What Florida's recent recruiting 'heater' means for Gators, Billy Napier

June was a huge month for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators on the recruiting trail.

On3’s JD PicKell described Florida’s June as being a “heater” and broke down what it means for the program moving forward on The Hard Count.

“Now, the Florida Gators, man, they have been on an absolute heater,” PicKell said. “Heater, and you never walk away from a heater. You just don’t it. 10 commitments so far in the month of June. They have the number three class last time I checked in the On3 Industry Recruiting Team Rankings. Billy Napier and company have gone to work. They are recruiting like a full-on program.”

“How should you assess this recruiting momentum that Billy Napier and company, how should you evaluate what they’re doing right now? Because recruiting doesn’t just automatically equal wins. You need talent to win games, but you can also have a very talented football team and lose some games,” PicKell explained.

“So, the advice that I would give to Florida Gator fans when trying to assess what they’re doing right now, use it as a compass.”

As PicKell explained, the compass will tell you where you’re going. Right now, that recruiting compass is pointing in a positive direction for Napier and Florida.

“A compass does not tell you where you’re at, a compass is not a map, a compass is not a destination, but a compass tells you which way you’re going, and I think this is proof that you’re headed in the right direction.”

PicKell on responding to the Florida naysayers

Florida is going to face a lot of criticism during its rebuild. As PicKell explained, that likely will include two major critiques around Florida’s successful recruiting class. That he won’t keep those players and that he won’t develop them.

“First thing they’re gonna say, well wait until Florida takes the field,” PicKell said. “Wait until they start losing games. Just wait for that. Yo, they’re committing to a team that won six ball games a season ago. They understand that Florida is kind of in this climb backstage. They’re still trying to get to the top of the mountain. They understand that this isn’t going to be a thing where Florida just goes off and likely wins the SEC this year. Now, far be it from me to give you an absolute with the college football season, but that’s probably not going to be the way this thing shakes out in 2023, but a lot of these kids who are committing, I would say all of these kids who are committing, they’re coming to Gainesville to be a part of the solution. They’ll say, ‘Yeah, Florida hasn’t been what it is historically known to be. We’re here to bring the brand back to being prominent. We’re here to restock those trophy cases.’ Alright, so I don’t believe that a lot of these kids are gonna just jump ship if they see Florida win six games again. Don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

Then, Billy Napier has already proven he knows how to develop talent at Louisiana. So, he should be able to at Florida too.

“Other thing you’re going to hear. People are gonna say, ‘Well, that’s great you got all that talent. Billy Napier can’t develop all that talent. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, never been an SEC head coach before.’ And to those people, I would say Billy Napier comes from the Sun Belt. A lot of the haters like to throw the name Sun Belt Billy out there. They think it’s kind of a sneaky jab. Like, in the Sun Belt, everybody has three-star recruits. Everybody. Like, that’s what you’re working with. You all pretty much have the same pieces. So, if Billy Napier is winning and we all have the same pieces, what does that tell you? He’s doing a good job, one, coaching and two, developing. Getting the most out of his three stars than you are. And, so, what I’m trying to say is development is how Billy Napier has gotten the job at Florida. So, I would be a little bit slow to assume that these kids who are coming to Gainesville just are gonna show up and disappear. I don’t believe that’s gonna be the case.”