Billy Napier Stresses the Need for Florida Gators to Build Depth

Billy Napier explains the Florida Gators' need for improved depth and what he looks for from players in order to confidently put them on the field.

Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: GatorVision

If you're forced to move as many as four players from their typical position to another in order to practice as a team, chances are your roster isn't in great shape, at the very least from a depth perspective.

That's the position Billy Napier is in amid his first spring camp as the Florida Gators' head coach — two defensive tackles, an outside linebacker and even a long snapper have taken snaps at tight end across the program's 12 practices this spring. And, although it hasn't been that drastic elsewhere, a lack of depth has caused problems for Florida in plenty of other spots as well.

"I think the team as a whole lacks depth," Napier told reporters on Saturday following the team's second scrimmage of the spring. "We need more players as a whole that do their job consistently and play winning football."

This wasn't the first Napier has made such a comment, sharing last week that the Gators will be "aggressive" in the transfer portal in the coming months, if not weeks, in order to rebuild the foundation of Florida's roster and add ready-to-play talent.

The above quote was prompted when Napier was asked about progress at the wide receiver position.

“I think we have a group of players that can play winning football, if that makes sense," Napier said, regarding wide receivers. "There are a handful of players in that room that I think we could run out there and we can depend on them to do their job and play winning football for Florida. We need more, does that make sense?

"The receiver position is much like every position on the team. We have a good group of 1s and a couple 2s we can put in the game, but after that, we have to prove more."

This aligns with Napier's honest comments following the team's first scrimmage: Florida really only has a first and second team to deploy in practices right now due to a lack of experience among the reserve players. Programs strive for three teams worth of depth to make up their roster.

He offered a similar sentiment in response to a similar question about the defensive line following Lamar Goods' departure from the program to the portal on Friday, but added some additional context pertaining to what the team needs from its depth players.

"I think I would answer the question the same way I just answered the receiver question. I think we can run a pretty good group of ones out there and we have some twos that, you know, we could roll in there and play," Napier explained. "We need more depth, right, we need more players. But I think we have capable players, does that make sense?

"I think there are some redeeming qualities, right? There's height, length, there's athleticism, there's power. And I think it's more about learning what to do, how to do it and doing it more consistently. You know, being loyal, being dependable and accountable, right? Playing winning football. You can do your job for the team every single time, right?"

One way Napier assesses players individually to understand if they meet these expectations, specifically being able to do their job for the team, is on a dimensional scale — does the player know what their responsibilities are, and do they understand why those are their responsibilities?

Napier splits this scale into four tiers: One through four-dimensional players. A one-dimensional contributor understands their role and tasks; a two-dimensional player can grasp the responsibilities of their entire position group — for example, an offensive tackle being cognizant of the entire offensive line's duties.

A three-dimensional player takes it a step further, recognizing the obligations of their entire side of the ball, such as a quarterback knowing what the remaining ten players on offense are required to do on a given play. And a four-dimensional player, which is hard to come by, can comprehend the responsibilities of all 22 players on the field, offense and defense.

Levi Lewis, Napier's starting quarterback at Louisiana from 2019-21, is an example of a four-dimensional player, the head coach has previously acknowledged.

Napier doesn't expect every member of his roster to emerge as four-dimensional players, he even said that it could take a couple of years for a handful of Gators to prove themselves as such. He's been thorough when it comes to tempering expectations as he rebuilds Florida's roster, and this point is no different.

However, this is how Napier and his staff will judge their players in order to have confidence in their ability to help the team on the field. Simply put, more players need to take steps forward on this scale, and the Gators will be pressed to add contributors from the transfer portal in the coming weeks who can quickly grasp their own responsibilities as well as those of the players around them.

"We get to put eleven out there at a time. We need more players to make progress and get in that group, does that make sense?" Napier pondered. "And we've got a lot of players that I trust and we will put out there, but we've got a lot of work to do to create depth and add more players to that list."

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