The Florida Gators didn’t put together the season they hoped for, but the locker room remains positive regarding the future of the Florida football program and the man in charge.
Defensive lineman Gervon Dexter has been with the Gators for three years and recently declared for the NFL draft. Dexter says he witnessed the program grow during his time at Florida.
“Especially this year, we’ve learned to stay together,” Dexter said. “We learned to be great teammates. We learned to be for one. I think a lot of it has been inside the locker room. It’s not half. It’s not offense versus defense. It’s one big unit and we’re all playing for each other. I think that is the biggest difference I’ve witnessed being here.”
Edge rusher Antwuan Powell-Ryland is another athlete that’s played under multiple head coaches at Florida.
Powell-Ryland said he’s excited to continue his journey with Billy Napier.
“I feel very excited,” Powell-Ryland said. “I feel like very big things coming, like, for sure. And I don’t say that just to say that. But I feel very confident in coach Napier and everybody, the whole staff. I feel like they know they got going on. They know what they’re doing, and they know what we need to do to get better.”
Powell-Ryland said he sees an all-business approach from Coach Napier.
“He’s all business. Like, he’s definitely all business,” Powell-Ryland said. “When it’s time to play football, he’s locked in and he puts that through everybody. Like, I feel like he starts off the vibe of what we can do and what we can be.”
Offensive lineman Richard Gouraige spent five seasons at Florida and started 42 games during that span.
“He’s a great leader. He’s definitely the guy to follow,” Gouraige said on what it’s like playing for Coach Napier. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to play under him and having Coach Sale and Coach Stapleton mold my game even better. It’s really nothing but a blessing, really.”
Gouraige claims that Coach Napier has a fun side to pair with his all-business approach.
“Absolutely. He’s always joking around and stuff like that,” Gouraige said. “Just sometimes he’s on the more serious side. I understand that, we all have a job to do.”
Cornerback Jaydon Hill says it’s Napier’s off the field coaching that resides with him the most.
“It’s not just on the field coaching, you know what I’m saying? He’s definitely a good coach but it’s just the stuff what we do in here,” Hill said. “Life lessons, there’s a lot of life lessons that come with it. Something that he always preaches is that game can teach you a lot if you let it. That’s very big that I take from it.”
Hill says that coach Napier has a fun side to him.
“He’s probably laughing right now,” Hill said.
“Yeah, he jokes. Like today we had this jersey swap day. I had Chris McClellan’s jersey on. He was like, ‘You in the trenches now?’ Like, yeah, Coach! We joke about it,” Hill said.
There’s no question that the Gators’ locker room sees eye to eye with head coach Billy Napier. A lot of work has gone into repairing Florida’s football program, and that isn’t going unnoticed.
“In year one there has been a lot of work that has been done from day one to right now,” Napier said. “We are fortunate in that we are going to get a little bit of a break. We are going to turn the page and come back and work harder than ever.”