Talent level for next year: Grade it

InstiGATOR1 said:

I wish some people would take a post like this more seriously. My quick thoughts subject to dramatic change after the transfer portal are:

QB: Richardson, DelRio/Kitna B- (There is too little depth and Richardson is too injury prone possibly. I say possibly since who knows how many games he would have been available for this year had the plan not been to live or die with Jones. The transfer from Ohio State if he comes might be a plus.)

RB: Bowman, Lingard, Wright, B (There is some talent here, but I am not sure it matches the run first Napier offense as well as Pierce would have.)

WR: Henderson, Whittemore, et al. A (There is great talent and lots of other candidates to fill out the rotation.)

TE: Elknis, Odom, Zipperer, et al. A (Again plenty of talent and this seems to be an important position for Napier who often plays two.

OL: Braun, Gouraige, Mincey, White, et al. C (White seems good, Couraige solid, the rest I am less sure about. I do believe that OLs are made not recruited so this will be a very interesting position group this year.)

DL: Cox, Dexter, Umanmielen, Watson et al. B+ (A pretty good group of potential starters, some depth but the depth at D-tackle is unproven.

LB: Borders, Hopper, Wingo et al. C- (An ok group but looks like many of the proven guys are gone and the depth is not great.

S: Johnson, Torrence, et al. D (UF has tons of young candidates here. Surely there must be someone who can learn to tackle and can cover a little among them. But I thought the same thing last off season.)

CB: Helm, Marshall, et al. A- (A little depth concern, but very good talent at this key position)

Specialists: Crawshaw, Smack, Underwood, B (Well Crawshaw is a good punter, but had some iffy efforts at key times. The other two are basically unknowns.)

Overall, this is a B or B+ roster if Richardson remains at UF and healthy for a year.

Where am I too tough and where am I grading too easy?

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Gatorbait25 said:

I’m excited about our secondary with Raymond and PT coaching our guys. For the first time in many years both safety and corner will have quality coaches and lights out recruiters . Obviously we need to see what the rest of the D staff looks like but the back end is under great hands . Don’t forget we will also have J Hill and Kamar back that weren’t available this season .

DL and OL will need about 5-6 new additions from the portal of guys that have played CFB with at least some level of success . I could see one of each position added on the DL. Then one guard and a RT. I think we would be okay with Tarquin. Braun on the other hand looks like a rotation guy to me . Not a 50+ snap player on the line .

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Uncle Rob said:

S You gave Torrence a D? Did you watch any Gator football this year? That guy is a stud and the best safety we have had in years. Johnson has played pretty well. I honestly think that this could be one of our stronger position groups next year.

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Theologator said:

Diwun Black at CB? Isn’t he a S or LB?

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Double Gator Dad said:

I think that Braun has the highest ceiling of any of our returning linemen. Try playing next to clowns like Delance and Garbage or Gaurage or whatever and see how any guard looks.
Couple him with Tarquin on the right side and that side will be fine.

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“We recruited with no home base, no foundation of what we were looking for,” a former Florida staffer told me. “The prevailing idea from the top down was we’re not begging players to come here.”

That’s how you end a 4-year coaching run at an SEC blue blood with 2 transfer portal starters on the interior of the defensive line.

That’s how you end a 4-year run with an offensive line that never got better, and at one point in the 2021 season, had 9 false start penalties in one game. The same line that, on the first play of the bowl game, was flagged for — wait for it — a false start.

That’s how you end a 4-year run with no receiver on the roster with deep speed to stretch defenses.

That’s how you follow the historically worst season in the history of defense at Florida in 2020, with an offense tied for last in all of college football with 18 interceptions in 2021.

When you have no recruiting identity, everything suffers because nothing is a priority. There is no rhyme or reason to how and why things fail.

They just fail.

“You know how many times I heard, ‘We’ll address that in the (transfer) portal,’” another former Florida staffer told me. “You’re the flagship university in the best state (for recruiting) in the country. You don’t need the portal for anything.”

You do when you have no recruiting identity, when there’s sporadic interest in recruiting from the head coach – and that attitude filters down to assistants and other personnel staffers. Whether you like it or not, high school players like to be wooed.

They like to be told they’re everything, and there’s nothing more critical to the success of your program. They like to feel important, and they want to know why you – and not someone else – is their direct path to the NFL.

So when the staff’s attitude – trickled down from the head coach — is take the next guy who wants to play for us instead of working harder on the better player, you end up with an implosion on multiple fronts.

Want to know why it went from 29 wins in 3 years under Mullen to the Gators’ worst SEC record since 1979? Because poor recruiting – and recruiting habits — finally caught up to the program.

Those things can’t be overcome in Year 1 of a new staff – no matter how efficient and proficient the staff.

This is what Billy Napier inherited. It will likely get worse before it gets better.

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GatorCatsi said:

May have been posted elsewhere, but SDS has a great writeup.

First and 10: Is Florida really that bad? In a word, yes

Excerpt:

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williston_gator said:

@AndrewSpiveyGC: Safety Trey Dean will return to Florida

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