Cant argue with his Ole Miss results though considering their normal seasons and he might get a playoff spot this season if those defensive transfers work out. With the talent he could field a championship level team probably.
Football Thoughts on this Florida team......
- Thread starter Gator Fever
- Start date
Cant argue with his Ole Miss results though considering their normal seasons and he might get a playoff spot this season if those defensive transfers work out. With the talent he could field a championship level team probably.
If it was the Lame Kitten, I'd have to hold my nose, at first anyway.
UF would be a step up, but he might decide to stay there until he retires.
The other guy I don't know or remember, and I've not paid much attention outside of Gator sports.
I'd give Napier at least 4 years, and maybe a fifth if he seemed to be making progress.
Coaching Carousels SUCK imoho, and they've been on one too long now already.....
UF would be a step up, but he might decide to stay there until he retires.
The other guy I don't know or remember, and I've not paid much attention outside of Gator sports.
I'd give Napier at least 4 years, and maybe a fifth if he seemed to be making progress.
Coaching Carousels SUCK imoho, and they've been on one too long now already.....
My daughter enrolls at Ole Miss in August 2024 to study medicine so she is gonna be there a while so I want the Lane Train to stay in the station. I already have tickets to 3 home games @ Ole Miss. I guess we will be house divided when the Lane Train comes to Gainesville this year.
As far as Metz comments about not having the winning mindset last season he could change that some by actually throwing the ball down the field to give us a chance on 3rd down and some 4th downs instead of throwing to a player who has no chance to get the first down. Forget the exact stat but it showed Mertz was one of the most risk averse QBs in all of college football last season. I think it showed he threw a really low number of passes 10+ yards past the line of scrimmage to WRs that the DBs were near them. That he rarely made throws downfield into tighter windows that took some touch or the QB would need to throw the receiver open. If that doesn't change his 70%+ completion and low interceptions aren't going to win harder games for us.
Won't matter if Tom Brady plays qb, if our Oline hasn't made a huge improvement from last year it will be more of the same.
Not It can matter as QBs who are mobile and can make stuff happen will still keep moving the ball many times. Watching Dart and Daniels play QB was a night and day difference from how Mertz did most games. They were throwing quite a few passes downfield that required the ball to be placed pretty good where Mertz usually just wouldn't pull the trigger on those situations. We might find out if Mertz is going to change that against Miami as they will have a lot of plays where they have 2 people on the line that can really get after the QB even with decent O linemen in there. Miami I think will be one of the better pass rushing teams in the whole country with Bain etc. Hopefully we can run the ball decent to slow it down a little bit.
Dart and Daniels played behind much better offensive lines and had much better supporting talent. Again, anyone still pointing fingers at the one of the few offensive bright spots last year is just ignorant. QB is the most visible position and it's understandable that rank amateurs would look to put blame there. We all thought Mertz was going to suck, and he turned out to be one of the top 5 qbs in the sec. We will need much better oline play. Got to improve that 10th rushing stat. Besides, the last 6 games of the season offense wasn't our problem (until we lost Mertz). Last 6 games of the season with Mertz we had the #3 scoring offense in the league. But when your defense gives up 34 points per game during that stretch it doesn't matter if you average 32 per game.
Disagree. Mertz just had a real good completion % and low picks due to just throwing shorter stuff mostly and being risk averse on 3rd downs. He would rather throw some short stuff with no chance usually than taking chances down the field. Never saw a QB expend energy running to the sidelines so much out of bounds for no real gain instead of just throwing the ball away either. The stats show that as well. He was at the very bottom of FBS when it came to QBs pushing the ball downfield. I hope he changes that this season. I could care less if he hits 60% with a few more picks if he is keeping the chains moving and not always throwing it 3 or 4 yards to a wide open guy with no chance when it's 3rd down and you need 6 for a first down.
I'm sure you do disagree. Tell me, what was the average depth of our receiver route in 2023? Hint, it was last, dead last, in the SEC. Mertz played behind the 13th SEC rated offensive line, and in an offensive scheme that had to rely on jet sweeps and bubble screens. Go check out Napiers offense at LA, it was boring boring boring. Same crap there. Even with all that, the offense was much much better, actually one of the best, down the stretch. QB not the issue here...we need an offensive coordinator, better oline, and our defense has to step up and play much better.
