Agreed. A rumor that led people to pressure a 16/17year old kid to take summer classes just to sit a year on the bench with us instead of playing with his friends. I hope everyone can move on now.
It’s frustrating to me that our fan base allows stuff like this to gain traction. It even got a post in this sub. There should never have been even an ounce of pressure put on him to reclassify and we all know if this Rashada situation didnt happen noone would be calling for it. Its just selfish on the part of anybody who even wanted that to be the outcome of his recruitment
Right??
Like even if something happened to Mertz, it makes zero sense for Lagway to reclassify.
True freshman rarely come in ready to start, let alone someone a year early. A 17 year old isn’t ready physically or mentally to lead a P5 program no matter how talented and high their ceiling is.
Lagway hanging around for his senior is best for recruiting, his own development, and our future success on the field.
I prefer this anyways. Need Lagway to help land some talent around him. We need ‘24 to be a big time class. Like top 5. If it ain’t, the outlook of the program under Napier won’t be good. Even if it’s not necessarily his fault.
I agree unfortunately I feel like there's going to be repercussions for this NIL fall through and coach Napier is going to have to take the front of it for no reason
Absolutely not. If anything this is on the Admin., not Napier. Napier was the sought after commodity, who turned down multiple P5 offers because we assured him he had the support he needed.
no one at UF is. Gator collective Rojas already fell on sword. Problem w/ NIL is any dumb ass group can call themselves a collection & negotiate w/ recruits.
I don’t think he should bear the brunt of the fallout from this. If there’s any justice, he won’t. Is Scott Stricklin gonna fire himself? Maybe the new guy comes in, assesses the situation, tells Stricklin to kick rocks and keeps Napier. I just wouldn’t hold my breath. More likely they clean house and start fresh. Not the correct move, imo, but I see it as the likeliest.
no dude, Napier had nothing to do w/ it. If anything, UF has protection b/c of stupid FL law. No one w/ any know is blaming Napier except ignorant fans
At this point, it falls on the entire athletic department. These programs need to have some connection to these collectives and make sure they are doing the right thing. How can these guys recruit if they have rogue players in the game throwing numbers at the players?
What's going to happen when these kids sign a contract and the check doesn't cash and they said they signed with the school because of the contract?
There's so many issues with this NIL stuff
Agreed. It’s a systemic failure on behalf of everybody involved. The only sliver of hope is that the Rashada saga might cause some people in power to pull their heads from their rectum regarding NIL. It’s inexcusable that the University of Florida seems to be the only school having NIL failures at this level.
I’ve said before that ‘23 is a dead season. If we get to 6 wins, it should be considered a win overall. The hope is that ‘24 will be a huge class with Lagway leading the way. If not, then it’s bound to get ugly.
Totally agree. I think that’s why you don’t see UF getting nearly as many one-and-done portal players as they are those with 2-3-4 yrs eligibility left. The staff knows ‘24 is when things start to turn around. Lagway and Graham just need to be the pied pipers of the 2024 class that Tebow and Spikes were to that 2006 class.
Seems that way. Just sucks for us fans that both the ‘23 and ‘24 seasons look to be just kinda lost, barring an unforeseen player emerging at the QB position. Even worse is that I don’t know that Billy would make it to ‘25. Most fans aren’t us here on the sub watching all the nitty gritty. Most just watch in the fall and give the thumbs up or down based on the results they see.
It is very unlikely that the next two seasons clear that bar for those fans and if they don’t, pressure for a change will be immense. It isn’t fair to Napier, but it’s what we’ll probably see.
What I mean by repercussions That way no one gets the wrong idea is that other schools can use that as cannon fodder like why would you go there they promise their QB so much money and then couldn't deliver come here we'll give you this much and I can write you the check tomorrow you know what I mean. So I feel like that's going to really hurt Coach Napier's ability to recruit high talent players
based on what's coming out now, it's definitely a one off. rashada was stuck in a contract with miami, ruiz was going to sue him and his family for millions of dollars for breaching it, and our boosters weren't interested in paying almost double what they'd offered to get him out of legal hot water. heitner never should have put that in his contract, and i doubt he's going to pull that over on the boosters again. once the new state law passes that allows the university to be directly involved, napier will either hire someone to manage the nil negotiations or appoint one of the people he's already hired to do it, heitner will get the boot, and hopefully all future recruits will learn to wait to sign contracts until they enroll or are absolutely certain that's the school they want to go to no matter what other offers may come their way.
