Billy Napier explains how Florida evaluates, weeds out potential transfers

Going into his fourth season as the head coach of the Florida Gators, Billy Napier has had the time to build the roster there how he wants to see it. That doesn’t mean completely ignoring the transfer portal, but it does mean being selective about who he takes from it.

Napier recently shared his approach to transfers at SEC Media Days. There, he emphasized relationships when evaluating and weeding out potential transfers.

“The portal is becoming a little bit easier for us,” Billy Napier said. “I think because we have relationships with a lot of players. We’ve evaluated them in the past. We have relationships with them from the past.”

Those relationships for players become a key for Florida in recruiting transfers. It’s relationships with players potentially coming into the program and with those already in it. That even means having current players share thoughts on potential new Gators.

“I do think that we lean on our players in that situation. We try to get the player to campus. We use our veteran players as hosts,” Napier said. “And we ask them for input, feedback, about are they a good fit. I think nowadays it’s more important than ever to kind of protect the locker room to some degree. You know, the relationships. So, you can screw that up in a hurry if you bring the wrong person into that.”

The Florida Gators have the 64th-ranked transfer class in the 2025 cycle. That’s a class that has seen 20 players leave the program. However, the Gators have only added seven incoming transfers. Of those seven transfers, five are coming from Power Four programs. There are two new offensive players, four new defensive players, and a punter joining Florida from that class.

“So, we’re hopeful that we are less dependent on the portal going forward. I think maybe we took five or six this year. That number is going down for us,” Napier said. “But we’re always going to use it. I think you’re always going to have players that — you’re gonna have attrition. You’re gonna have guys declare for the draft. We’re gonna have some injuries. Maybe it doesn’t work out for some guys. So, we lean on our players. I think that’s worked for us. We’ve been very successful with our portal acquisitions. They’ve not only been productive on the field, but I think they’ve also brought an extra dimension to our team from a leadership standpoint.”

In the three seasons that Billy Napier has led the Florida program, he’s gone 19-19 overall and taken the Gators to two bowl games. However, 2024 was the team’s best season by record, going 8-5 despite hot seat rumors.

Now, heading into 2025, Napier and Florida are looking to build on that success. Hopefully, their approach to roster building and the portal help in that effort. The season begins for the Gators on August 30th against LIU.