The landscape of college football recruiting is undergoing a significant transformation in 2024. In a notable shift, the NCAA has repositioned its Early Signing Period to December 4, departing from its traditional mid-December timing. This change accompanies a restructured Transfer Portal system, featuring a 20-day winter window and a condensed 10-day spring period.
For Florida Gators’ head coach Billy Napier, these changes create an intricate balancing act during bowl season. From their temporary base in downtown Tampa, where the team is preparing for their Gasparilla Bowl matchup against Tulane, the coaching staff is orchestrating a complex operation that extends far beyond game preparation.
The intensity of this period is captured in Napier’s candid assessment: “You work all day and all night, basically. I’ve been joking around. Our slogan this week is, ‘College football never sleeps.’ I think we’ve got really good people in those areas. Got to be well-organized. Go to block some time off each day. We typically in our in-season weeks would have blocks of time that we would be recruiting. We’re missing out on some visit windows but we’ll get a chance to host some visitors on (Saturday and Sunday).”
The transfer portal dynamics have yielded mixed results so far for the Gators. While they’ve secured Michigan punter Tommy Doman, they’ve seen departures to SEC rivals, with Kelby Collins heading to Alabama and Jack Pyburn and Ja’Keem Jackson choosing LSU. Yet, Napier maintains an optimistic outlook, remarking, “So far, so good. Kind of playing with a lead a little bit for the first time. Don’t need as much as maybe we’ve needed in the past.”
In an encouraging development that speaks to program stability, several key players have affirmed their commitment to Florida. Most notably, offensive lineman Dameion George reversed course after initially considering the transfer portal, while Austin Barber and Jake Slaughter have pledged their futures to the team through 2025.
However, Napier remains pragmatic about the fluid nature of modern college football: “Yeah, I think for the most part. I mean, you know, nothing surprises me anymore,” he said. “I think we got, for the most part, most of that is done. You know, there’s a handful of things that we got to get resolved, but look, until they show up for class in January, you know, I think it’s not a done deal, right? In a perfect world you would have some type of document you could sign that would kind of lock them in, but we don’t have that so, but we gotta, we still have some work to do.”
Looking back at the hectic period surrounding National Signing Day, which preceded all of this transfer portal activity, Florida head coach Billy Napier reflected on the challenges of managing multiple recruiting responsibilities while preparing for bowl season.
“Well, I would tell you, we took one step in the right direction,” Napier said during a sit down with the media ahead of the upcoming Gasparilla Bowl. “We didn’t have to go on the road recruiting, and we got Signing Day moved up. Just imagine if we had just had Signing Day just a couple days ago, right? So I think we literally would be two days away from Signing Day, right, in last year’s format, so we got that out of the way, then that allows you an opportunity to meet with your players. We didn’t have the conference championship conflict, and certainly that would be a challenge. But I think most of the times, those teams are in a good place, you know, and they’re focused on winning that game, and they can kind of transition later on. So look, it’s not perfect. I think there’s some things to consider, but we’ve got a conflict, right? We’ve got an academic calendar that conflicts with, you know, kind of this finding a new home, right? Decide where you’re going to play next year. So I’m thankful for the players in our team that decided they’re coming back next year, and obviously we had a really good group decide they’re coming, so look, it’s one year at a time. It’s one team at a time. That’s my attitude towards it. So you know, we’ll get this one out of the way, and then we’ll regroup here. January 12, whoever shows up, we’ll coach that group next year.”
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