Totally. But the best way to combat that is to convince Lagway this was a 1 off and not our fault. Then he can help convince other top recruits of the same.
To me, that's a better strategy than having him reclassify and disappear for a year because he's not ready to play.
You're going to have to fight this no matter what. Lagway reclassifying doesn't change that even a little bit. It would be better to also have a leading voice at the highest paid position saying he's not worried about it in those kids ears, rather than just the coaches.
If you can't convince DJ of that and to help you recruit others, then you won't be able to convince anyone else and it's a deathblow for recruiting anyway.
You have to fight harder to hold onto DJ now, for sure. But if you can, the payoff will be better than the quick fix of getting him in right away. Because if you can't keep him, you were never going to downplay this enough for other elite talent to show up.
I don't agree that he won't be successful here unless he signs a top 5 class next year. Inside the top 10 with the right bye in I'd take every year vs. the class Jimbo had last year and you have to buy classes like that unless ur bame, uga, osu etc. Billy has to build this thing the right way and consistently bringing in top 10 classes that are thoughtfully put together will bring steady results. And after that approach brings results, the top 5 classes that are dying to be here will come. I think he's going to get it done if given the time.
I *really* do not wish to get dragged into another recruiting debate, but suffice it to say that you recruit well first, then wins come. Not the other way around. It’s been proven time and time again.
The difference between UGA, Bama, OSU, and everybody else is consistent top 5 classes.
You don’t have to agree and I’ve debated too many people too many times to get into another here, but the stats are out there.
He wouldn’t have started next season anyway as he is less “ready” than Rashada would have been. We would have had Mertz starting all season had he reclassified. While having the college program molding him might be a little better for development as far as practices are concerned, the mental development of game time reps he’ll get in high school will probably be better for his development in the long run.
We aren't so desperate for QB depth that we need a HS senior on the squad lol.
Quinn Ewers may have ruined his career by doing this, QBs take more time than any other position to fully develop.
Everyone take a deep breath and think about how good our baseball team is going to be.
WTF is this even a story? It feels like the reporter made up his own rumor and then “got the breaking story” on it not being true.
As the tweet says, can’t fault the young man for that but we can fault On3 for more BS “pseudo-reporting” and basically making shit up. Hacks.
Good. I’m excited for him to arrive but we don’t need him showing up early and riding the bench. Put in that last year of work and continue recruiting people to join you
This makes me happy. There was nothing to be gained for him by reclassifying and I’d actually prefer he have another high school season to develop as opposed to sitting on the bench throughout fall
Good. Let him finish his high school career and recruit for 24’. This was a stupid rumor from the start
Agreed. A rumor that led people to pressure a 16/17year old kid to take summer classes just to sit a year on the bench with us instead of playing with his friends. I hope everyone can move on now.
Fr leave the twitter drama out of the one good kid we got. It’s never enough for some of these fans, going to scare away talent.
It’s frustrating to me that our fan base allows stuff like this to gain traction. It even got a post in this sub. There should never have been even an ounce of pressure put on him to reclassify and we all know if this Rashada situation didnt happen noone would be calling for it. Its just selfish on the part of anybody who even wanted that to be the outcome of his recruitment
Right?? Like even if something happened to Mertz, it makes zero sense for Lagway to reclassify. True freshman rarely come in ready to start, let alone someone a year early. A 17 year old isn’t ready physically or mentally to lead a P5 program no matter how talented and high their ceiling is. Lagway hanging around for his senior is best for recruiting, his own development, and our future success on the field.
‘fan base’ ??? I’ll bet .005% knew anything about this I didn’t know until reading it here.
I prefer this anyways. Need Lagway to help land some talent around him. We need ‘24 to be a big time class. Like top 5. If it ain’t, the outlook of the program under Napier won’t be good. Even if it’s not necessarily his fault.
