Florida football: Gators leap 50 spots in recruiting

What a difference a month made for the Florida football program. What a difference Billy Napier made in that month. What a difference it made having a head coach who’s not a lazy recruiter. Other than returning players from the 2021 season, Florida football is hardly recognizable now.

Heading into early signing day back in December, Florida ranked 76th for the 2022 recruiting class according to 247 recruiting. Florida football is accustomed to producing at the very least a top-15 recruiting class every year. Seeing the Gators down at 76th was unheard of. They were ranked dead last in the SEC as well, even Vanderbilt had a top-40 class.

Most of this ranking was a combination of poor recruiting from Dan Mullen, as well as the aftermath of Florida firing their head football coach. Gator recruiting was trending downward with Mullen as they were ranked in the mid-20’s neighborhood deep into the 2021 season. As expected, Florida football lost several Dan Mullen recruits after his official firing. Napier was staring at an uphill climb for the 2022 season.

Napier was not fazed by the uncertainty in the 2022 class and would steal away a few high-profile recruits on early signing day. He carried the momentum over into the month of January, locking down 4-star RB Trevor Etienne, as well as a few 3-star recruits. The most recent updated 247 2022 recruiting ranks now have Florida football up at 26th. That would be a 50 spot climb by Napier and his staff in just over a month.

Florida looks far from done, they are looking to make a run at several 4-star players, as well as 5-star Harold Perkins. If Napier has a good signing day, the Gators could see themselves jumping into the top-15, possibly into the top-10.

I’m not sure Billy will get the signings necessary to get inside the top-10, but I am expecting a top-15 class when all is said and done. National signing day is on February 2nd.