Billy Napier analyzes Florida's depth in 2023

Florida head coach Billy Napier will be looking to improve upon his 6-7 record last season in his first year as the Gators head man. But he’ll have to do so this year with one of the youngest rosters in college football.

Phil Steele has Alabama tabbed as the only team in the SEC with less experience than the Gators ahead of the 2023 season, and before fall camp, Napier discussed his outlook on the depth of his roster.

“I think we’re in a little bit better place,” Napier said in comparison to last year’s depth. “I do think there’s parts of our team where we’re gonna have young players playing, but I think they’re talented. I think there’s areas of our team where injuries are important, but I also think we’ve added some experience.”

Napier did his part in adding experience to Florida’s squad, signing 14 players from the transfer portal this offseason. And just two of those signees represent the 2021 high school recruiting class and are the two youngest players the Gators added to the team through the transfer portal.

“I think we’ve added some awareness, some maturity, we’ve added some veteran players that I think will make our team better. So in the two deep, I think when we get done with this thing, there’s a ton of competition going into this camp,” Napier said. “But I do anticipate as we approach that first game we’re gonna have young players that are going to be out there.”

Some younger players on the Gators’ roster will have to step up this season, as six key players from last year’s squad were selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. But according to Napier, his group is not as inexperienced as they may seem from the outside looking in, and will surely do their part in raising the level of competition within the team during Florida’s fall camp.

“So the positive thing about that is we’ve had those players since January and I think with the amount of work that we do our year round plan to get those guys ready I think will give us a better opportunity to work with some of those young players,” Napier explained. “It’s becoming more prevalent when you start talking about roster attrition, freshman impacting your team, portal players impacting your team. So we said it at media day, 93% of the team’s been here since the first day.”