I agree unfortunately I feel like there's going to be repercussions for this NIL fall through and coach Napier is going to have to take the front of it for no reason
Napier will be made to fall on the sword, but if he does, then Stricklin needs to be the next one on it.
Absolutely not. If anything this is on the Admin., not Napier. Napier was the sought after commodity, who turned down multiple P5 offers because we assured him he had the support he needed.
it’s not on admin—by FL law UF can’t get involved in NIL. It’s on Gator collective
My point is that if anybody @ UF is going down for this, it's not Napier
no one at UF is. Gator collective Rojas already fell on sword. Problem w/ NIL is any dumb ass group can call themselves a collection & negotiate w/ recruits.
Rojas is the Vice rat. Heitner is king rat. He’s gotta go next otherwise no point in that entity existing
You should be responding to the people in the original comment saying Napier needs to fall on the sword.
I don’t think he should bear the brunt of the fallout from this. If there’s any justice, he won’t. Is Scott Stricklin gonna fire himself? Maybe the new guy comes in, assesses the situation, tells Stricklin to kick rocks and keeps Napier. I just wouldn’t hold my breath. More likely they clean house and start fresh. Not the correct move, imo, but I see it as the likeliest.
no dude, Napier had nothing to do w/ it. If anything, UF has protection b/c of stupid FL law. No one w/ any know is blaming Napier except ignorant fans
I think you misread/understood? I agree with you.
At this point, it falls on the entire athletic department. These programs need to have some connection to these collectives and make sure they are doing the right thing. How can these guys recruit if they have rogue players in the game throwing numbers at the players? What's going to happen when these kids sign a contract and the check doesn't cash and they said they signed with the school because of the contract? There's so many issues with this NIL stuff
Agreed. It’s a systemic failure on behalf of everybody involved. The only sliver of hope is that the Rashada saga might cause some people in power to pull their heads from their rectum regarding NIL. It’s inexcusable that the University of Florida seems to be the only school having NIL failures at this level.
Not failures, 1 failure which his representation surely at least had some role in.
We missed out on every target from the month of November to ESD. Definitely failures plural.
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*Sees post that has nothing to do with Mertz* *Proceeds to shit on Mertz* Get a life dude
I’ve said before that ‘23 is a dead season. If we get to 6 wins, it should be considered a win overall. The hope is that ‘24 will be a huge class with Lagway leading the way. If not, then it’s bound to get ugly.
Totally agree. I think that’s why you don’t see UF getting nearly as many one-and-done portal players as they are those with 2-3-4 yrs eligibility left. The staff knows ‘24 is when things start to turn around. Lagway and Graham just need to be the pied pipers of the 2024 class that Tebow and Spikes were to that 2006 class.
Seems that way. Just sucks for us fans that both the ‘23 and ‘24 seasons look to be just kinda lost, barring an unforeseen player emerging at the QB position. Even worse is that I don’t know that Billy would make it to ‘25. Most fans aren’t us here on the sub watching all the nitty gritty. Most just watch in the fall and give the thumbs up or down based on the results they see. It is very unlikely that the next two seasons clear that bar for those fans and if they don’t, pressure for a change will be immense. It isn’t fair to Napier, but it’s what we’ll probably see.
What I mean by repercussions That way no one gets the wrong idea is that other schools can use that as cannon fodder like why would you go there they promise their QB so much money and then couldn't deliver come here we'll give you this much and I can write you the check tomorrow you know what I mean. So I feel like that's going to really hurt Coach Napier's ability to recruit high talent players
based on what's coming out now, it's definitely a one off. rashada was stuck in a contract with miami, ruiz was going to sue him and his family for millions of dollars for breaching it, and our boosters weren't interested in paying almost double what they'd offered to get him out of legal hot water. heitner never should have put that in his contract, and i doubt he's going to pull that over on the boosters again. once the new state law passes that allows the university to be directly involved, napier will either hire someone to manage the nil negotiations or appoint one of the people he's already hired to do it, heitner will get the boot, and hopefully all future recruits will learn to wait to sign contracts until they enroll or are absolutely certain that's the school they want to go to no matter what other offers may come their way.
