Hunter Smith is the last of Florida’s winter portal entries to announce his new school.

Florida Gators kicker Hunter Smith (41) kicks a field goal during the first half at the Orange and Blue spring football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, April 13, 2024. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]

Florida Gators kicker Hunter Smith (41) kicks a field goal during the first half at the Orange and Blue spring football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, April 13, 2024. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun] / Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA :

After initially entering the NCAA Transfer Portal during the winter window, former Florida Gators kicker Hunter Smith has announced his commitment.

Smith, who spent the 2024 season with the Gators after stints at FAU (2023) and NAIA Warner (2021-22), will spend his final collegiate season at Western Michigan, he announced Friday. Warner holds one year of eligibility after redshirting with the Owls as a junior.

Smith did not appear in any games for the Gators after joining as a walk-on to be Trey Smack’s primary backup and competing to backup Jeremy Crawshaw at punter. The Gainesville native missed three field goals and shanked a punt in the 2024 spring game, while both Smack and Crawshaw went on to have strong seasons.

He also did not appear in a game for FAU, but had his best success in his freshman year at Warner. He went 6-for-9 on field goal attempts with a long of 44 yards while averaging 44.8 yards per punt. Smith saw a dip in production as a sophomore as a kicker, going 4-for-12 on field goals with four blocked kicks, but his production as a punter increased with a 53.3-yard average.

Smith’s initial decision to transfer did not come as a massive surprise either as NCAA roster cuts will limit the number of walk-ons a team can have, Smack returns for his final season and the Gators add

Smith is the third former Gator to announce a transfer decision after the spring portal window initially opened and the last of the winter portal entries to make a decision. Recently, Florida saw defensive lineman D’Antre Robinson and walk-on long snapper Gannon Burt both transfer to North Carolina, while safety Gregory Smith III is prediction to join the Tar Heels.

Florida also saw walk-on quarterback Lawrence Wright IV and walk-on offensive lineman Chase Stevens depart from the program after spring camp.

As spring creeps toward summer and Year 4 of the Billy Napier era at the University of Florida edges ever closer, it’s worth thinking about how Napier defied the odds just getting here.

Napier was nearly dismissed, his fate all but certain after a tumultuous first month of the 2024 season that saw the Gators routed twice on their home field by Miami and Texas A&M.

A season-ending injury to senior quarterback Graham Mertz in an overtime loss at Tennessee only escalated tensions, with the Gators dropping to 1-7 in rivalry contests under Napier following the defeat and facing the prospect of playing their final 6 games without their starting quarterback. With the Gators sitting at 3-3 and games against several ranked opponents remaining, Florida’s bowl hopes — and Napier’s future in Gainesville — seemed bleak.

That’s when DJ Lagway entered the chat.

The 2024 Florida plan with Lagway, the big armed Texan who was a 5-star recruit and the Gatorade National Player of the Year out of high school, had always been for him to play consistently, but in a defined backup role, behind Mertz.

Mertz’s season-ending injury against Tennessee changed everything.

Yes, Lagway shined in a spot start against Samford in Week 2, setting Florida freshman passing records for yards and touchdowns in a game after Mertz suffered a concussion late in the loss to Miami. But it was one thing to play brilliantly against an overmatched foe from the FCS, and quite another to be QB1 against one of the toughest October and November schedules in college football.

You already know the rest of the story.

Lagway went 6-0 in games he started and finished, earning Consensus Freshman All-American honors and powering the Gators to wins over a top-10 Ole Miss team, rivals LSU and FSU, and a 33-8 Gasparilla Bowl rout of Tulane in the process. The only game Lagway started and lost came against archrival Georgia, and the Gators appeared in control of that game before Lagway exited with an injury in the second quarter.

On the way, Lagway threw for 1,915 yards passing and 12 touchdowns, ranking 2nd in the SEC yards per attempt (10) and second in average depth of target (11.8) behind only Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss (10 yards per attempt, average depth of target 11.9), who was drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft last week.

Among SEC starters returning in 2025, Lagway’s big-time throw percentage of 8.8% is nearly 3% higher than any other returning starter (Diego Pavia is 2nd, at 5.9%).

Put plainly, Lagway provides Napier the type of transcendental talent necessary to elevate the entire program. Can the embattled head coach cash in?

The noise around the program is mixed.

Lagway didn’t throw in the spring, recovering from a complicated shoulder injury that doctors typically try to treat with rest, rather than surgery.

Florida fans spent the spring glued to basketball but woke up from the Gators Boys championship fever dream wondering if Lagway would be okay come the autumn. You could almost hear the gasps of relief from Gator Nation audibly when clips of Lagway throwing missiles popped up on Instagram last week.

