Billy Napier open to boosting quarterback room this spring
What was once a promising quarterback room in Gainesville has fallen like a house of cards over the past couple of months following the arrest of freshman Jalen Kitna on child pornography charges, 2023 commit Marcus Stokes’ rescinded scholarship offer after a video surfaced of him using a racial slur on social media, and the NIL fiasco that followed Jaden Rashada saga.
Man, it has not been a fun time for the Gator Nation of late, especially with star quarterback Anthony Richardson heading into the NFL draft despite still being a bit wet behind the ears.
Now that the 2023 recruiting cycle is officially over, head coach Billy Napier and his army of staffers are now turning their attention to the college football transfer portal in hopes of finding another scholarship quarterback to help add some depth to a thin corps. Essentially, there is a job opportunity open under center and the next month or two will serve as auditions for the part.
“I think if there’s an opportunity, there’s a player that passes evaluation,” Napier said according to Swamp247, “we certainly would be in the market for another player there.”
The Gators have already started the search for a new signal-caller, first checking in on former LSU Tigers QB Walker Howard, a former four-star prospect out of Lafayette (Louisiana) St. Thomas More in 2022 who was buried on the Tigers’ depth chart last season. However, 247Sports’ sources suggest that Florida has garnered very little interest from the young quarterback.
Also mentioned was former Washington quarterback Sam Huard, who was ranked No. 12 overall, No. 3 among quarterbacks and No. 249 among all prospects according to the 247Sports composite coming out of high school. However, the legacy football player chose California Polytechnic State instead.
The Gators currently have Wisconsin Badgers transfer Graham Mertz, Jack Miller III (a former Ohio State Buckeyes transfer) and Max Brown as the three scholarship passers on the roster. Time will tell if Napier and Co. can pull off the coup and bring another solid talent in to beef up the competition.
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