Florida Football: Is Billy Napier moving with enough haste to fill his staff?

It was somewhat surprising, but not without merit, when Billy Napier changed his coaching staff last week. He let go of secondary coach Corey Raymond and defensive line coach Sean Spencer. The defense was a massive liability during the back half of the season, and all the recruiting flips happened within their two units.

That was Monday.

Of last week.

It is now Thursday, ten days later.

The transfer portal is open, and early signing day is around the corner, with the Gators recruiting class far from locked down.

And unfortunately, there is still minimal indication of who will fill out Napier’s staff for 2024.

Florida Football: Not with haste

As the meme goes, Napier likes to move in silence. Based on reporting from 247 Sports, Napier has been on the road all week, meeting with recruits and trying to lock down his 2024 class and beyond.

But not having a named position coach for two key positions amps up the difficulty when trying to lock down those recruits. Xavier Filsaime, the five-star safety out of Texas, is slated to take an official visit to Texas right before early signing day.

Who does Napier have to convince him to stay?

There have been rumors and rumblings that five-star defensive lineman LJ McCray isn’t fully locked down, and FSU is continuing to make a push.

Who does Napier have to convince him to stay?

The transfer portal is open, and Florida football has had almost zero outward momentum toward bringing in any notable names.

Who does Napier have to convince them to come?

It is a case of fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

Last year, one of the critiques of Napier was that he moved far too slowly in the transfer portal, and by the time he had momentum, all the big-name transfers were gone. For example, Florida’s linebackers had zero depth this past season, and that was after the Gators grabbed two from the portal.

There are rumblings that Napier is looking at Los Angeles Chargers defensive back coach Will Harris to be the secondary coach. Harris could be a perfectly fine coach, but if Napier is waiting until the end of the NFL season to get him, it could be too late to grab anyone of note in the portal.

Likewise, Twitter sleuths are trying to figure out if Ed Orgeron, the former LSU head coach, is in line to become the defensive line coach for Florida. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. But if it isn’t Orgeron, zero other names have surfaced as possibilities.

In the past, waiting over two weeks to fill a staff wouldn’t be worth writing about or expressing concern. But in the modern age of the transfer portal and early signing day, Napier is walking a tightrope, hoping this works out.

Perhaps slow and steady used to win the race,  but in 2023 we would like to see a bit more haste in trying to get Florida football to the finish line.