Billy Napier and Florida football took a step back in 2023, finishing the season with a 5-7 record, one victory fewer than the previous season and little possibility of making a bowl game. As they reach Year 3, it appears that Napier needs to make a statement in 2024. Perhaps the transfer portal class, ranked 16th, will help.
At this moment, it’s unclear what Napier actually requires for a successful season in 2024. Going beyond six wins is definitely a goal, and the magic number could be eight. Even so, it’s unclear whether Florida football supporters in Gainesville would be prepared to tolerate that.
Gators supporters are some of the most infamous, fervent, and impatient fans in the country. After years with Steve Spurrier and then Urban Meyer, it’s either you compete for national titles or you’re fired as Florida’s head coach.
It’s just been two years, but Napier has looked nothing like the aforementioned coaches, or even his predecessor, Dan Mullen, who had two double-digit win seasons, including Orange and Peach Bowl victories in his first two seasons. In fact, Mullen’s worst season (6-7) was also Napier’s greatest.
But things have certainly changed in just three years since Mullen was the head man for the Florida football program. The transfer portal was really just amping up when Mullen was there. Now, it’s running rampant across the nation, for better or worse, and many believe that a program like the Gators should be able to attract the best of the bunch, like they expect with traditional recruiting. This, of course, falls Napier.
Napier and the Gators are bringing in the No. 16 ranked transfer portal class for the second year in a row after bringing in the No. 20 ranked class in 2022. The Gators will have 11 incoming transfer commits to 22 outgoing. Among these incoming players are eight three-stars and three four-star players who will be suiting up in orange and blue in the fall. But it could be three-star edge rusher George Gumbs out of Northern Illinois who could be one to watch in 2024.
you followed the Florida Gators at all last season, you know that defense was not their strong suit. The Gators finished the season with the 69th ranked total defense in the country, allowed an 85th ranked 29.5 points per game, a 91st ranked 406.7 yards per game, and 124th ranked 6.5 yards per play.
That’s typically not what many see out of the University of Florida when it comes to defense. But with those kinds of stats, it’s no wonder the Gators couldn’t make it to a bowl game and suffered a losing record for the third consecutive year.
That’s most likely why Napier went defense shopping with his most recent transfer portal purchases. Seven of the eleven transfers coming in from this winter cycle are defensive players, with George Gumbs clearly one among them.
Gumbs comes to Gainesville as a three-star transfer, ranked No. 716 overall and No. 48 edge with two years of eligibility remaining, according to 247sports. Gumbs is remarkable for starting his career as a tight end for the Huskies after originally signing as a three-star wide receiver. In his rookie year, he caught four catches for 44 yards over eight games in 2022.
In 2023, he switched to defense and appeared to have found a method to channel his athleticism. According to Sports-Reference, in 12 games, he had 32 tackles, 15 of which were solo, 6.5 tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles.
Napier may have seen value in Gumbs when he took him away from the University of Cincinnati, where the edge rusher had originally planned to commit. Add in the athleticism, the pressing need for a pass rush, and Napier’s ability to take his pledge away from another school, and Gumbs emerges as Florida football’s most sneaky transfer portal acquisition in 2024.
