The 2023 SEC media days were held in Nashville on Wednesday afternoon, where Billy Napier spoke to the media at the event for the second time as the Head Coach of the Florida Gators.
With fall camp just around the corner, Billy Napier feels good about the direction of the program after recent coaching changes and portal additions.
“You know, much like I described earlier, I think one of the things that we benefitted from is that, you know, 90-plus percent of our team has been there since January. We had 27 mid-year players,” Napier said on new additions. “We did minimal work in the spring portal. But you know, I think it’s a reality in college football right now. Especially in the earlier stages of building a program. You’re going to have to do work in the portal.”
“Again, we want to continue to recruit the best high school players in the country and establish some stability from a roster management standpoint and do less work in the portal in the future,” Napier said.
In his two years as the Gators’ head coach, Napier’s evaluation in the portal has only elevated this team, especially in trenches.
It will be interesting to see just how much Graham Mertz can evolve in a new offense under Billy Napier and his staff.
“I’ve been very impressed with Graham. Graham is a 32-start player. He’s played over 2000 snaps at a really established program in Wisconsin. We went through an extensive process to make that decision,” said Napier on the evaluation of Mertz. “I think Graham is an accomplished player but more importantly, I’ve been impressed with the person, the leader. This guy has an incredible motor and work ethic. He is in the building and he is fanatical about his preparation. That’s helped the competition. I think that’s caused Jack (Miller) to respond. And we have been really pleased with a young player, Max Brown. He’s had a good summer.”
Evaluation is something Coach Napier has made a key priority as a head coach every off-season, whether that’s in recruiting or changes in personnel.
There’s plenty of room for improvement in 2023, and Billy Napier looks to play a big part in that this upcoming season.
“I think it was part of our evaluation this off-season,” Napier said on continuing to call plays on offense. “You know, I think like most part of our organization and our process, we will improve in year two. I think it’s something that we’ll continue to evaluate. I like having my hand on the scripts, the installation, that process. I think I can help establish our identity and personality as a team through that process. And I’m always — I think if you get too far away from that, I think there could be some things from a sustainable, repeatable part. So, I want to continue to do it, and I think each year, much like all parts of what we do, we’ll continue to evaluate.”
Coach Napier isn’t one to shy away from recruiting outside the state of Florida. If you’re good enough to play at the University of Florida, this staff will come find you.
Out of the 21 total players currently committed in Florida’s 2024 recruiting class, only six are from the state of Florida.
“I think when you start talking about putting a really good football team together, you’ve got to have a sound evaluation process and certainly you’ve got to have a really good product to recruit to,” Napier said on recruiting out of state. “One of the things that we’ve benefitted from at the University of Florida, we spent an entire year completely rebuilding the player experience and we’ve got a unique combination that we offer, right, and I think players from across the country do think that there’s research relative to kind of what we call the five core states: Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Alabama. If the guy is a good enough player and passes the evaluation physically, has the right character, we can get him on campus, and we’ll have a chance.”
As far as staff changes go, Napier is pleased with what he’s seen on defense after the changes in personnel.
The goal is to play complementary football, and you can’t do that without consistency on defense.
“I think the key to playing really good defense, is obviously start with great personnel,” Napier said on the 4-2-5 defense. “But I think having an identity, right. Playing complementary football, I think we have decided to go the direction we have on defense because we want to do just that, and we want to have a great working environment, great collaboration between the offense and the defense.”
“It’s important that you’re on the same page throughout the entire off-season relative to scripting, installation, practice format. I think the defense that you’re describing there creates issues because of the variables, right? I think the variables, not only the front, but the pressure variables to go along with the back end,” Napier said. “Play a good defense, there’s a lot of factors, but I think your practice environment and your approach to complementary football are key.”
There are still many positions on both sides of the ball that are very young and have a lot of work to do. If execution improves and the team stays healthy, I think we’ll see an increase in production from both the tight ends and safeties throughout the years.
“It’s one of the areas on our team where we are young, right. I think safety and tight end are areas where we are going to have some good, young, talented players that are going to have to contribute to our team. So that is very much a work-in-progress,” Napier said on both the tight ends and safeties. “I am pleased with the growth we’ve seen this summer. We’ll have some young players in that room that are going to have to play but I’m excited about that group, and we’ll continue to play the tight ends much like we have played them in the past.”
There’s still work that needs to be done if the Gators are to find success on the football field once again. However, Billy Napier has this program trending in a better direction compared to some of his predecessors heading into year two.
With fall camp beginning for Florida on July 31st, there will be multiple positions to keep a closer eye on with the 2023 season less than just two months away.