Tim Tebow Assesses Billy Napier’s Florida Rebuild: ‘You Can See the Buy-In’

The Gators have embraced the identity of their head coach, Billy Napier, in the second year of his program rebuild, legendary former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow believes.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- What goes into sustaining success the way No. 1 Georgia — which rides a 24-game winning streak and 19 weeks atop the AP Top 25 into Jacksonville for its matchup with Florida on Saturday — has in recent years?

What does it take for a team to raise the National Championship trophy two seasons in a row, with a chance at a third? 

"So much," legendary former Gators quarterback and ESPN SEC Nation co-host Tim Tebow told All Gators on Friday.

"It takes the right players, but then it takes the right scheme, the right culture, the right demeanor. Not getting complacent, being always locked in on your job, being able to rise to the occasion."

Florida has entrusted Billy Napier with the responsibility of aligning those factors to not only build a similarly dominant team, but also to create a program in which success can persist rather than come and go, as it has at UF since Tebow departed for the pros in 2010, after he helped the Gators secure two national championship titles of their own.

The results haven't been perfect, but from Tebow's perspective, everything is starting to come together under Florida's latest head coach. The Gators are 5-2 with a 3-1 conference record amid Napier's second season in charge, a year removed from his 6-7 (3-5 SEC) debut in orange and blue. 

Florida head coach Billy Napier / Alex Shepherd

"They've gotten so much better this year in so many ways," Tebow assessed. "I think you can see the buy-in and belief in the team."

He referenced Florida's victories over Tennessee in Week 3, a 29-16 upset win a home, and South Carolina in Week 7, a 41-39, rallying effort to snap a five-game road losing streak, as specific examples of the growth the Gators have displayed in 2023 compared to Napier's inaugural season in Gainesville. 

Against the Volunteers, which ranked No. 11 in the country at the time, the Gators rode the momentum of an electric home crowd to stun a divisional rival, regaining some confidence two weeks removed from a brutal opening defeat at Utah.

Then, two weeks after another devastating road loss against Kentucky, the Gators exchanged blows with the Gamecocks through the final whistle, demonstrating "fight" and "resiliency" to pull off a 10-point comeback in the fourth quarter. 

Those might only be individual victories, but Tebow believes each is representative of Florida finding its footing under Napier's tutelage. 

"It's hard to build your team, build your identity, build your culture, all of those things," Tebow said. "All coaches are trying to figure out how to do that when so many players are transferring, the difference in recruiting, all those things."

The reconstruction of Florida's roster to meet Napier's mold has certainly been front of mind in the program's vying to achieve and uphold triumph as it did in its glory days.

Florida replaced 35 letterwinners from its scholarship roster in between the current and previous campaigns. Over 70% of the players who make up that roster are in either their first or second season at UF, and of those in their first year, 12 true freshmen have sacrificed their ability to redshirt by taking the field in five or more games. 

"You can see what a good job [Napier] is doing in recruiting and that's so noticeable," Tebow remarked. "You can see him going to the transfer portal and getting guys who have really made an impact, and it's just taking those things and continuing to take those next steps." 

The next step is taking down the Dawgs, the model of consistency that Napier strives to emulate with the Gators. 

Napier will have his second chance at doing so on Saturday as Florida and Georgia write the next chapter in the historically competitive battle. As 13.5-point underdogs to the nation's top-ranked squad, the road to an upset will be an uphill climb. 

But, the bout will serve as a litmus test for how far the program has come in the 22 months since Napier took over, and as a potentially career-defining moment if his Gators are able to topple the No. 1 Bulldogs. 

"I think we've seen a lot of strides with how the team is improving and taking on more of his identity," Tebow said. "This is obviously one of those big next steps here in Jacksonville against an arch-rival in Georgia."

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