Head football coach Billy Napier represented the University of Florida on Wednesday afternoon, making his first appearance at the SEC Media days. With emotions flying around the team, staff, and fanbase, Napier and the Gators gave us one last look at their approach going into this season and the program as a whole.
Napier made it evident that his approach is about serving the players, one day at a time.
“The big thing here is that the game is about the players. We want to create an organization that has life-changing impact on the players,” Napier said.
“We firmly believe that better people make better football players. We’re committed to improving their character. We’re going to prioritize their education. We’re going to teach football at a high level,” Napier said.
Richard Gouraige, a redshirt senior offensive lineman, believes in his head coach.
“I truly believe that coach Napier definitely have a plan, he’ll never put us in a bad situation, there’s so much things I could say about coach, definitely a player’s coach,” Gouraige said.
Napier has stressed the importance of building relationships with your teammates.
Quarterback Anthony Richardson says that building connections is a crucial part of facing adversity.
“I feel like it will be easier for us because of the bond we have with each other, being able to connect with each other, just the family aspect when it comes to everything. Before you can be a football team you got to be a family, you got to be able to want to play for your brother, play for your coach. If you can look to your right and see your brother has the same mindset that you have, it makes things a lot easier, and whenever you do face adversity, because it’s going to come one day or time, you never know when it’s going to come, so you have to be prepared for every opportunity and every moment, so just trusting your brother and trusting that he has your back,” Richardson said.
Ventrell Miller, the 6th year senior linebacker, has been a part of three different Florida Gator head coaches. Miller believes Napier has done a great job bringing the team together.
“Coach Napier has done a great job emphasizing accountability, also with teamwork, bringing the team together, he emphasized that, building relationships, I feel like that’s a big thing that he’s brought in,” Miller said.
“He always emphasizes that the first way to lose is to beat yourself,” Miller said of Napier emphasizing accountability.
One way Napier demands accountability is by making the players carry around a piece of paper and a pen.
“Pen and paper everywhere you go,” Miller said.
“Whether it’s meetings, team meetings, all that type of thing, you are required to have a pen and paper and write down things that you feel need to be written down so you can remember,” Miller said.
If Napier is going to succeed at Florida he will need to produce on the field, and that starts at the quarterback position.
Richardson has high praise for Napier. Richardson said Napier’s confidence is rubbing off on the team.
“Coach Napier trusts in himself, trusts in the system, he trusts in the players and the staff. His confidence is unmatched, he’s a people person, that’s the main thing I like about him, he puts people before himself and I definitely respect that because I try to do the same thing,” Richardson said.
“I see a lot of myself in him, just the way he reacts to people, treats people, the way he observes things. I’ve yet to really hear him yell, I’m not really a yelling /screaming guy either,” Richardson said.
Napier has taught Richardson how to be a leader.
“Throughout my years of playing football people always told me I had to be a leader, I never really understood what that means, I thought I had to scream and yell. But with coach Napier I understand that it means connecting with people, building relationships and bonds. When people can trust you and rely on you, it makes it a lot easier to lead them,” Richardson said.
There’s a lot of pressure riding on the veteran players and the rest of the Gator football team. Napier is preaching a day-by-day approach.
“It started January” Gouraige said. “We hold everybody accountable; we know our flaws from last year, and our big mistakes. And this year we have a lot of veteran guys, we know we can’t do the same things we did last year to have a positive result this year,” Gouraige said.
“He just always preaches taking it day by day really, just keep getting each other better, don’t worry about the future, just keep getting better,” Gouraige said.
Richardson says that they don’t look too much into the expectations and off-season chatter.
“We try not to look into them too much, try and take everything one day at a time, because we can’t predict the future, we don’t know what it’s going to be for us. As long as we prepare for everything, just taking it one day at a time, everything will be smooth,” Richardson said.
One approach that Napier is adamant about is winning the game at the line of scrimmage. Napier hired two offensive line coaches, Darnell Stapleton and Rob Sale. Gouraige says that having two offensive line coaches helps a lot.
“Having those two offensive line coaches has been definitely phenomenal. Even for the rookies and even for the vets, just getting different points of views and how to increase your game and just getting different coaches has been great so far,” Gouraige said.
Napier says he was fortunate to bring Rob Sale back because he’s good at connecting with the players and a great teacher.
“He’s one of those guys that I had a relationship with before, kind of a foxhole guy, really a guy that I can lean on and have a great relationship with,’ Napier said.
Billy Napier, Anthony Richardson, Richard Gouraige, and Ventrell Miller established that their team is going to be defined through their relationships with each other. Holding each other accountable and instilling confidence in each other is going to lead to great success at the University of Florida.
When Billy Napier took the job at Florida, he demanded that the administration does what it takes to win.
“I have been impressed with the leadership at Florida, in terms of their awareness, what is required to be competitive at this level, their investment in the Heavener center, the resources it took to build this new facility. I think it’s going to help us in recruiting, it’s going to help us acquire players, it’s going to help our player experience, our efficiency as an organization,” Napier said.
Napier and the Gators showed us that they are committed to winning. This approach might not be a speedy one, but it’s one that will be organized and will have the right people in place to bring Florida back to the top of college football.