The boosters have to be willing to pay 10’s of millions of dollars in the next few months. I don’t think they will if Strickland is picking the next HC. That said, I don’t know if Napier’s buyout can be paid over time.
I do not understand the stupidity of the Gator boosters and/or fanbase.
They seem to believe that a public proclamation and/or declaration that they are "all in" on NIL, coming on the heels of Year 3 (all three years under .500) will suddenly fix the last 4 weeks of this HS recruiting cycle and then land them a magical recruiting class that will fix everything.
1. We are 26 days away from the December Signing Day. The Gators are currently in "Load More" territory, with the #51 rated recruiting class. The entire class hinges on a 5-star legacy and a 4-star legacy. After that, it is mostly "3-star U", both with their commits and prospects. There is no way to cover and sign a respectable HIGH SCHOOL recruiting class. It's just impossible.
2. Florida has never excelled in the Portal. They were #6 in Portal ranking last year, best they've ever done under Billy, and before you get your nads all pumped up, I'd like to mention that F$U was #7. It is hard to imagine squeezing so little production out of two such lofty Portal rankings. I'd say the Gators got 4 serviceable players from the Portal, the two WRs (Badger and ****) and two defensive players (Bridges and Howard). So HOW MUCH BETTER would the Gators have to be in the Portal in 2025 to actually IMPROVE the team? They would probably need to land 10-12 starters from the Portal, which is just insane.
3. And the "all-in on NIL" stuff? OK, great. Let's say they had all the money in the world to spend. Yes, that works great with high school kids and it may help them to retain guys already on their roster. But in order to land "SEC-SEC-SEC" caliber STARTERS out of the Portal, that type of player wants to join a good team in order to showcase himself prior to the NFL draft. The type of player that Florida needs FROM THE PORTAL is not going to pick Florida over a few extra dollars.
It's just not happening for Slingblade. Billy He is not "a couple players away". He is about to have a QB room that no longer includes Graham Schmutz, and features Lagway....and then a walk-on...who beat out the son of an NFL QB....who is likely to transfer out now anyhow...and the WRs are about to graduate or transfer...but Jadan Baugh is a good RB...
Nothing will save Slingblade Billy in just one year. He would be better off taking the "Jaden Rashada money" and offering $1M each to 14 high school kids to flip. And then begging the new UF President and AD (whenever they are hired) to give him ONE MORE one-more-chance to get things right in 2026.
