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Heavener Center opens today - Aug 14th; provides wow factor, ‘50-year fix’ for Florida football

That makes no sense.

"Worth" in your context is a judgement call. Who are you, or any of us, to judge? If UM thinks he's worth it, he's worth it. It's their money, after all.

"Worth" in the market sense is "what the market will bear". This is also known as the "biggest idiot" theory. Normally used with collectibles, this is the idea that an item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The key is to find the entity willing to give you the best deal.
That is my point exactly
 
That is my point exactly
I would say the only person it is worth it to is the crazy rich booster blowing his money knowing it makes no financial sense. Its about like those crazy rich people that pay the crazy sums for the race horses where most end up not doing much at all and costing them a lot of money but holding out the very slim hope they will get a KY Derby winner eventually for the ego boost and bragging rights.
 
I would say the only person it is worth it to is the crazy rich booster blowing his money knowing it makes no financial sense. Its about like those crazy rich people that pay the crazy sums for the race horses where most end up not doing much at all and costing them a lot of money but holding out the very slim hope they will get a KY Derby winner eventually for the ego boost and bragging rights.

I equate it to buying new cars and useless things like that. They just want them on their team. They don't care about a return on interest. I thought they would lol but they don't.
 

We gotta find some money. Miami is slinging out the cash

Its actually those positions where limited NIL finds could be used wisely. QB, WR and RB is where you are going to have a bunch of big NIL busts I would think - especially QB. I am curious to see where Miami ends up on this as I thought we would be about the same when it came to NIL but they do have that one guy slinging money around.
 
A highlighting factor, and potentially the biggest win of the 2023 class to date, has come in the form of missing out on recruits that would have been mistakes if they had committed to UF. It's very good to have them go elsewhere, instead of coming to the Ville to mess up the Gator program. One of the biggest problems in recruiting is signing up gatorbait, instead of real, solid, GATORS...

So, the iG would like to thank those recruits that have chosen to go elsewhere. 😘


To the recent 3-star #78 OT that de-committed, thank you for that, and AMF....
 
A highlighting factor, and potentially the biggest win of the 2023 class to date, has come in the form of missing out on recruits that would have been mistakes if they had committed to UF. It's very good to have them go elsewhere, instead of coming to the Ville to mess up the Gator program. One of the biggest problems in recruiting is signing up gatorbait, instead of real, solid, GATORS...

So, the iG would like to thank those recruits that have chosen to go elsewhere. 😘


To the recent 3-star #78 OT that de-committed, thank you for that, and AMF....

I heard the Gators were really high on him. I think he's a good player. Miami is just throwing cash right now.
 
I heard the Gators were really high on him. I think he's a good player. Miami is just throwing cash right now.
Good players are all over the country.

And a good player, or even an excellent player, doesn't mean that he's going to be a good student/athlete for the Gator program, there is a difference....

JMOHO, but any recruit that chooses to join the scUM thugs in Mi-Am-I because they offered money, is really not who I'd want as a Gator. They are welcome to each other....
 
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Absolutely nothing has changed except it's now all out in the open.

Yep I would say it's expanded the number of players being paid and has brought a few schools like A&M to a new level of paying players. You also have the issue of the current starters getting disgruntled if some new recruit at the position is getting more NIL than them which could lead them to the portal.
 
Yep I would say it's expanded the number of players being paid and has brought a few schools like A&M to a new level of paying players. You also have the issue of the current starters getting disgruntled if some new recruit at the position is getting more NIL than them which could lead them to the portal.
Ok, well, nothing has changed in recruiting except that it's all out in the open, but the portal has changed things dramatically, because now you have to pay kids all the time they are there, whereas before, once they signed, the schools had the leverage. Now schools have no leverage at all.
 
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I was all for the NIL.

Use to be some dumb ish schools/players got in trouble for. AJ Green selling an Independence Bowl jersey, Johnny Football charging for an autograph, UF staff giving recruits T-shirts, Lane Kiffin sending some UT Co-eds to a high school game with signs. Dan Mullen giving a football building tour to basketball players. NCAA is dumb.

However I though the NIL would basically be Bo Nix doing a Milos Tea commercial, AR-15 selling a T-Shirt, dudes getting to sell their Birmingham Bowl game worn jerseys, etc etc.


Now we have these weird collectives and such.

Soon I'm going to be the get off my lawn guy because college athletics aren't like they were back in the day. Conference and regional rivalries that made sense and kids that actually went to the school because they liked the facilities, crowds, and academics.
 
100% of the schools can throw money at dozens of recruits/players, but there's still going to only be One Winner, with a 100+ pathetic LOSERS pissin' their money away.

