Napier explains how prioritizing current players for NIL deals will impact recruiting

ORLANDO — In addition to establishing his culture and developing the Gators’ roster, Billy Napier has been navigating through the murky, shark-infested waters of name, image and likeness in his first offseason as head coach.

While some schools are just trying to stay afloat, Florida has been one of the leaders in NIL with the Gator Collective and now the Gator Guard, which was launched last week by longtime Gators donor Hugh Hathcock.

Napier hired the first NIL director in college football, Marcus Castro-Walker, who he speaks with daily about the latest developments and efforts regarding name, image and likeness.

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“Five years ago, did anybody guess we’d be talking about this? No,” Napier said Wednesday prior to his speech in Orlando. “We’re in an unprecedented era here, right? So, I don’t know that anybody’s quite got it figured out.

“I’m learning something new every day, but it’s part of the game. And I think as a leader, your job is to come up with the best strategy.”

Florida’s strategy doesn’t center around recruiting, although that’s what most associate NIL with. There’s the notion that any funds, first and foremost, should be allocated toward acquiring more talent.

That’s not how Napier views it. While the Gator Collective and Gator Guard will be aggressive in signing new recruits and transfers, he wants to make sure his current players on the team are taken care of.

“I think the important part of NIL is that everyone wants to equate it to recruiting. But the reality is, it starts with your current team and your current players. They’re the ones that have worked. They’ve earned their position. They have name, image and likeness and they have opportunities that come with that,” Napier said.

Those NIL opportunities at UF are facilitated through the Gator Collective, which provides fans with exclusive access to current Florida athletes via live events, Twitter spaces, Zoom calls and more.

GC officially partnered last Thursday with the Gator Guard, an influential group of “high-net-worth Gators” led by Hathcock that invested $5 million in 24 hours strictly towards NIL.

The following day, Gator Collective used funds directly from that donation to sign Anthony Richardson, Ventrell Miller, Gervon Dexter and Brenton Cox Jr. to new NIL deals.

Gator Collective currently has 16 football players and UF hoops star Colin Castleton under contract. But in partnership with the Gator Guard, more than 50 football players are expected to sign with GC in the coming weeks, which Napier alluded to Wednesday.

“There’s more to come. I think it’s a huge positive,” he said. “It not only affects chemistry and morale on your current team, but it also affects future opportunities when it comes to acquiring more talent.”

Napier explained how nearly 70 players having NIL deals with Gator Collective and Gator Guard will impact recruiting.

“So you think about in business,” he said, “when you’re running a business and you have a position open, what do you do? You get the candidate around the people that work for you and they sell their experience. So the most powerful part of our product is the current players on our team and the experience that they have. And that used to be a list of things, but now name, image and likeness is a part of that experience.

“So we need to continue to brainstorm, put our heads together and come up with the best strategy, and I’m confident that we will. I do think that NIL can be a strength for us and it’s important that we connect the dots here, work together as a team. It’s a small portion of the decision-making process for a young man and his family, but it is one that you’ve got to have a strategy in and certainly it’s going to require a team effort.”