Steve Spurrier compares recruiting at Florida now with the 90s

Former Florida head coach Steve Spurrier knows the climate of recruiting blue-chip prospects into the Gators’ program is nothing like it was back when he was at large in Gainesville for the entirety of the 1990s. In a way, he’s not upset about it, either.

“I think a lot of those guys are very busy with the recruiting and with the NIL and all of that,” Spurrier said. “I’m sort of glad I don’t have to fight all that. We didn’t have any of that in the 90s. In the 90s, we go recruit.”

Spurrier called December and January his ‘recruiting season’ where he would spend the entirety of both months each offseason scouting, visiting and signing some of college football’s finest prospects. When the season was in session, however, Spurrier didn’t have a second to think about recruiting, instead choosing to put his focus into game planning.

“As long as everybody did it the same way, hey, it’s all fair. But nowadays it’s a year round process,” Spurrier said.

Spurrier isn’t entirely unfamiliar with the modern landscape of recruiting, having been the head ball coach at South Carolina until 2015. Though, Spurrier’s retirement came in a time when athletes earning compensation from their own personal brand was an internet fan’s pipe dream.

With young athletes choosing making their commitments based on the local market rather than the program’s reputation is a far cry from when Spurrier only had to fight a handful of schools for top prospects each year. Fast forward to this upcoming season and the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2022 Travis Hunter is playing for Jackson State by choice — something that would never have happened in Spurrier’s era.

The new instant transfer portal rules add another wrinkle into the recruiting game for coaches as well, and Napier used this season to bring over three of his former Louisiana players and two former four-star recruits in quarterback Jack Miller and cornerback Jalen Kimber with the possibility of more marquee names coming over the summer.

To Spurrier, however, who you recruit doesn’t matter as long as Napier can acquire a group of competitive athletes who are committed to doing the work necessary to reestablish the Gator standard, then Napier is making strides in the right direction.

“I don’t think it’s my position to look over Billy’s shoulder and watching him coach, stuff like that,” Spurrier said on this week’s edition of the GatorsOnline podcast. “But I’ve been to a few practices and I just think attitudes matter. I think guys are more accountable, discipline, effort, attitude, you know, it seemed like last year that slipped.”

Now that the spring game is behind the Gators and a full summer of workouts and improvements are ahead, Napier will continue to mold the Gators in his vision ahead of Florida’s season opener on the first Saturday of September against a strong Utah team.