The Florida Gators have been in a rough place for the last 10-15 years. Outside of a few years where things started to look up, they haven’t had a head coach last longer than five seasons since Urban Meyer did from 2005-2010. Only Steve Spurrier has lasted more than that in the last 35 seasons
Things were not off to a great start in the Billy Napier era, but he turned things around during the 2024 season mainly due to quarterback DJ Lagway. They went 3-2 down the stretch and won eight games, including a dominant 33-8 Gasparilla Bowl performance against the Tulane Green Wave.
Florida Gators are on a better trajectory than Miami Hurricanes
With the 2024 season now finished, the discussion is now moving forward to the next season. Recruiting is taking over, but not before talking about the trajectory of some of the powerhouse programs in the nation.
On the Andy and Ari Show, they discussed their way too early top-25, which had Florida at ninth in the nation going into 2025. A listener asked if the Gators were on a better trajectory than the Miami Hurricanes.
Even though they were both in The Swamp for the game between the two schools where the Hurricanes whipped the Gators, Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman are buying stock in the Gators.
“I do think Florida is on a better trajectory than Miami, because I watched the end of last season,” said Andy. “We were at the Florida Miami game, like Miami was clearly better than Florida in that in that game, and if Florida’s offensive and defensive lines had played the way they did against Miami and Texas A&M for the rest of the season, Florida wouldn’t be on this list. But the difference is Florida’s offensive and defensive lines were mauling LSU and Ole Miss the end of the season, and DJ lagway is DJ lagway. Meanwhile, Miami doesn’t have Cam Ward anymore, doesn’t have Xavier Restrepo anymore, doesn’t have to Jacolby George anymore, and has Carson Beck coming off elbow surgery. So if you want to compare those two things, yeah, Florida definitely seems like it’s on a better trajectory.”
The way they thrived throughout the second half of the season wasn’t just because of Lagway. The trench play the Gators had was next level once they got everything together in October. Staples highlighted Caleb Banks’ performance who really made a huge difference in elevating the Gators.
“This is a guy (Banks) who would have been, like, a second or third-round draft pick and played so well at the end of the season. Like he’s the reason they were so dominant against LSU, against an offensive line that had not given up a bunch of sacks, and all of a sudden, Florida sacking Garrett Nussmeier, left and right, like, and I would not have put Florida here, if not for that improvement on both lines of scrimmage.”
What makes things even better for the Gators is that their fellow rivals, the Tennessee Volunteers (13) and the Hurricanes, were lower on the list than the Gators. Things are looking up for the orange and blue, especially if the play in the trenches continues to be strong.