Lagway’s potential, a stable of playmakers offensively, coupled with key returnees on both lines of scrimmage, including All-American center Jake Slaughter and likely preseason All-American defensive tackle Caleb Banks, have elevated the Gators to the top 10 in some preseason rankings. Other analysts are less convinced, largely due to concerns over Napier, who is an uninspiring 19-19 in 3 seasons at Florida entering a pivotal fourth year.

The odds aren’t as stacked against Napier as it may seem.

Since the Alliance Bowl started the trend to unite the sport around one national champion in 1995, 9 different head coaches have won their first national championship in Year 4 or beyond, including Nick Saban at LSU (Year 4), Kirby Smart at Georgia (Year 6), and Florida’s favorite son, Steve Spurrier (Year 7). In each of those instances, though, there were signs that championships were simply a matter of time. Saban won the SEC at LSU in Year 2, winning 26 games in his first 3 seasons on campus.

Smart won the SEC in Year 2 as well and played for the SEC Championship on 2 other occasions, losing to Saban’s Alabama juggernaut and a future national champion in LSU in those contests. And Spurrier? All he did before capturing Florida’s first claimed national championship was revolutionize the SEC, winning 5 conference titles in his first 6 seasons in Gainesville before breaking through in 1996.

In fact, of the 9 coaches who won in Year 4 or later, only 2 “Napier-like” pathways stand out.

The first is Dabo Swinney’s march to national championship No. 1, which he managed in his 8th full season at the helm in Tigertown. Swinney built Clemson slowly and methodically, with a flurry of strong recruiting classes and talent evaluations and modest year-to-year improvements until an elite quarterback talent, Deshaun Watson, helped the Tigers break through in 2016.

The problem with this comparison is two-fold. First, Swinney built Clemson from the ground up in the pre-portal era ACC, a far weaker conference than the SEC, with only one premier program (Florida State) in the way at the time Swinney’s Tigers were ascending.

Second, Swinney still showed flashes of being competitive early, winning 2 conference titles prior to the national championship season and playing for 2 others. The Tigers built momentum first and then found the quarterback to get them over the hump. They did not need the transcendental quarterback simply to gain momentum.

A better comparison might be Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan. Flummoxed by an archrival in Ohio State that was a national power, Harbaugh won plenty of games before capturing a national championship in his 9th year in Ann Arbor, but it took the Wolverines 7 years just to win the B1G title, despite consistent 8-, 9-, and 10-win seasons along the way.

At a blueblood program used to winning, Harbaugh, like Napier, had to convince his administration to invest and commit to competing at the highest level, rather than rest on the program’s logo, brand, and laurels. The journey was long. The juice was worth the squeeze.

But the Harbaugh comparison also feels imperfect, if only because with Lagway, Napier’s time is likely now.

If Napier can’t win big in 2025 and 2026 with DJ, then when, if ever, will he win?

The departure of starting quarterbacks at 2 critical Florida rivals, Georgia and Tennessee, also appears to open the door, if ever so slightly.

Yes, Georgia has the best coach in the sport and plenty of elite talent around him, but if Georgia had DJ Lagway, and not Gunner Stockton, is there any doubt who the prohibitive national championship favorite would be? Georgia is more talented than the Gators. But the questions around Stockton makes Georgia vulnerable, just as teams facing Joe Burrow and LSU were vulnerable in 2019, despite having plenty of talent of their own.

And the departure of Nico Iamaleava at Tennessee, while an admirable and righteous stand by Josh Heupel, begs important questions about a Volunteers program that now loses the SEC Player of the Year in Dylan Sampson and their starting quarterback, two absences that will absolutely be felt in September and October, no matter how well journeyman Joey Aguilar fits on Rocky Top.

Outside of perhaps Austin, Texas, there are questions everywhere you look in the SEC.

In The Swamp, there’s DJ Lagway, a player who answers plenty of Florida’s questions.

Lagway’s likely to spend 2 more seasons in The Swamp before he hears his name called on Thursday night at the 2027 NFL Draft.

How much longer Napier is in Gainesville almost certainly depends on what Napier does with the “DJ Years.”

The Florida Gators celebrate after defeating the Houston Cougars in the National Championship of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 07, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.

The SEC’s historic 2024-25 men’s basketball campaign was arguably the best season a single conference has ever had.

