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Florida football: Five reasons to have hope for the Gators in 2023

By Benjamin Henderson

Nov 12, 2022; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier run out of the tunenl withlinebacker Lloyd Summerall III (99), defensive lineman Princely Umanmielen (33) and teammates prior to the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2022; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier run out of the tunenl withlinebacker Lloyd Summerall III (99), defensive lineman Princely Umanmielen (33) and teammates prior to the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Every preseason prediction surrounding Florida football seems filled with gloom and doom. Multiple betting sites have the over/under for wins at 5.5, and even sites like The Athletic seem to think the Gators could be on the verge of a 5-7 season.

And while Florida has gone 6-7 the past two seasons, what is the point of being a fan if you don’t have a little bit of hope in your heart? Yesterday we outlined five concerns we have for the Florida Gators, but today we are going to take the optimistic front and give five reasons to have hope for Florida in 2023.

Florida Football Reasons For Hope No. 5: The roster is still talented

We highlighted this last week with the defense in particular, but it isn’t like Florida’s 2023 roster is filled with a bunch of dudes who would be fortunate to be the backup on a 3-7 high school football team.

Seven of the projected starters for the Gators on defense were top 200 overall prospects in their respective recruiting class, with five of them being top 100 players (Kamari Wilson, Shemar James, Chris McClellan, Jason Marshall, and Jalen Kimber).

Compared to Georgia, this may not be impressive, but compared to the teams that will ultimately decide the fate of this season, the roster in Gainesville is just fine.

While Florida has five projected starters on defense that were top 100 and has signed 11 players total in the top 100 over the last four years, South Carolina has signed a total of three top 100 players between 2020 and 2023. Kentucky, in that same time span, has had a total of five, with one of them being Kiyaunta Goodwin.

And yes, FSU is finally having an uptick in recruiting for 2024; they also only signed four top 100 guys total over the previous four seasons.

This is part of why the last two years have been frustrating because even though Dan Mullen didn’t recruit at the level needed to win the SEC title, the cupboard isn’t so bare in Gainesville that this team should have the record that it has had.

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