Billy Napier’s Potential Recruits for the Class of 2022

[Escambia94]

Since taking over at Florida at the end of November, CBN has done in-home visits or hosted official visits from the following:


5* DB Jaheim Singletary, Jacksonville, FL (0.9899) (Georgia commitment) [Arkansas]
5* CB Daylen Everett, Bradenton, FL (0.9874) [Georgia]
5* DB Kamari Wilson, Fort Pierce, FL (0.9863) [Florida]
4* DB Azareyeh Thomas, Niceville, FL (0.9621) [FSU]
4* RB TreVonte' Citizen, Lake Charles, LA (0.9533) [Miami]
4* RB Trevor Etienne, Jennings, LA (0.9257) [Florida 2022-2023, transfer 2024]
4* DB Devin Moore, Naples, FL (0.9070) [Florida]
4* DB Austin Ausberry, Baton Rouge, LA (0.9287) [Auburn]
4* DB Earl Little Jr, Fort Lauderdale, FL (0.9575) [Alabama]
4* DL Jamari Lyons, Viera, FL (0.8949) [Florida]
4* TE Danny Lewis, New Iberia, LA (0.8559) [Alabama]
3* DL Shone Washington, New Orleans, LA (0.8817) [Georgia]
3* OT David Conner, Deerfield Beach, FL (0.8484) [Florida 2022, Colorado 2023]

 

[DRU2012]

Since taking over at Florida at the end of November, CBN has done in-home visits or hosted official visits from the following:

4* DB Azareyeh Thomas
5* DB Jaheim Singletary
4* RB Trevor Etienne
4* RB Trevonte Citizen
4* DB Devin Moore
4* DB Austin Ausberry
4* DB Earl Little Jr
5* DB Kamari Wilson

So he IS (relatively quietly) finding the time to focus on SOME prospective recruits after all—“picking and choosing” among a particularly talented group of young men whom I’d like to think he figures more “fit the mold” of the Gator “team-of-the-future” we are hoping and counting on him to land and ultimately build here at UF.
I understand, have figured all along that this wasn’t going to “happen overnight”...That there was too much lacking and just plain “WRONG” with our team, program and general lack of “total balance and cohesion” for, say, “a coupla 5-stars and a new DC” to fix things between this past season and the next, anyway.
Look for things to begin to “gel”, and then hopefully begin to generally “look UP” by the second part of NEXT season...
And THEN perhaps the start of our true “RETURN” in 2023.
THAT may be the best we can salvage and HOPE for from where we “bottom out” these next few days/weeks/months.
Guess from here on and UP we’ll just have to place our faith, hope and trust in our new Head Coach.
To either sink us, or SAVE us.

 

[Escambia94]

Updated:
4* TE Danny Lewis
3* DL Danny Young
3* DL Shone Washington
3* OT David Conner

 

[DRU2012]

Updated:
4* TE Danny Lewis
3* DL Danny Young
3* DL Shone Washington
3* OT David Conner

More “potential recruits”?
Tell us more of what you know about them, if you have any such further info (I admit it: I had become so concerned with our seeming “leaky boat” when it came to “prospective recruits” that I more and more have purposefully STOPPED following “the online media parade”—and now mostly rely on YOUR reports here, E—.
Sorry, but “no good deed goes unpunished”, doncha know?
(I’ll understand if you ignore me on this—but in truth it’s a compliment...to your diligence, and reliable accuracy.)
This way, I don’t have to over-expose myself to all the REST of the rumors, trolls and/or baseless crap thinly disguised as “reporting” on the net.
Oh, I am still aware of much of the “ongoing buzz”: between my phone’s YouTube alerts and the long-set filters on my computer, a certain amount is “virtually unavoidable”, even if I decline to pursue it. But this has all been a tough enough period for us Gator fans as it is; you seem to be able to wade through it all, distill the salient facts, and leave the rest behind apparently unaffected by it. So thankyou for that.
(I mean it.)

 

[Escambia94]

More “potential recruits”?
Tell us more of what you know about them, if you have any such further info (I admit it: I had become so concerned with our seeming “leaky boat” when it came to “prospective recruits” that I more and more have purposefully STOPPED following “the online media parade”—and now mostly rely on YOUR reports here, E—.
Sorry, but “no good deed goes unpunished”, doncha know?
(I’ll understand if you ignore me on this—but in truth it’s a compliment...to your diligence, and reliable accuracy.)
This way, I don’t have to over-expose myself to all the REST of the rumors, trolls and/or baseless crap thinly disguised as “reporting” on the net.
Oh, I am still aware of much of the “ongoing buzz”: between my phone’s YouTube alerts and the long-set filters on my computer, a certain amount is “virtually unavoidable”, even if I decline to pursue it. But this has all been a tough enough period for us Gator fans as it is; you seem to be able to wade through it all, distill the salient facts, and leave the rest behind apparently unaffected by it. So thankyou for that.
(I mean it.)

