Tag: Billy Napie

Blue-chip defensive lineman sets spring visit dates, includes Florida

This coveted defensive lineman plans on making a stop in Gainesville to start April.

College football’s recruiting season is back in full swing and one blue-chip defensive lineman prospect is making the most of his spring schedule.

[autotag]Kamarion Franklin[/autotag], a four-star recruit out of Lake Cormorant (Mississippi) in the 2024 class, recently divulged his spring itinerary to Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, including a stop in Gainesville to get a gander at what [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] has brewing in the Swamp. Florida’s date with the promising young athlete is currently set for April 1 and 2.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 260-pound high school junior also has plans to visit the Auburn Tigers on March 13 and 14, followed up by a stop with the South Carolina Gamecocks from March 17 to 19, and then a journey to south Florida to see the Miami Hurricanes on March 25 and 26. After the stop with the Gators, he plans on heading north to check in with the Ohio State Buckeyes from April 14 to 16.

The coveted defensive lineman already paid a visit to the Ole Miss Rebels, Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee Volunteers and Miami in January.

Franklin is ranked No. 37 overall and No. 5 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking also has him at Nos. 37 and 5, respectively. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has Ole Miss out front for his recruitment with a 22.4% chance of landing him, followed by Tennessee, Texas A&M Aggies and Alabama Crimson Tide with 19.6%, 16.8% and 10.6% chances of luring the coveted young athlete, respectively.

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Gators get a boost in ESPN’s Week 11 FPI update after beating South Carolina

Florida continues to rise in ESPN’s FPI update after Week 11 of the college football season. The Gators are now bowl-eligible and projected to finish above .500

ESPN has released its latest FPI rankings, with the Florida Gators continuing to rise in their overall ranking and projected to split their final two games.

The FPI rankings were developed by ESPN in 2013 to measure each team’s overall strength and predict results throughout the season. As the schedule progresses, the data used to determine a team’s FPI ranking will come from the games played while also predicting the outcomes for each future matchup.

The metric has not been kind to the Orange and Blue this season. They started out hot with an upset win over Utah in [autotag]Billy Napie[/autotag]r’s first game as Gators’ head coach. Afterward, the team struggled against Kentucky and USF, losing to the Wildcats and barely sneaking past the Bulls with a victory. Statistically, these were not the best performances from the Gators.

They bounced back statistically in their 38-33 loss to Tennessee and their 52-17 win over Eastern Washington. The defensive metrics improved on the back of Jayden Hill’s two interceptions (including one pick-6) in the Gators’ 24-17 victory over Missouri.

Following the Gators’ disappointing performances in their losses to LSU and Georgia, the metric swung them back to mediocre. They responded by beating Texas A&M on the road, defying the FPI’s individual game projection which gave them a 32.8% chance of winning the game. They followed that up with a dominant performance against South Carolina, clinching bowl eligibility and matching FPI’s projected win total for most of the season.

The Gators wrap up their SEC schedule Saturday when they travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt with kickoff scheduled for noon EST. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Here are the latest game-by-game and season-long FPI updates for the Florida Gators.