Perhaps no team in the country finished the regular season hotter than Florida. After a brutal start that made Billy Napier’s firing seem all but inevitable, freshman QB DJ Lagway engineered a remarkable turnaround: The Gators picked up wins in each of their last three games, including home losses to LSU and Ole Miss. Lagway was there After at least two more years and a star-studded recruiting class, the future suddenly looked very, very bright.

Of course, this is college football in 2024, and that means your success is only as good as the next transfer portal window. As conference rivals like Ole Miss, Auburn and others assemble their 2025 rosters, Napier must do the same if he wants to turn this young team’s potential into an SEC title contender next season. Luckily, the team had a Gasparilla Bowl appearance against Tulane on Friday that served as an advertisement for the program’s direction — and boy, did they ever take advantage of it.

The Gators didn’t get off to the best start. Lagway threw a brutal interception in the end zone late in the first half, and Florida took a 6-0 lead into the locker room against a Green Wave team that was down to the quarterback’s third line due to portal passes.

But just like in the regular season, Napier’s team finished strong. In the end, Lagway threw for 305 yards and Florida outscored Tulane by more than three yards per play and scored 27 points in the second half, turning a hard-fought game into a laughing score of 33-8. The offense was as poised and deadly as ever, while the defense pressured an inferior unit, forcing Tulane’s Ty Thompson into three interceptions.

Florida certainly looked like an SEC contender in 2025. But perhaps more importantly, they made it look that way Fun. Any recruit (or player currently in the portal) thinking about being part of Napier’s program had to assume it would be a blast; At some point near the end of the fourth, Napier even allowed 449-pound defensive tackle Desmond Watson to convert a third-and-short at running back.

Admittedly, a mid-December friendly against a team decimated by transfers isn’t the most meaningful data point. But every little bit counts, and being a head coach in 2024 means you always have to present yourself to someone. Florida made a big statement with how it closed out the year (and how Napier closed out the recruiting trail), but many of those good vibes would have been dashed by a lackluster bowl performance. Now, however, Napier can rightly argue that the arrow points straight up.