Billy Napier Discusses the Florida Gators Approach to the Transfer Portal
Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: Alex Shepherd
The Florida Gators won't be hasty in using the transfer portal just for the sake of building a roster. Florida head coach Billy Napier was clear on Wednesday, shortly after the Early Signing Day period was essentially over when speaking about how the program intends to build its roster, including using the transfer portal.
Under the previous regime, the NCAA Transfer Portal was used like no other. The program essentially was built with it, with plenty of key players being acquired over the first few seasons under Dan Mullen.
While Napier will certainly utilize the tool to his disposal, there will be a pretty scrutinized view of who makes their way in and out of the program, too.
The first order of business for Napier was to acquire talent on Early Signing Day, then fill out the remainder of the class for National Signing Day in February of next year before taking a dive into what is essentially collegiate "free agency," the transfer portal.
"I think you're going to see this is just part of the game now," Napier said speaking with reporters following ESD, "and certainly what we need to do is build a really good culture here where players want to be as part of our organization and play for the University of Florida, and hopefully we don't have to deal with those issues unless we're wanting to deal with them."
RELATED: Gators Early Signing Day Recap: 9 Locked In, Including 3 Major Additions
The Gators have already lost a couple of key players to the transfer portal, including QB Emory Jones and linebackers Mohamoud Diabate and Khris Bogle. That is part of the process and will be the case with any regime change in college football. That's typically known as the "transition" period.
While Mullen's philosophy included building up a program through the transfer portal, making sure to fill each and every hole, Napier cautioned that this year, there will be some attrition with the roster itself.
"But in the meantime, there's going to be some attrition," Napier cautioned.
"I think that's reality. We also -- that creates opportunity, and we'll go to work. It's another way to acquire a player much like NFL free agency. The problem is we don't have a salary cap and we don't have schedule parity, so it's a little bit different dynamic."
That is the realistic view of what will occur under Napier's watch during the first few months. For ESD, the Gators signed nine prospects, including two of the top-ranked players in the class in safety Kamari Wilson and linebacker Shemar James. Of course, that is fewer signings than other programs that have been able to work through the recruiting season for longer than three weeks.
As such, the Gators are a bit behind the eight ball, but one thing that Napier was cautioned and told when taking advice from his colleagues around the country was to be patient, and that's exactly what he's going to do.
"I think I made several calls about the transition, 'Hey, what did you learn, what mistakes did you make, what did you do well,' and I think 'patience' is the keyword," Napier said.
"I think much like hiring an individual to work within the organization, I think the players are no different. I think you're basically coming into and understanding that hey, this person fits, this player fits, they can do the job that we're asking them to do."
Still, the players that the Gators sought out are program fits, and it's exactly why building your initial class is so important. While many will want things done quickly and expect results quickly, long, sustained success is where Napier's mindset is. That's a good thing.
"I think we've got a pretty good understanding of how we're going to play football here and the specific jobs that each one of these individuals is going to do. We've got confidence in the players that we signed."
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