With fall practices officially over, Billy Napier and the Florida Gators have turned the page relative to training camp. The Orange and Blue took part in their second and final scrimmage of fall camp on Friday afternoon.
“Sometimes scrimmages are challenging relative to you’re evaluating the offense and the defense or all six phases of the kicking game and are you having success because of your execution or are you having success because the other unit maybe is not doing what they’re supposed to do,” Napier said on Saturday afternoon. “I do think we took a step forward in terms of the quality of football. It was much more competitive.”
Florida is currently training 21 true freshmen, many of which are expected to see their names on the two deep depth chart come week one.
“I do think that we continue to need to develop more players who can play winning football and sustain the entirety of a scrimmage. More consistency,” Napier said. “Still quite a bit of young players who are getting better but are they ready for what we all understand and know is coming.”
As the Gators transition into Utah prep, the intensity and urgency need to improve, according to Napier.
“I do think that the closer we get to the game, the more the attention to detail has to improve,” Napier said. “The level of focus on urgency that we bring to every meeting, every walk through, every practice rep knowing that we are going to compete against the very best in the entire country and the margin of error is small.”
TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART
One of the biggest talking points of the offseason is the projected depth chart, something Napier and his staff will need to iron out over the next week or so.
“It is extremely competitive right now in most rooms relative to how we are going to play the players in the game. We have a group of established players. But we have a lot of players that are right in the middle now of heated competition,” Napier said. “We’re just going to let that competition take its place. But I do think we’ve made a ton of progress.”
Napier believes they had an SEC caliber two-deep depth chart a year ago but claims that this year’s squad is deeper with more physical traits, despite being younger.
“We had a two-deep group of players last year and we lost a lot of close games. I do think we have more depth. I do think that some positions in our team, maybe we don’t,” Napier said. “But I do think that we’re just young, and I think that two-deep is made up of rookies or portal players. But I think we’ve got a very capable group. I think there’s some height, length, speed that’s maybe there that wasn’t there before.”
OL LYNDELL HUDSON
Napier indicated that FIU transfer offensive lineman Lyndell Hudson will be a vital piece to the Gators offensive line depth at tackle.
“Lyndell is gonna help us. There’s no question. He’s been impressive in my opinion,” Napier said on developing depth at tackle.
The redshirt senior played in 37 games including 26 starts at FIU in his five seasons with the Panthers.
“To think about when he arrived, he’s been able to pick it up. The guy has played, I was looking at the numbers yesterday, 1,300 plays — maybe more than that. Guy’s played a lot of football,” Napier said on Hudson. “He has traits. He’s got nice length, he’s got a 36 arm, which is really unique. He’s done a nice job in pass protection. And I think he’s developed some confidence as a result of his participation in practice. We’re very pleased with his progress. We got to get him ready to go so he will get some more reps.”
EDGE RUSHERS
Some of the younger and inexperienced edge rushers will see a significant number of snaps in 2023, especially after the loss of sophomore Justus Boone, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear earlier this fall.
“I’m really excited about the young group of edge players,” Napier said. “I would like to know if there’s a better group of young edge players in the country. You think about Kelby [Colins], Kamran [James], TJ [Searcy], Jack’s [Pyburn] a young player. I think that room there, we’re just gonna have to live with growing pains if that make sense.”
SPECIALISTS
Napier has praised his group of specialists during the offseason and offered some insight on the depth chart heading into the 2023 season.
“I probably should have said this earlier but we were really pleased with the specialists play in the scrimmage, and I would say as a whole that group is talented and I think they are in a groove there,” Napier said.
Napier announced that redshirt sophomore kicker Adam Mihalek will likely continue his role as the place kicker while sophomore kicker Trey Smack will work on kickoffs, a role he contributed in during his freshman campaign.
“Right now I think Trey would kick off and Adam would be the place kicker,” Napier said.
The Gators return punter Jeremy Crawshaw and long snapper Rocco Underwood, who have flashed throughout their Florida careers.
“Obviously Jeremy is back and Rocco is back. Gannon has done a nice job, you know as the second snapper as well so. That group is really, and Watkins had a couple great punts,” Napier said on the punting unit. “That group is two deep, it’s solid as a rock, and we are really confident in that group of specialists.”