Some Gems from My Guy Coach Billy Napier

It's a good class. I like who we got.

But our COACHES obviously wanted the other 8 guys badly, too (maybe not Jackson). LJ looks incredible, but we needed more on the DL. Lost incredible talent to rivals there. Love our 2 LBs, but 4 would've been better.

I don't view it as "on paper stuff". I'm not concerned about the ranking. I'm concerned that our class was absolutely gutted down the stretch. It should make us ask."why"? I don't think it's as simple as wins and losses, esp since Auburn and Miami were two of the teams doing the gutting. NIL, I presume, was a big factor. But then how did we get these top kids to commit in the first place.

I just think it is a sign of big problems within. Not a fluke or just something that "happens". No it doesnt, barring a head coaching change. Did aTm even lose as many commits as we did after Jimbo was fired?

 

Yeah, you gotta be an abject moron to still be defending Mullen and pining for him. The first year he didn't have majority Mac players he had a losing season. And the most impactful player he left for Napier was Ventrell Miller, another Mac recruit.

 

Blatant cash being thrown around and buying rosters is new. Before, it was hidden. We are not getting in the bidding wars is what it looks like. They were given fair deals and some couldn’t turn down the big cash.

 

Sure, and that can happen to anyone. But why did it happen DISPROPORTIONATELY to us? Did any of our rivals lose more than TWO committed recruits down the stretch? Most lost none.

That's the point several of us are making. We understand "this is the new college football". But I promise our commits weren't the only ones with last minute offers. But it looks like our commits were some of the only ones who took the money and ran.

We obviously won't know the "why"? It is all speculation, which is what these boards are largely for.

 

I thought about Napier and looked at Dabo Swinney. Dabo doesnt play games in the portal and recruits the traditional way, i.e. build relationships etc. His classes have been going down in rankings (top 10-15 most year), but he gets a few difference makers every class. Looks like the UF admin wants that model against the Kirby/Saban model of buying recruits and sustain that through winning. I think Florida could be insanely successful with the Bama/UGA model, but its likely that our UAA wants the clemson model. FOr that, we need stability at the HC level and once the winning happens, regular top-5-8 classes will also happen. I hope Napier get us there. Even if he does not get us to championship contention, we need to start having consistent top 8 classes for the next coach to win...This explains why I dont want a quick trigger with Napier. I would have supported the same with McElwain or Mullen had they not let the recruiting/staff hires suffer. Napier so far seems to have the willingness to make tough decisions with bad coaching hires. Hope his new hires work out.

 

I’m hardly a casual fan, Like I said already some of the criticisms of Mullen is his classes didn’t grade out 1-2 years later like they were ranked. So far Napier’s sure seem worse with starters leaving now to go to rivals!

 

His classes didn't make it to campus lol

 

It’s money. We were outbid for these guys and we don’t know if it’s a valuation thing or a lack of funds thing.

 

Although I agree with you, the Clemson model isn't going to work in the SEC.

 

My concern is that Napier had an outdated process that didn't account for NIL or the portal. I've mentioned before that I think he would have been perfect for the program 8 to 10 years ago. I think he's capable of evolving but he hasn't helped himself with his gameday coaching. My hope is that he is evolving even if we don't see it publicly. I can't imagine he doesn't feel the urgency given the all out attack from the big money whore programs as well as our rivals.

 

Georgia, and Alabama and Ohio State do not have to overbid for players. They are on top and very easy to recruit for. Why would you go to a team that has no chance of going to the playoffs? Miami, Texas A&M, Auburn those guys have to double the nil to get players to come.
we obviously are not playing the bidding game against Auburn and Miami

 

we had two good starters, leave this year, which is probably right in line with most programs, and luckily for us, EPN will not hurt too much. We have plenty of good running backs

 

And Florida isnt going to be Clemson. The point I am making is pertaining to recruiting approach and a culture based on relationships. Not the Bama/Uga model of win now or get lost to the players.

 

I agree - which is why I think the rebuild cannot be instantaneous in this era of NIL/transfer portal.

 

Its the best class we've had since all the way back in 2022 according to the professional raters

 

This is of course rank speculation, but considering how solid and unwavering Lagway was, we may have overpaid* him in relation to the remainder of the class. Maybe other worthy players in our class had "other" folks in their ear telling them they could do better at school x, and we were out of funds to counter. The team looking inept on the field in the last half of 2023 probably wasn't much help either.

*Can you overpay the #1 QB in the country?

 

Another reason I think we must have bet the farm on Lagway....the collective must have run out of cash to sweeten deals for those few that wavered.

 

And primarily because the environment now is diametrically different that when Dabo built Clemson. If that is the snake oil UF bought with Napier, we are in for a long bumpy ride.

 

We were ripe for negative recruiting because of our W-L record. The bad coaches on D hurt us. What a looking at is we could have lost more but didn’t. So something worked.