Identifying key areas Florida must show improvement in 2023

The Florida Gators finished the 2022 season 6-7 in their first year under head coach Billy Napier. And because their season was filled with so many highs and lows, it’s hard to get a pulse on how the Gators will perform in 2023.

But On3’s Andy Staples did just that, breaking down his expectations and what he wants to see from Florida in year two of the Napier era to JD PicKell on a recent episode of ‘The Hard Count’.

“Vegas and the FPI, you’re looking at between five and seven wins is what they’re saying. I think the higher side of that is probably fairly realistic, the question I have for Florida is what do you look like this season?” Staples asked. “Because I’m not expecting them to win the SEC East or win the SEC title, but what do you look like in the games against the Georgias and against the LSUs?”

The SEC always presents tough schedules for their teams, and it’s no different for the Gators this year as eight of their 12 opponents this season ended last season with winning records. But Staples is most curious to see if the Gators can capitalize on some of the improvement in recruiting they’ve recently shown this upcoming season.

“And also, how is the recruiting going? You look at the way they’ve been recruiting, especially the last month, their finalist lists are looking a lot better than they did about two years ago and that’s really what they hired Billy Napier to do. They hired Billy Napier to build a roster that looks more like the rosters you see at Georgia, at Alabama, at LSU,” Staples explained. “To do that you gotta beat those guys for players every once in a while, it’s not something Florida was doing under the previous staff. It feels like they’re in the mix a lot more now and they’re getting some of those guys, the thing is it’s not an instant fix.”

When Napier arrived at the program in 2022, he had 15 players leave the team via the transfer portal and had the No. 10 ranked recruiting class in the SEC and the No. 20 ranked in the nation. But now in his first full offseason, the Gators boasted the No. 5 ranked recruiting class in the conference and the No. 10 ranked group nationally for the 2023 class according to On3’s Industry Ranking.

“It wasn’t like what Brian Kelly walked into at LSU where there were already some really good players there that Ed Orgeron had left behind. Their roster, other than Anthony Richardson, last year wasn’t a lot of special on it and it’s their job to find more special and I think that’s what they’re trying to do,” Staples said. “Now it’s not easy, so I want to see what they do when they’re playing those teams. How hard do they fight, how hard are they playing for Billy Napier, and then are some of the young guys, the guys that you’re saying oh, that’s the most promising guy on the roster.”

There’s no doubt that Napier has brought some new, impressive talent into the building this offseason, and has more coming in the future. The only question that now remains is how early can some of those young players make an impact and translate their game early to the collegiate level for the Gators.

“And I think Trevor Etienne the running back, we know he’s gonna be pretty good, but Andy Jean the the freshman receiver, they got a guy named Eugene Wilson coming in another freshman receiver. Can those guys be playmakers right off the bat? Kelby Collins was a guy that they beat those big dogs out for in recruiting, is he doing well coming off the edge?” Staples asked. “That’s the type of thing I want to see.”