Florida Football Recruiting: Billy Napier’s monster class is teetering

The saving grace for Billy Napier and Florida football all season long has been the incoming recruiting class of 2024. The class has been ranked as high as third in the country and has some premier defensive players lined up and ready to go next season.

The only problem is that until next month, all the commitments to Florida are only verbal. And with two flips over the weekend and rumblings of more to come, Napier’s get-out-of-jail-free card is about to be ripped up.

Florida Football: Do a flip

During the loss to LSU, Jamonta Waller officially announced he was flipping his commitment from Florida to Auburn. It was disappointing, but as we noted the Gators would still be okay if Waller was the only flip.

Well, yesterday cornerback Wardell Mack flipped to Texas.

As it stands now, Florida has 20 commitments and is ranked 4th in the country according to the 247 Composite.

If no one else flips, and Florida picks up a couple more guys, this class will still be elite and all is well.

The problem is that it seems all the other top-tier players Napier is slated to sign are being linked elsewhere.

Amaris Williams and Nasir Johnson are the two being heavily rumored to flip next. Xavier Filsaime is being pursued by both Texas and Oregon. Miami has been going after Adarius Hayes.

If Florida loses all four of those guys, the 2024 class tumbles to 18th according to the 247 Class Calculator. Even if just two of them flip, Florida falls out of the top ten.

We’ve written before to stop writing Napier’s obituary. But if Florida falls out of the top ten once the dust settles and finishes this season 5-7, it’s going to be really hard to preach patience for Gator Nation.

Napier’s entire vision relies upon getting multiple top-tier recruiting classes. That vision is teetering right now and this next month is going to go a long way in deciding the long-term fate of Napier in Gainesville.