If you look at the list of UF’s 17 signees from the 2022 recruiting cycle, you may notice one clear trend: The vast majority of them hail from out of state. The Gators only signed five players from the state of Florida with the remaining 12 coming from elsewhere.
Though the team did a fairly good job closing with the transition class, it’s clear the staff needs to do more in the state moving forward. This class marks the fewest in-state recruits Florida has signed since 2009 when it signed six, which was the last time it had single-digit prospects from the state.
However, in his press conference on Wednesday, Napier made it clear that this won’t be the case moving forward.
“I think it’s a product of the circumstance. I think we basically just had to go evaluate the players that were available. And we looked all over the country,” Napier said, per On3’s Zach Abolverdi. “I think we’re pretty spread out in this class. So, I think that’s a product of the circumstances.
“Those are the players that we felt like fit us from an evaluation standpoint. And then we had the resources to go get that accomplished. I think that’s the one thing to remind ourselves of, is that Florida brand is strong. And it’s spread out and it was able to do good work.”
That is definitely a valid point by Napier. With the proliferation of the early signing period, most players are signing in December these days. That makes transition classes even tougher, as the majority of players in the class were locked up just 10 days after Napier walked in the door.
With a full cycle to evaluate and build relationships with prospects, Napier expects that Florida will be much more successful recruiting the state in 2023.
“Our approach is going to be inside/out, there’s no question. I think history would indicate that when Florida has a really good football team, it starts right here in our backyard and works out,” Napier said. “So, that’s the approach that we will take and certainly with the ’23 group, which we’ve already started on. That will be the mentality for sure.”
UF’s 2022 class currently ranks 19th, which is a major improvement from its No. 76 ranking when Napier took over. But if the Gators are going to crack the top 10 (or better) next year, they will have to lock down the state of Florida.
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