If some parts of my explainer on Billy Napier’s recent hires sounded familiar, it’s because I had covered some of the same ground in December in arguing that the time was perfect for him to hire a play-calling offensive coordinator. One of the early reasons Napier gave for making himself his own OC was to have room on the staff to have two offensive line coaches. With the rule capping the number of coaches gone, that excuse is gone too.
Napier had previously at SEC Media Days 2023 and has since given more explanations about why he wants to call plays beyond the two-OL coaches thing. He basically thinks calling plays gives him more control over things (true) and a better feel of the team (debatable), and back in ’23 he confessed that calling plays is the closest thing he can possibly get to playing quarterback again (very true).
It is, therefore, no surprise that he didn’t hire a play-calling offensive coordinator this year. I’m not sure if he ever would unless given an ultimatum by an athletic director. And even then, he might still refuse because he’s so insistent on doing things his way regardless.
I didn’t link to the OC piece in the staff-moves explainer because I didn’t want the latter to get sidetracked on the topic of the former. Those two magic letters, O and C, are all it takes to start a flame war within the fan base these days, but we don’t need to argue about it every day. But today, I am going to touch on it again because hey, I grew up on Spurrier football. I care about offense the most.
Napier did say that he was pleased with the expanded role he gave to Russ Callaway last year and would be giving him even more this year. That is a welcome development because of Callaway’s history.
Callaway was the offensive coordinator for Samford from 2016-19 after being passing game coordinator there in 2015. He worked under Chris Hatcher, one of the true original figures in the history of the Air Raid. He played for Hal Mumme and Mike Leach at Valdosta State, and he was a GA under them at Kentucky before becoming an assistant for Mumme the year after Leach left for Oklahoma. That’s about as unfiltered as it gets in that world.
Callaway is a good figure to have as a helper to Napier because, despite having played quarterback, Napier’s much better at designing a run game than a passing game. The Gator Nation Football Podcast guys have been saying that for years. Other coaches in the SEC apparently agree.
Neil Blackmon at Saturday Down South published a piece on Monday that included anonymous quotes from, “multiple SEC defensive coaches, all of whom prepared a defense to play Florida this season”. I won’t copy anything from there because they’re not my quotes to share, but they are worth clicking the link and reading. They say largely the above judgment too: Napier’s rushing game is good but the passing game is unsophisticated.
One of the coaches points out that the receivers aren’t getting schemed open, and it takes Lagway’s magnificent play to get the biscuit in the basket. It is something of a confirmation of one of my worst fears about Napier from the time of his hire.
When it comes to hiring former Nick Saban assistants, you will largely get someone who lands in one of two camps: a true believer in the Saban 1.0 model and someone who believes in the post-2014, post-Lane Kiffin pivot that emphasized offense more. The former group includes dudes like Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain, while the latter has Steve Sarkisian and, obviously, Kiffin. Kirby Smart has been both, depending on the year.
Napier is, I think, in the former camp. His constant talk about complementary football sync’s with those early Saban-Bama teams nicely.
Another hallmark of those teams was winning through sheer talent. Saban’s defenses were always state-of-the-art, though not uniquely un-copiable. The 2007-13 Alabama offenses were modern but on the lagging edge of what works. They stockpiled talent and unleashed it as need be.
Napier is stockpiling talent at Florida fairly well, but he’s not dedicated to deploying it much differently than he did last year. Some folks have gotten the idea from an interview with Vernell Brown III that UF might do more 10 personnel (four wide outs, one running back, no tight ends). If you read it carefully, however, he’s expressing a wish and not repeating a promised policy.
Here’s the quote: “I think it’s going to be explosive… A lot of 12-personnel, 11-personnel. I think bringing in the talent that we’re bringing in, I don’t think we would do that as much anymore, I think it would go more towards 10-personnel because of the talent that we have.” He’s guessing that Florida will do more four-receiver sets because of how many good receivers it has.
The receiving corps has Tre Wilson and Aidan Mizell as third-year leaders and veteran J. Michael Sturdivant coming via portal from UCLA. There are second-year players Tank Hawkins and TJ Abrams, who are hoping to have chances to break out. Then there is the 2025 signing class headlined by borderline 5-stars Brown and Dallas Wilson (among others).
So it would make sense to run some more 10 personnel, but I’m just not sure that they’re going to do it a lot more. Napier doesn’t like it. He prefers 11 and 12 personnel. He’s not alone, as Dan Mullen operated almost exclusively in 11 personnel in Gainesville. Many coaches do. The two-tight end sets are more idiosyncratically Napier, but always having a tight end is common.
Growth in Napier as a coach has come in fits and starts the last four years or so, and greatly only in some areas while not as much in others. Unless Napier is really ready to make a big philosophical change — something he’s yet to do in Gainesville — I predict we won’t see much 10 personnel but instead will against almost always have one or two tight ends on the field. The talent stockpile plus Lagway makes now the time to do it, but Napier has never been one to move at any speed other than his own.