With the 2024 season just a month away, Billy Napier and the Gators traveled to SEC media days in Dallas on Wednesday to discuss changes made during the offseason, schedule difficulty and overall progression. Linebacker Shemar James, running back Montrell Johnson and quarterback Graham Mertz were all in attendance.
Arguably the biggest topic of discussion on Wednesday was Napier’s thoughts on Florida’s gauntlet of a schedule that includes eight projected Top-25 teams, with five of those matchup’s coming in the final five games of the season. The message to his team is clear; ignore and block out any outside noise.
“Look, the great thing about our schedule, we don’t have to take this on as individuals. We get to do this as a team,” Napier said on Florida’s schedule. “I believe that the thing that I’ve learned and observed in this league, you have to have the ability to self-discipline to prepare the same way each week, regardless of the outcome. Ignore the noise, don’t believe the hype, erase the board, start over, and every person in that building has got to prepare the same way. So, we’re going to do that. We’re going to focus on the work that’s ahead. Then we’ll look up at the end of the season and we’ll see what that earns.”
While the 2024 Gators’ may be an entirely new football team, both sides of the football return some key players while bringing in several experienced players across the board that can elevate this team in big games.
“I like our team. I believe in our team. When people ask me why, it’s about experience. It’s about production,” Napier said. “We’ve got 463 starts on this team, 17 starters returning. We’ve got 41,000 snaps coming back this year, and we’re fourth in our league in returning production. We’ve got competitive depth for the first time.”
With a record of 11-14 the past two seasons and multiple close games that resulted in losses, the Gators are making sure that doesn’t happen again in 2024. Returning players have ultimately set the tone for the 2024 Gators with several freshmen and transfers also following suit. The strive to be great is even stronger in year three.
“I knew this team had a chance to be different. Go back to January, I’m taking the boys to the office. Sammy and Charlie are with me. It’s Saturday, it’s January, it’s February, we walk around the corner, we’ve got 70 guys in the weight room on a Saturday doing extra work,” Napier said on the determination of this team in year three. “I used to play for an old coach that said champions do extra. I’m going to tell you, this group, that has continued. It’s been consistent. Just a few weeks ago, 4th of July, we have 53 guys that are in there on Saturday doing extra work. These guys that are here today are at the root of that.”
In 2023, the Gators lost the final five games of the season, with three of those games ending in at least a 10-point differential. The Gators lost several games they should’ve won last season, and that will be in the back of their heads this upcoming season.
“All this experience that I’m talking about, they were in that locker room after each one of these experiences that we’ve had. We played some of the best teams in the country down to the wire the last couple years,” Napier said. “We’re close, and we’ve been working to get in position to prove ourselves, and this schedule presents every opportunity to do that.”
Billy Napier has made some of his biggest overall changes in year three, which is crucial in today’s day and age of college football. The most important thing for the Gators this season is that those changes bring improvements, specifically on the defensive side of the football.
In 2012 with Jeff Driskel under center, the Gators’ offense scored 110 points while the defense only gave up 70 points in the final five games of the season. Last season, the Gators’ offense scored 137 points while the defense gave up a total of 191 points in the final five games. One team went 11-2, the other team didn’t. The offense wasn’t flawless, but a good defense could help prevent the Gators from suffering down the stretch of their schedule for a second-straight season.
“Yeah, I think we made some changes on the defensive side of the ball. We added another layer of expertise in special teams,” Napier said on the changes made over the offseason. “We overhauled the nutrition program, and we changed our philosophy in the strength and conditioning area of our organization. Each year we try to ask ourselves, if you were starting over, what would you do differently, and make the necessary changes. I think we’ve got to continue to evolve and adjust.”
As much as it may not seem like it, Billy Napier and the Gators have the team and the pieces to make a huge statement in 2024, but the task is extremely heavy and daunting. The ultimate key for this team is to take everything one week at a time while continuing to improve from where they currently are right now. With everything these players have learned and experienced over the last two years, the time to make a statement is now.
“Yeah, I think a little bit of that is, look, we’ve got a different team. I think we have 35 new players. Every team in our league, about 25 to 30 percent of their roster is new. So I think some of these teams that we play aren’t the same teams that they had last year, and we certainly are not the same team that we had last year,” Napier said. “College football, more than any time in our game, has become one year at a time. I think you start a process in January, you build momentum to the fall, and you do the best you can. I think ultimately, again, it goes back to what I mentioned earlier, as cliche as it sounds, it’s literally one week at a time, learning how to have the self-discipline to prepare, the same level of focus, same detail, same urgency, and get into position to where you can execute and do your job for the team, and I’ve got confidence in our team because I’ve been observing the work.”
The most important game this year for the Florida Gators is arguably the first game of the season when Miami travels to the Swamp for the first time since Florida became champions in 2008. With seven Top-25 teams left on the schedule after week one for an experienced Gators’ team, this game will prove if Florida has what it takes to compete for the rest of the season in 2024.