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Football Thoughts on this Florida team moving onto 2024......

At this point in time, I only care about 1 opponent, and that's the scUM thugs.
Trying to play out the whole season before it even begins is an waste of time imo.
More talented teams get upset all the time, that's why they actually play the games...
The Gators have lost to both Candy and Kensudky in recent seasons for example.

One game at a time.........
 
At this point in time, I only care about 1 opponent, and that's the scUM thugs.
Trying to play out the whole season before it even begins is an waste of time imo.
More talented teams get upset all the time, that's why they actually play the games...
The Gators have lost to both Candy and Kensudky in recent seasons for example.

One game at a time.........

I think Napier was pretty consistent the first 2 seasons. Have one good home win each season but lose to all of the other better teams at home and find a way to lose to a terrible Arkansas team. Then on the road lose to all the better teams plus find a way to lose to Vandy. If Napier keeps his standards the same this might be close to the 2024 results. History says Napier should find a way to lose to either Miss State on the road or to lose to either UCF or KY at home. LSU would seem like a candidate for his one good home win. Ole Miss would probably be the other candidate for the one good win.

Miami - loss
Sanford - win
A&M - win
@Miss State - loss
UCF - win
@TN - loss
KY - win
GA - loss
@TX - loss
LSU - win
Ole Miss - loss
@FSU - loss
 
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I think we are clearly better but the problem is many of our opponents are also. As far as the early games Miami on paper is much better than last season and has #10 talent area in college football imo. A&M has a coach that knows defense and they should be right at the top again in the SEC in defense. If they beat Notre Dame that first game we will be in for a very tough game with A&M in the Swamp. UCF should be an improved team if that QB reverts back to his 2022 play and while there is no excuse to lose that game UCF has some talent on that team.
It's going to come down to coaching and calling some good games. Last year our defense was swiss cheese and the offense ended up being decent but truthfully CBN has some real head scratchers along the way. Also we had some good players but no depth and we were always playing for behind. That's all gone, we've upgraded, have more depth and hopefully coaching can elevate us to some wins for a decent season with a better looking team.
 
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It's going to come down to coaching and calling some good games. Last year our defense was swiss cheese and the offense ended up being decent but truthfully CBN has some real head scratchers along the way. Also we had some good players but no depth and we were always playing for behind. That's all gone, we've upgraded, have more depth and hopefully coaching can elevate us to some wins for a decent season with a better looking team.

I hope we can elevate our game enough. Our D linemen looked the part at these early practices. Looked like they should be decent against the run at least.
 
Brutal schedule. I see only 1 sure win, a bunch of most probable losses and a few toss-ups. Hope for the best and keep pulling for the Gators in all kinds of weather.
 
Brutal schedule. I see only 1 sure win, a bunch of most probable losses and a few toss-ups. Hope for the best and keep pulling for the Gators in all kinds of weather.

:) Don't forget Sanford dropped more points on the Gators in that first half a few years back than any team has ever scored in a half at the Swamp.
 
GUPzSDSWUAAWXvV




We can win it all this season.....
 
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Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier was asked about the progress of his prized-freshman quarterback DJ Lagway.

"Just overall comfort level in the system I would say," Napier said at his press conference last week when asked about Lagway's progress. "Yeah, I had a conversation with him the other day coming off after practice one, and you say, 'I know that wasn’t perfect, the practice day is never perfect, but just think about where you’re at now compared to where you were at you know after spring number one."

 
Passing defense doesn't start with the safeties and the corners. That's were it ends, but it starts with the DL.
Do the 2024 Gotors have any competent DE's???
I believe that they do, with players that predated Napier's arrival at UF.

The 2 biggest areas that I see for the coming year will involve the ST's play, and the overall 'Team Conditioning.'

https://www.si.com/college/florida/...-sapp-reveals-key-change-in-2024-01j4s071b0td
==========

Florida head coach Billy Napier added former New England Patriots assistant Joe Houston to the Gators staff over the offseason to bolster his squad's special team unit.

 
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Passing defense doesn't start with the safeties and the corners. That's were it ends, but it starts with the DL.
Do the 2024 Gotors have any competent DE's???
I believe that they do, with players that predated Napier's arrival at UF.

The 2 biggest that I see for the coming year will involve the ST's play, and the overall 'Team Conditioning.'

https://www.si.com/college/florida/...-sapp-reveals-key-change-in-2024-01j4s071b0td
==========

Florida head coach Billy Napier added former New England Patriots assistant Joe Houston to the Gators staff over the offseason to bolster his squad's special team unit.



