Florida coach Billy Napier’s strategy to restore the Gators hasn’t gone as expected. Despite consecutive losing seasons, a top-5 2024 recruiting class falling out of the top 10, an NCAA investigation into a misguided $13.8 million NIL deal with former recruit Jaden Rashada, and sweeping staff changes, he entered spring practices last week confident in the direction of his program in Year 3. Napier believes the proper ingredients are in place to take the required steps in 2024, starting with a more seasoned team led by quarterback Graham Mertz and an improved, enthusiastic, and cohesive staff. Motivation will not be an issue, as a 5-7 season left the Gators 11-14 throughout Napier’s two seasons.
“We’ve got a hungry group,” he said. “We’ve got a group that’s got something to prove.”
The Gators will have to do it against the nation’s toughest schedule, with a skeptically vocal fan base and criticism even coming from the most iconic figure in program history. Former coach Steve Spurrier recently told the Florida Times-Union: “There’s a feeling around the Gators of, ‘What the heck are we doing?'” Spurrier, the 1966 Heisman winner and current ambassador for UF’s athletic department, also noted, “We do wish the organization was a little bit more tidy.”
Napier also inherited a bit of a disaster following Dan Mullen’s fourth and last season in Gainesville, which finished 6-7. The roster included some veteran talent, headlined by linebacker Ventrell Miller, a potential NFL first-round choice in quarterback Anthony Richardson, and All-American lineman O’Cyrus Torrence, who joined Napier from Louisiana. The lack of depth will be noticeable at the Gators’ Pro Day on March 21. The lone surefire draft pick will be wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, who transferred from Arizona State to Napier in May 2022. Napier also needed to readjust a pattern he used to establish a 40-12 record at Louisiana (33-5 in his final three seasons), which was upended by the one-time transfer regulation and the advent of NIL six months previous to
The January hire of Mark Robinson from Texas A&M to serve as chief of staff has positioned the Gators to better deal with the sport’s changing landscape and avoid missteps – none bigger than the failed Rashada deal negotiated by the now-defunct Gator Collective. “We’re living in a new world,” Napier said. “It’s definitely helped me … that for the first time, all of our systems are built. We’ve had quite a bit of change over the last couple of years. “It’s the first offseason where you’re not building a system right in the middle of it.” The program’s culture was another area Napier set out to improve and now see signs of considerable progress.
“The leadership on this team is the best it’s been,” he told reporters. “There is character; there is accountability. “We have the right mix of veteran leadership and young talent.”It’s the nicest January and February we’ve had since coming here.” The Gators have added 30 new scholarship athletes and four new assistant coaches. Florida also lost its most explosive offensive playmaker, tailback Trevor Etienne, who joined rival Georgia. Etienne recently told Dawgnation.com that his role and the Gators’ troubles prompted him to change allegiances.
