3 Florida players reportedly no longer on team ahead of 2022 season
The Florida Gators are preparing for their first season under new head coach Billy Napier, and they have some work to do to get down to the 85 scholarship limit.
On Wednesday, the roster trimming reportedly got started, with 3 players no longer listed on the updated roster.
Per Florida insiders, Mordecai McDaniel, Fenley Graham and Chris Thomas Jr. are no longer with the team as of Wednesday’s roster update:
Based on #Gators update roster, Mordecai McDaniel, Fenley Graham, Chris Thomas Jr. no longer on team. https://t.co/0IBG2zPlo2
— Edgar Thompson (@osgators) June 22, 2022
McDaniel and Graham were defensive backs and a members of the Gators’ 2020 class. Thomas was a defensive lineman from Florida’s 2021 class.
Whether or not more changes are made to the roster before Week 1 remains to be seen.
Marcus Burke as well, per reports. Graham is the most surprising though. These moves are apparently the result of buy-in.
Yeah…Lakeland kid. He was also on the smaller end…who knows, maybe he was on the outside looking in with playing time.
Graham that is…
Got to build the Lakeland pipeline back to where it was under Urban. Landing Cormani McClain will help, and also immediately boost the class ranking up as well.
No doubt GatorPhil…we have still been pretty good there, but we owned that city, and particularly the Dreadnaught program. This is a GREAT football town…as you know.
You see Demarkcus Bowman, who was teammates with Graham exploring the portal as well…so hopefully, we can see those as isolated issues and get in that fabric. Major alums like Wayne Peace still live there…and this staff has been reaching out to former Gators. I read an article where several of our former stars who are now solid High school coaches are receiving the new staff favorably.
Burke not listed on the roster was a clerical error. Burke’s name is officially listed now. And losing him would have been a huge loss as UF beat out UGA for him. He is a very talented WR with legit deep speed that is overall lacking at WR on the UF roster.
Ahh, ok.
Did the players leave on their own accord or were their scholarships not renewed? I guess the reason wasn’t told on somebody’s tweeter feed.
They were probably encouraged to enter the portal and go where they will get some PT, though they haven’t entered it yet. I like the fact that the coach is trimming the dead weight. No knock on these players, but if you aren’t going to see the field maybe a change is good for everyone. Now he has to replace that with better than what he was handed.
He can’t replace them as UF is still over the limit. It would seem like he’s already replaced them, along with a few other unnamed players. If the players were leaving voluntarily, they would have placed their name in the portal long ago so they could play this season.
The schools never tell when they don’t offer a kid another year on scholarship. It’s the dirty side of cfb and the 85 scholly limit that nobody likes to tall about. Players just move on…..
The schools should at least tell the kids before May 1 so the kids have an opportunity to play this season. And UF is still over the limit, so more drops to come. This isn’t a good look for UF unless all the guys have just decided to give up football.
@LSUSMC… I get the point your trying to make but I believe they probably didn’t know the coaches haven’t been with the team to see them perform since they were hired so I imagine they didn’t know that decision or want to make a decision until spring practice evaluations… Also I’m sure this will qualify them for immediate eligibility at there next school since they didn’t leave on their own accord!!!
I really don’t know how that works. I would hope that they could at least play at a lower level school right away.
If they dropped to FCS, I believe they can play immediately. The May 1st deadline is FBS-to-FBS.
We don’t know exactly when they were told.
If they were told before May 1 and didn’t enter the portal, then maybe they are done with football. Otherwise, they aren’t bright guys and didn’t get good advice.
There is always expected movement at the bottom of the roster. Room has to be made for those top recruits coming in. Coaches are pretty honest with the kids about what that means for their chances to play. Worst case scenario… Napier has a talk with a kid who isn’t going to see the field… the kid cherishes his time as a Gator… and then gets to transfer to a program that will regard him as a stud. Everyone wins.
Or, they can often stay as a non-scholly walk-on and participate with the scout team, etc. Most big P5 teams carry quite a few of these guys who use traditional student loans.
My understanding is that as long as they’re not disqualified from school by either misconduct or poor academic performance, they can stay in school until graduation on scholarship but just not be a member of the team. Do I have that right?
You are correct if there is a coaching change, as is the case with UF.
Elsewhere, the report is that the effected players “had failed to buy in to the new plan” – so if accurate, that would mean there is a significant back story involved. Of course, we have no idea if that is accurate or not, given the overall credibility of the media these days. However, assuming for the moment that it is truthful, it would mean that at the very least Napier is a completely different animal than Mullen in more ways than simply meet the eye. Successful SEC coaches can be nice guys all day long, but the extent to which they suffer dissent from their subordinates and players is another matter entirely. At the worst, that signals tyranny, but at the median it portends a man who understands that his responsibilities are accompanied by authority.
Docgator… I think buy-in is always a big issue with a coaching change. Different styles of coaching.
Different lingo. Different processes. Players may have been promised certain things by former coaches (playing time, position change) that the new coaches are not willing to deliver. And then there are just issues like gym time, or personality differences. Most see quality players leave when there is a coaching change. In a way, it is an indicator that the change is having the desired effect.
I think you’re right about that, Covington. We’ll see about the desired effect soon this fall, at the latest 2023 one way or the other. Meanwhile, the real drama is going to be Georgia-Alabama for the next 3 years or so, until one prevails.