Tag: Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Billy Napier has a path to a fifth year in Gainesville. It’s one of the most perilous in school history.

The now-unranked Gators (1-1), coming off an embarrassing loss to USF in the Swamp, have an opportunity to climb out of their latest early-season hole over the next three weeks. The stretch begins at No. 3 LSU (2-0) on Saturday, followed by a trip to fifth-ranked Miami, an off week and then a visit from No. 7 Texas.

The top 10 trifecta spans 22 days and gives Napier a chance to change the narrative — or perhaps seal his fate.

“It’s all about how you respond to it,” Napier said. “It’s all about, ‘Do we take the lessons that we learned?’ It’s all about application. How do we channel this emotion? Do we have the maturity to turn it around? There’s certain emotions that come with getting beat that can go both ways. I’m anxious to see how we are going to respond. … But you don’t know until you play again.”

The Gators rallied from a 1-2 start last year, so this is familiar territory. They won their final four games to finish with a winning record (8-5) for the first time under Napier.

Those victories, though: against a Tulane team playing without its starting quarterback; against the worst Florida State team in 50 years; against an Ole Miss team that dropped at least six passes, including three would-be touchdowns; and against an LSU team that was bickering on the sideline.

‘We know how to handle it’

Florida’s current road to redemption appears tougher, although players and coaches might have a map.

“We’ve had that taste in our mouths before and had to regroup and come back,” tight end Hayden Hansen said. “One of the positives is that we know how to handle it. We know how to respond.”

Napier got credit for keeping his team together after lopsided home losses to Miami and Texas A&M in the first month of the 2024 season.

The Gators responded by playing stellar defense down the stretch, finding a potential star in quarterback DJ Lagway and developing young talent on both sides of the ball. Napier will need a similar winning formula to keep his job now.

Otherwise, he would be owed roughly $20 million — 85% of what remains on his contract — if Florida fired him during or after this season.

Latest loss has Napier back on the hot seat

Even Napier’s most ardent supporters could be losing faith amid the latest debacle.

Florida never found an offensive rhythm and settled for field goals early. With the Bulls hanging around, the Gators botched a snap that resulted in a safety, were penalized for an illegal substitution that kept a drive alive following a failed fourth-down play and gave up a 66-yard touchdown pass that came while defenders were caught staring at the sideline.

The most egregious mistakes were 11 penalties for 103 yards, including defensive tackle Brendan Bett getting flagged and ejected for spitting at an offensive lineman. The undisciplined error helped set up Nico Gramatica’s chip-shot field goal, which gave the Bulls an 18-16 victory.

Florida’s first loss in five meetings with USF landed Napier back on the proverbial hot seat. Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, however, is unlikely to make a coaching change soon, even if the Gators lose the next three games and fall to 1-4.

Stricklin made it clear last year that patience is the best approach, especially with the Gators now paying some $20 million annually to athletes and planning a $1 billion renovation to Florida Field. But there’s little doubt Napier is on thin ice.

A pattern, not a phenomenon

The two-time Sun Belt Conference coach of the year was hired from Louisiana-Lafayette in November 2021 and is now 20-20 at Florida, with eight of those wins against teams outside the Power Four. It’s the worst 40-game start for a Florida football coach since Charley Pell (18-21-1) in 1982.

Napier is 10-14 in Southeastern Conference play, 15-7 at home and 3-10 against rivals Florida State, Georgia, Miami, LSU and Tennessee.

He’s often compared with Ron Zook, who replaced Steve Spurrier in 2002 and was fired midway through his third season. Zook was 20-13 overall and 14-7 in league play when he was canned.

The better match might be Will Muschamp, a great recruiter, a defensive mastermind and someone well-liked inside the program who just couldn’t get it done on game days. Muschamp was 27-20 overall and 17-15 in the SEC when he was let go in his fourth season in 2014.

Napier, 46, has done plenty right during his tenure. He oversaw the opening of an $85 million standalone facility, roughly doubled his support staff, more than tripled his recruiting budget and signed consecutive top-15 recruiting classes.

But the on-field results — mounting losses, game-management clunkiness and play-calling ineptitude — have been difficult for the Florida faithful to stomach. The miscues at Tennessee last year, the unforgivable special teams mistake against Arkansas in 2023, the comedy of errors at Utah earlier that year or the stunning loss at Vanderbilt in 2022.

