Florida Gators leap into top 10 of On3’s recruiting rankings
Billy Napier has officially arrived.
After a busy July that included eight commitments, Napier has the Florida Gators in the top 10 of On3’s recruiting rankings for the 2023 class. This is a stark contrast from the end of June when Napier penned an open letter to the Gator Nation essentially pleading for patience and trust in the process.
Napier was a fantastic recruiter at Louisiana, having the No. 1 recruiting class in the Sun Belt in all four seasons at the helm. There will always be questions about a first-year head coach in the SEC, as recruiting in the conference means competing with college football heavyweights such as Alabama and Georgia. Napier’s current 2023 class (and the recruits Napier is prioritizing for the 2024 class) show that he is good enough to hang with the titans of the sport.
Napier didn’t do this alone. The addition of top tier assistants such as assistant head coach and defense/cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Sean Spencer, and many more, have had a massive impact on the recruiting trail.
Raymond is considered one of the best, if not the best, defensive backs developer in the nation and Spencer has managed to land six four-star defensive linemen in the 2023 class — a position of dire need for the Gators.
The quality of recruits is something that has never been seen. Of the Gators’ 20 commits, 18 are assigned four-star ratings — known as blue-chip recruits, which also includes the five-star tier. This brings the Gators’ blue-chip ratio to 90%, the highest in school history, which has earned the new head coach the moniker of Napier “Blue-Chip Billy” on social media.
“Blue-Chip Billy” will make his debut as the Gators skipper on September 3 at home against No. 7 Utah. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. EDT and will be televised on ESPN.
