Zach’s Mail Stack: Recruiting never stops, early indicators for 2024

This edition of Zach’s Mail Stack at Gators Online covers Florida’s success with in-state transfers, early indicators for the 2024 season, how in-game adjustments could improve and more.

Do you think getting Jason Zandamela and Cormani McClain will help our chances of keeping Florida kids home? — @Copeman

This not only happened during the spring portal period, but the winter one as well. The Gators signed linebacker Pup Howard from South Carolina and then landed a pair of four-star recruits, cornerback Jameer Grimsley and defensive lineman D’Antre Robinson , from Alabama and Texas, respectively.

All three are from Florida and picked out-of-state teams over the Gators, who finished in second place for each one. But in this day and age, those recruiting efforts can still pay dividends down the road. Players spend a year — or a semester — at a school, realize it isn’t the right fit and change their minds.

That happened with Howard, Grimsley and Robinson, and all three fell in Florida’s lap. Then it took place with former five-star Cormani McClain , who initially wanted to attend UF out of high school . The Gators weren’t a finalist for Jason Zandamela during his recruitment, but they got him on board as a transfer.

When all five players needed a new school, their familiarity with Florida and the school being close to home carried more weight. Would it be ideal to land them the first time around? Of course, but you can’t keep all the top recruits in the state. You can, however, still position yourself to be their landing spot as a transfer.

The Gators have been able to right some wrongs by signing Howard and McClain, two of their top in-state targets in the 2023 cycle, and then adding Grimsley and Robinson to their 2024 class. I do think those four players specifically have many high school recruits in their area who look up to them.

Howard could start this season and McClain should make an impact. Can their presence and success at UF sway an in-state kid to Gainesville? It certainly won’t hurt. And for players who don’t sign with Florida out of high school, they can follow the lead of this year’s transfers if they too hit the portal.

Recruiting never stops.

“You just try to do a really good job of trying to connect with the kid, with the family,” Billy Napier said when asked about signing Howard and Grimsley after missing on them as recruits. “The more time we get them on campus the better. It’s hard to beat this place and the experience these guys can have. We need to go get some traction on the field and I think we will be tough to stop.”

Which game on the ’24 schedule will give us our earliest indication of what we have? — @crfcom

The obvious game is the season opener against Miami. The Hurricanes could come into The Swamp as a preseason top-25 team after adding the No. 2 quarterback ( Cam Ward ) and the No. 2 running back ( Damien Martinez ) from the portal, according to the On3 Industry rankings . They were top-20 overall transfers.

This is a must-win game for both head coaches from a perception and recruiting standpoint. Despite roster turnover at the position, Miami’s defensive line is still the strength of the team and will be one of the nation’s best DL units. UM should be a tough test, and we’ll find out if Florida’s offensive line has improved.

The first two SEC games will also be good indicators. Texas A&M is a tricky matchup with a new coaching staff. Former UF assistant Jay Bayman is the Aggies defensive coordinator and knows Napier’s offense and his tendencies, while two former Gators, DB Jaydon Hill and LB Scooby Williams , will be starting for A&M.

As the Mississippi State Bulldogs, they also have a brand-new staff and will be Florida’s first SEC road game. Starkville is a difficult place to play with the cowbells and UF has a 2-10 record away from Gainesville under Napier. The Gators should be favored against A&M and MSU, and how they play will be telling.

How do you see Napier adjusting his in game coaching this year versus the last two? We had a decent number of issues and I’m hopeful all of that gets corrected, but do you foresee of specific changes? — @Gogators

Napier made two hires this offseason that should help him with play-calling duties and in-game adjustments. The most notable move was promoting tight ends coach Russ Callaway to co-offensive coordinator.

Napier still calls the plays but said he’s trying to “groom” Callaway. The former Samford OC is now more involved on offense beyond coaching his position. He sits in on the quarterback meetings and helps with play designs and game plans. Callaway has even added and changed some plays, according to QB Graham Mertz .