I know what we play but he still was gun shy down the field. 2nd half SC game was about the only time he wasn't mostly gun shy to throw to guys downfield that weren't pretty separated from the defender. He needs to trust he can put the ball in the window when there are opportunities down field.
Kiffen would win...hell he is winning and putting out a better team than the garbage we've been seeing and the guy can score points. He would kill it at UF. Everybody was the expert 'Meyer would never win at UF, the spread offense won't work in the SEC',....wrong, wrong
I'm more interested in winning, not every word that the coach has to say.
Shall we just cut to the chase.......
Let the guys making the millions explain and defend their plan and the results.
Vs Tenn 1-1
Vs Vandy 1-1
Vs Mizzou 1-1
Vs Bowl 0-1
-----
Vs UK 0-2
Vs LSU 0-2
Vs UGly 0-2
Va FSU 0-2
Let the guys making the millions explain and defend their plan and the results.
- 6-7 --- Pts For 384 & Against 375
- 5-7 --- Pts For 341 & Against 331
- 11-14 Losers = For 725 - Against 706
Vs Tenn 1-1
Vs Vandy 1-1
Vs Mizzou 1-1
Vs Bowl 0-1
-----
Vs UK 0-2
Vs LSU 0-2
Vs UGly 0-2
Va FSU 0-2
Ahead of the release, the studio, EA Sports, has continued to release information on the upcoming game, and the latest reveal is the player rankings for each team. Here's a look at how they ranked Florida's key players in the upcoming NCAA Football 25 video game:
QB Mertz 84
QB Lagway 80
RB Johnson Jr 87
RB Webb 77
RB Braugh 75
RB Daniels 74
RB Carroll 67
RB Jackson 64
WR Eugene Willson III 86 down to Tank Hawkins 67
TE Hayden Hansen 78 down to Rocco Underwood 62
OL Jake Slaughter 87 down to Flettcher westphal 74
===========
D-Line Tyreak Sapp 84 down to Layne Swafford 67
LB Shemar James 84 down to deuce Spurlock II 72
CB Jason Marshall Jr 89 down to Teddy Foster 68
Safety/STAR Asa Turner 84 down to Josiah Davis 70
===========
While Florida's offense sits outside the top-25 among the 134 FBS teams in the game, the Gators will have the No. 25-ranked defense with an overall rating of 84, which is tied with seven programs: Kansas State, North Carolina, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas A&M and LSU.
https://247sports.com/college/flori...ings-graham-mertz-montrell-johnson-233681458/
QB Mertz 84
QB Lagway 80
RB Johnson Jr 87
RB Webb 77
RB Braugh 75
RB Daniels 74
RB Carroll 67
RB Jackson 64
WR Eugene Willson III 86 down to Tank Hawkins 67
TE Hayden Hansen 78 down to Rocco Underwood 62
OL Jake Slaughter 87 down to Flettcher westphal 74
===========
D-Line Tyreak Sapp 84 down to Layne Swafford 67
LB Shemar James 84 down to deuce Spurlock II 72
CB Jason Marshall Jr 89 down to Teddy Foster 68
Safety/STAR Asa Turner 84 down to Josiah Davis 70
===========
While Florida's offense sits outside the top-25 among the 134 FBS teams in the game, the Gators will have the No. 25-ranked defense with an overall rating of 84, which is tied with seven programs: Kansas State, North Carolina, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas A&M and LSU.
https://247sports.com/college/flori...ings-graham-mertz-montrell-johnson-233681458/
A Revamped Secondary Provides New Life to Florida Gators Defense
From the coaching staff to the field, the Florida Gators secondary has a host of new faces trying to get new results after a dismal 2023.
I think this time last year there were a lot of articles about how much various position groups were improved over the previous year. Optimism abounds at every school in the country right now. We'll see how it all shakes out when games actually start being played.A Revamped Secondary Provides New Life to Florida Gators Defense
From the coaching staff to the field, the Florida Gators secondary has a host of new faces trying to get new results after a dismal 2023.www.si.com
But when your routes aren't designed to go downfield, who is there to throw to? Hell, majority of Nappy head pass plays are designed 0-3 yards of the line of scrimmage. We need an seriously improved offensive line, and we need some serious improvement in the play calling category. Our concerns about Napier's extremely conservative play calling have proven accurate thus far.
