Cam's Column: Napier's Way is Beginning to Pay Off, but the Job is Far from Over

Back-to-back wins over ranked opponents have many changing their minds about Billy Napier and his direction of the Florida program.

Nov 23, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier looks on against the Mississippi Rebels during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- I'll be the first to admit, it's starting to look like I was wrong about Billy Napier.

Back in September after Florida's 33-20 loss at home to Texas A&M, which moved the Gators to 1-2 on the season, I wrote about how it was time for the program to move on from Napier.

At the time, Napier had fallen to 12-16 overall, had only one win against Florida's main rivals and was 2-11 against ranked teams. It was a brutal start for a season that started with a lot of offseason hope, and no one, including Napier, could blame the Florida faithful for its displeasure.

He even said it himself after walking off the field with boos echoing for the second time in three games.

"Well, I don't blame -- I have no excuse -- I have no negative comment about that. Ultimately when you play a certain way in this arena, you're going to be criticized," Napier said after the loss to the Aggies. "This is one of those places where there's history and tradition and expectations. There's been a lot of really good football teams that played in that stadium in the past, and when you play ugly ball, and maybe it doesn't look quite like we all want it to, then hey, it comes with the territory.

"I probably would have done the same thing, truth be known."

However, in an era of opt-outs, midseason coaching changes and overall chaos, it was Napier and the Gators who remained steady despite the calls for change, Twitter fodder about a fractured culture and an even more difficult portion of the schedule remaining.

A win over Mississippi State the next week was a small positive step forward, and after a bye week that Napier described as the best that he's ever been a part of, the Gators began to look nothing like the team from the start of the season.

Then came the Tennessee game, where the Gators battled against a top ten team in the road, but questionable coaching decisions and poor red zone execution cost a great opportunity for a win, and it only started a new debate going forward about Napier's tenure: fight from the team versus on-field results.

Pro-Napiers credited the team for giving it their all despite playing undermanned due to injuries in losses to Georgia and Texas, and anti-Napiers couldn't move past the overall record and the idea that past miscues over his first two seasons were catching up.

Any level-headed person could see the positives and negatives in both arguments. The will to keep fighting in the face of adversity is admirable and should be acknowledged, but a program like the University of Florida shouldn't celebrate moral victories. You either win games, or you lose, and Napier had lost more than won, and that deserved criticism.

However, the fight from the team is finally starting to yield results, and that deserves praise. Back-to-back wins over ranked opponents at home have put the Gators on the national map and have caused many around the country, including myself, to turn early-season criticism to end-of-season credit towards Napier.

The Gators have looked good doing it, and Napier deserves a lot of credit for the job he's done.

The defense, which was a liability rather than a threat for opponents since 2020, is playing at an elite level despite multiple serious injuries in the defensive back room. After only have three total interceptions last season, Florida has eleven, which is one less than the previous two seasons combined.

The front-line group of Caleb Banks, Cam Jackson, Tyreak Sapp and more are wreaking havoc on a consistent basis. The linebacker core led by Shemar James and Grayson Howard, when he's healthy, is paving the way for youngsters like Jaden Robinson, Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles to take over with little-to-no drop-off.

The Gators have also only allowed 33 combined points over the last two weeks over ranked conference opponents. The lowest Florida's allowed over a two-game SEC stretch under Napier is 30 in his first season, but it was against two unranked opponents in Texas A&M and South Carolina.

Offensively, DJ Lagway is becoming one of the nation's best at quarterback despite only being a freshman. He's 4-0 as the starter in games where he plays the entire game, and his ability to create plays both in and outside the pocket despite still recovering from a hamstring injury is a sight to behold.

Receivers Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike are proving to be two of the best portal additions in the country, and the now-three man rushing attack of Jadan Baugh, Ja'Kobi Jackson and Montrell Johnson Jr. provides a consistent threat on the ground.

Not to mention, the once-abysmal Gator offensive line has held their own against two of the better pass-rushing teams in the conference in LSU and Ole Miss.

I also must give credit to the game changers on special teams. Last season's baffling mistakes are history. This season has been most of what's to be expected from a UF specialist unit. Jeremy Crawshaw has saved his best season for last, Trey Smack is finally finding consistency on field goals and Rocco Underwood has recovered nicely from his miscue against Georgia.

In his near-three seasons leading the Gators, Napier has consistently discussed the culmination of work from every piece of the organization leading to the on-field results. Positive results dating back to his first season have been within reach, but it always felt like it slipped away at the last moment.

In fact, in eight of Napier's 19 losses, the Gators either lost by one score or had a two-possession lead at one point in the game. In the four of the 11 remaining losses, Florida either had a lead or was within one score at some point in the second half.

A 29-7 overall record in year three is a heckuva lot better than the current 17-19 record.

Rather than dwell on these past losses or even get too far ahead of themselves, Napier and his team stay focused on the present.

"I think it's not about yesterday, it's not about tomorrow, it's about today," he said. "You've got to get extremely hard to get to a place where you have some belief. I think belief comes as a result of a lot of integrity, togetherness, discipline, effort, toughness. I think this group has done that."

Now, let's not crown the Gators too early.

The season isn't over with a road matchup at Florida State this week and a bowl game after still left on the slate. One of the biggest failures in this era of Florida football has been the Gators' inability to finish seasons on a winning note, and that even goes back to Dan Mullen's final two years in Gainesville.

Even Napier said his program is still far from where they want it to be.

"We've got a long way to go, and I think obviously we've improved," he said on Saturday. "I think it goes back to what I've told you guys before. I think belief is the most powerful thing in the world, and I think that at some point there mid-season, I think we figured out and we started to believe, look, we can play with any team in the country."

A loss to Florida State would not only be embarrassing purely due to the fact that this season's Seminoles is one of the worst teams in college football, but it would completely stifle all the momentum gained in the wins over LSU and Ole Miss.

I'd also still say it's far too early to completely give Napier his roses. He has a lot of ground to keep making up for after what happened his first two-and-a-half seasons.

Florida is far from a perfect team, and this offseason should be the one with major portal additions, a reevaluation on its offensive scheme and a strong finish in its high school recruiting class. Frankly, it's what should've happened last season, and those failures nearly cost Napier his job this season.

Now, he gets a second chance, and this offseason may go down as the most important in Florida history, but with a new sign of life, a public display of support of his job status and seeing nearly three years of work finally yield on-field success, things are looking bright in Gainesville.

Whether that light is the end of the dark tunnel of losing seasons or a train coming full speed ready to destroy everything in its path remains to be seen. The ball is in Napier's court, though, and what he does with it is up to him, but after these last two weeks, it's hard to deny that there's a semblance of a promising future ahead.

"I would just say we're just getting started," Napier said. "This is just part of the big picture journey."