Gators' Billy Napier Talks Plan for Spring Transfer Portal Period
Photo: Billy Napier and the Florida Gators; Credit: Alex Shepherd
Spring football is officially over for the Florida Gators and first-year head coach Billy Napier. The stage is now set for the program to head into the summer program with plenty of promise, but it also enters with plenty of questions, too.
The questions will come not just regarding how the team will ultimately look in the fall as far as wins and losses, but also how it will look so far as the roster itself. There are changes set to be made, absolutely, and Napier and his staff will look toward the transfer portal in order to make those adjustments.
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At least that's what Napier indicated following the program's Orange and Blue spring scrimmage last Thursday. Though the coach didn't want to get into specifics about the positions the Gators will target, he did indicate that they're looking for players can make the team better.
"From a personnel standpoint and everything that we do, we want to make every decision in the best interest of the team," Napier said. "There will be an opportunity. I don't necessarily think we’d turn down any good player, a player that can get it in our two-deep and make our team better, that’s what we're looking for.”
Of course, Florida wouldn't turn down a good player, the team has a need at multiple positions, including defensive line, wide receiver and perhaps tight end and linebacker depending on how the team feels after the incoming freshmen enter the fray.
However, getting players that fit not only the scheme but also the culture will prove vital moving forward as the program re-brands itself, so to speak.
Napier was posed that question as a follow-up last Thursday, curious how the team would operate when programs often have perhaps weeks, days or even just hours to pursue and land a top-tier prospect that has opted to transfer at the drop of a dime.
For the Gators, their team of recruiting assistants, along with other relationships coaches or other people within the program have with those players will be incredibly important, he said.
"You have knowledge of the player, maybe someone in the building recruited the player, someone in the building's connected to the area. But you're right, it is a challenge," Napier admitted.
"What you're [The Athletic's Andy Staples] describing there is exactly what happens every day in our building. A guy goes in or [the] rumor mill starts swirling this guy is going in. That's why we have an entire group of people in the back that's what they do every day."
Florida's recruiting support staff is massive. The program has over 10 members on its support staff that deal directly or indirectly with recruiting within the program. Those include director of college personnel Bird Sherrill and assistant for college personnel/on-campus recruiting Chase Clarke, who Napier singled out as being pivotal for their work within the portal.
The staff may do a ton of work that doesn't ever pan out, simply because the player opts to go somewhere else, but the work is being done around the clock. Still, it is a quick timeframe for an overall evaluation, making it that much more important for the program to be careful. You can't make a mistake, Napier says.
"So far of the young, the players that we've added to our team, we had a connection with them before they got here," he said. "I think that's what you're going to see for the most part going forward. But for me I'm much like you're describing, I want to make sure that we check on guys before making a decision"
The Gators aren't going to simply take every player that might come across the ticker on recruiting websites. They won't simply make a call that could potentially change an entire position group because the player has potential, either. The call will be made for players that fit, both within the program on the gridiron and also within the program from a cultural standpoint.
It's a long journey to finding the right fits, and while it may not happen as quickly as people want it to, Napier appears to be confident that the Gators will be able to find players that fit and make sure it's for the betterment of the entire team. Now, more than ever, the support staff will come in handy, and Napier's army will be ready.
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