By Will Miles
Gasparilla Bowl
Mercifully, the 2021 Gators season came to an end after an embarrassing loss to Central Florida.
It isn’t that Florida lost to the Knights. It’s that the game was a microcosm of the entire year, where the Gators appeared to be the better team but just couldn’t get out of their own way. That was certainly the case in the first half, when Florida outgained UCF 233-140 and held the Knights to 1-7 on third down, but were only ahead 10-9.
The only thing the Gators didn’t do in this one that they’ve done all year was turn the ball over. But they essentially did when you consider the consecutive drops on third and fourth down on the games third drive, the missed field goals and the missed opportunity on the onsides kick.
The defense played with high energy, but penalties and big plays ruled the day as the Knights got just enough to overcome the Gators anemic offense. And Emory Jones continued to regress as he only completed 39% of his passes and averaged a paltry 4.8 yards per attempt.
At the end of the day, Central Florida deserved to win the game. I’m just glad that this incarnation of the Gators is going to get a makeover during the offeason. All of the talk about Billy Napier has been that he won’t stand for the lack of discipline that has come to exemplify these Gators. That’d be a welcome change, because it cost the Gators once again in the bowl game.
Justin Shorter injury
Casting a pall over the entire game was the injury to Justin Shorter, who extended out to catch a pass late from Emory Jones and appeared to be knocked out after getting hit.
That’s part of the game that every player knows comes with the territory. Still, it can’t be easy to be lying on the ground getting strapped to a board, even if everything checks out okay. I’ve been in the stands around players’ families when they’ve been down with injuries and it’s hard to watch, so I’m glad that Shorter appears to be okay.
Lost amongst the losses and the frustration is this immutable fact. Every time a player goes on the field, he risks the health of his body and the health of his brain. He’s done so willingly, and for reasons that include both altruistic (Dameon Pierce’s “I’m a Gator bro” statement comes to mine) and financial calculations.
But make no mistake, when we’re talking about players opting in and out of bowl games and using it as a referendum on their toughness, the thing they’re trying to avoid is exactly what happened to Shorter. I’m glad he’s okay. I’m glad that he (and Pierce and Elam) decided to play.
But let’s not pretend they owe playing to anyone other than themselves.
Shorter return
Shortly after the bowl game, Shorter announced that he’ll be back for another year in Gainesville.
This is great news for the Gators, as he brings a ton of experience back to a unit that was not terribly differentiated this season. Shorter wasn’t incredibly explosive (13.4 yards per catch) in 2021, but his 41 catches was tied for the team lead with Jacob Copeland.
With Rick Wells and Kemore Gamble (maybe) leaving, that leaves the Gators leading receivers after Shorter as Xzavier Henderson (26), Trent Whittemore (18), Keon Zipperer (11), Ja’Markis Weston (5) and Jaquavion Fraziars (5). Only Weston (13.6) has a higher yards per catch average than Shorter.
Without Shorter, that meant that the Gators were going to have to rely on guys like Marcus Burke or Daejon Reynolds to step into a major role. Instead, Shorter can lock down one of the starting spots and allow the others to fight over the remaining spots.
Ventrell Miller return
We also got news this week that middle linebacker Ventrell Miller will return for another year as well.
On the surface, this seems like a really big deal for Florida. Certainly, linebacker has been a trouble spot for the Gators for years, and so having someone back with Miller’s experience is a welcome addition. But I think it’s easy to overlook that Miller has struggled mightily in coverage at times and was only the full-time starter when the defense imploded in 2020.
Certainly, having Miller back is important from a depth perspective, but if Florida wants to see improved play at linebacker, that likely isn’t going to come from Miller but rather from guys like Ty’Ron Hopper, Derek Wingo or even Chief Borders or Scooby Williams.
That doesn’t mean Miller’s addition isn’t important, but it means we have to put it into perspective. He wasn’t a game changer for the 2020 defense, so expecting him to be for 2022 seems like wishful thinking.
And for those people who have complained about Hopper and Wingo not getting enough run, a large part of that was the previous staff deciding to go with Miller as the starter the past two seasons.