“We’ve been here before; we know what it is,” center Jake Slaughter said. “A lot of guys on this team, we’ve experienced this kind of adversity, and we need to use it as a springboard. We cannot let it hold us back. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes. We’ve got to move forward.”

The question is whether — or when — Stricklin is saying the same thing.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett was planning to apologize to teammates, fans and the player he spit at during an 18-16 loss to South Florida, coach Billy Napier said Monday.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s roster has a glaring omission: No one wearing No. 1.

It’s by design, and coach Billy Napier had nothing to do with it.

Veteran team leaders decided it would be fitting if the 15th-ranked Gators avoided the number altogether in 2025. No prima donnas. No egos. No self-serving agendas.

It wasn’t meant as a knock on any former Florida players who donned 1. In fact, running back Montrell Johnson Jr. and defensive end Justus Boone wore it last year and were two of the most respected guys on the roster.

But this year’s team, which returns 13 starters who gained strength from four lopsided losses and constant speculation about Napier’s future in 2024, has aspirations of carrying the Gators back to national prominence.

Is it possible to be No. 1 without having a No. 1? Florida will find out. Napier’s squad is the only Southeastern Conference team without one, and nearly all the others have two.

“A little bit of an initiative about the team coming first, the team being No. 1,” Napier said. “Will that be every year? No. But I think it’s a good indicator of the leadership of our team.”

Florida’s players and coach said they believe the team has the core, chemistry and cohesion to be special, a collection of mostly homegrown players who endured a career’s worth of adversity last year alone. Florida got embarrassed at home by Miami and Texas A&M, stoking flames underneath Napier’s already warm seat, and then got drubbed at Texas in early November.

Instead of pointing fingers or looking for lifelines, the Gators stuck together.

“It definitely does feel rewarding when you have a team that’s built on principles and is actually a family. It’s not a portal team,” defensive end Kam James said. “It’s like being here with family versus being here with co-workers.”

The Florida family has welcomed baggage, the kind of shared experiences that bond rather than break. It helped the Gators rally down the stretch last season, winning their final four games and entering 2025 with the conference’s longest winning streak.

“It was very challenging for them as young people and certainly as teammates,” Napier said. “When you do go through something like that, it can galvanize the team and their perspective.”

Florida’s success likely hinges on its quarterback

Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway is the key to Florida’s season.

Florida plans to ease Lagway into the season after he missed spring practice and most of fall camp. Napier said Monday that Lagway will start the team’s opener against Long Island University on Saturday and hinted that the 15th-ranked Gators will try to keep the sophomore out of harm’s way while he works his way back from shoulder and calf injuries.

“I think there’s a gamesmanship to that part. There’s no question about it,” Napier said. “In general, I don’t know that we’re going to disclose our approach with game plan. But I do think it is what it is.”

It makes sense for Florida to be cautious with Lagway, who has been slowed all year following core muscle surgery, a right shoulder issue and then a strained left calf. He fully returned to practice last week, although he still wore a noncontact jersey.

He has a soft opening two games — against Long Island University and USF — to get right and find a rhythm with talented receivers J. Michael Sturdivant, Dallas Wilson and Tre Wilson.

“He’s done a phenomenal job of handling everything, good and bad,” offensive coordinator Russ Callaway said.

Napier wants to see defensive strides

The Gators haven’t finished in the upper half of the league in total defense since 2019, and they’ve been double digits every year under Napier. They insist they have the right mix of experience and depth to be a factor on that side of the ball.

“We are on a mission here to play championship-caliber defense,” Napier said.

Keep an eye on these legacy players

Napier has eight players with family ties to the program, including freshman receiver Vernell Brown III, sophomore linebacker Myles Graham and freshman defensive back Ben Hanks III. The trio of highly touted recruits could end up being as good as their Florida fathers.

Schedule includes a daunting stretch

The Gators get two relative cupcakes to open the season but then face four ranked teams — at No. 9 LSU, at 10th-ranked Miami, against No. 1 Texas and at 19th-ranked Texas A&M. Those four games over five weeks should determine whether the College Football Playoff is a reality or a reverie for Florida.