Did you just try to justify the talent at various positions by their video game rankings? That's, well, that's Shime-esque.
Did the Little Loopy Lizzy Loser, with a supporting suck-up boost by the always clueless Cg1, just try to diss on the iG's 'cheap off-season info' post, on a game that I've never participated in playing? Yet again, LMFAO at the inept stupidity shown here by some.... 😂 ----- 🤣 ----- 😂
(I heard the wizz by my ear, but the Socialist-U cretins have missed yet again)..... 😛
Next they'll be telling me that UFO/UAP's are totally impossible due to their vast knowledge about everything in the infinite universe, especially concerning their version of impossible physics.... 🙄
============
Moving right along....
CBS-Sports Position Ranking for 2024:
(they are entitled to an opinion, while I am entitled to disagree with it)
7. QB - Mertz rsSr & QB-dt 5-star Lagway 6-3 241 Fr, the Gatorade Natl. PoY (TT 2.0?)
10. Skill - RB-WR-TE
"Losing RB (Trevor) Etienne to Georgia puts a damper on what would’ve been one of the league’s top backfields."
The iG calls BS on that, considering that I'd take the 2 new 4-star Fr RB's over that 'no blocking' drama queen.
WR - Excellent returning talent (Wilson-Jackson-Burke) + excellent developing rsFr/Fr speed/talent, + a xfer-in.
TE - is decent and hopefully improving.
11. OL - (iG - it's better than expected with a combination of returners and rsFr/Fr + xfer-ins)
LT Austin Barber 6-6 316 rsJr - CFN Fr 1st Team AA
LG/OC Knijeah Harris 6-3 323 So, #1 OC & UA-AA
OC Jake Slaughter 6-4 297 rsJr
RG Christian Williams 6-4 304 rsSo
RT Kamryn Waites 6-8 350 rsJr
-----
#3 OG Roderick Kearney 6-4 302 rsFr ****
#24 OT Caden Jones 6-7 336 rsFr ****
#34 OG Bryce Lovett 6-5 325 rsFr ****
#10 OT Fletcher Westphal 6-8 325 Fr ****
#31 OT Mike Williams 6-6 313 Fr ****
-----
OT Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson 6-7 315 rsSr - SDSt xfer-in
OT Damieon George Jr 6-6 362 rsJr - Bama xfer-in
OT Devon Manuel 6-7 319 rsJr - Ark xfer-in
=====
9. Secondary
CB's - Jason Marshall & Devin Moore & Fr AA Ja'Keem Jackson **** + xfer-in Trikweae Bridges
STAR - Sharif Denson & Aaron Gates
Safety - Jordan Castell & Bryce Thornton + Asa Turner & DJ Douglas
14. Front 7 (the iG calls BS again)
NT - Desmond Watson, Cam Jackson, & Michai Boireau Fr
DT - Caleb Banks, Joey Slackman & D'Antre Robinson Fr
EDGE - Tyreak Sapp, Justus Boone, Kelby Collins, Kamran James, + 5-star LJ McCray Fr
ILB - Shemar James, Derek Wingo, Grayson 'Pup' Howard, + 5-star Myles Graham Fr
13. Coach - Losing 6-7 1st season, followed by a worse loser 5-7 2nd season with no bowl.
(the iG is just hoping and praying that the ranking ends up being too low....)
gatorswire.usatoday.com
(I heard the wizz by my ear, but the Socialist-U cretins have missed yet again)..... 😛
Next they'll be telling me that UFO/UAP's are totally impossible due to their vast knowledge about everything in the infinite universe, especially concerning their version of impossible physics.... 🙄
============
Moving right along....
CBS-Sports Position Ranking for 2024:
(they are entitled to an opinion, while I am entitled to disagree with it)
7. QB - Mertz rsSr & QB-dt 5-star Lagway 6-3 241 Fr, the Gatorade Natl. PoY (TT 2.0?)
10. Skill - RB-WR-TE
"Losing RB (Trevor) Etienne to Georgia puts a damper on what would’ve been one of the league’s top backfields."
The iG calls BS on that, considering that I'd take the 2 new 4-star Fr RB's over that 'no blocking' drama queen.
WR - Excellent returning talent (Wilson-Jackson-Burke) + excellent developing rsFr/Fr speed/talent, + a xfer-in.