The league thrashed the nonconference portion of the schedule, going a staggering 185-23 (a winning percentage of .889); the Big Ten’s 159-37 (.811 winning percentage) was a distant second place. The SEC ended up as the highest-rated conference in KenPom.com’s two and a half decades as college basketball’s most popular advanced rankings source, and the league’s unprecedented run of success to start the season carried over into the postseason.

A staggering 14 of the league’s 16 teams made it into the NCAA Tournament, easily setting records for most bids by a single conference and for highest percentage of teams to receive a bid. Seven of those 14 teams made it to the Sweet 16, four went to the Elite Eight, two reached the Final Four and Florida captured the national championship to cap off the conference’s all-time season.

Conventional wisdom would tell us this level of dominance was a one-time thing, a coincidental product of nearly every league member trending up at the same time. But what if it wasn’t a fluke?

The SEC has handled the shift to an NIL-based world as well as any league in the country, allowing the deep-pocketed member schools to reel in extremely talented rosters.

Plus, nearly every head coaching hire that the league has made has been a great one, and one of the two jobs to turn over this offseason — Texas moving on from Rodney Terry and hiring Sean Miller away from Xavier — is almost inarguably a major upgrade. The other, Texas A&M hiring Samford’s Bucky McMillan after Buzz Williams took the Maryland job, has plenty of upside, though Williams has been a consistent winner in the sport for almost two decades.

Stability on the sidelines is one of the biggest reasons to be optimistic about the SEC’s immediate future. Contrast the league’s current crop of coaches to the ACC, which has recently seen a flurry of retirements of longtime sideline icons: Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Tony Bennett and Jim Boeheim, with Jim Larranaga and Leonard Hamilton bowing out this season.

That “brain drain” has had a clear negative impact on the conference’s basketball strength, and this winter North Carolina and Virginia took a step back while Duke steamrolled the rest of the league in Jon Scheyer’s third year. The SEC’s old guard, on the other hand, isn’t going anywhere. Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl and John Calipari should all have strong teams once again in 2025-26.

Among the younger coaches, Florida’s Todd Golden and Alabama’s Nate Oats are clear stars, Ole Miss’ Chris Beard has won everywhere he’s been, and Mark Pope looks like he’ll be a fixture at Kentucky for a long time. The Big Ten would also have a strong argument as having the best group of coaches in the country, but the SEC probably has a narrow edge on aggregate.

Of course, any coach will tell you that it takes talented players to win big, and the SEC was flush with them this past season. Three of the five members of the consensus All-America first team hailed from the SEC, and the league’s all-conference squads were loaded with fantastic college players.

Whether the conference will have the same kind of elite top-end talent in 2025-26 is not yet certain. Of the 15 all-conference honorees, only two (Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard and Missouri’s Mark Mitchell) are definitely returning. Two others (Kentucky’s Otega Oweh, Florida’s Alex Condon) could choose to return after testing the NBA Draft process, and Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara is currently in the transfer portal.

But the incoming crop of players — via the recruiting class of 2025 and the transfer portal — looks as strong as ever. The league’s incredible depth appears intact for 2025-26.

Though Calipari’s Arkansas is the only team in the top 10 of 247Sports’ recruiting class rankings, the SEC occupies spots 11, 12, 14 and 15. Nine SEC teams sit in the top 25, and 13 of the conference’s 16 schools are in the top 51. Of the three that are not, two — Texas and Texas A&M — changed coaches this spring, helping explain their lack of incoming rookies. The recruiting site On3 paints an even rosier picture: four SEC classes in the top 10, 15 in the top 50. Clearly, reinforcements are on the way from the high school ranks.

Where the SEC has really dominated recently, though, is the all-important transfer portal. Those additions are typically even more ready to contribute immediately than blue-chip freshmen, and even the top SEC teams use the portal to find stars: All three of the aforementioned All-Americans (Auburn’s Johni Broome, Alabama’s Mark Sears and Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr.) started their careers at mid-major schools.

As of this writing, the SEC has two elite incoming transfer classes, with Kentucky (second) and Tennessee (fourth) right at the top of EvanMiya.com’s national rankings. Beyond that, it’s all about balance: 15 of the league’s schools are in the top 54, with only annual powerhouse Alabama coming in outside that range at 66th. The NIL money is flowing, and players are flocking to the SEC as a result.

It’s entirely possible that all 16 schools will enter next year with the expectation of making the NCAA Tournament. Bart Torvik has released the earliest version of his rankings at BartTorvik.com — subject to many changes throughout the offseason, of course — and 15 of the 16 SEC teams are in the top 61, with South Carolina bringing up the rear at 91st.

The SEC has clearly reloaded its considerable talent coffers, and the offseason is not yet over. More talent could be on the way. The conference also has a fantastic stable of coaches capable of converting all of that talent into wins on the court.