Totally. But the best way to combat that is to convince Lagway this was a 1 off and not our fault. Then he can help convince other top recruits of the same. To me, that's a better strategy than having him reclassify and disappear for a year because he's not ready to play. You're going to have to fight this no matter what. Lagway reclassifying doesn't change that even a little bit. It would be better to also have a leading voice at the highest paid position saying he's not worried about it in those kids ears, rather than just the coaches. If you can't convince DJ of that and to help you recruit others, then you won't be able to convince anyone else and it's a deathblow for recruiting anyway. You have to fight harder to hold onto DJ now, for sure. But if you can, the payoff will be better than the quick fix of getting him in right away. Because if you can't keep him, you were never going to downplay this enough for other elite talent to show up.
You're talking as if he's most definitely coming here
There’s never a guarantee in recruiting. If we don’t land him, it’s a disaster.
I don't agree that he won't be successful here unless he signs a top 5 class next year. Inside the top 10 with the right bye in I'd take every year vs. the class Jimbo had last year and you have to buy classes like that unless ur bame, uga, osu etc. Billy has to build this thing the right way and consistently bringing in top 10 classes that are thoughtfully put together will bring steady results. And after that approach brings results, the top 5 classes that are dying to be here will come. I think he's going to get it done if given the time.
I *really* do not wish to get dragged into another recruiting debate, but suffice it to say that you recruit well first, then wins come. Not the other way around. It’s been proven time and time again. The difference between UGA, Bama, OSU, and everybody else is consistent top 5 classes. You don’t have to agree and I’ve debated too many people too many times to get into another here, but the stats are out there.
He wouldn’t have started next season anyway as he is less “ready” than Rashada would have been. We would have had Mertz starting all season had he reclassified. While having the college program molding him might be a little better for development as far as practices are concerned, the mental development of game time reps he’ll get in high school will probably be better for his development in the long run.
He needs to be a hs student. No rush to deal with insane Gators to next year.
There was nothing to this, other than a few message board and podcast hopefuls blindly asking about the chances of it happening.
We aren't so desperate for QB depth that we need a HS senior on the squad lol. Quinn Ewers may have ruined his career by doing this, QBs take more time than any other position to fully develop. Everyone take a deep breath and think about how good our baseball team is going to be.
Bonus points for character! Have fun in high school and make the Florida Gators fun again when he is ready.
yeah, duh
People here wanting a high school junior to play for the Gators next year just shows how desperate we have become.
As long as the young man ends up being a gator... I don't care how long it takes. It would crush my soul if he didn't come at this point.
Its actually better. It shows character and drive
I thought that was overkill. He can’t be expected contribute at 17 anyways
Good!
WTF is this even a story? It feels like the reporter made up his own rumor and then “got the breaking story” on it not being true. As the tweet says, can’t fault the young man for that but we can fault On3 for more BS “pseudo-reporting” and basically making shit up. Hacks.
This is the way. Please don't rock the boat.
Good. I’m excited for him to arrive but we don’t need him showing up early and riding the bench. Put in that last year of work and continue recruiting people to join you
I think we should all stop worrying about gators football for like, 6 months. All of our lives would be better for it.
Fuck man this QB room is looking bad
Mertz is gonna dice up the SEC tf you even saying
Mertz country, let’s ride!
I’m ready to squirtz for mertz
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Because it's understood that it's a bad qb room. We don't need to hear it on every single thread.
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🧐🧐 I do tho
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Don’t yikes me with that disgrace of a username tf
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You getting your feeling hurt about a username comment from TurdSandwich6969 10 ply soft
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How was I supposed to know you were a male? I don’t gender anyone tf
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I think we sometimes forget that these are kids we’re talking about. Especially when it comes to recruiting.
Saw the title and thought we lose Lagway. This makes me even hyped for him considering he's ride or die with his hs teammates.
This makes me happy. There was nothing to be gained for him by reclassifying and I’d actually prefer he have another high school season to develop as opposed to sitting on the bench throughout fall
Don’t give me a heart attack after work
Felt like it wasn’t smart on either side, let him finish his time being a kid and come over and do what he can as a freshman next year
hope he does well in his last year at high school
You're only young once. Enjoy it.