I was surprised, sort of shocked that fsu had so many players drafted, I think they were tied to the most. I know we had a first rounder but any other guys? I wonder how many of their players who were drafted were portal players? The reason for this question is are they doing a better job evaluating and using the portal or is it NIL money that attracts them?
All of their biggest contributors were portal players. Both WR, RB, QB and DL. Whether the players are any good or not, the perception is that if you are undefeated (in the regular season ), then you must have good players. Even if that record was achieved beating crappy teams.
Florida had one of the youngest rosters in the nation last year. Freshmen and sophomores can't enter the draft. Look at who walked on senior day, and count how many of those players were starters and you'll see why we did not have many draft picks. Napier's ability to put talent into the NFL will be measured by the next two years (if he is allowed complete the job beginning to end). Napier's developmental accomplishments by year include: 2020: 2nd Round - G Robert Hunt 4th Round - G Kevin Dotson 7th Round - RB Raymond Calais 2021: 6th Round - RB Elijah Mitchell (963 rushing yards his rookie season in the NFL, a top 10 back in total rushing yards) 2022: 4th Round- OT Max Mitchell 4th Round - DB Percy Butler 2023: 1st - QB Anthony Richardson 2nd - DT Gervon Dexter 2nd - OG O'Cyrus Torrence (Played the most snaps of any rookie OL in the NFL this year) 3rd - LB Ventrell Miller 5th - WR Justin Shorter (Napier deserves a ton of credit on this one. The Bills loved Shorter as a deep threat because of what he did and how he was used his final year at Florida.) 6th - LB Amari Burney 2024: 1st Round - WR Ricky Pearsall 7th Round - OT Nathan Thomas (Part of Napier's 2019 recruiting class at Louisiana. He played multiple years for Napier and Sale. He was unranked coming out of high school.) Big picture...Napier's got a thicker resume of developing players on the offensive side than he does the defensive side, but we also cleaned house on the defensive side this year which matters. If you consider the resume of the current defensive staff and new offensive coaches what they were able to accomplish at their former stops, then you could also add: 2019: 2nd Round (very first pick) - DB Byron Murphy (Washington) 2nd Round - DB Taylor Rapp (Washington) 5th Round - DB Jordan Miller (Washington) 2020: 2nd Round - WR Van Jefferson (Florida) 4th Round - DE DJ Wonnum (South Carolina) 6th Round - WR Freddie Swain (Florida) 7th Round - WR Tyrie Cleveland (Florida) 2021: 1st Round - TE Kyle Pitts (Florida) (Yes, he was coached by Billy G) 1st Round - WR Kadarius Toney (Florida) 3rd Round - CB Elijah Molden (Washington) 5th Round - CB Keith Taylor (Washington) 5th Round - DE Kingsley Enagbare (South Carolina) 2022: 1st Round - DB Trent McDuffie (Washington) 2nd Round - DB Kyler Gordon (Washington) 2nd Round- DB Jalen Pitre (Baylor) 3rd Round - DB JT Woods (Baylor) 3rd Round - LB Terrell Bernard (Baylor) 7th Round - DB Kalon Barnes (Baylor) 2023: 3rd Round - DT Siaki Ika (Baylor) 6th Round - DB Eric Scott Jr. (Southern Miss) 2024: 5th Round- CB Nehemiah Pritchett (Auburn) 7th Round- DT Justin Rogers (Auburn) 7th Round- DT Marcus Harris (Auburn)
I counted three: Elam (Mullen Recruit) Richardson (Mullen Recruit) Piersall (Portal from ASU) None at ULL. Linky: 2024 NFL Draft Listing | Pro-Football-Reference.com
Napier's staff could really use Contra's great post to recruit. We know fsu's staff is going to be talking to recruits about how great they are at developing NFL talent.
True. A feather Napier has in the cap, though, is Pearsall went higher than Keon Coleman, Jonny Wilson, Ladd McConkey, Javon Baker, Jermaine Burton, Adonai Mitchell, George Pickens, etc. He actually went higher than any WR Norvell or Kirby have ever placed in the draft. Richardson also went higher than any QB Kirby or Norvell have put in the NFL. I anticipate Mertz will go higher than Jordan Travis did as well. And before we say...well Richardson doesn't count...remember Miami had a QB who was a 1st round pick who now plays for Wisconsin and is no longer a 1st round pick. It is possible to inherit a 1st round talent and completely ruin his career. Napier did not do that. He placed his 1st round talent within the top 5 of the NFL draft. Having a top 5 pick at QB, a 1st round WR, and the best rookie OL in the NFL last year is a big deal. Those are things many of our rivals we recruit against cannot say.
Let’s see how well Norvell does this year. Not impressed with slow, lumbering, highly traveled QB Uke. Holes lost a great deal of talent from team last year and this year may resemble the team that got trucked by the Dogs 63-3. In a nutshell, it is amazing how quickly an allegedly “phenomenal coach” in CFB can go from the cat’s bird seat to the frying pan. Miami has a much better QB in Cam Ward and a much better team overall compared to the Holes. The Gators overall talent is far superior to all the teams in Florida.
I think the stat was that Napier has had 6 WRs drafted in the first round while at Clemson, Bama, ASU and now UF. Was a WR coach prior to OC and HC. Should be attractive to WRs with Billy G and Nap focused on position.
I’m not as old as some of you geezers, but I think that might just be the most impressive catch I’ve ever seen at any level of football. Just for context, I will be 52 in June.
I believe staffs play a role developing players to be NFL worthy. Were I recruiting against UF and had eight guys drafted last season, I would talk about that- development. But overall, imo, putting guys in the NFL is about recruiting young players that have the natural athletic ability then nurturing that. Gifted players will likely be drafted regardless if they manage their business in college. Good staffs will develop through good coaching some who otherwise might not have been drafted. Having one or two drafted per cycle is something and over a number of seasons gives a staff something to talk about. But producing 5-8 a season is more impressive. Mostly, have to start with future NFL caliber athletes.
It's the best catch I've ever seen. I don't think it's crazy to say that one catch bumped his draft position an entire round.
I find it hard to believe that Florida fans don't understand this fact. When a majority of your contributing players are freshmen and sophomores; 1. Your team will struggle from time to time and 2. You won't have many, if any, drafted players.
We've had a lot of players drafted lately, mostly in the later rounds, but 10-20 years ago we had a kind of significant stretch with some smaller draft classes. 2014: 4 2012: 2 2011: 4 2009: 3 2008: 2 2006: 3 2005: 3 If you do some mental gymnastics of counting Pearsall, Hopper, and assuming in most normal years Princely would just go pro rather than transferring, that's about where we would be for a normal down year.
Nothing wrong with your post. Truth. The only thing we don't know is if our best players were on the field. We do not know. We just know that the players the staff wanted on the field were.
