Napier: Gators Have 'Right Combination' of Veteran Leadership, Young Talent

Billy Napier believes Florida has the veteran leadership, young talent and systems in place for the Gators to make a jump in 2024.

Photo: Florida head coach Billy Napier; Credit: Zach Goodall 

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Of Florida's 86 current scholarship players, 71 signed head coach, Billy Napier. Only 15 remain from the Dan Mullen era of Gators football, which abruptly ended as the 2021 season hit the skids.

All told, 82.6% of UF's scholarship roster members chose to play for Napier, including wide receiver Kahleil Jackson, a Mullen-era walk-on who received a scholarship from Napier last offseason. 

The remaining 17.4% has been retained for multiple seasons, well past Mullen's firing, suggesting those players have earned the trust of Napier and his coaching staff.

Given his team's makeup, Napier believes that Florida is positioned to leap forward this year, following UF's first set of back-to-back losing seasons under one head coach since 1946-47, then under Raymond Wolf. 

"I think as a coach, as an organization, we want to try to build a veteran team," Napier said. "I would say that we have that."

Indeed. For starters, the 15 players who signed under Mullen are now all upperclassmen. Several have earned bachelor's degrees.

Among Napier's acquisitions, six of Florida's 12 offseason transfers are rising seniors or graduate students. All but two have appeared in 10 or more FBS games. They join 12 transfers who remain from Napier's first two classes. 

Additionally, a dozen homegrown players — recruited by Napier out of high school — enter their sophomore seasons this year after playing significantly as rookies. Four of those contributors earned All-SEC Freshmen honors.

The 41,456 career snaps Florida's roster carries into 2024 marks an 11,000+ snap increase from the 2023 offseason, and nearly a 15,000-snap increase from 2022. 

Even the newcomers will have experience when the Gators open the season Aug. 31 against Miami in the Swamp. Fifteen of UF’s 18 class of 2024 signees enrolled in January and are participating in spring practices, including consensus five-star recruits, quarterback DJ Lagway and edge rusher LJ McCray.

"I think we’ve got the right combination of veteran leadership and young talent," Napier conveyed. "It’s the best January and February that we’ve had since we’ve been here. It’s a ton of momentum heading into [spring training camp]."

Not only is the team experienced and presumably more talented. The group is motivated by the grim results of seasons past, working toward and hoping for a brighter future.

Florida owns an 11-14 record since Napier assumed head coaching duties in late 2021. Growing pains were expected and likely inevitable following an overhaul of the roster, systems and culture.

Napier aims to harvest the fruits of his and the Gators' labor in 2024.

"We’ve got a hungry group," Napier expressed. "We’ve got a group that’s got something to prove."

Napier's players share his sentiment, following the Gators' 5-7 outing in 2023.

"We won five games. Point blank, that's not it," said quarterback Graham Mertz, who opted to return to Florida in 2024 rather than enter the NFL Draft. "That's why I'm back. And that's why we're fixing it."

Napier's offseason staff shakeup was another part of the effort to improve the squad's outlook. 

Two defensive assistants were dismissed and replaced, with Gerald Chatman taking over the defensive line and Will Harris the secondary. Meanwhile, veteran coach Ron Roberts stepped in to oversee the linebackers and help coordinate UF's defense following Jay Bateman's move for a promotion at Texas A&M.

Roberts has been a defensive coordinator for 15 of his near-30 seasons as a college coach, and served as a head coach for 11 years, at Delta State and Southeastern Louisiana.

Napier’s makeover didn’t stop there. He re-staffed Florida's strength and conditioning and nutrition departments, added a second analyst to oversee special teams, and hired a Chief of Staff, Mark Robinson, to aid in recruiting logistics, player relations, and Name, Image and Likeness-related communications, among other responsibilities. 

Napier already sees the benefits of these moves. They have improved Florida's methods of evaluating and recruiting players and further solidified the systems he established at the outset, creating familiarity for returning players and setting expectations for newcomers. 

"It's definitely helped me and I would tell you that for the first time, I think all of our systems are built," Napier said. "We’ve had quite a bit of change over the last couple of years. It’s the first offseason where you're not building a system right in the middle of it. So, it’s been great.”

With the combination of Napier's vetted veteran leadership, young talent and intact systems, 2024 is shaping up to showcase the quality of his head coaching processes. Time will tell if they're the right ones to turn the Gators around. 

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