That’s why it’s embarrassingly comical when people, including sports writers, accuse fans of not giving a head coach time and being too quick to pull the plug. It simply doesn’t work that way in college football. Let’s say hypothetically we stay the course with Napier despite a 6-7 win season this this year because of “the schedule”. The constant discussion of his job security, combined with the lack of on-field results and development, will be enough to crush any chance of a good ‘25 class. So that means even if we held onto guys like DJ and LJ, by the time they’re taking the reins in ‘25, they’re being surrounded by three straight classes outside the Top-10, and therefore are the bright spots on an overall underwhelming team talent-wise. That equals another somewhere around .500 type season, more questions about Napier’s future, and further recruiting declines. It just doesn’t work. The portal/free agency element helps, but it doesn’t change reality.
As great as Tebow was in 2008, he depended heavily on guys from the ‘07 and ‘08 classes. Even as strong as the ‘06 class was, if those classes that followed were subpar because of a lack of performance, then there are no Pounceys, Wrights, Demps, Raineys, Dunlap, Janoris, etc. It’s why many of us called the Arkansas game last year the end of his run here. I wasn’t even expecting competitiveness in the three outings that followed, so that was his chance to at least get a bowl game and capitalize on the massive recruiting weekend. He failed, in part due to poor preparation(first two drives), in part due to stubbornness with the RB rotation(see who got us back in it and have us the lead), and in part due to his insistence on not having a STs coach. The failure that day was a great synopsis of his time here and why it will most likely be ending this fall. Nothing that we could do on the trail with current HS Jrs has any chance to help him.