Sunbelt Billy

[LouderVol]

Just as time will tell whether a) Napier's recruits stick around and b) he can coach them well and up to their potential, so will time tell whether last year was less about long term building at UT and more about the chemistry that happily coexisted between Hooker, the receivers, and the coaching staff.

None of the above -- whether it is UT or UF based -- can be known with any certainty at the moment.

Oh I agree, this year will be telling for Heupel. His recruits are really going to have to show up vs the leftovers from Pruitt. We have been burnt plenty of times by 1 year flash in the pans type seasons. I think we take a step back, simply because Hooker is gone, but it shouldn't be a monumental step back because we still have the coaching in place.

Our '22 team was less talented than our '21 team, which was also less talented than our '20 team. so that aspect should only go up in '23. Assuming Heupel can actually recruit good players to his system, our needs, and vs the SEC. Butch recruited very well, and we still lost to Vandy and SC after beating UGA and UF. recruiting isn't the end all be all where you just need better players to win games.

UF is in a different place. Y'all are still talented, not championship level talented, but at least talented enough to beat Vandy IF coaching isn't an issue. Yeah a Top 5 roster may make Napier a 9-3 coach, but I don't see any reason to think its going to be the break thru you guys are looking for, or should expect with Top 5 talent.

 

[lawgator1]

Oh I agree, this year will be telling for Heupel. His recruits are really going to have to show up vs the leftovers from Pruitt. We have been burnt plenty of times by 1 year flash in the pans type seasons. I think we take a step back, simply because Hooker is gone, but it shouldn't be a monumental step back because we still have the coaching in place.

Our '22 team was less talented than our '21 team, which was also less talented than our '20 team. so that aspect should only go up in '23. Assuming Heupel can actually recruit good players to his system, our needs, and vs the SEC. Butch recruited very well, and we still lost to Vandy and SC after beating UGA and UF. recruiting isn't the end all be all where you just need better players to win games.

UF is in a different place. Y'all are still talented, not championship level talented, but at least talented enough to beat Vandy IF coaching isn't an issue. Yeah a Top 5 roster may make Napier a 9-3 coach, but I don't see any reason to think its going to be the break thru you guys are looking for, or should expect with Top 5 talent.

Not this year, though we do expect some improvement in '24 and to be very competitive on the national scale in '25. It helps that '25 is the first year of the 12 team playoff. If we stay on track, we ought to contend for a spot in that.