Former Gators voice support for Billy Napier, what he's building at UF

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After a disappointing 2023 season, Florida coach Billy Napier will spend the final month of the year building for the future. The transfer portal opens Monday and signing day is on Dec. 20, when the Gators can lock up their top-five 2024 class.

Over the next few weeks, Napier and his staff have to hold on to a few commits, try to land some more recruits and navigate through the portal during a critical time. In the last transfer cycle, the winter window proved to be more fruitful than the spring period.

Of course, it’s not just recruiting transfers from other schools, but retaining players on your own roster. Napier started exit interviews with the Gators this week. It’s a dynamic that didn’t exist when former Florida linebacker Brandon Siler played from 2004-06.

“A lot of things have changed over the last few years,” he told Gators Online. “The obvious thing is NIL and the transfer portal. So, when you come into a place like Florida, you’re gonna have guys that get recruited away, guys that get in the portal. You need to recruit your own guys.

“Coach Napier also needs to bring more of his guys in, whether he gets them out of the portal or recruiting, which he’s been doing a good job with. A lot of our players on the field this year were really young guys. That’s one of the reasons we’re running into issues when it comes to wins.”

The Gators started out 5-2 heading into their bye week but ended the season on a five-game skid, including four losses to top-15 teams. They also lost in overtime to Arkansas after missing a game-winning kick.

The highlight of the year was Florida’s 29-16 upset over then-No. 11 Tennessee, marking Napier’s first win over a rival. Gator Great Trey Burton was back in town for that game to serve as celebrity Mr. Two Bits.

Burton also returned to Gainesville last year to attend Napier’s event for former players.

“See, I think Billy’s a rock star. I love what he’s trying to do,” Burton said. “What he’s trying to do is really hard. It’s not something that is gonna be able to happen overnight, definitely not something that is easy. To build a program, it takes a lot of time. Not many people can flip the switch right away. Obviously, the University of Florida should be able to produce a really good product every single week and we should we ranked every single week. We should be competing for national championships.

“But we’ve been so far from that the last 10 years that it takes a lot of time to build it back to where it was with Urban [Meyer] and [Steve] Spurrier. So, everybody that I talk to who’s close to the program that knows Billy or is around him, they all love Napier and they understand it takes time. I can understand the frustration from fans, but everybody who’s close to the program really likes him and loves what he’s doing. And so, he has to keep getting the right guys in there.”

A pair of transfer portal signees, redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz and senior receiver Ricky Pearsall, had breakout seasons in 2023. Mertz threw for a career-high 2,903 yards and 20 touchdowns while leading the SEC in completion percentage (72.9%) and fewest interceptions (3), and Pearsall was one of the league’s top wideouts with 65 catches for 965 yards and four touchdowns.

Mertz, who missed the FSU game and the fourth quarter at Mizzou with a broken collarbone, announced Thursday that he’s returning to UF for his final year of eligibility.

The Gators had a strong start to the season defensively but struggled down the stretch against the better offenses on their schedule. Injuries and inexperience held them back, losing starting defensive end Justus Boone in camp and leading tackler Shemar James after eight games. They also played several freshmen and second-year players in their starting lineup and two-deep on defense.

It was not a youth movement, according to Siler, but a reflection of the roster.

“I don’t think it’s something that somebody intends to do, right? Like, ‘Oh, we’re just gonna play for the future. So, all juniors and seniors, we’re done with you.’ That’s not something that you plan to do. It just ended up being that our best talent was young,” Siler said. “We gotta keep recruiting well, and that talent will be a year older next year.

“All those guys will have experience and actually have played on the field. And I think that over time, we just gotta let Billy get a hold of more kids like he’s been bringing in and get some talent here to where we’re not the youngest team on the field every time we get out there.”

In addition to Mertz and Pearsall, running backs Montrell Johnson Jr. (817 yards, 5 TDs) and Trevor Etienne (753 yards, 8 TDs) and receiver Eugene Wilson III (538 yards, 6 TDs) — all Napier signees — were among the offensive standouts, with Wilson earning a spot on the On3 True Freshman All-American Team on Thursday. Defensively, safety Jordan Castell led the team with 60 tackles.

Castell was one of seven true freshmen to start or play in every game this season, along with safety Bryce Thornton, cornerback Dijon Johnson, linebacker Jaden Robinson and EDGE rushers Kelby Collins, Kamran James and TJ Searcy. Redshirt freshmen defensive linemen Caleb Banks, Jamari Lyons and Chris McClellan all made starts as well, while cornerbacks Ja’Keem Jackson and Sharif Denson made 11 appearances.

“I think that’s part of the culture change. You have to play your guys and I feel like Billy’s done a great job of recruiting,” Burton said. “I don’t think anybody can complain about the way he’s recruited and the time and effort that he puts into that. He’s obviously done really well. And so, you’re starting to see a lot of his guys getting in there and they fit with the scheme he wants to run from an offensive and defensive standpoint.

“It’s just fun to watch these guys that make big plays and then gain confidence. And then you see them the next week make another big play and those weeks just stack on top of each other. So, the exposure that some of these young guys are getting was big time and it’s gonna definitely help propel us to where we want to be over the next few years.”

Despite the W-L results, Burton and Siler are both encouraged the players Napier has added to the roster and believe he deserves more time to stack recruiting classes and develop that talent. They also recognize his first two seasons have not been up to the Gator standard, and he needs to win more games.

That starts with winning on the trail and in the portal.

“I think we have to do a lot of the things that we’re doing. We’re going to have to do better in the transfer portal and get a couple impact guys that’ll be good for us. And I think we have to keep recruiting well,” Siler said. “I go back to the experience and the young players that are out there. I think those kids as they get older, as they understand the system, as they have experience actually playing on the field, I think it’ll get better and we’ll have a team that is competing for SEC championships every year.

“But typically, we’ve been quick to pull the trigger on our coaches when we see something out there that we don’t expect, right? The fans have their way of the Gator standard as well. But I think in this instance, we have to stand behind Napier right now. Understand that we have a young team. I know Scott Stricklin basically feels that same way. Where you get your guy, you believe in what he’s doing, but you know that it’s going to take some time for us to get back to where we all expect us to be.”