Florida football's transfer portal motives still evolving for Billy Napier entering Year 3
When the Florida Gators and No. 4 Florida State meet Saturday for the 67th time in their football series history at The Swamp, it will present a contrast in how rosters are built in the new college football age.
Under fourth-year coach Mike Norvell, Florida State has attacked the transfer portal aggressively to transform a team that went 5-7 in 2021 into a College Football Playoff contender.
Florida football has taken a more cautious approach to the portal under second-year coach Billy Napier, sprinkling in players in areas of need while building the foundation of the team through high school recruiting.
Of UF's 24 current starters on offense, defense and special teams, nine are transfers, including quarterback Graham Mertz (Wisconsin) and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (Arizona State). Five start on offense and four on defense. Linebacker Mannie Nunnery (Houston) was recently elevated to a starter, replacing Shemar James, a sophomore high school recruit who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Georgia.
At Florida State, 13 of 24 starters are transfers, including standout quarterback Jordan Travis (Louisville) and All-ACC defensive lineman Jared Verse (Albany). This past offseason, FSU landed starting wide receiver Keon Coleman from Michigan State and starting tight end Jaheim Bell from South Carolina. Coleman and Bell rank first and third in receiving for the Seminoles this season.
Overall, Napier signed 10 players (seven Division I and three junior college ) in his first transfer portal class at UF in 2022 and 12 (11 Division I and 1 JUCO) in his second transfer class in 2023.
"We’re trying to sign 25 good high school players every year," Napier said. "Player retention is important. I’m not ever going to get too far away from what I think football is about, what we’re here to do.
"Don’t get me wrong, there’s going to be years where a guy gets injured, or a guy declares for the draft or a guy transfers because things didn’t work out. This is the world we live in. The attrition rate is going up so the portal is another avenue to add a good player."
Norvell has added 48 players from the transfer portal over four seasons, an average of 12 per class. His most impactful group came in 2022, when FSU added 14 players, including starters Verse, running back Trey Benson (Oregon), wide receiver Johnny Wilson (Arizona State) and linebacker Tatum Bethune (UCF).
"We’re looking for the right fit," Norvell said. "Now maybe some positions we’re looking to get a little older or more experienced guys that can come and pair with some of the younger players who are getting developed.
"But the message is the same for everybody, You’re going to come in, and you’re going to get an opportunity. What you do with that opportunity is gonna be a result of what it looks like through the course of the season."
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Evaluating Florida football's moves in the transfer portal
Napier's best transfer portal signing to date was offensive lineman O'Cyrus Torrence, who followed him from Louisiana in 2022. Torrence started 12 games at right guard for the Gators and earned All-American honors before declaring for the NFL Draft, where he was taken in the second round by the Buffalo Bills.
Pearsall, Mertz and running back Montrell Johnson Jr. also have emerged as impact transfers. A two-year starter, Pearsall is closing in on UF's first 1,000-yard receiving season since Taylor Jacobs in 2002. Last September against Charlotte, Pearsall made what many still consider the "catch of the year" in college football, a leaping, one-handed stab of a Mertz pass.
Napier said Florida relies heavily on its analysts in the evaluation process. Bird Sherill, who worked with Napier at Alabama from 2013-16 and was an NFL scouting assistant with the Detroit Lions, leads that team as UF's Director of College Personnel.
"The first year, we were new, and it was new," Napier said. "We have a system in place now and it’s been effective for us. The evaluation part of it, I love that part of the job. We have hired really well. We have really bright people there who have done a good job."
While Florida has landed some high-level transfers on offense, the same can't be said on defense, a unit that has struggled in each of Napier's first two seasons.
Napier has taken a deliberate approach on transfers, which has caused him to lose out on some potential high-talent players. But Napier defended that strategy in the spring, saying that the evaluation process needs to be thorough.
“We took what we had learned from our past and I think we went to another level relative to predictors of success," Napier said. "We did a ton of research every offseason with NFL personnel departments, height, weight, verified speed, traits for critical factors for each position, big threes, just extremely detailed relative to the description of the position, how your team complements each other.
"It’s going to end up being beneficial. If we can get the culture piece right on our team, I think the evaluation part and the development part, put those three together and you’ve got a chance to have a good football team.”
How will UF football attack the transfer portal going forward?
Napier said how UF will approach the transfer portal next month has already crossed his mind. UF is closing in on a 2024 recruiting class that currently ranks fourth nationally per the 247Sports composite.
But there's bound to be attrition when the season ends. One UF player, offensive lineman Jordan Herman, has already announced his intention to enter the transfer portal.
"Ultimately the players available determine a lot of your decisions, if that makes sense," Napier said. "But this is a bigger math problem. We used to be kind of, it was algebra 1. It was 25 initials, 85 scholarships. That was the variables.
"Now you've got portal, which is not only players in but it's players out, and then you have NIL, which ultimately I think affects things in a significant way. So, now we're approaching calculus."
A more stable NIL arm, Florida Victorious, could help UF's ability to sign high-level transfers as well. Regardless of how difficult the math problem is, Napier said he's up for the challenge.
"It’s a big puzzle," Napier said. "I love every bit of it. I think we have a good team of people working hard on it. It certainly has made our team better.”
Tallahassee Democrat Florida State beat writer Ehsan Kassim contributed to this story
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: How Florida Gators football, Billy Napier, use the transfer portal
