Florida Gators could be surprise winners in NCAA NIL confusion

The NCAA is stuck in a controversy regarding NIL and roster limits. The plan coming into this summer is that every football team needs to whittle its roster down to 105 players, 85 scholarship and 20 walk-ons. This was set to have a huge impact on the Florida Gators, as Billy Napier tends to keep a huge roster and is known for keeping a vast number of walk-ons.

There is a fight in the court system regarding the hard cap of 105 players, and in an attempt to appease the courts, the NCAA has revised the approach they are going to take.

Florida Gators and Billy Napier benefit from the NCAA revision

In a revision filed in the NCAA's House settlement case, the NCAA filed a plan on Wednesday to "grandfather in" athletes who would have been cut due to the new roster cap. Essentially, schools can keep players they already have, but in time, they would still have to work their way down to 105 players.

At the core of the dispute for legal purposes is that athletes who were collecting NIL money are claiming that this artificial roster limit is causing harm to them.

Napier is known for liking to keep a massive roster, and this spring, the Florida roster listed 114 players. Last fall, Florida had 131 players listed.

And while the bulk of these players will never see the field in a Gator uniform, Napier has claimed in the past the value of keeping such large numbers:

"The issue is we are not the National Football League; we can't replace players. Late in the season, scout teams, you're just gonna have to evolve how you practice, it's going to be very much the NFL the back half of the year, the sports science component will be critical, you gotta keep them healthy, strength and conditioning, being on top of all the science relative to player load and all the things that we do to prevent injury."

In Napier's world, walk-ons also allow him to grab a guy like Cormani McClain as a zero-risk option rather than having to worry that he will take up a roster spot.

There is still a ton to shake out, and there are bound to be more twists and turns, but for now, the status of the NCAA House settlement case seems to be in favor of the model the Gators have built.