WHAT Will/Needs TO HAPPEN IN YEAR THREE!

2022 class, Billy's first class - top 5 recruits:

Kamari Wilson
Shemar James
Chris McClellan
Trevor Etienne
Tony Livingston (included the link because folks might think he doesn't actually exist)

One guy is still on the team and contributing 24 months later.

if you had a point, it must be riding on the '23 class - top 2 recruits, Ja'Keem Jackson (7 total tackles last year) and Kelby Collins (23 total tackles last year). Tre Wilson flashed potential and was misused/underutilized by BN the OC, and then we had 2 other 4star WRs who barely saw the field (Andy Jean & Adrian Mizell).

unless your bar for "incredibly stupid/lazy" is incredibly low, you are going to need actual data to back up your insults.

 

The wins and losses don't always tell the whole story. Coach has his recruits and upgraded coaching staff in place. If the team doesn't improve in 24 it won't. The one problem I hope he overcomes is the lack of in game tweaking on offense and defense. The offense has many times been very predictable. Also I agree with some other coaches that have commented on the passing game in reference to it needing to be more vertical. I won't have an honest position on what I think the ability of the head coach is until 2024 progresses.

 

BN has had his coaching staff in place since day 1 - what we see in '24 is the third iteration of his coaching staff. BN's whole thing is total control, so let's assume he is in total control.

wins and losses is where you lose me - they are everything. anything outside of W/L is just some dumb dudes slinging opinions on a message board, and the proof is in the pudding. predictable offense, yes. zero adjustments and no tweaking/terrible 3rd quarters, that has been a whole thread (like 10 this year). passing game not going North/South, definitely.

you don't have an "honest opinion" until we get into year 3? how is year 3 going to be different/set your opinion if we have BN calling all the plays and totally in charge of the offense just like year 1/day 1?

 

Simple guy here, I just want the correct number of players on the field wearing individual numbers. Perhaps if they lined up in the correct formations and did not run the entire kick team onto the field while the offense was trying to snap the ball that would be a nice bonus. Ohh and learn to tackle, that might help as well.

 

College player rankings, college player stats, NFL rankings, and our W/L all confirm the talent level is similar.

Your own evaluation doesn’t move the needle.

The reality is our 2021 offense > 2022 offense > 2023 offense. Mertz was a surprise but offense has been declining since Napier got here

And our 2021 defense > 2022 and 2023 defense.

If you aren’t going by collegiate rankings, nfl scouts, or results on the field…then what exactly causes you to think that our talent is better?

 

You mean the class Napier signed when he had been here for about three minutes? That class? Well at least those guys actually made it to campus and contributed. Yeah, Etienne hit the portal, so what? That's life in the new age of college football.

As far as Napier's long term track record is concerned, yeah, he gets an incomplete.....but the jury's already out on Mullen. He frequently signed guys like Chris Steele who transferred immediately or Arjei Henderson who couldn't even qualify.

 

As always, you're completely missing the point, while comparing apples and oranges.

This isn't a discussion about Mullen's teams against Napier's teams, or comparing their coaching abilities. Napier is clearly a better recruiter, and if you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you. Just keep hanging your hat on meaningless rankings, because that's all that matters.

 

Too hot and your not brain dead, you’re lucky.

 

Im hanging my hat on the overall level of talent. Outside of your desire, what exactly are you looking at that shows our talent will be better at the start of 2024 than it was at the start of 2021?

All you are doing is trying to act tough and use personal attacks. Do you have any evidence or not? I’ve actually provided data

And I said Napier is better with HS kids. But that’s only a third of your talent level. Your transfers in and transfers out also lead to talent, particularly experienced talent.

 

I firmly believe the program was on a downward trajectory under Mullen. I still believe that Napier is digging us out of a hole, and has the program headed in the right direction. Will he ultimately succeed? I don't know, but if he fails, it won't be due to poor recruiting.

One thing I do know is that I'm not naïve enough to form my opinions by the rankings on some website that lack the proper context.

 

Bill Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." We ain't very good and neither is Billy Napier until and unless he puts up more wins than losses. Pretty simple actually. And here come the "C'mon Mans" and "Disagree Bacons" without any facts to back up their positions. Just idiots who refuse to acknowledge the truth. Sad.

 

How ironic, considering you love to keep throwing the bacon at my posts without disputing a single point I've made.

For those of you who think Mullen and Napier's recruiting efforts are on the same level, let me ask you this. What happened with A&M's #1 class? Is Jimbo Fisher the best recruiter in college football? Because using your logic, that's exactly what the rankings say.....

 

I’m not defending Mullen

It seems you believe the talent is good because you want Napier to do well and for him to do well the talent has to be good.

I’m trying to take emotion out of it and evaluate the players.

Im fine ignoring HS rankings.

Which guys are projected to be NFL draft picks?

How many all SEC guys?

Heck how many guys that would be top 5 in the SEC at their position? We would have had 2….Princely and ETN who both left

Trust me I want us to have a handful of all SEC guys and a few first round picks. I’d love it. The difference is you believe it now because of your emotion with Napier. I want it, but I’ll believe it when it starts showing up somewhere.

 

Oh, you want to talk about projections? Last offseason, you told us time and time again that Mertz was a known quantity and was very unlikely to improve at UF and would need to increase his production by X amount in order for our offense to be good, blah blah blah.

So let's talk about the talent, using everyone's favorite method: rankings. Napier just brought in TWO of the highest rated kids (Lagway and McCray) despite our team's poor W-L record. When did Mullen ever have that kind of recruiting success?

Look, we can all have our opinions about whatever, and that's fine. But I get tired of hearing people spout off meaningless numbers, rankings, and statistics that lack substance and context to justify their opinion and state it as fact.

 

Mertz was roughly the 35th best QB in the country last year. Better than I thought he’d be (usually he’s in the 50s or so).

So let’s get this straight. You think our talent is better because of two elite recruits while simultaneously telling us recruiting rankings should be ignored?

Serious question…if the talent is good then why did we have a losing season? Why do we have no all sec guys in 2023 and nothing projected for 2024? Why do we not have NFL projected picks for this draft and next?

You are making it seem like you think we have elite players that are playing great and we are just unlucky to lose

I’m using factual data to show our talent is roughly the same. You are just giving an opinion based on emotions. Your only come back was two recruits after continuously saying recruiting rankings don’t matter.

 

^ LOL, you just don't get it.

^ lots of reasons that have nothing to do with Napier's recruiting.

^ you're putting words in my mouth, and your reading comprehension is as bad as ever. I'm done here.

 

Woah, this is just brutal.

 

I honestly can't believe I forgot about Marshall, but he's the lone player left that was ever good enough. I'm loving the Harris hire so I have faith the DB will take a massive leap.

No doubt anyone rooting for Billy to fail is absolutely no Gator fan. I'm hoping he's waiting on more dominoes to fall to at least grab a ST coach. Not having one will be his biggest bone headed move going into the season over not hiring an OC. I personally want an OC b/c I believe it would elevate this team a notch or 2 above what they accomplished last year, Billy needs relinquish the reigns.

The '24 schedule is absolutely brutal, but not as daunting outside Georgia, Ole Miss, & Texas. Fsu is going to be a shell of itself, miami is awful, ucf will be mid, HAVE to beat UK, UT is replacing like 80% of their team, the rest of our opponents aren't anywhere close to as talented. l

As for SS, I think he's on a MUCH hotter seat than Billy should be. IF Billy fails, SS should be the LAST guy hiring a new HC at the U of F!