Florida football: Brandon Walker proves he doesn’t know what he’s saying

Florida football has a good bit of optimism surrounding the program as we head into Billy Napier’s second season at the helm, but expectations for the 2023 seasons are understandably low.

The Gators are losing Anthony Richardson and still have questions to answer on the defensive side of the ball, so nobody is expecting the Gators to come out and compete for the SEC title this year.

That all makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense is people who think the program is still sinking rather than making its way back up.

Brandon Walker from Barstool Sports has been doing season previews for a bunch of college teams, and his review of the Gators went a long way in proving that he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about with UF.

First off, he projected Florida’s record at 5-7, which I don’t have a problem with. I think the Gators can manage 6-6, but if people have us dropping an extra game, it’s hard to blame them.

Walker goes through the Gators’ schedule, which is a very challenging one, and he was pretty sharp with his win/loss predictions.

Where Walker loses some credibility is actually in the very beginning of his preview.

"“If you wanna see a team that might get their coach fired this year, it’s this one. The Florida Gators. The Florida Gators might have to fire Billy Napier at some point this year.”"

So let’s pause real quick to break that down. BW thinks that Florida is going to fire a coach halfway through his second season after taking over a dumpster fire because he isn’t instantly churning out ten-win seasons.

I can’t remember many coaches who lost their jobs after less than two years. Sure, it happens, but when the trajectory of the program is positive like it is in Gainesville, it just doesn’t happen.

Walker also talks about Florida football’s recruiting, and how that may be a saving grace for Napier to this point.

"“And if he didn’t have a five-star recruit [committed] right now, 5-star QB DJ Lagway…if he didn’t have that guy committed, he might get fired.”"

Sure, if Billy didn’t have a great class coming in he might be on the hot seat. But guess what.

He does.

We can throw around what if’s all we want to make our points seem valid, but it doesn’t make them true.

For the University of Florida, and especially for Scott Stricklin, Napier’s success is incredibly important. They can’t afford to fire him in the next 10 months just because he didn’t wave a magic wand and create a championship.

And they certainly won’t do it because a guy at Barstool wants to pile onto UF while they’re down knowing they’ll be back before Mississippi State ever is.

So yeah, national media still has very little faith in the Gators for this upcoming fall. But that’s not what Napier’s vision is about.

He’s looking at the future, which is looking pretty bright in Gainesville.

Keep up with Florida football at Hail Florida Hail.