Billy Napier bracing for more roster attrition as portal window nears

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Winter is coming. That is, the winter portal period, as Florida coach Billy Napier calls it.

The first College Football Playoff poll was revealed Tuesday. Once the final four teams are announced Dec. 4 on Selection Day, the transfer portal will start jumping.

The day after the CPF field is revealed, football players will be allowed to enter the portal for 45 days in a new designated window by the NCAA. Players can also enter the portal from May 1 to May 15.

Back on Aug. 31, the NCAA Division I board of directors voted to approve 60 days throughout the calendar year during which student-athletes can enter the transfer portal, a change that went into effect for the 2022-23 season. 

During his appearance Wednesday on the SEC teleconference, Napier was asked if he has any concerns about the two portal windows or if he likes them.

“I think there’s a lot to be said about just finding windows relative to managing your current roster. Depending on where you’re at as a program, if you have more stability, there’s advantages relative to minimal turnover. If you are new or inherited a program, obviously you’re gonna have a little bit more attrition, right? But I think with those challenges come some opportunities,” Napier said. “We’ve certainly seen both ends of the spectrum to some degree. But it’s a new dynamic. It’s certainly a new dynamic for a place like Florida maybe, where I think last year was the first year. You had a bunch of new coaching staffs who inherited in this era of college football.

“So, very fluid and certainly the strategy that comes with that. I think we’re learning a little bit more each and every day. So, I think having defined windows of time is good. I think the big thing is that most coaches would probably tell you the longer that window is, the less certainty there is. I think we all sleep better when that portal closes. And obviously, if you’re in need of a player, it creates a lot of opportunity. So, I think it’s good and bad.”

After the 2021 regular season ended, the Gators had six players enter the transfer portal from Nov. 29 to Jan. 24. Three additional scholarship players entered the portal during Napier’s first spring and three more left the program in the summer, totaling 12 departures.

UF also landed five transfers in January, including star offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence and starting running back Montrell Johnson, and added two wide receivers during the spring in Ricky Pearsall and Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman.

Billy Napier was asked if having a defined portal window after the season will make it easier to manage signing day in December.

“Well, depending on when it happens, right? I think it could happen prior to National Signing Day (Dec. 21), but it could happen later,” said Napier, who lost Kemore Gamble and Ty’Ron Hopper in January. “There’s no question that if you have immediate attrition to some degree, maybe you sign an additional player on signing day. But more importantly you might pursue players going into midyear — January when a player can enroll, February Signing Day that 10-15 percent that’s leftover. I just think they’ll be a little bit more clarity.

“But to some degree, at that point you kind of know who you can sign that’s passed your evaluation not only as a player but as a person — the character, etcetera. Every program’s in a little bit different place. I think that’s the important thing. Each team has got a certain number of seniors, they have a certain number of players, they expect a certain amount of attrition, they have a certain amount of midyear spots relative to players that are graduating. So, it’s a big math problem that each team, a big puzzle we’re putting together. It’s just another variable to a situation we’ve encountered for a long time in this profession.”