Dan Mullen trolls Billy Napier, Florida over recruiting rankings
Toward the end of Dan Mullen’s tenure as Florida head coach, recruiting became a huge topic of conversation. Of course, he famously said he’d talk about recruiting after the 2021 season before the Gators ultimately fired him and hired Billy Napier.
The idea when Napier came in was he’d bolster the Gators’ recruiting and keep the program toward the top of the rankings. Wednesday’s National Signing Day wasn’t the best day for Florida, though, as the Gators dropped from No. 8 in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking to No. 16 over the span of 12 hours following multiple flips.
Fans noted the difference in recruiting under Napier, whose average class is 16 in the On3 Industry Rankings. Mullen, now an ESPN analyst, had an average ranking of 12 — and he trolled the Gators on X with that in mind.
“I wish I had the facilities they have now,” Mullen wrote.
Florida held onto the top two pieces of its 2024 recruiting class in quarterback DJ Lagway and defensive lineman LJ McCray, but was closing in on a near disaster as the day went on. Multiple recruits — linebacker Adarius Hays, defensive lineman Amaris Williams and wide receiver Izaiah Williams — all flipped their commitments and signed elsewhere on Wednesday. As a result, the Gators fell down the rankings.
The Gators’ 2024 recruiting class featured the first five-star recruits of Napier’s tenure, though. Lagway checked in as a Five Star Plus+ recruit, meaning he was one of the only players ranked by all four major recruiting media companies as a five-star. He is the No. 10 overall player from the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. McCray came in as the No. 23-ranked player in the country in the On3 Industry Ranking, but On3’s evaluators ranked him as the No. 3 overall prospect in the On300 Rankings.
In fact, by bringing in Lagway and McCray, Napier has signed as many five-stars as Mullen did.
Napier’s first two seasons in Gainesville were rough, to say the least. Florida finished with back-to-back 5-7 records after he came in from Louisiana, and the Gators saw four players enter the transfer portal over the last couple weeks.
As far as any changes, particularly on the offensive staff, Napier said the evaluation process is still ongoing.
“It’s to be determined,” Napier said, via Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre. “Much like we discussed before, we’re in the middle of that. We’re going to go through — it’s one box at a time here, right? We’re going to have new leadership in the nutrition area. I’m excited about potential candidates there. Then we’ve got a lot of other areas, much like most years, where we’re going to do things to try to improve our team.”