Blue Chip Billy: Napier signs UF's best blue-chip ratio since Meyer's last class

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•12/22/22•

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Just call him Blue Chip Billy.

In his first full recruiting cycle, Florida coach Billy Napier and his staff signed a total of 20 recruits from the Class of 2023 on National Signing Day. Of that group, 16 were blue chips (four- and five-star recruits).

With 80 percent of the class falling in that category, it marks Florida’s best blue-chip ratio since Urban Meyer’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class at UF in 2010 (85 percent).

Napier also more than doubled the blue-chip ratio from his 2021 transition class (35 percent), which ranked No. 20 nationally. The Gators’ 2023 class cracked the top 10 in the On3 Consensus Team Rankings.

“I think, if you’re into rankings, to have a top-10 class in the first year, just really proud of our staff and all the hard work that went into that,” Napier said Wednesday. “Time will tell if our evaluations were spot on.”

In their first full recruiting cycles, former UF coaches Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen had blue-chip ratios of 65, 40 and 60 percent, respectively.

Since the 2010 cycle, the Gators have only signed four recruiting classes with a blue-chip ratio higher than 70 percent (2011, 74%; 2020, 75%, 2021, 73%; 2023, 80%).

Here’s the full list of Florida’s blue-chip ratios since Meyer’s last class.

2010 class blue-chip ratio: 85 percent

2011 class blue-chip ratio: 74 percent

2012 class blue-chip ratio: 65 percent

2013 class blue-chip ratio: 68 percent

2014 class blue-chip ratio: 50 percent

2015 class blue-chip ratio: 38 percent

2016 class blue-chip ratio: 40 percent

2017 class blue-chip ratio: 58 percent

2018 class blue-chip ratio: 65 percent

2019 class blue-chip ratio: 60 percent

2020 class blue-chip ratio: 75 percent

2021 class blue-chip ratio: 73 percent

2022 class blue-chip ratio: 35 percent

2023 class blue-chip ratio: 80 percent

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