There are few instances in sports where the lust for instant gratification is more evident than among college football fans.

When Florida lost 4-star quarterback prospect Jaden Rashada to Miami two months ago, Gators fans on social media lost their collective minds. 

UF supporters started wondering if new coach Billy Napier would have similar issues as predecessor Dan Mullen in reeling in top-notch talent. They’re not so worried now. 

Since then, Napier has been racking up commitments from one big-time recruit after another. In a 48-hour windfall last weekend, 4-star defensive linemen Will Norman from IMG Academy, Kelby Collins from Gardendale (Ala.) and Orlando’s Kamran James all pledged to the Gators. 

If those commitments become actual signings, Napier will have taken a significant step toward Florida becoming relevant again.

That’s because any program with a chance to compete for an SEC championship, no position group is more important to stock with talent than the D-line. It’s the biggest reason why the SEC in the last 10-15 years has widened the gap between them and other Power 5 conferences.  

When you look at the separation Alabama coach Nick Saban and Georgia’s Kirby Smart have created from rival programs, their defenses winning the trenches is quite often the big separator. 

So Napier is off to a good start. Coupled with the timing of Florida also opening up its state-of-the-art James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center, approval ratings for Napier have taken a massive jump and is sure to extend his first-year honeymoon period. 

But in the emotional, knee-jerk world of college football, as Mullen discovered last year, things can change awfully fast. If No. 7-ranked Utah comes into the Swamp on Sept. 3 and makes Napier the first Florida coach to lose in his debut since Charley Pell lost 14-10 at Houston in 1979, it’ll be interesting to see how that might impact perception of their new coach. 

For now, there’s a lot of momentum in Napier’s favor. As long as he and his coaching staff can keep quarterback Anthony Richardson ascending, the Gators have a chance to do better than a 7-5 or 6-6 record many pundits are projecting this season.

It took many observers by surprise Wednesday when the Jaguars released defensive tackle Malcom Brown, who started 17 games last season and was in the final year of a two-year, $11 million contract. 

But the signing of free agent Folorunso Fatukasi and improvement shown by 2021 fourth-round draft pick Jay Tufele, DaVon Hamilton and undrafted rookie Israel Antwine made the high-priced, 28-year-old Brown easier to cut, which is a positive sign for the Jaguars’ future. 

Defense line coach Brentson Buckner put the transaction this way: “These young guys have played well, so a guy like Malcom, who has two Super Bowl rings [with the New England Patriots], becomes expendable. This business is a pruning process. Sometimes you got to cut off a pretty rose to make the real rose grow even better.”

It was a no-brainer for DeShaun Watson’s legal team to agree to the 11-game suspension settlement between the NFLPA and the NFL, which allowed the Cleveland Browns quarterback to avoid a second consecutive season without getting on the field. 

Watson clearly didn’t want to risk the league getting its way and having former New Jersey attorney general Peter C. Harvey, the league's appointed arbitrator, imposing a year-long suspension on appeal for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

By agreeing to a compromise deal from his initial six-game suspension and accepting a hefty $5 million fine for sexual misconduct involving massage therapists, Watson gets a chance to play at least six games instead of allowing another full year of rust to build. 

There’s no undoing the public relations damage Watson inflicted upon himself with his despicable behavior, which led to him settling 23 of 24 civil lawsuits against him.

Watson’s lame apology last week to a Browns’ website before he took the field in a preseason game against the Jaguars, which came after repeated claims that he did nothing wrong, only made him look worse. 

It’s no mystery as to why Watson agreed to up his punishment from six to 11 games. This was good old-fashion damage control. He knew it was time to move on, and taking the settlement was the best chance to do just that.

Even if it means the uncomfortable result of Watson’s first game being on the road against his former employer, the Houston Texans.

While projections for NFL rookies expected to have the most impact in 2022 tends to focus on first-round draft picks, keep an eye on the Houston Texans’ Dameon Pierce, the under-utilized running back from Florida taken in the fourth round (107th overall). 

Pierce is on a team that had an NFL-worst 3.4 yards per carry last season and their only viable backs are former Indianapolis Colt Marlon Mack, whose time was severely limited the past two seasons due to an Achilles injury, and 32-year-old journeyman Rex Burkhead. Another option is Dare Ogunbowale, an afterthought in the Jaguars’ forgettable offense last season. 

Pierce validated what the Texans have seen in practice by rushing five times for 49 yards in his preseason debut against the New Orleans Saints. He showed remarkable cutting ability and held up in pass protection. 

Last year, Pierce only touched the ball 119 times for the Gators and had 16 touchdowns, the most since Percy Harvin in 2008. It’s still early, but don’t be surprised over the next three or four years if the Jaguars’ defense is tackling Pierce more than any other Texans’ player.

Pierce's stock has risen so much from what he's done in the Texans' training camp, he's now listed by one betting site, BetOnLine.ag, among the top eight players to earn NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors at 12-1. Steelers' receiver George Pickens is the favorite at 6-1. . . .

Golfer Patrick Reed has relished the role of being a golf villain, but now the 2018 Masters champion has decided to take it way out of bounds by suing Golf Channel and broadcaster Brandel Chamblee for defamation of character. 

He's actually seeking $750 million in damages, claiming TGC and Chamblee of "acting in concert with and as agents on behalf" of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and their commissioners, and with malicious intent, to discredit Reed with on-air comments over the years, including his recent decision to join the LIV Golf series.

The truth is Reed has brought on a great deal of the criticism on himself with his smug demeanor and acquiring a reputation over the years for being a less-than-honest golfer. Maybe it's fitting that he joined the Saudi Arabia-funded golf league since you can't spell "frivolous," which defines his lawsuit, without LIV.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports that former Jaguars cornerback CJ Henderson, the Jaguars’ 2020 first-round pick who was traded to the Carolina Panthers, is tearing it up in camp and emerging as one of the team’s best players. Another ex-Jaguar becoming a better player elsewhere? Gee, what a shocker. …

Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James became the NFL’s highest-paid safety this week, signing a four-year, $76.4 million contract or $19.13 million annually. Ten years ago, Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu was the league’s highest paid safety at $9.12 million per year. …

Unemployed NFL receiver Antonio Brown calling out his former teammate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, on TMZ for missing 11 days of training camp — due to team-approved personal reasons — is akin to Lyle Lovett calling out Julia Roberts for being unattractive. . . . 

Will any NFL stadium this season be louder than the boos descending on Watson at NRG Stadium if the former Texans’ QB plays in that Week 13 game? 

Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette