Any concerns when starters enter the portal?

So many starters. I am surprised no one signed wittermore yet.


How do you think of Nick savage? I thought that players loved him and he was doing great for our players strength. Not retaining him was a big mistake I thought back then.

 

The plan is still solid, but it’s now much more dependent on factors he has very little control over.

 

Good point. I wonder if there, indeed, are some problems with Football Strength and Conditioning. I am not at all sold on Mark Hocke. Just a hunch.

 

Bro none of O lineman were good before Torrence and our new coaching staff got here. Then they were immediately a top O line in all of football.

something tells me it wasn’t the players…outside of Torrence and maybe barber

 

Gotta get used to it. We'll benefit from it as often as not. Not saying it happens all that often, but if someone uses the transfer portal to further their education goals, more power to them. That's the system working as it should as far as I'm concerned.

 

We knew we'd have a lot of departures. Think I saw in another thread we have like eight spots left. Hopefully some solid portal kombat and NSD croots.

 

He's going to Mississippi State to play with his little brother, who signed a few days ago.

 

The benefit, if we keep the faith, is that Napier has a plan and changing the culture is Job 1a or 1b. Therefore, the players who come into the system will be more aligned to that culture (and likely fits his idea of what a position player looks like or projects to in the future). The obvious downside is that if you don't have enough mature bodies, it isn't likely we will hold up the entire season next year. And so the anxiety/frustration of this fan base isn't likely to subside.

And to the timing and maybe temperament of the thread, we see the losses and, besides the early signing period players and a couple of transfers, we aren't seeing the additions. It is premature to be raising red flags.

IMO, when you change regimes you WILL have fits and starts. If you have a successful coach and you replace them with an associate already in the program and we suddenly see radical changes, I would probably be more inclined to raise a red flag.

 

No bacon for you, but relying on things beyond your control is not a plan, it is a wish.

 

Yeah, this one puzzles and concerns me.

 

Right, and I never realized that White was a "problem." He was very high on the Gators when he signed, and developed nicely into an all SEC player. Lack of playing time couldn't have been the problem.

I don't get it.

 

Why was the players entering the transfer portal thread locked?

 

If I was to speculate, he and his camp must feel there is a better deal out there.

Also, maybe he wants to transfer to a team that will contend next season.

 

If that be true, then don't let the door hit him in the backside.

 

Come on Gator Nation, when it comes to young men and establishing discipline and a culture you "break em down to reform them into the desired culture"
References? How about the movie Hoosiers lol
He's burning it down thats for sure, nod to EoW, lol, trust the process.

 

I’m not real sure how you plan to create a billionaire that will buy you all the players you want, and even if you find that, the coach doesn’t control it. Any plan any coach we’ll ever have from here on out is going to be dependent on our fanbase forking out the money necessary to get the top players. The team is always going to be dependent on factors that they have very little control over. That money is always going to come from third parties unless laws get changed, and our coach is never going to have control of our fan’s checkbooks. He will always be reliant on them and will never control them.

 

Fair point. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Brave new world.

 

Agree - And the "Gator Collective" that was set up to be the NIL arm doesn't appear to be achieving the same results that the other big boys have put it place to but talent. They need to adapt and change quickly or we'll never be in contention again.

 

He isn’t going to get that much time, dude. I’m seeing questionable coaching decisions during games, no improvement (in some cases, regression) in fundamentals over the course of the season, established players running to transfer, and this much heralded recruiting class (which was going to make all of the naysayers eat crow) get progressively underwhelming as we approach Signing Day.

Maybe he is burning the barn to make the rats escape. Maybe he does have a master plan that only the genius can perceive and the insane lament. Maybe we will see some real improvements in 2023. I hope so. Truly I do. But if you made me bet now, I would bet that what you’ve seen is what you’ve got.

 

Hathcock seemed to have played a role in landing some of the bigger guys we got. At least him bragging about something coming before we knew what it was, he seemed to want us to believe that anyway. He’s definitely not playing on the same field that ruiz is though. At least not yet. Whether he will be that guy for us is yet to be seen, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. We just have to be appreciative of whatever’s he IS willing to do.

The other one that “shall not be named”, seemed to have some dysfunctional leaders. At least one of them is out now, we’ll see how they do going forward, but their model seems to be much more focused on taking care of athletes already on the rosters. They don’t seem to be as active in the hs market, but we really have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes. I was happy with a few of the guys they were able to bring back into the fold last year. Getting Castleton and Reeves to stay with the basketball team was a pretty big win for them, imo. They also played a large role in landing Fudge, at least that’s the rumor. They’re always going to be dependent on a bunch of small donors though. I don’t see them ever swinging around the weight needed to battle it out with Ruiz and the likes of him.