I personally think Billy can evaluate better than me. Arguably he did have the best 2023 Transfer QB in the Nation. Can't find any articles where the sports experts believed in Mertz. Our last All American, O'Cyrus Torrence, Billy found him as a 3*, and the two OL coach worked at his last stop developing O'Cyrus Torrence into another concrete All American outside the Swamp. Small things I like. The YouTube jOURney videos. The Social Media posts that UF played more Freshman than any other school, that had to be directed at some HS players.... Why did Bo Jackson go to Auburn? Bama RB coach told him he would sit a few years, Auburn HC showed up in his living room and said you can compete for the starting job. DJ Lagway said on one of the YouTube fan casts that he would like to sit behind Mertz one year. That's the worst part of not getting Bowl practices, DJ was going to participate in the Practices. Billy locked in on DJ when he was a Freshman in HS. Started the year has an average 4*, now a 5*, even on UGA backed ON3. I'm hoping DJ gets a few drives each game. Does Florida still have the hardest schedule in the Nation next year? I'm hoping we win the State of Florida Championship. Only have to be a top 12 team to have a chance. Just need a little Sign Stealing at that point (Joke).... off subject, TCU reversing their signs against Michigan last year is going to make a great 30 on 30, reminded me of the Pirate Mike Leach story as Sooners OC with the fake play sheet against Texas.
I was looking for actual $$s, not just the usual speculations /guesses. I keep hearing we lost player x due to some other school paying more or our administration holding Napier back. Paraphrasing - "If Napier fails at recruiting, it will be due to poor NIL (boosters) and/or the admin's lack of support". Just looking for some actual facts.
It's all about results. 6-7, then 5-7. Next year could be as bad or worse. Hope not, but I haven't been impressed by "The Process" so far.
It's truly hard to get any specifics. You would think there would be transparency around it all, right? I find it hard to believe the Gator boosters are to blame for anything. Afterall, some of these guys have ponied up huge dollars for the Heavener complex, now the stadium renovations. The Gator Collective now called Florida Victorious has some pretty hefty donors. Hugh Hatchcock and Jose Costa are some names that pop up on simple searches. It's still all a mystery to me how our NIL dollars compare to our SEC brethren and other teams. Maybe some GatorCountry writers can break the secret code and do an updated story. Nick? David? Anyone? Go Gators.
I don’t have inside information. I just read the claims of payments by other schools, and know we don’t have talent parity with the elite schools.
We absolutely agree. Gator Nation is now numb to the deterioration. I agree that a winning season is a minimum objective, while a MNC is the ideal objective, but there are many levels of gray between black (all) and white (nothing). Many years ago I read Albert Speer's autobiography Inside The Third Reich. When asked why the German people didn't act against Hitler sooner than the war, Speer rightly responded that Hitler's transgressions started at a low level, then gradually got worse and worse. By the time Krystallnacht occurred in 1938, the German people no longer had the outrage they would have had if it occurred in 1934. They too got numb to it all and rationalized themselves to oblivion with "But we love his policies," "He built back the economy," "He made us proud to be Germans again..." right down to, "Well the Jews never cared for Germany and only wanted to bleed our economy dry, yada yada." Fans do the same with "Napier inherited a dumpster fire," "defensive coordinators suck," "Napier needs an OC," "Our schedules were brutal," "We haven't figured out the Portal," "Boosters don't want to shell out big NIL money," "The opponents, refs, God, or whomever cheated us," "players don't give extra effort, instead waiting for the Portal, the Combine, et.," and a hundred other excuses. While I do think it will a LOT tougher to have a winning season next year, barring a Portal and recruiting collapse, we should also be better, but still: Miami...............Tossup, leaning win Samford............Win Texas A&M.........Tossup, leaning win UCF...................Win, but it will be a game @Tennessee........Tossup, leaning loss Georgia..............Loss Kentucky.............Tossup, leaning win LSU....................Tossup, leaning loss Ole Miss...............Tossup, leaning loss @Miss State..........Win @Texas.................Loss @FSU....................Tossup, leaning loss That is 6-6 for the season. In the Age of the Portal, bowl games have to be Tossup, leaning loss. We're going to have to pull out a couple of "leaning losses" to "leaning wins" for Bill and his staff to have a chance. Is it possible? Of course; one never knows which existing or incoming player turns into Jayden Daniels. But as General Colin Powell said, "Hope is not a planning factor."
