There’s a lot of buzz about Billy Napier and Florida after early signing day. Though UF’s 2022 class has a lot of work to do, as it ranks No. 50 in the nation on the 247Sports Composite and only has nine players currently signed, the Gators managed to add three new highly-rated blue-chips to their class.
The headliner is five-star safety Kamari Wilson from IMG Academy, but they also signed two highly rated four stars in Devin Moore and Shemar James, the latter of which was originally committed to Florida before leaving the class in October. To bring him back into the fold was a major early victory for Napier, and UF had to beat out Georgia for both him and Wilson.
That strong day has earned the Gators a spot as “winners,” according to Sports Illustrated. Here’s what SI had to say about UF’s signing day haul.
Alabama and A&M hold all the headlines from a rankings perspective, and rightfully so, but like the pair it was the Florida Gators who also signed three new SI99 recruits Wednesday. In securing Devin Moore, Shemar James and Kamari Wilson, Billy Napier and his new staff won legitimate head-to-head battles with Alabama, Georgia and Notre Dame for each of them.
An elite class still probably isn’t in the cards for Florida, but with a strong close in February, it’s certainly reasonable that this class could look a lot better than it does now, rankings-wise. The team will almost certainly add a number of players between now and then.
When the Gators hired Napier, they knew they’d be getting a diligent and detail-oriented recruiter. While he inherited a tough situation in terms of recruiting, he’s off to a great start despite having just 10 days on the job before signing day.
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