With all of the fans for every team but one, becoming more disgruntled by the day....

CLUSTER....
 
100% of the schools can throw money at dozens of recruits/players, but there's still going to only be One Winner, with a 100+ pathetic LOSERS pissin' their money away.

With all of the fans for every team but one, becoming more disgruntled by the day....

CLUSTER....

I think fans will remain engaged as long as the team is contending some years.
 
I think fans will remain engaged as long as the team is contending some years.
NIL is going to put coaches on an incredibly short leash (like they aren't already now lol). Boosters upset because they are giving 5 times as much in donations for a school that can't win more than 9 games (and at some schools an even higher bar) will require a sacrificial lamb.

I can hear the booster meetings where the complaints are "I'm giving 5 times as much in donations so we could get the best players and we are getting the same results we always did". Heck, for schools that were already buying players, the boosters will be even more upset, having had to double their donations (they were already giving more to buy players when it wasn't legal) and seeing their team slip back to the pack, because more schools are buying players so they can't get as many elite players.

Fan means fanatic, we all know, and a fanatic just isn't going to realize that if lots of teams have similar rosters, going 12-0 is going to be next to impossible. Parity, of a sort, is coming to the NCAA, or at least there will be a larger group of "haves".

But we have certainly seen the end of the same 5-6 teams vying for the 4 spots in the CFP every year. Maybe it will get to a dozen? Even that would be a vast improvement.
 
NIL is going to put coaches on an incredibly short leash (like they aren't already now lol). Boosters upset because they are giving 5 times as much in donations for a school that can't win more than 9 games (and at some schools an even higher bar) will require a sacrificial lamb.

I can hear the booster meetings where the complaints are "I'm giving 5 times as much in donations so we could get the best players and we are getting the same results we always did". Heck, for schools that were already buying players, the boosters will be even more upset, having had to double their donations (they were already giving more to buy players when it wasn't legal) and seeing their team slip back to the pack, because more schools are buying players so they can't get as many elite players.

Fan means fanatic, we all know, and a fanatic just isn't going to realize that if lots of teams have similar rosters, going 12-0 is going to be next to impossible. Parity, of a sort, is coming to the NCAA, or at least there will be a larger group of "haves".

But we have certainly seen the end of the same 5-6 teams vying for the 4 spots in the CFP every year. Maybe it will get to a dozen? Even that would be a vast improvement.

It will be interesting to see it unfold and I could see boosters burning out on too much of this after a while. The SEC is going to be especially nuts with this once Texas arrives. Not sure what LSU is doing here but the two Texas schools, Georgia and Bama are going nuts with it I think. Ohio State appears to be the only real big player with this in the Big 10 but soon USC will be there and they bought a lot of expensive portal players this past year. Curious if Miami keeps doing crazy stuff as they gave a portal offensive lineman like 800k I think.
 
Curious if Miami keeps doing crazy stuff as they gave a portal offensive lineman like 800k I think.
Fever,

Agree - hard to see $800K for either one of these OL; but both of them will have up to 4 years of eligability left so - $200K / year ?

May be predicated on performance - becomming / staying starters - OR - perhaps this is the new baseline "pay" for an OL - IDK

These are the two OL transfers Canes took since Jan, 2022 -

Jonathan Denis - OG - 6-3, 285 LB
Cane head coach Mario Cristobal and OL coach Alex Mirabal recruited this 4* OL, out of Homestead South Dade High School, to Oregon in 2020. Because of injury & pandemic he has four years of eligibility left

Logan Sagapolu - IOL - 6-3; 340 lb
A consistent snapper, both under center and in the shotgun and a pure, natural center. Will serve a church mission right away and return as a 20-year old freshman. Projects as a multi-year Power 5 starter and a third-day NFL draft pick.
 
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The NCAA / School Presidents have sold their souls to become Semi-Pro feeders to the NFL.

If you want amateur sports, you're going to have to drop down to HS football, and even there?? You've got the IMG type of HS football factories...
 
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Fever,

Agree - hard to see $800K for either one of these OL; but both of them will have up to 4 years of eligability left so - $200K / year ?