TE - is decent and hopefully improving.
11. OL - (iG - it's better than expected with a combination of returners and rsFr/Fr + xfer-ins)
LT Austin Barber 6-6 316 rsJr - CFN Fr 1st Team AA
LG/OC Knijeah Harris 6-3 323 So, #1 OC & UA-AA
OC Jake Slaughter 6-4 297 rsJr
RG Christian Williams 6-4 304 rsSo
RT Kamryn Waites 6-8 350 rsJr
-----
#3 OG Roderick Kearney 6-4 302 rsFr ****
#24 OT Caden Jones 6-7 336 rsFr ****
#34 OG Bryce Lovett 6-5 325 rsFr ****
#10 OT Fletcher Westphal 6-8 325 Fr ****
#31 OT Mike Williams 6-6 313 Fr ****
-----
OT Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson 6-7 315 rsSr - SDSt xfer-in
OT Damieon George Jr 6-6 362 rsJr - Bama xfer-in
OT Devon Manuel 6-7 319 rsJr - Ark xfer-in
=====
9. Secondary
CB's - Jason Marshall & Devin Moore & Fr AA Ja'Keem Jackson **** + xfer-in Trikweae Bridges
STAR - Sharif Denson & Aaron Gates
Safety - Jordan Castell & Bryce Thornton + Asa Turner & DJ Douglas
14. Front 7 (the iG calls BS again)
NT - Desmond Watson, Cam Jackson, & Michai Boireau Fr
DT - Caleb Banks, Joey Slackman & D'Antre Robinson Fr
EDGE - Tyreak Sapp, Justus Boone, Kelby Collins, Kamran James, + 5-star LJ McCray Fr
ILB - Shemar James, Derek Wingo, Grayson 'Pup' Howard, + 5-star Myles Graham Fr
13. Coach - Losing 6-7 1st season, followed by a worse loser 5-7 2nd season with no bowl.
(the iG is just hoping and praying that the ranking ends up being too low....)
Florida football's SEC position and coach rankings for 2024 season
Here’s a look at where the Florida Gators rank in a variety of categories among their SEC peers according to CBS Sports.
gatorswire.usatoday.com
Last edited:
I would say Cam Ward would be above Mertz but he has fell apart in a few games. His upside is pretty high though. Jefferson it depends if Malzahn gets him back to his 2022 play. He played pretty good then but was a wreck last season against about everyone but Florida.
Everything Billy Napier said from the podium at 2024 SEC Media Days
Billy Napier is heading into a make-or-break 2024 season and delivered his annual appearance at the SEC Media Days on Wednesday.
www.saturdaydownsouth.com
Everything Billy Napier said from the podium at 2024 SEC Media Days
Billy Napier is heading into a make-or-break 2024 season and delivered his annual appearance at the SEC Media Days on Wednesday.
Not a lot there but we do sit pretty well with experience coming back this season and with the portal guys. The question is will that be enough to overcome the talent some of these teams have we face. Especially the teams we face besides GA and TX.
The high school recruiting for Napier has shown he can land talent. He landed two five-stars and 18 four-stars in 2024, 24 four-stars in 2023 and 11 four-stars in 2022. Moreover, he has brought in other experienced college athletes through the portal to help fill the gaps... (according to the SI.com article, that's 2 5's and 53 4's)
Per the 247 Recruit Rankings:
2022 - 6 4's, 12 3's + 3 others and the 6 portal xfers.
2023 - 14 4's, 8 3's, and the 12 portal's
2024 - 2 5's, 8 4's, 10 3's, and the 15 protals.
Total - 2 5's, 28 4's, 19 3's, and 33 portal xfers.
So that's 82 Total making it now Napier's team completely.
If Florida has truly taken a step forward and made “significant progress” like Napier mentioned at SEC Media Days, then 7 wins should be the bare minimum with 8-9 being the goal for this season.
(9 wins with an outside 'dark horse' chance at making the Playoffs - iG)
It isn’t about the talent within the program anymore.
The real question is can he coach this team and guide them to where they ought to be?
That remains to be seen.
www.si.com
Per the 247 Recruit Rankings:
2022 - 6 4's, 12 3's + 3 others and the 6 portal xfers.
