Gators center Kingsley Eguakun sprained his ankle twice in the Tennessee game last year. He battled through the injury to start all 13 games, but he had to wear a walking boot early in the week for a while to do so. The pain was just too severe to walk normally for a couple of days after a game.
This left him with a difficult choice when it came to parking. His normal parking spot was “like a mile away,” which wasn’t ideal for somebody struggling to walk. His other option was to park in a decaled spot under the stadium and hope that the University Police Department didn’t ticket him.
Eguakun chose the latter option, but he wasn’t very lucky. He received what amounted to about $700 worth of tickets during those few weeks.
Fortunately, he avoided getting a parking boot put on his car, but the fines were obviously a major nuisance to him.
Eguakun said that he didn’t want to park in a spot that he knew was likely to get him ticketed, but he felt that it was the better of the two bad options presented to him.
Of course, players in Eguakun’s position in the future won’t have to decide between what’s best for their physical health and what’s best for their financial health. The players can now park in a reserved lot on the north side of the stadium.
While Billy Napier has received a ton of praise for fixing the parking situation, it’s important to note that an improved parking plan was already in the works prior to his arrival. Its implementation just so happened to coincide with his arrival, which made Napier look like the mastermind behind it.
Still, while Napier can’t take full credit for the improved parking situation, there are several other ways in which he’s vastly improved the player experience, with the big one being the food. Former UF linebacker Mohamoud Diabate somewhat famously complained about the food that the players were being served on Twitter in late November.
Eguakun said that he thinks the severity of the situation was blown out of proportion a little bit, but he is happy with the upgraded food selection under the new nutrition staff led by Kelsee Gomes.
“The food before wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t fresh,” he said. “So, I think that was the main issue. So, not having, for example, in the morning, having fresh omelets, eggs, that type of stuff. It’s good to have.”
Of course, not all of the changes made by the new staff have been enjoyable ones for the players. Some of the changes are designed to make things a bit more difficult on them and force them to work through adversity.
For example, director of strength and conditioning Mark Hocke has a rule that prohibits players from drinking water during their workouts. They’re encouraged to hydrate before and after but are forbidden from doing so during the workout.
“That’s awful,” Eguakun joked. “I hate that one. I hope he sees this. The water break thing is horrible because, you’ve got to think, I’m over here throwing some weight up, breathing hard. I’m not going to argue with Coach. It is what it is.”
Another rule is that players must take notes during meetings the old-fashioned way with pens and notebooks. Taking a picture of the screen or typing notes in a Google document won’t suffice.
One of the main purposes behind these tougher rules is to instill more discipline into the team. The Gators ranked 120th in the FBS (and 62nd among 65 Power Five teams) with an average of 71 penalty yards per game in 2021. By contrast, Napier’s Louisiana team ranked 54th in the country with more than 20 penalty yards fewer per game.
The Kentucky game was particularly rough for the Gators. They committed 15 penalties in the game, their most in 10 years. Eight of those penalties were false start infractions that derailed any semblance of offensive progress. Eguakun and quarterback Emory Jones appeared to have some issues with the snap count, which led to most of the false starts.
Eguakun said that talking about the penalties last season still pains him half a year later, but he’s confident that you’ll see a more disciplined team on the field this fall.
“I would say it’s been pretty good,” he said. “I think we needed a little bit of discipline because we didn’t have a head coach for a little while, so we started doing our own thing. Not our own thing, but, you know how it is, kind of like when you have a substitute teacher. I think everything Coach Napier’s bringing in has been good for us to build discipline, build unity and ultimately get better.”
UF’s offensive line has been a weakness over the past few years, and they’ll exit the spring short on game experience. Still, Eguakun believes that physicality will be the trademark of Napier’s offense, both this season and in the years to come.
“You’ve got to be tough to play this sport, especially in the SEC,” Eguakun said. “This ain’t no baby league.
“I like where we’re headed as a unit, and it ultimately starts with me because I’m the center. I feel like, if I can keep improving, keep getting better from building off what I did last season and I can spread it to my guys, it’ll spread to the young guys and so on, so forth. But I really like what I’m seeing from my guys right now. We’re not anywhere close to where we want to be. We’ve got a lot of work we need to do this summer.”
At least this time they’ll have some good parking spots for those workouts.