Like he did in 2023, Callaway will continue to signal in all the calls from the sideline and communicate with Mertz. But in his new role, he has the ability and freedom to make suggestions to Napier between plays or series. There were times in spring camp where Callaway suggested a call and Napier dialed it up during a scrimmage.

RELATED: Russ Callaway, from ball boy in The Swamp to Co-OC at Florida

Another hire that should be beneficial is Dan Enos, the former offensive coordinator at Arkansas, Maryland and Miami. Napier added him to the staff this offseason and his job title is special assistant to the head coach / advanced scouting.

Enos replaces Paul Pasqualoni, who left Florida prior to Napier’s first season. He was retained by him as the director of advanced scouting and self scout after working under Dan Mullen for two years as the special assistant to the head coach.

Having Pasqualoni’s role vacant the past two years did not do Napier any favors with advanced scouting and in-game adjustments. The combination of having Enos on staff and Callaway more involved on offense could make a difference in 2024.

What are your thoughts on the offensive line coming out of spring? — @wmjd2001

Offensive line is also still a work in progress due to injuries and some moving parts. Two of the top offensive tackles, redshirt juniors Austin Barber and Kamryn Waites , were out this spring, which thrust redshirt senior Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson and redshirt junior Devon Manuel into the starting lineup as transfers.

The most encouraging and reliable part about the unit is redshirt junior center Jake Slaughter . He emerged last season as one of Florida’s best players, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF ranked college football’s top 10 returning players at each position and Slaughter is the only Gator at his respective position.

Fletcher Westphal was UF’s best true freshman lineman this spring and made the most of his second-team reps at tackle, according to sources. Sophomore Knijeah Harris has settled in as one of the starting guards, while redshirt junior Damieon George is still making the transition from tackle to guard.

George needs to get stronger to play inside, but the staff thinks it’s his more natural spot. That was George’s initial position at Alabama, but he got moved to tackle because the Tide had a surplus of guards. But overall, the coaches feel they have more linemen that they can count on this year.

Part of that confidence stems from some players leaving. Losing starters up front is typically not a positive for teams, but multiple sources told Gators Online there were issues with chemistry and egos on last year’s offensive line. ESPN analyst Cole Cubelic has apparently heard something similar. “They got the shitheads out of there,” Cubelic said on his recent podcast .

With that in mind, Florida’s starters should be a more cohesive unit this season and embody to the “5=1” mantra from position coach Rob Sale . He and Napier are more confident in the offensive line and the depth they’ve built (eight total signees in this class). I agree the unit will be closer and deeper, but how much better will it be? We’ll get a good idea in Week 1.

Are you as excited to watch our two freshman RBs as I am? — @Heart

As excited as I am to watch freshmen such as DJ Lagway and Tank Hawkins , who could be the fastest player on the team , running backs Jadan Baugh and KD Daniels could be the newcomers that play the most on offense in 2024.

Baugh and Daniels impressed as early enrollees this spring and were two of the top freshmen in camp, according to multiple sources. It remains to be seen what their roles will be in the fall, but both have already shown flashes at practice.

I must admit that I was initially more excited about Daniels than Baugh. Daniels rushed for a whopping 2,737 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns as a senior. He has some juice and explosiveness, which he showed in the Orange & Blue Game.

But it was Baugh who stole the show that day, rushing 12 times for a team-high 77 yards and standing out with his ability as a ball carrier. Baugh also scored three touchdowns in the second scrimmage of camp and turned some heads this spring.

In addition to Baugh and Daniels, Florida returns three players at the position in starter Montrell Johnson Jr. , Ja’Kobi Jackson and Treyaun Webb . Because of that depth, the staff won’t have to force carries with the freshmen and can use them as luxury players early on.

Both should play on special teams and receive some touches this year, but Baugh has a chance to move up the depth chart and take some snaps away from the other backs. I think his role will increase as the season goes on and he’ll push for the No. 2 job.

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