Florida Expected to Use Money Saved For Napier Buyout on NIL

Since Billy Napier is sticking around for another year, that money originally meant to send him packing will be used to invest in more talent

The Gators are getting a bump in resources for NIL / Melina Myers-Imagn Images

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier has been given 2025 to take another step further. He’s going to be given the resources to take that next big step. 

According to Saturday Down South’s Neil Blackmon, reports from sources say that some of the money that would have, in theory, gone to buy out Billy Napier is now going into NIL. 

Multiple sources: Florida is poised to spend money saved on Napier buyout in 2024 on NIL https://t.co/jGoDKfn7Nh

— Neil W. Blackmon (@nwblackmon) November 7, 2024

Those sources said Florida intends to spend between $10 million to $13 million this offseason on NIL investments in players. That’s about half of what it would cost to buy out Napier ($26.5 million). 

The source told Saturday Down South that Florida’s improvements on the line of scrimmage and defense and quarterback DJ Lagway have impressed. They feel more NIL investment in players, especially in the portal, could lead to a good team in 2025.

You can see the difference in the final scores and in-game stats. Florida was demolished early in the season by Miami and Texas A&M. They then gave up 480 total yards to Mississippi State. But then things started to change. 

They decisively took down UCF and Kentuck at home, and took ranked Tennessee and ranked Georgia down to the wire. All of those games saw strong nights by the Gators' defense. 

However, no improvements have translated to wins yet. 

Napier is 15-18 overall as of Week 11. He’s never finished with more than six wins in a season, and the Gators were blown out in their only bowl appearance. The Gators currently sit at 4-4 with a 2-3 record in conference.

Part of this is because they had growing pains, to say the least, when it comes to NIL. 

They had a controversy over NIL issues with quarterback Jaden Rashada. Rashada has sued Billy Napier and Florida boosters on the grounds of being defrauded. He was promised a $13.8 million deal and those who promised him the deal backed out once he chose Florida and turned down other offers from other schools. 

Florida Victorious, the new NIL group, has done a much better job. This could be Florida’s chance to put all this behind them and start bringing in the best talent to compete.