Conference supremacy is often cyclical. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, the ACC was the class of the country. For most of the last decade, the Big 12 was college basketball’s standard-bearer. Now, though, the SEC may be entering a golden age. Even if it does not quite reach the heights of 2025’s all-time campaign, the conference looks set up for multiple years of dominance.

Jim Root is a contributing writer for The Athletic covering college basketball. Before joining The Athletic, he started the college basketball website and podcast Three Man Weave in 2015. He has also worked for Sports Illustrated, the Field of 68, The Action Network and other outlets. He’s a graduate of the University of Missouri and originates from the Milwaukee, Wisc., area.

Andy Jean will now be looking for his second school since leaving the Florida Gators in December.

Florida Gators wide receiver Andy Jean (6) gestures for a first down during the second half during the Florida Gators Orange and Blue Spring Game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, April 13, 2023.

Ncaa Football Florida Gators Orange Blue Spring Game

Florida Gators wide receiver Andy Jean (6) gestures for a first down during the second half during the Florida Gators Orange and Blue Spring Game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, April 13, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun] Ncaa Football Florida Gators Orange Blue Spring Game

For the second time since leaving the Florida Gators, wide receiver Andy Jean on Monday announced that he will be re-entering the transfer portal again, ending a brief stint with Pitt.

He committed to the Panthers on Jan. 4th, after originally entering the transfer portal in December. He will have three years of eligibility remaining after redshirting in 2023.

While he did not record any statistics during Pitts’ Blue and Gold spring game, he was an active participant in spring practices, even flashing his potential during team competition periods.

As a transfer portal prospect, 247Sports ranked him as a three-star prospect and 99th-best receiver prospect.

Through two seasons in Gainesville, he played in five games, catching six passes for 97 yards (16.2 yards per catch) and returning two kicks for 44 yards.

The best game of his collegiate career this far came during Florida’s 22-7 win against Charlotte, when he tallied 57 all-purpose yards, on a 32-yard catch and 25-yard reverse. He also hauled in four passes for 33 receiving yards during Florida’s 33-14 loss to Kentucky.

Both games came during Jean’s true freshman season.

As a sophomore, his only action of the season came during Florida’s win against Mississippi State, but he did not record a stat.

Before becoming a Gator, Jean was a highly touted four-star recruit and was the 42nd-best wide receiver in the country, according to Rivals, out of Miami Northwestern High School, the same school as recent signee J’Vari Flowers.

Besides Florida, he was also offered by programs like Alabama, Georgia and LSU before choosing the Gators, becoming one of a three-man receiver class in 2023 alongside Aidan Mizell and Eugene Wilson III.

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As part of the program’s Senior Night celebrations, Florida basketball will play the Ole Miss Rebels inside the O’Connell Center on Saturday night, marking the end of the regular-season schedule.

You’ve come to the right spot if you’re seeking for betting odds with tipoff still a few hours away.

The Gators enter the game with a 26-4 overall record and a 13-4 record versus other schools in the SEC.

In addition to being among the top five teams in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25, Todd Golden’s team is currently seeded first in all of the major bracketologies.

The Rebels enter the game with a 10-7 SEC record and a 21-9 overall record.

Ole Miss finished in the middle of the pack in terms of NCAA Tournament forecasts and garnered votes in both major polls, though not nearly enough to place in the top 25.

There won’t be a “tune-up” effort before the SEC Tournament, but the Gators will be at their best.

Golden’s squad should start strong and give the Rebs the same level of play they had against any other team, which will result in a final score that is heavily in favor of the home club.

On Saturday, March 8, Florida vs. Ole Miss will be televised nationwide on the SEC Network. Inside the O’Connell Center, Richard Hendrix and John Schriffen will call the game from the sidelines.

One alternative for streaming the game is FUBO, which gives new users a free trial.

Billy Napier ahead of spring camp: Florida football QB DJ Lagway to be ‘limited’ and more

Florida quarterback DJ Lagway will have limited participation in spring drills due to shoulder and lower body issues.

Lagway is expected to participate in all drills aside from throwing drills.

Lagway started 7 games as a true freshman in 2024, passing for 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Several other Florida players will also be limited during spring practice.

Florida football coach Billy Napier said quarterback DJ Lagway will be limited in drills this spring due to shoulder and lower body issues.

“Our intentions here are to be very smart,” Napier said. “I do think he’ll be limited in throwing activities, but he’ll participate in all practices otherwise. We’ve done a lot of homework with the things he went through as a player but he was an absolute warrior and a great competitor that showed toughness.

