The Florida Gators had their first open date of the 2024 season after week four’s 45-28 road victory over Mississippi State. Billy Napier’s squad practiced on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during the bye week while giving the Gators Friday and Saturday off.
“We didn’t coddle them,” Napier said on Florida’s bye week practices. “It was real in there for three days.”
“I do think our football team got better,” Napier added. “We had three really good practices Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I think the staff and the players did a great job competing. I think they competed; all three days were very competitive. One of the better open dates I’ve been a part of. I think we’re hopeful we improved in a lot of areas that can help our team going forward.”
The Gators split up into two teams decided by the coaches, a similar format to Florida’s annual Orange and Blue Spring game.
“Thought it was phenomenal. Physical. It was fast. It was game-like. It was very competitive. It was scored. It was graded,” Napier said. “It was a lot of fun to be a part of. Hopeful that we got better. I feel as if we got better last week.”
Napier created an incentive-based bye week as the losing team in each period had to run gassers at the end of each practice.
“So we had two teams and every period was a competition. And at the end it was just for gassers. You run, if you lose,” senior quarterback Graham Mertz said on the bye week. “But we ramped up the competition, guys were flying around, making plays. That’s what we needed. We needed to start fast each and every one of those practices because we need to do a better job starting fast in the games. So I think the way we set it up was fantastic. The guys attacked it. We got better through the bye.”
Florida logged their first SEC win of the season in week four against Mississippi State, which established a sense of momentum heading into the bye week.
“I think you ask anybody on our team, we know we left a lot out there. I think it felt great to win. I know that guys in the locker room were fired up, ready to get into the bye week. I think it actually fueled our bye week, too,” Mertz said.
Graham Mertz and Jason Marshall have been in college for a combined 10 seasons, and both claimed that this was the most competitive bye week they’ve had at this level.
“I haven’t had a bye week practice how we practiced last week. It wary intense, very competitive,” Marshall said. “If you came out there, it looked like we were playing a full-on game. Everyone had a lot of juice, excited. So I feel like we got a lot of work done.”
Florida is set to host UCF in week six inside The Swamp.