Billy Napier Sees Plenty of Potential in Incoming Gators TE Tony Livingston

For the Florida Gators this year, having a new coaching staff comes with plenty of changes in its recruiting tactics. The program will have to settle for a smaller class than typical, a characteristic of many transition classes due to mid-season or an end-of-season coaching change.

With Florida coach Billy Napier now in charge, getting the right players for his program has been the priority, and that includes incoming tight end Tony Livingston out of Tampa Bay (Fla). At 6-foot-4.75 and 225 pounds, Napier feels like Livingston's potential is through the roof, not to mention his 11-inch hands.

For reference, former Gators TE Kyle Pitts had 10 and 5/8-inch hands, grading him in the 93-percentile coming into the 2021 NFL Draft. That's significant and will likely allow him to become one of the better pass catchers on the field if he can put everything together.

#Gators 2022 TE/OL commit Tony Livingston (@Tonylivingston_) goes up and snags one at the Elite Underclassmen event in Orlando earlier today. @TheUCReport @TimBrewster @CoachHevesy pic.twitter.com/Hok6PwTBeT
— Demetrius Harvey (@Demetrius82) April 18, 2021

His potential is exactly what Napier saw in the young tight end, that signed with Florida as part of the Early Signing period last week. Under the previous regime, it was unclear whether or not Livingston would play offensive tackle or TE, but his weight has never gotten above 250 pounds, and he's a pure athlete, Napier said.

"I think that Tony is an athlete. I think that certainly we had to do a lot of research, right, in this situation," Napier said on early signing day. "He's a fantastic basketball player, unique dimensions. This guy is 6'4" and three quarters, he's 225 pounds this weekend, and he's got 11 [inch] hands. That's very unique. He's extremely long, and he's got a big frame.

"I think Tony is a survivor. When you guys start digging into his story, all the things that he's overcome, he came up unofficially this weekend. We had a chance to spend time with him, and just got a really good feeling from him about the type of person he is. He's got a good heart, and I think he'll be a good player here."

Those are the types of players that Napier says he wanted to include in his early signing class. While there are plenty of programs signing a litany of players, Napier doesn't have the luxury of bringing in everyone he might want. He simply hasn't had the time.

However, he did do plenty of homework on the guys he did bring in, and that includes Livingston, who fits the model very well, Napier said.

But, given his history and the potential that Livingston has shown, it is fair to question how quickly he will be brought up to speed at whatever position Florida will give him (for now, he will be playing tight end). For that reason, the Gators will treat the young TE as a developmental player, one with plenty of potential.

"I think he's got to work really hard this spring and certainly show up, but I think he's a unique athlete," Napier added. "If you watch the basketball footage, they had ground-level footage of when he came to camp here that we were able to watch.

"Then he comes in the door, you're digging into his story, we had a gut feeling that he's what we're looking for, and we're extremely excited about his potential. You know, we listed him as a tight end, and I certainly think that he can play that position for us."

Moving forward, look for Florida to continue adding players with potential like Livingston, and don't be surprised to see Napier's class full of high character and intrigue.

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