Stricklin's vote of confidence in Napier, along with our resurgence and winning streak, has opened the flood gates.
Vote of confidence. DJL CBN Winning Football Power of UF / Gator Football Kids want to come to UF. The facilities are upgraded, more upgrades are in the planning stages, but more importantly kids feel they have some security by committing to Napier now. DJL looks like a young man that may acheive great things with a supporting cast. It's stunning how things can change on a dime for a program. The start of the year, it was Miami and TAMU, right now, it looks like their odds of getting into the playoffs ain't much better than UF's. FSU went into a nose dive in Dublin and still has not come out of it yet. FSU is in program crash mode and the bottom still may not be in site. I know the FSU folks are thinking Norvell can get a QB and "get right" with the Portal, but thats fools gold as recent events have shown. Yes, Norvell happened to create, and have in place, just enough pieces to have a great 2 year run. But thats ancient history now. He is on one of the hottest seats in the nation at present. The H.S. recruiting foundation has not been that strong @ FSU under Norvell and looks to be bottoming out again. The talk I'm hearing out of FSU is the faithful are hoping he can scrape together a 6 - 6 club for next year, provided the portal is good to them. We shall see.
While I am 100% on board with you and Rick, I also think one has to realize the well is not bottomless. Numerous other programs with big NIL backers are in the mix for the same kids we are. I think UF has done an exceptional job to fill holes, bring in a nice roster in areas of need and hit some awful good licks on high 4 star defensive studs. I'm afraid I will temper my expectations like this: The class is currently at what 23? Anybody else is gravy man. I tip my cap. Depending on the service, UF has gone from what 51st, to ESD top 10th? Sure I'm hoping for another cherry or two, absolutely, but irregardless, Gator Nation went from recruiting dispair to commit, after commit, after commit! Well Done!
From what I've heard our Gators have really upped the NIL fund and are essentially going all in. I think the last few spots end up being two 5 stars and two 4 stars. Basing that totally on rumors.
Quite satisfied. Napier got a lesson last December. No doubt we will get valuable portal guys also. It would be crazy if we get even one.
Agree. The NIL spicket for us turned back on when Stricklin said Napier was going to be retained. Smart move by Stricklin, who so many posters wanted fired. Boosters pay the buyouts. They don't want to do both.
I have also heard such prognostications, and I am certainly glad UF is in the mix, which undoubtedly, we are. But if you plug in 2 5 stars and 2 4 stars, I suspect thats entering top 5 category, or perhaps even better, in most services. My experience is that it is very unusual for UF to have a close like that on NSD or ESD with un committed recruits. I absolutely hope you are correct. Yes, the word on the street is UF is very bag friendly right now, but I will have to see to believe. As I stated I would be tickled pink with just one more at this late stage of ESD. 4 more? 2, 5 stars? Like I said, gotta see that.
Didn’t the boosters already raise the money for Billy’s buyout, but then the team started showing some drastic improvement. The buyout money was then redirected to the Gators’ NIL fund
Pledged and raised are two different things, but it’s fairly obvious some money was freed up after Stricklin’s announcement.