“In general, he will be able to do quite a bit, but they’ll be some limitations.”

Lagway, the 2023 Gatorade High School player of the year, cemented his role as the Florida Gators’ starting quarterback, going 6-1 as a starter and leading UF to four straight wins to close the 2024 season. As a true freshman, Lagway passed for 1,915 yards with 12 TDs to nine interceptions.

Lagway is among a handful of players who will be limited in spring game, a list that includes defesive tackle Caleb Banks (foot), defensive back Sharif Denson (foot), running back Chad Gasper (ACL recon), defensive back Aaron Gates (knee), cornerback Jamar Grimsley (knee), linebacker Grayson Howard (soft tissue) and cornerback Dijon Johnson (shoulder/back half).

“Bryce Thornton has an ankle,” Napier said. “Treyaun Webb is still on his way back from a lower leg injury and then Eugene Wilson III is still (returning) to play with the hip. A lot of these guys may participate in some form, and then we’ll have some that won’t be able to participate because of where they’re at relative to the surgery and return to play.”

Napier said Lagway’s limited status will give him the chance to focus more on mental reps as UF will look to expand the playbook for him.

“We’re going to be really intentional about how we design every practice for him. I think in terms of, like, we’ve even talked about letting him be the signal caller,” Napier said. “Like today in seven on seven, I think we’re going to let him walkie-talkie the play into the quarterback, and then give him some of that. You know, and certain periods he’ll be able to do more than others, right? So I think that’ll progress as we go in spring, but we’re going to challenge him.”

Billy Napier on Florida football OC Russ Callaway’s role in the offense

Napier remained vague in discussing Russ Callaway’s role in the offense, as he was promoted from tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator to offensive coordinator a few weeks ago. Napier still appears intent on holding onto the play calling duties.

Callaway will remain working with the tight ends, Napier said, along with analyst John Donovan.

“Just being in front of players on a consistent basis, I thought he did a great job in that role last year,” Napier said. “And I think he’ll take on even more in this cycle. I’m excited about it. We certainly – Russ is deserving. I think he’s got the respect of the staff and respect of the players, and really one of the better young offensive minds I think in college football.”

Billy Napier on Florida football starting offensive line

Napier was asked if Bryce Lovett, who started at right tackle in UF’s bowl game against Tulane last season, could fill that role for the Gators and replace starting tackle Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson.

“Bryce will be the right tackle today, but Bryce could play all five,” Napier said. “We have a ton of confidence in him. Caden Jones, Devon Manuel, Fletcher Westphal, I would tell you that (T.J.) Dice and (Jamari) Medlock have been impressive so far.”

Napier also said Rod Kearney has moved from senior to guard and has been pleased with the development of redshirt freshman guard Jason Zandamela.

“All that group is headed in the right direction,” Napier said.

Billy Napier’s tenure as Florida Gators coach has been marked by struggles. Despite this, things look up for the team, thanks to new quarterback DJ Lagway.

The Gators showed improvement during a surprise four-game winning streak last season, including a win over LSU. Napier aims to build on this momentum.

Last month, Napier confirmed that he will continue to call the plays for the Gators.

“It’s what got me here. It’s how I became the head coach. It’s what’s helped us make progress and win in the past. I’m confident it will help us do that in the future,” he said.

However, this decision has not gone down well with college football analyst Paul Finebaum. On Friday’s edition of “The Paul Finebaum Show,” he said:

“One thing that I really don’t like is that I don’t like any head coach calling the plays anymore. I think the game is so complicated. There are so many other things going on that you’re always going to be involved. You’re the head coach. So, no play is going in without you knowing about it or you being the architect. I think it’s a poor decision on his part to hang onto that.”

Some teams delegate play-calling to coordinators, which can lead to success. The Ohio State Buckeyes are a notable example.

In 2024, coach Ryan Day handed play-calling duties to Chip Kelly, then the offensive coordinator. The Buckeyes won the national championship under Kelly.

Billy Napier has struggled with the Gators. Allowing OC Russ Callaway to share play-calling duties could help Napier focus on other team responsibilities.

Billy Napier brings in many new faces to Florida

Billy Napier brought in many new additions to the Florida program. The money the Gators saved (mostly from keeping Napier and avoiding a massive payout) has been invested in recruiting players and staff.

According to On3, the Gators sit in 11th position, with 26 commitments and five transfers into the school. This is a remarkable turnaround from a team that, before the 2024 season, began having one of the lowest-ranked recruitment classes.

Napier has made moves in the coaching department, bringing in three new coaches.

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