I havent seen anything to make me think we have a good SEC level pass rusher at this point. Boone hasn't had a chance to show if he is decent at it or not and Sapp while not being bad at it certainly isn't a top notch SEC level pass rusher to date. The one who we knew was pretty good at doing it is at Ole Miss now.
 
Passing defense doesn't start with the safeties and the corners. That's were it ends, but it starts with the DL.
Do the 2024 Gotors have any competent DE's???
I believe that they do, with players that predated Napier's arrival at UF.

The 2 biggest that I see for the coming year will involve the ST's play, and the overall 'Team Conditioning.'

https://www.si.com/college/florida/...-sapp-reveals-key-change-in-2024-01j4s071b0td
==========

Florida head coach Billy Napier added former New England Patriots assistant Joe Houston to the Gators staff over the offseason to bolster his squad's special team unit.

They may not have top level talent, but if they play hard every play it will be an upgrade over last year. Prince has a ton of talent but that dude was lazy and gave up on plays.
 
They may not have top level talent, but if they play hard every play it will be an upgrade over last year. Prince has a ton of talent but that dude was lazy and gave up on plays.

This game may be one of the rare games not having a real good proven pass rusher might not hurt us a whole bunch as long as the defense as a whole is getting some pressure. That QB always makes the first guy miss usually buying time pretty easily. Seems to mostly get sacked by being real hard headed on wanting to find a receiver instead of running for some yards or throwing the ball away. As long as we don't let him do his taxes back there it might not affect the game a lot.
 
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We are paper thin along the defensive line. Feels like teams are going to run right through us again.

If either Jackson, Banks or Slackman were to go down it's likely to get real bad. We will have size issues and inexperience/talent issues. Collins may be talented but he is a little light at DT for likely rushing plays and the young guys aren't ready. Teams would just play hurry up if they know the depth was gone and we were having to try and play Watson more.
 

I am thinking 6-6 also but it won't be easy getting wins over both Miami and A&M and a loss in one of those games will make it very hard on Napier. If he somehow lost both he might as well pack his bags and be fired with the bye week before we play Georgia.
 
We are paper thin along the defensive line. Feels like teams are going to run right through us again.
The iG really likes the sound of this guy..... 😎

“Slackman originally wasn’t a football player in college. As a freshman in 2019, he was a member of Penn’s wrestling team. I felt like I had achieved a lot individually in wrestling.
So he joined the football team ahead of the 2021 season.
Then after an honorable mention All-Ivy League football season in 2022, he broke out in 2023: --
50 Tkls - 12.5 TFL - 4 Sacks, which led to his Ivy League Defensive PoY.

"I'm a Joey Slackman guy,” Napier said. “Look, I think Joey brings a maturity and an awareness. I think he's extremely bright. And he's motivated, he's driven, he's a self starter and he's an alpha… He's consistent. His motor's always running and I think he has the ability to affect other people. That's one of the reasons we brought him here.”

He’s expected to be heavily involved in the rotation at the three-tech defensive line spot, which Florida calls the “end.” Our motto in our DL room is relentless, tough, and discipline, and I think we all embody that as a group and we’re all working to make each other better.”


https://www.si.com/college/florida/joey-slackman-florida-gators-ultimate-football-guy-01j58z8pzjys
 

Florida may not be ranked in the AP Top-25 preseason poll, yet the SP+ ratings have the Gators as a top-25 team.​

Connelly, whose SP+ rankings account for several factors across the entire college football landscape, has the Gators as the No. 23-ranked team in his final updated SP+ ratings ahead of the 2024 season, released Tuesday on ESPN. The SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.

Okay, so I'll admit I'm scratching for some preseason positivism.....
😎
And just in case anyone is not up on the definition of POSITIVISM, here ya go:
Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning a posteriori facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.
Other ways of knowing, such as intuition, introspection, or religious faith, are rejected or considered meaningless.
😉
 
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Faced with once again overcoming a season-ending injury (broken ankle) to a critical contributor, the Gators are motivated to make DT Jamari Lyons proud with their on-field play in 2024.

It was a blow not just to the depth along the interior of the defensive line – it left the unit without a vocal leader in the locker room, one who has helped set the tone ahead of a critical year in Gainesville.
(that's incorrect 'vocal leader' see Slackman article)

This looks like the same kind of Big Man injuries that Gator B-Ball has had to deal with nearly every year.
2022 - DE Boone - 2023 MLB James - 2024 DT Lyons goes down.
😫
But football is a team sport so another player(s) will need to step up.
I try to look at it as giving someone else a shot at the brass ring.
It might be time for one of deep depth OL'men to make the switch to D?

 
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