No longer a thing. We now crown the champion by a playoff. The days of crowning a champion or co-champ by subjective voting ended ten years ago.
Interesting question. The answer starts with our definition of relevancy. Most people think the Gators have done much better over time than they really have. We have an all-time record of 733-436-37. If we call ties half-wins, that's a 62.3% win rate. Since our last national championship in 2008, our record is 119-72. So, if I did my math right, that's, amazingly, ... also 62.3%. So, the reality is that we have won over the last 15 years at exactly our average clip; no less and no more. Over that 15-year period, we have had seven seasons above that win percentage, despite the perception. The problem is not really the entirety of the last 15 years. The problem is the five unacceptable sub-.500 seasons over that period, including three in a row. That has to end. For me, I've seen three national championships, and no one can take that away from us. I don't expect that every year. But, I do expect us to be competitive every year. So, for me that breaks down to being in the 12-team playoffs every year in the future. That should be an attainable goal.
Florida will not be relevant for at least 4 more years. A process is one thing, a Coach who is the offensive coordinator who holds a conversation with a player on the sidelines who has already been ejected, is another. Don't talk to him. Send his axe to the locker room and focus on calling your game and coaching the players still IN the game. Napier will likely lead us to another 5 win season, which I can't stomach watching any more because I just can't watch stupid chit anymore. Dumbas play calls because you can't focus on them as you are the head coach. Napier, if you want to call plays, go to a little school. Then you have lackadaisical attitudes on the sidelines by the players and coaches, smiling and having fun when we're losing while committing idiotic mistakes, and on and on. The Gators have become a laughing stock. Not a single one of our opponents are afraid to play us any more. Unacceptable.
As far as I'm concerned, this fan base has been more than patient. They still fill the house most weeks. Enthusiasm is greater than it probably should be. I've expressed concerns about our future relevance considering our supposed intention to become the "Yale" of the south. I think we can give up a few rungs on the academic ladder to have what the Poodles have now. There is no reason in a talent rich state like Florida to be an embarrassment. We are what we are because that is what we let ourselves become. Garbage in Garbage out.
A company is only as good as its leadership. Stricklin and Napier are failures. When they are both replaced we have an opportunity to be relevant again.
Right now I think you're being generously optimistic. We're not going to be good enough to even be in the tossup category in most of those games you show that designation, IMO. I'm looking at a 4 win season, a continual steady decline in our program. Would love to be wrong.
Agree, we need to look better. Games like Utah and Kentucky can't happen. We can't show up and look unprepared, disinterested and get dominated. If that is still happening, then he has to be shown the door.
Agree. It's been the sale ole same ole for 2 years with nothing but excuses about "the process" and our young players. What about the veterans that are bailing on the program? We have regressed with no real sign of improvement.
He’s not getting a 4th year if we have another losing season. Period. That’s not a rebuild. That’s a loser.
Stop bringing up that “improvement can be shown in more than just the win-loss columns.” It’s absolute nonsense. I heard the same excuse before this season. This is competitive sports. Someone wins and someone loses. Win games. Period. That’s improvement.
How many Bull Gators objected to Hugh Freeze being hired here? Whoever they are, I hope they lose all interest in Gator athletics. What good is their money if they’re contributing to the degradation of the program? I hope the answer is zero but if we turned Freeze away because of a few donors we have bigger issues than the AD and coach.
My concern is that UF football did not make it back to the top (think: UGA, Bama, et.al.) in time to weather the NIL/portal storm on the strength of its reputation.