Emory Jones departure
I’m not someone who wants to dance at the impending departure of Emory Jones. In many ways, I think he’s gotten a lot of blame that needed to be spread around more evenly for the 2021 offense. But the QB is the one who gets the glory and gets the blame as well, so Jones is going to get that whether he deserves it or not.
To be sure, Jones has not been great. His QB rating of 141.8 is significantly below where Kyle Trask was, but is almost identical to the rating put up by Feleipe Franks in a much more successful 2018 campaign (143.4). And while his interceptions and red zone inefficiency cost the Gators some points (30.7 ppg vs 35.0 ppg in 2018), the 2018 Gators defense only gave up 20 points per game while the 2021 Gators surrendered 26.8 as well.
Had the Gators just replicated their 2018 defensive performance, Florida likely wins about 70 percent of its games. Perhaps that still wouldn’t be perceived as good enough, but Dan Mullen still has his job if the Gators end this season at 9-4 instead of 6-7.
The real issue with Jones has been that his game just isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as Trask’s. I suspect that we would have been more patient with him had he followed Franks, but following Trask meant that the step down was noticeable. I’m not sure we notice if Jones is the guy who goes in against Kentucky in 2019.
It’s easy to forget, but many of the same frustrations with Franks have been present all year with Jones. The Trask interlude turned fans’ ire towards Todd Grantham, but it also turned up the heat on a place that expects its QBs to be perfect.
Blessings in disguise
I’m fully expecting Georgia to come out and blitz Michigan on Friday.
If that happens, there will be post-mortems that call this a successful season for Jim Harbaugh and talk about how he’s turned the program around. But it is making me wonder whether this outcome may actually be worse for Michigan in the long-run?
Don’t get me wrong. I’d rather be in the playoff than not. And certainly if Michigan ends up winning the title, nobody will ever be able to take that away. But it is also clear that the Wolverines caught Ohio State in a transition year. It is also clear that the Big Ten has one alpha in recruiting, which allows a team that recruits at Michigan’s level to get into the playoff when the alpha has a down season.
That doesn’t exist in the SEC, which makes me wonder about the 2021 season being a blessing in disguise for the Gators. Let’s say Mullen had jettisoned Grantham after the 2020 season and the defense had performed like the 2018 squad as I suggested above. That would have put Florida in a mid-range bowl with a mid-range record, but still struggling to finish fourth or fifth in the SEC recruiting rankings.
Georgia had the same down year last year that Ohio State did this year, and Florida was able to take advantage. The difference is that Alabama was waiting in the SEC Championship Game instead of Iowa. No offense to the Hawkeyes, but the Crimson Tide, they are not.
But had Mullen made it to the playoff in 2020, there is no way that he would have been dismissed this season. That would have meant that 2021 still likely would have happened with the inconsistency at QB, but we’d be left hoping to catch Georgia in another down year in the future.
That’s where Michigan is at. They had better take advantage of this playoff appearance because I don’t suspect this portends multiple playoff appearances and run of dominance in the Big Ten. Instead, I think it’s a one-year aberration that Ryan Day and the Buckeyes will end next season.
Perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe Harbaugh wins the title and turns into Clemson while Ohio State flounders. But Harbaugh is 1-5 against the Buckeyes so far, which suggests that 2021 is the outlier and not the other way around.
Castro-Walker hiring
The number of administrative staff who have been hired by Billy Napier recently has been at a pace that has been dizzying at times, but one hire this week got my attention.
Marcus Castro-Walker was hired as the director of player engagement and NIL. The fact that Napier has a position dedicated solely dedicated to players – and specifically name, image and likeness issues – intrigues me. Napier has mentioned multiple times that NIL is now part of the game, and by hiring someone to focus on that specifically, he’s putting his money where his mouth is.
The reality is that NIL is going to be a major part of recruiting pitches in the coming years. Players aren’t just going to want to know how you’re going to get them to the riches of the NFL, but how you’ll help them exploit their talents at the college level to get rich as well. Castro-Walker will be at the leading edge of helping Florida convince recruits that the Gators will do just that.
I’m not sure what half of the job titles mean for the assistants that Napier is hiring. But this one is clear: NIL is going to impact recruiting, and Napier wants someone with his hand on the pulse of the players dealing with this on a day-to-day basis.
Whether Castro-Walker is the right hire is a question that has not yet been answered. But the fact that the position exists is a good indication that the Florida administration is giving Napier the infrastructure they promised to help him succeed.
