Tales from the gap

Insert this directly into my veins:

Without question, this stings for both Florida and Napier — perhaps more so because he was hired, in part, for his recruiting prowess and absolutely had to have a quarterback in his first full class. When he got Rashada to flip from Miami in November, it was considered a huge win and helped ease some concerns about how well Napier and Florida were doing on the recruiting trail. But now, those concerns have returned. While it is true Napier is not involved with the Gator Collective, it is also true that both Napier and Florida have had to deal with the negative headlines and all the fallout. This will be easy fodder for any opposing coach to use against the Gators.

Given the broader context around Florida, this is especially problematic. With SEC rival Georgia winning a second consecutive national championship and continuing to recruit at a top-three level, the pressure is only mounting on Napier and the Florida program to show they are taking the necessary steps to be competitive with the Bulldogs again. Since Kirby Smart took over in 2016, Georgia has won five of their seven rivalry games. All but one was a double-digit victory.

That the above was written by Andrea Adelson should tell you how much this rivalry has been turned on its head.  There are several people to thank for that, of course, but if Rashada manages to leave a permanent skid mark on Florida recruiting, he’ll go down as the greatest Bulldog never to play for Georgia since Reggie Ball.