Gators Reach Agreements with ’98 percent’ of Team, Per Napier
GAINESVILLE, Fla.– No roster is truly safe in college football, as proven by Tennessee’s NIL debacle with former starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, but Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier is comfortable where his roster stands after the team’s spring game on Saturday.
After losing only one player in safety Gregory Smith III to the transfer portal ahead of the scrimmage, the rising fourth-year head coach explained that his team is almost done with player retention.
“We’ve reached agreements with 98% of the team, so I think we’re just one or two players away from being done,” he said.
While Florida is almost done retaining its players, Napier further explained that he is keeping his options open for when the transfer portal re-opens on April 16. It’ll remain a numbers game for Florida, though, as they look to meet the SEC’s scholarship limit of 85 players while trimming its total roster down to 105, per the NCAA’s new requirements.
By Gators Illustrated’s count, which includes the Gators’ summer enrollees, Florida has 122 total players on its roster, 86 of which are on scholarship. These numbers don’t include Smith III or safety Asa Turner, who recently received an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA but whose status with the team is to be determined, while including recent corner signee J’Vari Flowers.
Florida will have to see one more scholarship player depart to meet the 85-man limit on top of 16 walk-ons to reach the 105-man total limit. Not to mention, Florida will have to see multiple scholarship players depart if it wants to make any moves in the portal.
“Now, we’ll evaluate what becomes available every day going forward,” he said. “Maybe there’s a situation that can make our team better around we’ll definitely be aggressive if we feel that way.”
Last season, Florida added two players post-spring in receiver Elijhah Badger and offensive lineman Jason Zandamela-Popa.
