Lack of decommitments from Florida is another knock on Billy Napier

It has been a month and three days since the Florida Gators fired their former head coach, Billy Napier. Over that stretch, the chaos of finding a replacement has ensued, and the Gators haven't exactly found any wins to reinforce the decision.

However, one trend has stuck out since Napier was fired: decommitments, or, unlike other programs, a lack thereof.

Since he was fired, zero players committed to Florida have changed their minds, yet another poor reflection of Napier's time in Gainesville.

Why has nobody decommitted from Florida?

Usually, when a college head coach is fired, players follow suit, either following the man who recruited them or finding another program to call home. People acknowledge and normalize this by saying the athletes committed to the coach instead of the program.

Well, clearly, the prospects committed to Florida didn't do that. Instead, they committed to the program over the head coach.

An example of this happening in the past is when the LSU Tigers fired their head coaches. Because of the allure of the program itself, almost all of the players have stuck around in Baton Rouge, pledging their allegiances to the Tigers instead of whoever the coach was.

Now, that trend has become prevalent at Florida, a huge nod to the football program and a huge knock on Napier.

Meanwhile, programs like the Penn State Nittany Lions have already lost 19 commits, the Arkansas Razorbacks have lost 14 commits, and even the Oklahoma State Cowboys have lost 10 commits.

This isn't to say that Napier did a bad job recruiting while he was in charge of the Gators. In fact, Florida just finished landing the No. 13 recruiting class of 2026, headlined by elite athletes like four-star wide receiver Davian Groce.

That top-15 recruiting class has stayed entirely intact as nearly all 27 commits have reaffirmed their decisions to bring their talent to Gainesville over any other program in the country, even without an official head coach holding the reins.