- Joined
- Nov 17, 2011
- Messages
- 13,436
If they miss on their main targets this cycle I can see them missing the top 20. I don’t see them reaching on too many prospects and signing a smaller class while everyone else will land classes larger than 25.Billy was brought in because he was supposed to be a better recruiter than Mullen. Mullen was the Xs and Os game day coach who supposedly was too lazy to recruit at the “elite” gator level they expect. His classes were all in the 8-15 range. Although there was a lot of Al Golden type recruiting shenanigans where he’d take guys who had no shot of getting in simply to boost the recruiting numbers. I think it was the 2019 class where 1/4 kids either never enrolled or left school (transfer, kicked out) before they played a single game. Billy, the supposed recruiter upgrade, will be lucky to sign a top 15 class. If he does, it will be because he ends up signing a ton of mediocre recruits. He’s shot his load with local layups and isn’t in the running for any really big names besides Cormani (who they’ve supposedly lost a lot of ground on). Most of the cream of the crop have either already committed somewhere or have a final list that doesn’t include the gator. They’re likely ending up somewhere between 15-25 and that’s just not going to cut it in a “bump” year. If they don’t win really big during the season, their recruiting isn’t going to get any better. If Billy can’t sign anyone decent now, wait until after he goes 8-5 next year.
In terms of the Golden vs Napier comparisons. Napier has a way way better resume and record than Golden did but thus far his recruiting is straight boo boo. Golden landed about every single SFLA target his first year outside of Amari and maybe some else. But he got Duke, Tracy, Jelani, Bush and others. He did this all while the school was under ‘the cloud’. Golden ended up getting owned by Jimbo in the state but given the resources UF has ole sling blade should be doing much much better.