Towards the beginning of the month, I laid out where Florida was in relation to the transfer portal ahead of what looked to be a busy time. The level of activity didn’t disappoint.
With the spring semester well under way and the latest addition stretching the school’s ability to get anyone into class this term, it appears that UF is done for the winter portal period. Here’s a rundown of how everything worked out.
A mix of experience
Florida lost a lot of players this offseason in what has become a common thread among schools with outside coaching changes in the one-time transfer exception era. The ones departing were up and down the roster, so UF needed variety in seniority to keep the numbers from getting too unbalanced. Bring in too many guys with 3+ years of eligibility, and it cuts into the ability to sign high school prospects in the future. Bring in too many short timers, and the program would be hopping aboard a transfer treadmill where they have to think about getting a bunch of them each and every year.
The guy with the most eligibility to go is LB Deuce Spurlock, who left Michigan after redshirting last fall. He was a class of ’22 recruit, so he has a full four years to go.
Next up is the last guy to join the transfer class, OT Kiyaunta Goodwin from Kentucky. He was a 2022 recruit and played plenty on special teams, so he has three years plus the option of a redshirt season left to use.
Next is DL Caleb Banks, who redshirted in 2021 and played in a half dozen games for Louisville in 2022. He has three years to go.
Now we get into the fun of the covid waiver era. Baylor OG Micah Mazzccua, Memphis DT Cam’Ron Jackson, and Alabama OL Damieon George were all class of 2020 guys, and all took a redshirt already. They therefore have two seasons of regular eligibility plus optional covid waivers to stretch it to three should they want to.
The real old timers begin here with Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz and Houston LB Mannie Nunnery. Both were from 2019 and both redshirted, so each has one year of regular eligibility to go plus their optional covid waivers.
Finally, the Gators brought in a pair of sixth-year super seniors who are using their covid waivers to get one more go of it: LB Teradja Mitchell, formerly of Ohio State, and RB Cameron Carroll, formerly of Tulane. I have seen speculation that Carroll may try to get a medical redshirt for 2022 since he went out for the season in the opener, but I haven’t seen anything solid enough to bank on it. For now, I consider both Mitchell and Carroll to be one-year players only.
Need fits
It’s no coincidence that eight of the ten transfers play inside linebacker, offensive line, or defensive line. Dan Mullen’s staff simply didn’t recruit enough guys at ILB and DL, and some transfers exacerbated the issue. The Mullen era also brought a disproportionate number of long-term projects at OL that didn’t pan out, or at least didn’t by the 2022 season. Significant transfer activity, including a couple of would’ve-been returning starters, had thinned out the line a bit too.
Each of these three positions got a developmental prospect with Spurlock, Goodwin, and Banks. Linebacker skews older in the remaining pickups with Nunnery (two) and Mitchell (one) having few years of eligibility left. The three 2020 recruits with up to three years of eligibility left fill out the transfers on the lines, giving the team a bit more runway there depending on each player’s eventual pro prospects.
Mertz seemed underwhelming at the time he committed, but he’s an absolute necessity with the Jaden Rashada commitment falling through. Absent him, the Gators would be looking at only Jack Miller and, when he’s not working with the UF baseball team, Max Brown on the roster for spring practice.
Carroll rounds out the list, and his spot was a tricky one to fill. Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne have been entrenched at the top of the depth chart ever since Nay’Quan Wright fell down a few spots mid-season. The staff then only signed one running back in the ’22 cycle despite trying for two.
Three is too low for running back, but no one looking for big playing time was likely to come given Johnson and Etienne. Carroll threads the needle as a capable-but-not-spectacular tailback coming off of injury and also moving up from G5 to P5.
Looking ahead
The next portal period is May 1-15. Undergrads who wish to transfer can enter their names during that time, but they can pick a destination after it if they want. Graduate transfers can enter the portal any time.
The SEC had a rule on the books the last two years that any transfers within the conference must be in the portal by February 1 in order to get immediate eligibility. I don’t believe it’s been changed, though last year Alabama proposed pushing it back to May 1 to match that year’s NCAA portal deadline to no avail. Transfers from outside the league are still fine either way; Ricky Pearsall didn’t enter the portal until late April and had no eligibility hurdles with the conference.
The single biggest need numbers-wise is edge/Jack linebacker. Antwaun Powell-Ryland and Jack Pyburn are the only guys there at present, as Andrew Savaiinaea reportedly said this month that he was moving to tight end (he played both positions in high school).
Safety is also down from what you’d like to see. There are just four returning scholarship players and two incoming freshmen, so, the defense is always one bad play or freak accident among a mere four players away from bumping up a first-year guy into the rotation.
Napier has also said he wants four scholarship quarterbacks, but he only has three right now. It’s tricky, though. It’s questionable whether a player worth taking will appear in the May portal period, and it’s questionable whether it’s worth taking someone who won’t be a clear-cut favorite to start with Mertz and Miller already poised to battle it out. Unless one of those two really blossoms in spring practice, adding a third name to that battle may not accomplish much. Napier has yet to take guys just to take guys; this will be the biggest test of that pattern so far.
There also is the standard possibility that some number of players on the current roster could decide to transfer after spring practice. Most teams in most years have at least one guy who decides to go elsewhere to try to get playing time after being disappointed with their depth chart position following spring. If any current Gators do that, it both creates more room for more transfers and potentially more roster depth needs depending on the position.
It’s also worth noting that last year, Napier added a couple of JUCO transfers at the beginning of summer in OL Jordan Herman and WR Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman. That’s a route he could choose to go again.
Florida is below the 85 scholarship limit for this upcoming season, so it looks likely that Napier and staff will at least kick the tires on more players in the May portal period. They’ve already addressed a lot of issues, but more needs remain to make UF a complete team in 2023.