The previous staff was not able to do in-home visits due to Mullen’s NCAA sanctions that would have ended around 1 December. The remaining staff that could have done visits only did a couple from what I can tell. We had maybe two commitments and a few official visits from August to November under Mullen. Under Napier we have doubled the number of commitments, added a dozen in-home visits more than what Christian Robinson and Garrick McGee were able to do by themselves without Mullen, and added half a dozen official visits—all in two weeks.

There is no guarantee that all 12 of these recruits will sign with Florida on early signing day or regular signing day, but most of these guys are upgrades over the recruits that de-committed or the Gators that entered the portal. Copeland underperformed as the number one receiver and was already unhappy, so he had to go. Losing Mahmoud Diabate sucks, but there must be another personal issue he is not talking about. The others in the transfer portal are tweeners that will not fit the new offense or defense.

I would argue that Copeland is a tweener due to his lack of blocking skills, but I really think he was going to transfer anyway even if Mullen had stayed. I personally hoped Napier could have convinced him to stay as a blocking receiver due to his physical skills and that could have made him a different kind of NFL prospect. He probably wants to be a deep threat receiver, but his dropped passes are a concern. If he transfers closer to home then personal issues will interfere with his success.

 

[DRU2012]

The previous staff was not able to do in-home visits due to Mullen’s NCAA sanctions that would have ended around 1 December. The remaining staff that could have done visits only did a couple from what I can tell. We had maybe two commitments and a few official visits from August to November under Mullen. Under Napier we have doubled the number of commitments, added a dozen in-home visits more than what Christian Robinson and Garrick McGee were able to do by themselves without Mullen, and added half a dozen official visits—all in two weeks.

There is no guarantee that all 12 of these recruits will sign with Florida on early signing day or regular signing day, but most of these guys are upgrades over the recruits that de-committed or the Gators that entered the portal. Copeland underperformed as the number one receiver and was already unhappy, so he had to go. Losing Mahmoud Diabate sucks, but there must be another personal issue he is not talking about. The others in the transfer portal are tweeners that will not fit the new offense or defense.

I would argue that Copeland is a tweener due to his lack of blocking skills, but I really think he was going to transfer anyway even if Mullen had stayed. I personally hoped Napier could have convinced him to stay as a blocking receiver due to his physical skills and that could have made him a different kind of NFL prospect. He probably wants to be a deep threat receiver, but his dropped passes are a concern. If he transfers closer to home then personal issues will interfere with his success.

(As for Copeland, “Yeah, and now he gets to please his mommy after all...”)
Since composing the above (ie. My own remarks and concerns about recruiting, etc) and then further reflecting on my own words, amounting therein to a “confession” of a certain amount of my own intellectual cowardice and laziness it seems, in retrospect, I decided (admittedly somewhat belatedly) to go back and take a deeper, behind-the-scenes look at Billy Napier’s pattern-of-behavior and focus so far in his short, sharp rise here from “nowhere to somewhere in the college football major league spotlight”...and found that in truth he is pretty well presently just REPEATING the same patterns, trends and general historical behaviors as he has followed in his previous stops on the road he is on. He builds his staff first, and he does NOT believe in “rushing to fill recruiting spots last-minute just because you have them when you get there”—usually (considering when and how Coaching changes occur) by definition late-in-the-game to begin with—and then, you likely LOSE a large portion of them later ANYWAY.”
This guy is big on “establishing relationships” and BUILDING: trust, components, young men and PROGRAMS.
All in all, based on all that and more I came across in my “investigations” I find I am much more relaxed and circumspect in my evaluation and general outlook vis-a-vis our new Coach and all that has happened so far—especially regarding the specific sequence of events since his “arrival”—AND the progression of “losses” in potential recruits and at the transfer portal.
This is all going pretty well as it has played out elsewhere...
It looks worrisome at first, but picks up positively pretty quickly once he and his people get in and GET TO WORK—with their people, doing things their way.

 

[Escambia94]

From what I can tell, the only one in that top list above that Florida had recruited was 4* DB Azareyeh Thomas, Niceville, FL (0.9621). The others that Napier's staff contacted over the past couple weeks did not show any contact from the Mullen recruiting staff. These recruits are not all Lousiana retreads either. At least six are from the Sunshine State, with one coming from the IMG Academy.

 

[DRU2012]

From what I can tell, the only one in that top list above that Florida had recruited was 4* DB Azareyeh Thomas, Niceville, FL (0.9621). The others that Napier's staff contacted over the past couple weeks did not show any contact from the Mullen recruiting staff. These recruits are not all Lousiana retreads either. At least six are from the Sunshine State, with one coming from the IMG Academy.

That is both important and encouraging. Gonna take a WHOLE LOT MORE of the same to turn this thing around, however.
“Brick by brick, my citizens. Brick by brick.”