When I wrote my Friday article about where Florida sits in the transfer market — what its needs are, what it has, and how to look forward — I was not expecting the doom and gloom reactions in the comment thread about it on the GC board.
No, UF would not be in good shape if it had to field a team next weekend. That much has been clear for a while, as the roster turnover began before the regular season even ended. Even so, only three starters entered the portal, and one of them could still come back. It’d be real nice if Ethan White returned; among those gone, Michael Tarquin is easily the bigger loss.
There are some depth pieces and/or potential future starters that would’ve been nice to keep around like Donovan McMillon, Chief Borders, and Jordan Young, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles in this new transfer-friendly era.
I heard on a podcast from a different UF site that McMillon left because the coaches asked him to play linebacker, which makes no sense to me. I mean, the team does need bodies at linebacker, but also they have former UCLA linebacker Noah Keeter on the roster as something like a fifth string tight end. Maybe move him back to defense? I thought McMillon was promising as a safety, and his size (6-1, 205 lbs) doesn’t scream potential linebacker. The hosts said McMillon left because he didn’t want to play up a level, and I totally get that. Best of luck to him at Pitt.
Anyway, there is real work to be done in the portal, but the guest list for last weekend would fill a lot of holes if it has a high hit rate. The coaches and staff are definitely trying to do the work.
Let’s not forget, though, that the biggest thing for the 2023 team is for the 2022 recruiting class to produce some starters. Home-grown guys are still the core of sustainable success, even with the new transfer rules.
It does feel a bit quick to say the Gators need to rely on second-year players, particularly players from a transitional class. I’ll answer those statements with these: the ’22 signees need to get ready this year to lead the team to divisional contention in 2024, and Napier cleared out most of the old commits when he was hired so they’re more his guys than normal for a transitional group. The latter could cut both ways, as they’re more hand-picked by Napier but on a much shorter relationship timeline. We’ll have to see how that works out.
The good news is that the 19-man 2022 class has already produced some contributors. RB Trevor Etienne, LB Shemar James, DT Chris McClellan, S Miguel Mitchell, and S Kamari Wilson each played in every game, and all but Etienne and McClellan logged at least one start. James had the most with four starts on the year.
Other players from the class saw some decent action too, despite not appearing in every game.
WR Caleb Douglas also had a pair of starts and appeared in every post-September game. The starts were more a function of injury plague at the position, but he had his moments. He’ll need to get stronger to advance in his career, though.
CB Devin Moore played a fair amount early on before a health problem derailed his season. He looked fairly good despite, as it turned out, gutting through a shoulder injury that pre-dated his college career. It’s been surgically repaired and should be good to go for 2023.
Jack linebacker (a.k.a., OLB/Edge) Jack Pyburn earned playing time in each game after September like Douglas did, and his opportunities on defense increased a little after Brenton Cox’s dismissal. He was still down the depth chart behind older players and mostly appearing on special teams, but a couple cleared out to give him a clear path to more snaps.
So, that right there is eight players who range from stepping up in the rotation (Pyburn) to either likely starter in the fall (Wilson) or major enough snaps that they might as well be starters (Etienne, McClellan). Not bad for a class thrown together on extremely short notice (yes, I know they didn’t all commit after Napier’s hire).
There are fairly obvious opportunities for more. Adam Mihalek doesn’t have the kicking job sewn up for good, so Trey Smack could challenge there after doing some kickoff duty when not hurt. The defensive tackle spot still is a bit thin despite the portal work that’s already done, so Jamari Lyons could start seeing the field some more. The tight ends taken in the ’22 class were all mild to major projects, so the guys on the milder end may begin competing for playing time. Arlis Boardingham is probably the one to watch if I had to pick just one.
With a handful of the players being known projects, they’re not all going to pan out this early. However we could see double digits from the group appearing regularly in the fall.
To have a contributor rate of more than 50% that early in their college careers would say something about both the class and the opportunities for playing time that existed when they arrived. UF needs more players everywhere right now, but the quality so far has been high among the players that Billy Napier has brought in.
The Gators still need real portal help, no question about it. But they don’t need as much as they might have because the 2022 class is already doing quite well for itself.