Florida Football: Diwun Black’s comments juxtapose with reality

Florida football had a massive exodus following the end of the 2022 season. With the 2nd most transfers in the country, a clear narrative emerged that Billy Napier was pushing Dan Mullen’s players out of the door.

The reasons for each player’s departure were different, but as everyone finds a new home it’s clear that the rest of college football doesn’t value the bulk of former Gators as much as these players value themselves.

Florida Football: Back in Black

Diwun Black took quite the journey to become a Florida Gator. After originally not qualifying academically, Black went the junior college route before returning the Gainesville. He had a breakout moment after recovering an onside kick against Tennessee, but even then Napier indicated there was still work for Black to do to become a regular part of the linebacker rotation.

Black was then dismissed by Napier in November.

He found a new home for 2023 at Temple University and he took to Twitter over the weekend to give his thoughts about all the former Florida football players finding a new home.

https://twitter.com/diwunblack/status/1615058855490162702?s=20&t=blk_qOC9hKHeTRYaKDASHg

The implication here is that Florida Gator fans have unfairly labeled all the players recruited by Mullen as problems and the new homes they are finding are proof that other college coaches don’t view them as problems. It’s no secret that players still with the program have stated Napier’s discipline is far greater than anything Mullen ever did.

And Black did later clarify that this comment wasn’t aimed Florida and wasn’t meant to be taken negatively.

But the tone seems to be that all the new homes being found are just as good as the one in Gainesville. So, let’s take a look and the list of players that entered the portal from Florida and where they are now:

Marco Ortiz – Nebraska

Josh Braun – Arkansas

Trent Whittemore – UCF

Nay’Quan Wright – USF

Avery Helm – TCU

Lorenzo Lingard – Akron

Griffin McDowell – Uncommitted

Daejon Reynolds – Uncommitted

Chief Borders – Nebraska

David Reese – Cal

Donovan McMillon – Pittsburgh

Yousef Mugharbil – Colorado

Jalen Lee – LSU

Kamar Wilcoxson – Temple

Nick Elksnis – South Carolina

Lloyd Summerall – USF

Diwun Black – Temple

Corey Collier – Nebraska

Chris Thomas – Uncommitted

Michael Tarquin -Southern Cal

Jordan Young – Uncommitted

Ethan White – Uncommitted

Tre’Vez Johnson – Missouri

It’s a wide list, but the majority of new schools aren’t schools that most college football fans would consider an upgrade from Florida. Based on the Jeff Saragin computer rankings for the 2022 season, only Braun, Helm, McMillon, Lee, and Tarquin found a school that had a better season than Florida football.

79% of Florida’s 23 players in the transfer portal are either uncommitted or found a school rated lower than Florida in 2022.

This isn’t to say that guys, including Black, won’t go on to have a successful season in 2023 and that guys won’t eventually find their way to the NFL. It just means that as guys looked for new homes, the top programs in the country largely ignored the talent coming out of Florida.

Most fans don’t have ill will towards these players. Twitter can amplify things further than most fans actually think. We here at Hail Florida Hail advocated for Black to play more after his onside recovery vs Tennessee.

But as Napier continues to build the Florida football roster for 2023, it is only natural to compare and contrast the new players with the players he ran out of town.

Whether it’s for the better remains to be seen.