Stricklin Extension
Speaking of that Florida administration, it was announced this week that Scott Stricklin signed a three-year contract extension in July that ups his compensation significantly.
That’s interesting timing given the Cameron Newbauer allegations that came out in mid-July. It’s also interesting given that Stricklin’s first hire for the football program went down in a flaming pile of wreckage this season.
The Newbauer allegations are ugly, and Stricklin’s avoidance of addressing them with any accountability has been problematic, if not from a moral lens then at least from an optics one. But you can’t deny that he has done wonders bringing the Gators’ facilities up to date with the new baseball stadium, football indoor practice facility and football training center all coming on-line under his watch. And non-revenue sports have continued to thrive, with the Gators winning seven national championships since his arrival.
But ADs are graded by who they hire in the revenue generating sports. Mike White has become a lightning rod for the basketball program as Florida fans argue over whether the standard Billy Donovan set is a fair comparison. Assuming that argument continues, and if Napier flames out, then I don’t suspect Stricklin will get another mulligan.
We all know that money drives these sorts of decisions. The extension in the face of the Newbauer allegations drives that point home. But when it becomes just about money, then it also becomes just about results.
If Napier is the next Saban, all will be forgiven. If he’s the next Muschamp, it will not.
Additional Staff
The Athletic is reporting that Napier is going to round out his staff with the hirings of a bunch of NFL assistants. The coaches listed in the article include Rob Sale at offensive line (NY Giants), Eric Henderson on the defensive line (Rams), Karl Scott as Co-DC/ILB coach (Vikings) and Chris Rumph as OLB coach (Bears). They also reported William Peagler coming to coach tight ends after coaching running backs for Michigan State, and that hire has been announced.
The NFL experience is obviously the highlight here as these guys should be able to sell players on their ability to get them into the league, as well as bring a professional teaching methodology to get key techniques taught to the players. But the thing that struck me about these hires is something else: their age.
It’s not that this staff is appreciably younger. When you compare the average age of Napier staff (41.0) to Mullen’s in 2018 (44.2), it’s only a 3-year difference. But the average is a bit misleading because Mullen had two really young assistants (Christian Robinson, 27 and Brian Johnson, 30) who offset some of the older coaches.
Indeed, 6 of the 10 coaches were 45 years old or older (Mullen’s age at the time of his hire). Napier only has three coaches older than 45 and only four who match his age (42). Perhaps more importantly, the coaches in positions of real power (the Co-DCs) are 31 and 36, compared to Grantham being the second most senior member of Florida’s initial staff.
This sets up a different dynamic inside the locker room where older, wiser coaches don’t necessarily have the final say in how things go. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is an open question, but it’s definitely different.
Transfer portal
I’ve been asked a lot recently about the transfer portal, so here’s my quick explanation.
The NCAA put in place a rule that you can replace players who go into the transfer portal with transfers yourself without it impacting the number of high school recruits you can sign up to a limit of 7 players. This does not include sholarships, which still have to come in at 85 (or slightly higher if players take an additional COVID year of eligibility).
So with Emory Jones, Jacob Copeland, Lloyd Summerall, Gerald Mincey, Mohamoud Diabate, Khris Bogle and Dante Zanders all having entered the portal, Florida has hit its 7.
By my count, Florida currently sits at 73 scholarships without those players. That means that if Napier decides to bring in 7 transfers, he would only have 5 more spots to give to high school recruits for the 2022 class.
That’s why I don’t think it’s a big deal that Napier had a few decommitments from this recruiting class prior to early signing day. Those players were going to take up scholarships that could potentially be used on a transfer.
There is inherent risk to using the transfer portal. The backbone of any program is building through high school recruiting, and you don’t want to put a band-aid on a bullet hole when you’re building for the long haul. By kicking the can down the road with transfers now, that can leave a gaping wound later on down the road.
But considering how sparse the recruiting board was when Napier took over, he might be making the calculation that Nick Evers was going to transfer out anyway so why waste a scholarship on him this year? Instead, you can bring in a transfer to plug a hole and sign an extra recruit next year when his scholarship comes off the books and you have the counters to do it.
Roster building has never been so full of choices.