Florida Football: XC squad show what is possible with the transfer portal

As Florida football is winding down its 2023 season with the real possibility of a losing season on its hands, there is another team in Gainesville that is ascending and has an outside shot of winning the national title on Saturday.

And unlike Billy Napier’s model of program building, this squad has built itself overnight, almost exclusively with the transfer portal.

Florida Football: Looking cross country for talent

Florida women’s cross country team are entering the NCAA Cross Country National Championships on Saturday, ranked 8th in the country. Not to be confused with the track and field team, the distance squad for Florida has never been the calling card for success.

While Florida has standout Parky Valby, the individual runner-up last season at nationals, they have not been a national power on the cross-country scene as a team. From 2013 until this season, the women’s cross country team for Florida had qualified for the national meet just once.

Yet heading into the meet on Saturday morning, Florida is not only at the meet but is a threat to finish in the top four and return to Gainesville with the first NCAA trophy in program history.

How they made their quick turnaround is a lesson Billy Napier, and the Florida football must do to succeed in 2024.

The cross-country overhauled its entire roster through the transfer portal. Beyond Valby, the squad set to toe the line for the Gators are transfers that were not with the team last season.

Flomena Asekol, Amelia Mazza-Downie, and Elise Thorner, among others, came to Florida via the portal.

While cross country tends to be more individual-based, and a team only needs five runners to score, it is emblematic that if a team hits the portal hard and can snag the handful of top athletes available, a quick turnaround is possible.

We know last season Napier was slow to get transfer portal recruits on campus. While his transfer portal class was still better than some other notable teams, it paled compared to what Mike Norvell brought in at FSU.

We also know Napier wants to build the program from the ground up. Georgia and Alabama barely touched the portal, and they are the two squads that will represent the SEC in Atlanta. It is also fair to point out that Dan Mullen was one of the early savants of the transfer portal, and we see where that has left the Gators roster-wise today.

But Napier might not have a choice this offseason. With mounting pressure following a handful of flips and a brutal 2024 schedule, Napier might not be around in 2025 if he doesn’t get a significant haul from the portal.

And if he needs tips on navigating it, he might want to walk over to the cross-country offices for some advice.