Gators moved away from recruiting South Florida under Napier. Why focus shifted

As Billy Napier’s time at Florida reached an end, a register of grounds for his firing likely existed in the back of athletic director Scott Stricklin’s mind.

Napier never really strung together the type of winning you need in the SEC to sustain yourself. The on-field struggles were the product of certain management issues (e.g., play-calling), as well as a lack of talent development. Even further down the pyramid of impetus for his departure lay his recruiting.

Before Napier came Dan Mullen, who left a malodor when he said he wouldn’t recruit during the season. Napier was supposed to relieve Florida in that realm, but the numbers show a light improvement (Mullen and Napier had a similar average recruiting class ranking, according to 247Sports). Part of his original pitch centered on harnessing the talent hotbed UF has nearby.

“We are going to have a very specific plan in recruiting and evaluating, and that will start with a major emphasis on this state,” Napier said during his introductory press conference in December 2021. “This is a talent-acquisition business. We’re going to work tirelessly in this area.”

But four years later, less than 50% of Napier’s players were from within the state. He was no slouch on the recruiting trail outside the southeast, landing top quarterback DJ Lagway (a Texas native) and others. Still, he never found his footing nearby, especially in one of the country’s top recruiting locations.

Napier only recruited four top-200 players from South Florida, each in 2025. Mullen had four in his final season and seven during his four-year stint. No Florida hire since the turn of the century has attracted less talent from the area than Napier. The Gators’ next coach will surely need to find success down the Florida Turnpike.

How they do that — and, more directly, why Napier struggled — is a loaded concept.

“Napier’s staff was never really built to dominate South Florida,” 247 Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins said. “They eventually found some success in the area — a lot of it after DJ Lagway burst onto the scene — but they targeted other parts of the state and country (Georgia, Alabama, Texas), and that’s where they got a bulk of their talent.”

It’s important to start with that caveat. Yes, Florida whiffed on recent SoFlo recruits it was in on, like Bryce Fitzgerald and Joshua Moore (who was once committed to the school), but Napier trended away from the region. The lack of commits may have been more indicative of adjustments away from UF, rather than at it.

The top nine recruits from Florida signed with nine different schools in 2024. A decade earlier, that was only six schools, and six of the top 10 Florida players remained in-state at Miami, Florida State or Florida. In recent years, national powerhouses like Ohio State and Georgia have started to pick off whomever they want. Brutus piqued top recruit Jeremiah Smith’s interest before Florida had much of a chance.

The second school that was most in on Smith was Miami. Since Mario Cristobal’s arrival at UM, the Hurricanes have tightened their grip on the tri-county’s home-grown talent in a way Manny Diaz was never able to. For that matter, Florida State has started doing satellite camps in Miami to compete more aggressively with UM.

Recruiting in South Florida has become a national battle — one that Napier wasn’t fit to fight in. It doesn’t help that Florida didn’t have a full-time on-field coach with regional ties under Napier. That’s what happens when you bring a significant portion of your staff from Louisiana. So Florida divided up the region between coaches, struggling to maintain consistency against a growing number of more aggressive foes. Assignments switched regularly. Ben Hanks III, the top player from the area in the 2025 class, was UF’s biggest win. After that victory, his primary contact at Florida, Will Harris, left for Miami’s staff.

UF’s recruiting plan in the area may change abruptly with its next hire, especially if it’s a current Power Four coach. Stricklin has made the criteria for his next leader clear: experience and history of success. That starts, in many ways, on the recruiting trail. Florida intends to spare no aggression. “UF has never been more invested in the success of this football program – elite facilities, robust NIL opportunities and comprehensive support for our student athletes and staff – than we are today,” Stricklin said.

But the nature of recruiting in the state has changed. Under Napier, Florida lost a step where it once was dominant, setting up a challenging rebuild for its next coach. Resources can only take the program so far when the relationships have deteriorated.

More than anything Stricklin’s money can do, UF will need to put an immediate emphasis on developing a recruiting structure in South Florida. Soon enough, there won’t be many more Gators from the Everglades.