Billy Napier: The perfect hire to revive Florida Gators’ recruiting

The Florida Gators have their man. And it’s a hire that makes sense from a recruiting standpoint.

The Gators are set to hire Louisiana’s Billy Napier as their next head football coach. The move comes exactly a week after the school announced it had fired Dan Mullen in the midst of his fourth season. Florida and Napier are expected to have the deal done later on Sunday.

Florida getting excellent recruiter in Billy Napier

A former assistant under Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, Billy Napier has learned from some of the best head coaches and best recruiters in the game.

Napier also has a fire for recruiting, which is something that was missing at Florida under Mullen.

Napier served as Clemson’s recruiting coordinator from 2006-08. In those three seasons, he complied the No. 3 class in 2008 and back-to-back top 15 classes in 2007 and 2006, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking.

He was also tabbed as the second-best recruiter in the nation by ESPN.com. Plus, during his time at Clemson, Napier signed several players who went on to the NFL, including Kavell Conner, Crezdon Butler, Brandon Thompson and Marcus Gilchrist. He was critical in helping the Tigers find and sign Vic Beasley, too.

At Alabama, he was almost always ranked as one of the top 25 recruiters in the country. He was crucial in landing stars like Calvin Ridley and Jerry Jeudy. He was also able to go into Louisiana and lure away franchise offensive tackle Cam Robinson away from LSU.

Since taking over Louisiana in 2018, he has compiled a 38-12 record. He won the Sun Belt Coach of the Year award in just his second season at the helm. At 10-1 (7-0 in league play), the Ragin’ Cajuns have already clinched their spot in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game against Appalachian State.

Also, don’t forget that Napier grew up in northern Georgia and has been around the SEC his entire life. His experience has helped him develop deep recruiting roots throughout the SEC and Florida recruiting footprint.

He also knows the right buttons to push to recruit against the big boys, which he must do to beat out Alabama, Georgia, Florida State and others.

Napier has passion for recruiting

Napier should be able to hit the ground running in recruiting for Florida, especially since he loves recruiting and knows what it’ll take to win over prospects.

“He’s exactly what Florida needs,” a veteran SEC recruiter told On3 Sunday morning. “The Gators need somebody that’s going to roll his sleeves and get to work. He’ll mend fences with the high school coaches throughout Florida and other parts of the Southeast. Not to knock the past staff at Florida, because some did work hard, but not all of them.

“The coaches will know him. They respect him. I think it’ll be a homerun hire from a recruiting standpoint. Nobody is going to outwork him.”