It’s the fault in Cormani McClain’s stars, it seems. Everywhere the cornerback lands, the head coaches get into soup. Now that he has transferred from Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes to Billy Napier’s Florida Gators, the issue surrounding McClain persists. And guess what happened now? On the Hightop Sports podcast, the host dropped the big news about the player not participating in the first Florida football scrimmage. This is enough for Napier to fear losing his $52 million job. Is it injury or McClain’s “locker room cancer” reputation that has pushed Napier to the edge of pressing the exit button?

For quite some time now, rumors have flared up that Napier is facing issues with McClain not giving his best to the program. And now the podcast analyst lands something more interesting. Right at the first scrimmage, the CB failed to appear. The host highlighted, “He missed practice I think it was Thursday I talked to Cam about it..told me about it he was “He was not there but we do not know why.”” He refused to call it a day with the news and delved deeper. 

The host then contacted another analyst to get a clear picture of the McClain scenario. With it came a new angle, “On Friday it was confirmed that it’s injury-related and that he was in the weight room. So wasn’t cause he was late or anything crazy and so he was sideline again in a non-contact jersey with an apparent eye injury is what is Zach’s article is saying.” As much as McClain is in a dicey situation, HC Napier’s job anxiety is off the charts. 

In 2023, the Gators HC signed a seven-year deal valued at $52 million. However, that ultimatum is looming like a dark cloud. In his Locked on Buffs podcast, analyst Kevin Borba once highlighted, “Billy Napier is on like the hot of seats like if Billy Napier struggles this year, he could be fired by week seven.” In his dark times, he can no longer count on McClain.  

Napier’s tough choice for McClain: reform or replace?

McClain’s trouble in Gators started on July 14. It came from Nick de la Torre, a senior for GatorsOnline and On3, who revealed the blocks that the CB has been facing in Napier’s tribe. Per the leads gathered by the writer, “I was told that Cormani McClain has been late to most of the requirements (meetings, lift, etc.)… Essentially, you get a warning, then you have to do extra run/lift… which he’s showed up late to ask well.” 

That was all the big fuss about McClain. Mind you, he had no problem with his teammates whatsoever. It was just his laid-back attitude that prevented him from pursuing his dreams in Napier’s program. As on the July 17 episode of DNVR Sports podcast, co-host Jake confirmed, “Everyone liked Cormani on the team. It’s just he didn’t put in the work.”

What co-host RK termed as “locker room cancer,” later on, Deion Sanders Jr. raised the alarm for McClain to be accountable about his take toward the sport, “Honestly, he just got to care about this sh*t bro. I guess he is a good kid, he just got to care about this sh*t.” It’s now to be seen whether Napier makes McClain work hard or seek a replacement to save his sinking ship.