Florida Football: With three ways to build, Gators opting for door number three

Florida football wasn’t as dormant as some other notable teams in the transfer portal, but Billy Napier wasn’t as aggressive as some fans would have liked last offseason. And after a weekend where FSU and Colorado pulled off big wins after both were very aggressive in the transfer portal, it has led many to juxtapose their approach against the approach of a team like Clemson.

And while there is euphoria in Tallahassee and Boulder right now, let’s pump the brakes on the idea that it’s the only viable pathway for building a national contender.

Florida Football: Choose your pathway

Following Clemson’s meltdown against Duke, many national pundits took aim at Dabo Sweeny for his brazen approach to not dip into the transfer portal this offseason. The Tigers brought in one new player, a former four-star QB who had originally committed to Alabama in 2019.

In modern college football, there are three ways a squad can build its team:

• Door One – Recruit high-ranking classes with minimal action in the portal
• Door Two – Recruit low-rated classes but build up with almost exclusively transfer portal guys
• Door Three – Recruit high-ranking classes while getting a decent number of guys from the portal

Of the teams in the AP Top Ten this week, there is a mixture of how each team is built:

• Georgia – Door One. Bulldogs only brought in four guys from the portal
• Michigan – Door Three. Their transfer class looks a lot like Florida’s.
• Alabama  – Door One. Like Georgia, only brought in five guys.
• FSU – Door Two. To their credit, they are finally putting together a solid recruiting class.
• Ohio State – Door One. They brought in nine guys, but their transfer class was ranked outside of the top 25.
• USC – Door Two. The Trojans had some abysmal recruiting class the last few years, but like FSU are building that backup.
• Penn State – Door One. Seven new guys from the portal, but overall transfer class is ranked 52nd.
• Washington – Door One. Even though their recruiting classes haven’t been super strong either, with their highest ranking class since 2020 coming in at 16th, their transfer class ranking this season was 46th.
• Tennessee – Door One. Eight transfer guys ranked 36th nationally.
• Notre Dame – Door One. We could count this as Door Two, as Sam Hartman was their big pickup in the portal, but overall, their transfer class was ranked 39th.

Do you notice a trend here?

For all the banging of the drum about the transfer portal, only three teams currently in the AP Top 10 had a transfer class ranked in the top 25.

Michigan, FSU, LSU, USC, Auburn, Oklahoma, and Oregon joined Florida football as the only schools that had a top 20 recruiting class in 2023 and a top 20 transfer portal class in 2023.

So, while we all point and laugh at Clemson, and please do to get the spotlight away from Gainesville, the reality is the way the Tigers are built is closer to the norm among elite teams than the exception.

What does this mean for the future in Gainesville?

Of the teams currently ranked in the top ten, Florida’s 2023 roster has forged its own pathway to some extent. Michigan is the only other team that really compares to how the Gators were built this season.

Billy Napier ultimately brought in 12 new guys, and his transfer portal class ranked 16th once the dust was settled.

Not elite, but it was certainly far from dormant.

It also means, as we have said numerous times on this site, that success is going to take time if Florida is trying to build primarily through recruiting.

As we have also said, it doesn’t mean Napier is immune to criticism for amateur-hour mistakes like sending out two guys wearing the same number.

But if you want the Gators to be built more like Alabama and Georgia and less like FSU and Colorado, Napier is still a year or two away before the machine gets built.