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Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has thoughts on the quarterback watch as signing day gets closer, five prospects who could become five-stars in the next round of rankings and the case to be made for Florida to keep embattled coach Billy Napier.
MORE: Tar Heel commits navigating uncertainty about Mack Brown’s future
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1. QUARTERBACK WATCH WITH SIGNING DAY CLOSE
Michigan is desperately looking to fix its quarterback problem and five-star Bryce Underwood lives about 30 minutes away in Belleville, Mich.
Five-star quarterback Julian Lewis has been committed to USC for more than a year but the Carrollton, Ga., standout was back at Colorado this weekend for another visit.
The quarterback dominoes really took center stage recently when four-star Deuce Knight flipped from Notre Dame to Auburn, so Blake Hebert flipped from Clemson to Notre Dame and now it looks like Clemson is working through some names to possibly land a quarterback in this class as well.
With less than six weeks until National Signing Day, there could still be a tremendous amount of movement at the quarterback position although there is always this looming naivete that that won’t be any changes at that position.
So much can still happen. What is the future of 73-year-old Mack Brown at North Carolina and would that affect four-star Bryce Baker in the closing weeks? Duke commit Dan Mahan remains locked in with the Blue Devils but Penn State has been showing a ton of interest.
Cal four-star commit Jaron Sagapolutele is visiting Oregon this weekend and Georgia is pushing for a trip as well as the Ducks look like a really serious contender now. Arizona commit Robert McDaniel just got offered by Florida late Thursday.
Coaching changes, coordinator changes, position coach changes and then the quarterback dominoes could still fall. It should be an interesting month.
2. FIVE WHO COULD BE FIVE-STARS
There are currently 25 five-stars in the Rivals250 and we’re going to do our best to get that number to 32 to reflect the first round of the NFL Draft. There is a good chance at least one of them will lose their five-star status when we release new rankings next month so there is still plenty of space to add players. Here are five I’m watching through the all-star events:
Caleb Cunningham: There are only two five-star receivers in the 2025 class and that feels low so Cunningham will be in the conversation. There is still some fine-tuning that the Ackerman (Miss.) Choctaw County standout needs to polish up but Cunningham is a freak athlete, has great hands and has produced. I just wish he got more exposure against elite competition to compare apples to apples.
Dijon Lee Jr.: Ohio State commits Devin Sanchez and Na’eem Offord are the two five-star cornerbacks but Lee is almost a carbon copy of those two and might be the most natural athlete among the group. Lee has length, playmaking ability, cover skills, speed and he’s such a smooth playmaker on both sides of the ball that he cannot be ignored.
Nathaniel Marshall: Watching him on tape, I don’t necessarily buy that the Auburn commit is 6-foot-5 but he’s pretty close and he covers the entire field to make plays. Defensive end is also a primo position in the NFL Draft and right now there are only two total. Marshall has size, length, ranginess and he can move. He’s another one I wish showed up to the Rivals Five-Star as was planned though to see what he could do against elite players.
Michael Carroll: After watching senior film of Carroll at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, it’s clear to me that the Alabama commit has all the tools to be a future first-round pick. He always had impressive size but now he’s added a physical toughness that might be unparalleled in this class. He mauls people and enjoys doing it. There’s no way there are five more gifted offensive tackles.
Alvin Henderson: At what point can we ignore Henderson’s stats throughout his high school career and just not take a chance that he has first-round NFL potential? I despise making rankings decisions off stats alone but Henderson has now rushed for more than 2,400 yards with 42 touchdowns this season averaging more than 13 yards per carry. Last year, the Auburn pledge had more than 3,500 yards with 61 touchdowns. Yes, he’s doing it against competition in Elba, Ala., but maybe he’s just really good, too. And even though he didn’t compete at the Rivals Five-Star this summer, there is a little Bijan Robinson look to him physically.
3. THE CASE TO KEEP BILLY NAPIER
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By no means, has Florida coach Billy Napier done a great job in Gainesville.
He’s 15-17 overall. He’s won eight of 20 SEC games. He’s had two losing seasons and Dan Mullen’s final season makes three in a row for the first time since the late 1940s. By every measure when it comes to winning, Napier has been a massive bust.
Even early this season was not great as Napier hyped up the Florida team all offseason only to see Miami embarrass the Gators in The Swamp. But after losing to Texas A&M on Sept. 14 (and being told that Napier was basically a dead man walking until the powers that be could work out the buyout details), the Gators have actually looked… good.
Florida didn’t look phenomenal in beating Mississippi State but won by 17. The Gators wore down UCF and won. The Tennessee loss went to overtime in a game that Florida really should have won in Knoxville. And then last week they pounded Kentucky in maybe the best performance all year.
Here’s the tricky part: The rest of the schedule is brutal. Georgia followed by Texas, followed by LSU, followed by Ole Miss and then the Florida State rivalry to close things out.
Even if Florida loses out – except for Florida State because the Seminoles are embarrassingly bad right now – the decision-makers should consider keeping Napier.
The alternative might be more frightening: Potentially losing five-star quarterback DJ Lagway, who has shown signs that he could be special. Surprise standout running back Jadan Baugh could hit the portal. What would Eugene Wilson do?
And what would star receiver commits like Vernell Brown and Naeshaun Montgomery do?
Maybe this is all for naught. Maybe the fan base is so sick of losing and the Florida power brokers are done with Napier no matter what. I couldn’t blame them.
But there have been some green shoots for Napier and the program to build on. Napier needed to weed out a weak roster in the first two years. Things have looked better recently. Give Napier more time to get this back on track.
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