I don't think Canes, UCF or FSU are going to be scary good next year.

 

I like that analogy.

 

I didn't say Shemar James was struggling with tackling, so why would I refer to his potential pregame injury, unless you are suggesting his knee issue caused the entire D to start missing tackles several weeks ago? The team could have had some bad sushi last night and that factored into the bad tackling. I could list an infinite amount of potential excuses or mitigating factors.

Saying something it bad right now does not mean it can't get better. It's disappointing in that I truly thought they had turned a corner based on their play early in the year. The regression has been disheartening. If that makes me impatient or unreasonable, then so be it.

 

Deflecting detailed responses to general observations bc they shed light on the noted areas of concern and responding with more yada yada about topics not addressed is tiresome.

So in one sense they did turn a corner earlier in the season, we were able to throttle a clearly inferior opponent (a skill clearly lacking for the last half a decade). As mentioned while we have better players on the field we dont have great players everywhere yet help is coming and BN gas a nucleus to indoctrinate the subsequent classes improvement is incrementally happening.

Pointing out the obvious without an apparent appreciation for the remedial steps and timeline to address the issues isnt impressive only “impatient and unreasonable” to quote an otherwise insightful poster.

 

Many need Dabo to give them the 12 yr old speech.

 

It's no consolation, because he doesn't have to be an elite gameday coach....he is an elite whole program coach. I'm sure that guy could get the Prez of the University fired right now if he wanted/needed to.

 

Of course its the players, but you have to obtain them and put them together into a team. You need a puppet-master, and in no uncertain terms, Kirby is that.

 

There's no doubt about that. I'm talking bigger picture and just how far ahead certain teams are from the rest. It's almost like they've been doing this NIL/Collective thing all along.

 

But what's going to stop that? Nothing. And, unfortunately, that's what the game has come to. Top-10 isn't good enough in recruiting anymore, you've got to be top 5, or even top 3 to have a chance. Coaching just doesn't matter as much. You'll never see a phenomenon like Spurrier again where the guy had a literal schematic advantage over most of his opponents.

 

Exactly what i was gonna write but thought it was too obvious

Thanks for posting timely advice for the gator “faithless”

 

EEYA

 

Yup, at Ten and you could be 6th in SEC

 

That is exactly my point.

Billy Napier doesn't need to be Steve Spurrier to win. He needs to acquire talent, develop players, hire good coordinators to call the game, and just not be a complete moron on gameday.

Easier said than done, though, especially in this conference.