May be predicated on performance - becomming / staying starters - OR - perhaps this is the new baseline "pay" for an OL - IDK

These are the two OL transfers Canes took since Jan, 2022 -

Jonathan Denis - OG - 6-3, 285 LB
Cane head coach Mario Cristobal and OL coach Alex Mirabal recruited this 4* OL, out of Homestead South Dade High School, to Oregon in 2020. Because of injury & pandemic he has four years of eligibility left

Logan Sagapolu - IOL - 6-3; 340 lb
A consistent snapper, both under center and in the shotgun and a pure, natural center. Will serve a church mission right away and return as a 20-year old freshman. Projects as a multi-year Power 5 starter and a third-day NFL draft pick.
Well, if it were me, and I could get away with it, I'd backload it. I'd have a big number they could announce to the press, like 800K, but there would be a base of say $40-60-100K years 1-3, with big bonuses for returning for years 4 & 5. So while the announcement is $800K, if he goes pro after 3 years you are actually only out of pocket $200K (and if he transfers you are out even less). You sell it to the kid as an incentive if he decides to stay, and insurance if he needs more work to become a high draft pick, but of course he will make a lot more in the pros if he's a first rounder, so if he's a star after three years he can go pro and get a lot more. And if he's a bust, the coach can always "convince" him to go into the portal, minimizing the payout.
 
When will the New Football Complex Open & Other Thoughts

Perhaps Paco will have an update ?

Does Recruiting Matter - of Course it does !
I see it as a necessary precursor; but not a guarantee of CFB success.

UGA, under Kirby Smart has recruited well for several years; but until last year, the ultimate prize - the NC - eluded them.

Post All Recruiting National Championship Jokes here !

Gators need a level playing field to compete with Bama, UGA. TAMU, etc.

Billy has made many changes in our approach to recruiting - the biggest being the expanded support staff. The new support staff still getting its feet on the ground, but you can already see the difference & hear it from recruits.

Napier has had a huge number of quality players on campus; many for multiple visits. He has his system in place & is making all the right moves when he gets them on campus.

Another huge change will be the grand opening of the new $85 million stand-alone football facility.

Sad to say 18 yr old kids are impressed by such things; especially when Bama, UGA, & others point out what they have & what we lack; finally, ours is just a few months away.

Last I read, Florida plans to at least partially open the facility for player use between the Summer A and Summer B semesters.

The Summer A term officially ends on June 17, while the Summer B term begins on June 27 and the coaches plan to move in before the team officially opens fall camp.

It’s one thing to be a top-shelf offensive coordinator, or play-caller, but as we saw last year when the roster under the hood was exposed, there wasn’t much meat on the bone - We lack Talent at key positions & DEPTH.
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/f...dentity-and-gain-buy-in-from-florida-players/

Short term, Napier & his staff are having trouble closing on the top level of recruits - several reasons for this -

Napier has no SEC wins; has not even coached an SEC game, he lacks a winning presence at the Power 5 level (unlike Kelly at LSU); Gators are coming off a down year (hence the coaching change), Gators not the NFL pipeline it was in the past.

NIL & how other schools are using it - no control over that.

IMO, it’s going to take Napier 3 or 4 years to re-build the Gators into a program that can challenge Georgia on a consistent basis.

Bama - hopefully, when Saban retires ?

https://247sports.com/college/flori...ility-will-be-huge-day-for-program-188165064/
 
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It means a lot. It isn’t the end all but look at who is winning national championships and then tell me how well they recruit.

Truth...Don't get the players and you don't have a chance.

Last 4 Combined Recruit Class Average Rankings:

UF 10.5 ----- Utah 35.0

If it matters so much with Bama at 1.5 and Ugly at 2.5, then you guys got some 'splain-N' ta-do....

UF is only 8 ranking spots behind UGly, while Utah is 24.5 spots behind UF.... 🤓
 
It is my understanding that UF, the UAA, the AD, and the HC have nothing to do with the NIL money, nor were they ever supposed to. The Alumni and both local and national business who want to buy endorsements are where the NIL money is supposed to come from.

Broadly speaking, NIL money refers to the money that you can now earn by signing NIL deals and marketing your name, image, and likeness. The exact amount of NIL money that you can expect to receive is going to vary depending on your social media following, market value, and the sport you play.

Sports attorney and NIL pioneer Darren Heitner recalls receiving a direct message from Eddie Rojas the morning that the NCAA adopted the NIL interim rule . The former Florida baseball star described a business model that pooled together cash from boosters to provide opportunities for student-athletes.

The two tossed around names for the organization. A month later the Gator Collective was formed. Rojas is now the CEO of the leading Florida collective. That first organization set off a firestorm of donor-driven collectives across the college athletics landscape. Use the link for the full story.

 
It is my understanding that UF, the UAA, the AD, and the HC have nothing to do with the NIL money, nor were they ever supposed to. The Alumni and both local and national business who want to buy endorsements are where the NIL money is supposed to come from.

