The boldest hire Florida could make to replace Billy Napier is staring them right in the face

Despite the vibes around the Florida Gators seemingly being in shambles for much of the 2024 season, Billy Napier has surprisingly done quite a bit to cool off his seat in Gainesville. The Gators enter Week 9's bye at 4-3 on the season and flirting with the idea of bowl eligibility. And for now, the talks of firing and replacing Napier have at least quieted.

However, the finishing stretch of the regular season for Florida could change that conversation quite quickly. The Gators' final five games of the season see them face Georgia in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, visit Texas in Austin, welcome LSU and Ole Miss to Gainesville, and then finish with the rivalry matchup against Florida State.

Even if you want to count the matchup with the downtrodden Seminoles as a win, that would still only be good for five victories on the season, which is substandard by a wide margin at Florida. And that could be enough for the Napier hot seat discussion to be reignited. In turn, that will again bring about the idea of how the Gators could replace him.

Lane Kiffin has been arguably the most popular name connected to a potential coaching vacancy in Gainesville. And the current Ole Miss head coach very well could be in the mix and probably should be. However, there's a bolder option for the Gators program that, at minimum, has to be discussed and explored: Colorado head coach Deion Sanders.

What if Florida hired Deion Sanders to replace Billy Napier?

Sanders has taken his fair share of warranted criticism for how things have transpired in Boulder since he, along with his son and QB Sheduer Sanders and all-world two-way star Travis Hunter, left Jackson State for the Buffaloes. And last season, the experiment went brutally, finishing the season with one win in conference play and showing a precipitous fall from grace.

But something's happened since then. Colorado has rebounded in the 2024 season and now sits at 5-2 on the year with only one loss in the Big 12. There's a legitimate chance that the Buffaloes could find their way into the conference championship game, meaning that they also still have a conceivable shot of making the College Football Playoff.

The wrinkle with Deion Sanders and Colorado, however, is that there are a lot of indications that he might not view Boulder as his long-term landing spot. His lack of emphasis on high school recruiting is one major indication that this could be an attempt to use the transfer portal for a quick fix and then look for his next landing spot. That's only furthered by the fact that Shedeur and Hunter are all but gone for the NFL after this season.

And that once again brings the Florida Gators into the conversation. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Sanders not recruiting high school heavily at Colorado is that he did so at Jackson State. He could be the big-time head coach that's needed in Gainesville and could make major waves on the recruiting trail with the resources that would be given to him with the Gators.

It wouldn't be a perfect, surefire home-run hire for Florida, to be sure. There remains some reason to question Sanders' in-game coaching and the way he constructs his staff. Having said that, the upside would be tremendous.

Now, it should also be said that there's no guarantee that Sanders would want to go to Florida. He played his college ball at rival Florida State and perhaps those ties still run deep. But also, maybe they don't. And if there's any realistic chance that Sanders would be willing to replace Napier, then it's something the Gators can't turn their nose up at.