With UF’s announcement on Thursday that Sean Spencer has joined the staff as co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach, Billy Napier’s inaugural staff is now complete.
Here are my five thoughts on the finalized staff.
1. I love the position flexibility that the staff has.
Tight ends coach William Peagler coached the running backs at Michigan State the last two years. Co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney will coach the safeties in 2022 but also has experience coaching outside linebackers. Inside linebackers coach Jay Bateman worked with North Carolina’s safeties over the last three years. Outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson played middle linebacker in the NFL and could probably coach the position if asked to.
Having that many versatile coaches on the staff will prove very beneficial when guys inevitably leave to take jobs at other schools.
Let’s just say that, hypothetically, Bateman gets another opportunity to be a defensive coordinator somewhere after the 2022 season. Napier could replace him straight-up with another inside linebackers coach. Or he could slide Peterson inside, move Toney to outside linebackers and hire a new safeties coach. Or he could leave Toney at safety and hire another outside linebackers coach.
Napier will be able to go out and get the best coach possible without having to worry so much about what position they specialize in. He’s not going to get boxed in to having to hire someone to coach a specific position when there are better candidates out there that coach a different position.
2. This staff is a massive upgrade in recruiting.
The headliners are obvious. Cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond was regarded as one of the best recruiters in the country during his time at LSU, and he’s already helped the Gators land Kamari Wilson and Devin Moore.
Running backs coach Jabbar Juluke and Spencer have also earned reputations of being strong recruiters, and Juluke has already secured a commitment from Trevor Etienne.
However, what could really make this staff special is the depth that they have. You’re already seeing some of the guys who weren’t considered amazing recruiters do some special stuff on the recruiting trail. Toney played a huge role in linebacker Shemar James recommitting to UF at the 11th hour. Peagler has the Gators in solid shape for tight end Arlis Boardingham. Offensive line coaches Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton have helped land a couple of transfers from Louisiana.
The fifth or sixth best recruiter on this staff would probably have been the best recruiter on Dan Mullen’s staff.
3. I’m impressed with the way that Napier rebounded from a couple of deals that didn’t work out.
Penn State running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider was reportedly in discussions to coach the tight ends at Florida, but he wound up staying put in Happy Valley. Napier instead plucked Peagler away from Michigan State.
Los Angeles Rams defensive line coach Eric Henderson was rumored to be in the mix for the same job at Florida. When that didn’t happen, Napier settled for Spencer, whose Penn State units led the nation in sacks twice in six seasons.
When the Minnesota Vikings’ Karl Scott opted to stay in the NFL, he went out and hired Bateman, a solid recruiter with coordinator experience.
Not being able to bounce back from rejections was one of the biggest issues under Mullen. He’d often target the big-name coaches that everybody in Gator Nation was excited about. Then, something would happen, and that big-name coach would be off the market, and the Gators ended up with the cornerbacks coach at USF who had a grand total of four years of experience at the FBS level.
Napier missed on a couple of coaches as well, but his backup options weren’t much of a drop-off.
4. The Mike Peterson hire was huge.
At the time, the only thing missing from the staff was someone with prior connections to the program. Peterson knows what this program looks like when it’s operating at its peak level, and he’ll serve as a nice bridge to the past in his role as alumni liaison. The alumni haven’t been as involved with the program in recent years as you’d like to see.
Plus, he’s a really good outside linebackers coach. He turned Kingsley Enagbare into one of the best edge rushers in the country. I’m excited to see what he can do with Brenton Cox in his first year back at Florida.
5. The only decision that I’m not a fan of is not hiring a quarterbacks coach.
I understand the reasoning behind Napier’s decision. He played quarterback in college and has called plays before, so why not handle both of those duties yourself and hire two offensive line coaches?
However, I think that managing a staff of 50-plus people, recruiting, dealing with any non-football issues that pop up, formulating game plans and coaching the most important position on the team is too much for one person to handle.
Is he going to be able to spend enough time studying opposing defenses and putting together his game plans with everything else going on? Is he going to be so focused on what’s happening with the quarterbacks in practice that he misses something going on with the linebackers that isn’t what he wants? How is he going to fairly evaluate the assistant coaches if he’s not able to walk around practice and observe them all?
I just worry that by taking on a million responsibilities he won’t be able to do any of them at the level required to experience sustained success in the SEC.
I like the idea of having two offensive line coaches, and I’m even OK with Napier calling the plays. However, I would have preferred for him to have hired a quarterbacks coach and only one linebackers coach.