Broadly speaking, NIL money refers to the money that you can now earn by signing NIL deals and marketing your name, image, and likeness. The exact amount of NIL money that you can expect to receive is going to vary depending on your social media following, market value, and the sport you play.

Sports attorney and NIL pioneer Darren Heitner recalls receiving a direct message from Eddie Rojas the morning that the NCAA adopted the NIL interim rule . The former Florida baseball star described a business model that pooled together cash from boosters to provide opportunities for student-athletes.

The two tossed around names for the organization. A month later the Gator Collective was formed. Rojas is now the CEO of the leading Florida collective. That first organization set off a firestorm of donor-driven collectives across the college athletics landscape. Use the link for the full story.


Yep the Gator collective was a good idea to help take care of many of the current players and keep them from bolting to another school for more cash. So far market value is being thrown out the door by some of the really rich boosters at some of these schools when it comes to getting these highest ranked recruits signed and some are also overpaying the top transfers also. Also you have some coaches coming right out and telling the boosters what is needed to get the classes they want - see the OSU coach's comments and they are clearly buying a bunch of the highest ranked recruits now. Only 4 of the state of Florida's 23 recruits in the national composite top 100 have signed with a Florida school so far (3 with Miami and 1 with FSU) but 7 of them have signed with out of state schools.
 
The NCAA's stated intentions:
The players will now have a chance to get a share of the schools earning off of their players, by using their own NIL.

The actual outcome of NIL:
Now the schools alumni/boosters can outright BUY a recruits commitment by offering non-standard CASH under the NIL cover, instead of the old $100/handshakes, or a free car/truck etc...

Wouldn't be a complete fix, but imo, the NIL money, or even the talk of NIL money, should only be made available to actual players that are already on the team/roster. Policing it would be the hard part, but at least it would be an attempt to correct the present recruit buy-out race....
 
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The NCAA's stated intentions:
The players will now have a chance to get a share of the schools earning off of their players, by using their own NIL.

The actual outcome of NIL:
Now the schools alumni/boosters can outright BUY a recruits commitment by offering non-standard CASH under the NIL cover, instead of the old $100/handshakes, or a free car/truck etc...

Wouldn't be a complete fix, but imo, the NIL money, or even the talk of NIL money, should only be made available to actual players that are already on the team/roster. Policing it would be the hard part, but at least it would be an attempt to correct the present recruit buy-out race....

I wonder if it would hold up in court if they actually tried to truly enforce the players not being able to enter NIL deals until they are actually attending school. They might say you can't make it against the rules if the deal doesn't start paying out until they are in school.
 
Under Talking Season - This - That - and the Other....
Nothing of value was left on the roster for the incoming Napier....

On Offense:
QB Anthony Richardson - Maxwell Award Watch List, projected 1st Rnd ED to NFL.
RB Nay'Quan Wright - Doak Walker Award Watch List
OC Kingsley Eguakun - Rimington Trophy Watch List
Napier did bring RG O'Cyrus Torrence (named to All SEC Team) from ULL.

It's even worse on Defense...
Preseason All SEC Teams includes Gators at all four levels.:

FS Trey Dean III
ILB Ventrell Miller
BUCK Brenton Cox Jr (OLB/DE)
DT Gervon Dexter Sr

Jus-damn, that looks like some rock solid building blocks for the 2022 team to me...
==========

The iG's projected starters entering Fall Practice:

QB Richardson - RB Wright - TE Zipperer
LT Gouraige - LG White - OC Eguakun
RG Torrence RT Tarquin - 6th Braun
WR's Shorter - Henderson - Whittemore (Pearsall?)

2021 Yds/Rec: (Tot. Rec)
13.60 WR Weston (5)
13.41 WR Shorter (41)
12.71 RB Wright (14)
12.09 TE Zipperer (11)
12.08 WR Pearsall (48 @ AzSt)
11.05 WR Whittemore (19)
10.65 WR Henderson 26)

FS Trey Dean III - SS Torrence II
CB's - Mrashall Jr - Hill/Helm - NiC T.Johnson/Kimber
LB's Ventrell Miller - Burney - Black
BUCK Brenton Cox Jr - SDE Umanmielen
DT Gervon Dexter Sr - NT Watson / Humphries
 
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Dad,

Since living space in the new facilities seems to be lmited to 50-60 players; guess they figure the rest- upperclassmen ? - will be living off campus.

Walk-ons & rif-raf basketball players not allowed ?

I had to pay rent for my dorm room per academic quarter - class of '73-before the semester system.

Assume the rent for these apartments is part of their scholarship ?
 
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