The 2024 season has come and gone for Florida Football and the Gators finished th year 8-5 with a win in the Gasparilla Bowl. Now that the year is done, we are handing out our annual report card grades.
These are for the official assistants listed on Florida's site and doesn't factor in strength coach Tyler Miles or anyone considered an analyst like Dan Enos.
Also we should note there are behind the scenes factors that we can't account for, and these grades are mostly a reflection of the unit as a whole they were tasked to oversee. Also these grades are a reflection of the entire season, not just the four game winning streak to close out the year.
It's hard to actually pin whether Descoster is a good coach or not given that he is the assistant to Rob Sale. But the grade of C- is more of a reflection that Billy Napier employs two offensive line coaches towards a unit that is average at best (we'll get to some hard numbers when we get to Sale) AND has continued to not land top tier talent in bulk in recruiting.
By the end of the season, this was a plus unit for the Gators. Florida finished the season top 20 in sack percentage and pressure on the QB was a massive reason for their four game winning streak to close out the season.
We also are not going to ignore one sack against Miami, none against Texas A&M, and just five total pressures against Texas. He did land top 100 EDGE Jayden Woods in recruiting and has Tyreak Sapp coming back, so this is a unit that has B+ potential in 2025.
The chessmaster himself, no unit was devastated as much by injuries as the the group Harris had and yet he found a way to keep them competitive. The emergence of Jason Marshall was a welcome sight before he got hurt and even by the end of the season he made Trikweze Bridges into a serviceable corner.
He also landed Ben Hanks, Lagonza Hayward, and Hylton Stubbs in recruiting, but questionable safety play from the start of the season prevents Harris from landing in A territory for 2024.
The wildcard of these grades, there isn't a grade that can be given to Billy Gonzales that will make everyone happy. He did take Elijhah Badger from a catch and run guy to a legit downfield threat.
Chimere Dike came to Florida after a down year at Wisconsin and he too had a nice year. Gonzales also helped land five-star receivers Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown in recruiting.
Combined with having to overcome the injury to Eugene Wilson, one could justify an A for Gonzales.
But...
Peel back a little bit and there are question marks as to why no one besides Badger and Dike felt ready to step up. Aidan Mizell and Tank Hawkins in theory are the next guys up for Florida in 2025, but they were losing out on snaps to Marcus Burke and Taylor Spierto in 2024.
As noted with Peterson, the defensive line for Florida emerged as a top unit by the end of the season. In addition to being top 20 in sack percentage, Florida was also top 50 in yards per rush against.
The emergence of Caleb Banks was huge, but Chatman also got a productive season out of Desmond Watson. Florida will need to replace a lot of outgoing talent along the interior of the line in 2025, so we will see if the end of season play continues.
For most fans, if Billy Napier had been fired mid-season, Jabbar Juluke is the one assistant that almost every agreed upon they wanted to stick around with a new staff. The running back room was also torn up with injuries, but Juluke kept having guys ready to step up and contribute all season long.
Even with Montrell Johnson departing in 2025, this feels like the deepest room the Gators have.
As we noted a couple times above, there was what the defense looked like to end the season, but there is also what the defense looked like at the start of the season. It can not be understated how much of an unmitigated disaster the defense was to start the year. Even in the win over Mississippi State, the defense looked completely unprepared to play against a well known up tempo style.
Let's also not gloss over what happened against Texas.
In fact, prior to the four game winning streak, an F for Ron Roberts wouldn't have bee unfair. But the defense was the key in the winning streak and seven of Florida's top ten recruits for 2025 are on the defensive side.
Let's be honest here, the "Co-offensive coordinator" tag was merely semantics. And the problem for Florida is that for a team that runs a ton of two tight end sets, the Gators don't really have amazing tight ends.
Hayden Hansen is a serviceable blocking tight end, and Arlis Boardingham disappeared and was replaced by Tony Livingston. Combined with the inability to sign any top tight ends in recruiting, this continues to be a unit that needs to be better given how often Napier wants to use them.
Once it became clear that Austin Armstrong wasn't calling plays in 2024, it is fair to ask what exactly was his role beyond being a cheerleader for the Gators?
And for the record, there were elements of his style of defense that we liked from 2023, but Napier felt the need to pull the plug after one season and the "rising star" is off the 4-8 Houston for 2025.
Florida finished the season 58th in sack percentage. Even towards the end of the season when they didn't give up any sacks against LSU and just one sack against Ole Miss, the Gators were still allowing 10+ pressures a game. The only reason there were not more sacks was because DJ Lagway could escape.
Combined with the fact that Sale continues to lag behind in recruiting and has still never landed a top 100 overall prospect and the fact that Florida had zero feel for what their best line combo was to start the year and were trotting out Kamryn Waites to start the year, the season in totality for Sale was average at best.
It's us, Hail Florida Hail, casting shade at Billy Napier.
In other news, water is wet.
Like everyone else on this list, the C- is a reflection of the season in its totality. As we all know, Florida was completley unprepared to start the season. Do not trick yourself into thinking that Miami and Texas A&M went on to have an elite season. The Hurricanes lost in the Pop-Tarts Bowl while the Aggies lost four of five to close out the year.
Do not trick yourself into thinking Napier should get a pass for how he managed the Tennessee game. Do not trick yourself into believing Napier did everything he could to beat Georgia after Lagway went down as Aidan Warner couldn't throw a pass further than five yards while Clay Millen was relegated to watching.
Do not trick yourself into thinking injuries are an excuse for why falling behind 42-0 to Texas is okay.
Do not trick yourself into thinking that in year three of the Billy Napier Era that 8-5 and an appearance in the Gasparilla Bowl can be counted as a "successful" season.
But...
This team was left for dead and had little business even making it to the Gasparilla Bowl. This team had the feeling of a squad that was going to bottom out with zero hope for the future. The four game winning streak to close out the season does have positive consequences heading into 2025.
For starters, there will be real talk of Florida behind a dark horse playoff team with Lagway as the QB. That is far more fun than the alternative of spending the next nine months dreading another 5-7 campaign.
The winning streak also should give Florida better momentum for recruiting this summer. We already saw the positive impact it had for the class of 2025.
Ultimately there is a pathway where maybe, just maybe, Napier can put it all together in 2025. There are still some game management red flags that need to be addressed and the Gators can't just give away games while they "figure things out," but if the defense can continue to play like it did to close out 2024 the Gators could go 10-2 and beyond next year.