2023 - 14 4's, 8 3's, and the 12 portal's
2024 - 2 5's, 8 4's, 10 3's, and the 15 protals.
Total - 2 5's, 28 4's, 19 3's, and 33 portal xfers.
So that's 82 Total making it now Napier's team completely.
If Florida has truly taken a step forward and made “significant progress” like Napier mentioned at SEC Media Days, then 7 wins should be the bare minimum with 8-9 being the goal for this season.
(9 wins with an outside 'dark horse' chance at making the Playoffs - iG)
It isn’t about the talent within the program anymore.
The real question is can he coach this team and guide them to where they ought to be?
That remains to be seen.
Is Florida Gators Football Truly 'On Schedule'
Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier likes the look of his team heading into a daunting 2024.
The high school recruiting for Napier has shown he can land talent. He landed two five-stars and 18 four-stars in 2024, 24 four-stars in 2023 and 11 four-stars in 2022. Moreover, he has brought in other experienced college athletes through the portal to help fill the gaps... (according to the SI.com article, that's 2 5's and 53 4's)
Per the 247 Recruit Rankings:
2022 - 6 4's, 12 3's + 3 others and the 6 portal xfers.
2023 - 14 4's, 8 3's, and the 12 portal's
2024 - 2 5's, 8 4's, 10 3's, and the 15 protals.
Total - 2 5's, 28 4's, 19 3's, and 33 portal xfers.
So that's 82 Total making it now Napier's team completely.
If Florida has truly taken a step forward and made “significant progress” like Napier mentioned at SEC Media Days, then 7 wins should be the bare minimum with 8-9 being the goal for this season.
(9 wins with an outside 'dark horse' chance at making the Playoffs - iG)
It isn’t about the talent within the program anymore.
The real question is can he coach this team and guide them to where they ought to be?
That remains to be seen.
Is Florida Gators Football Truly 'On Schedule'
Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier likes the look of his team heading into a daunting 2024.
The media has no faith in us. They have us 12th out the 16 teams. Only in front of SC, Arkansas, Miss State and Vandy. Vandy even got votes as a possible SEC Championship game winner while we got zero from the media.
So it's little wonder the sports media has no faith in us. Just have to prove them wrong, we all hope.
Yep - I couldn't believe it when someone pointed that out then I remembered Leach was winning some games at Miss State. I think Arkansas was tied with us though.
I guess that's fair. I have no faith in us either.
With thanks to...........
Socialist-U Admin
UAA
AD
The current HC, his chosen assistant coaches, and his 50+ staff.....
Just curious I looked up how Napier has fared these past 2 seasons against just power 5 opponents taking out the 2 non-power 5 cupcakes both years and not counting the bowl game since so many players opt out of those now. I was also curious to see if it showed he wasn't that bad in home games like we heard up until late in the season last year. This is what it shows.
2022 against power 5 teams:
4 - 6 overall
2 - 5 against those with a winning record that season
2 - 1 against those without a winning record that season
3 - 2 in home games
1 - 4 in away games and neutral site Georgia game
2023 against power 5 teams:
3 - 7 overall
1 - 6 against those with a winning record that season
2 - 1 against those without a winning record that season
2 - 2 in home games
1 - 5 in away games and neutral site Georgia game
Totals for 2022 and 2023:
7 - 13 overall
3 - 11 against those with a winning record that season
4 - 2 against those without a winning record that season
5 - 4 in home games
2 - 9 in away games and neutral site Georgia game
That's about as poor of a first 2 years record as UF has had in my memory.....
Gator Back-2-Back losing seasons:
1916-17
1931-32 - Depression Era (1929-39)
1941-42 WWII
Back-2-Back-2-Back losing season:
1945-46-47 - WWII
Only 1 Quad losing seasons:
1935-36-37-38 - Depression Era (1929-39)
----------------------------------
Since the 1950 modern era (my lifetime):
1978-79 - Dickey to Pell transition
2021-22-23 - Mullen to Napier transition+1 - Scamdemic/Socialist-U Era
I was only 10 at the time but I remember my dad going nuts that 1979 season where we didn't win a game the whole season. He was pretty happy when we went 8-4 the next season despite the rivalry game losses.
Good news. But getting a commitment and getting a signature on an NLI are 2 different things and if the team doesn't perform in the fall, some of these big time commitments will change their minds.
