What the LJ McCray commitment means to Florida and its rebuild

Florida is cooking on the recruiting trail, where second-year coach Billy Napier has recruits fully believing in the rebuild he’s attempting to enact in Gainesville, Fla. The latest addition to the class was a huge one in five-star LJ McCray.

McCray is a talented defensive lineman, ranked No. 8 nationally by On3 and a five-star prospect.

“It’s huge because he’s 6-6, 275. An edge player who, Florida’s already playing two (freshman) defensive linemen this year,” said GatorsOnline’s Nick de la Torre on the Andy Staples On3 show. “Billy Napier and this staff have no problem playing guys young, and I think LJ McCray’s a guy who can come in and play as a freshman. At that size, do you stay on the edge where they’re recruiting him right now? Does he develop into the three-technique? Who cares as long as he’s in orange and blue.”

Florida’s rebuild hasn’t had a ton of success on the field so far. The Gators went 6-7 in Napier’s first season. This year’s team is currently 5-2 but has a very difficult closing stretch coming up.

It’s been a slow burn, though the Gators are playing more true freshmen than anyone else in the country.

“You have to take Mike Norvell‘s portal strategy to have those immediate dividends,” de la Torre said. “I look at Florida in the portal and fans didn’t like, I think more specifically the spring portal, but Ricky Pearsall was in the portal. Your starting right tackle. Your starting right guard. Your quarterback. Your starting running back. You’ve got two linebackers from the portal. Georgia has had success in the portal. Maybe just not a Keon Coleman type.”

Napier has clearly chosen a two-pronged approach to building the roster. The primary building blocks are high school recruits, and when you’re recruiting like he is right now, that’s a pretty solid foundation.

The transfer portal has served to fill more immediate needs. If Florida takes a transfer, there’s a pretty good shot he’s playing right away.

So what else do the Gators need to add going forward to get back to competing for SEC titles?

“When you look at the recruiting class, Florida needs offensive linemen,” de la Torre said. “There’s not a great offensive tackle market in the portal. When those big five-stars end up being first-round picks, they typically just stay there for three years.”

Florida’s rebuild will take a bit longer still, but the signs are there that things are definitely progressing in the right direction.

The LJ McCray commitment is strong evidence of just that.

“The bigger thing to me even more so than him as a player is you beat Georgia. You beat Florida State,” de la Torre said. “If you are rebuilding and you want to be where Georgia, where the school out west is, these are the teams you have to beat and the players you have to beat those teams for.”

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