Billy Napier likely agrees with some of the critical comments Princely Umanmielen made about Florida staff
Princely Umanmielen met with the Ole Miss media Tuesday, and the Florida transfer pass rusher proceeded to flame his former coaches for what he believed was lackluster teaching compared to what he’s receiving with his new team.
”I feel like I was one of the best in the country as far as pass rushing,” Umanmielen said. “Something from last season that I could work on better (are) my drops and attacking the run game a little bit. I feel like here I’m getting coached harder for things like that.”
Umanmielen continued, saying, “I feel like at Florida, like, the way I was coached it was kind of like, it was almost as if like they was just telling me to go out there and ‘Use my talent,’ if that makes sense.
“Here, Coach Lou (Spanos) and Coach Joyner (are) really on me about the little things. Coach Lou really goes through the progressions and drops and the routes that are being run when I have to go in coverage. When I was at Florida, they would just tell me ‘Go drop to this area’ and I’d have to figure everything else out on my own. But here they go into depth. I feel like I’m actually getting developed here.”
Umanmielen’s comments immediately spread on social media, with many coming to the same predictable conclusion.
“See!!! This is why Billy Napier has to go!”
Princely Umanmielen was a big loss for the Gators this offseason, as Ole Miss’ prized portal addition led UF with 7.0 sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss and 17 hurries in 2023.
This isn’t the first time Umanmielen has been publicly critical of Napier’s program either, as the transfer sounded off on Florida’s strength and conditioning program back in January, too.
“The SEC is ‘bully’ football if that makes sense. You better be able to go heads up with that or you’re going to get bullied. With them [the new staff] coming from Louisana Lafayette, I’m not trying to put anyone down, I don’t know, it felt like we were training to be in the Pac12 instead of the SEC, Umanmielen said in an Q&A with Inside the Gators.
“The last two years it felt like we focused more on conditioning and running than lifting weights. I was getting so small in the off-season because we weren’t lifting enough heavy weights. No joking, if you looked at our offseason workouts, you would think we were a track team. That isn’t going to work in the SEC.”
I doubt Umanmielen went to the podium Tuesday with the sole intent of taking shots at his former coaches. He was complimenting Ole Miss’ assistants and found his way comparing one staff against the other. It should be noted that there’s some lack of accountability on Umanmielen’s part with these comments, too, as there are plenty of cut-ups on social media showcasing his lack of effort on some plays the last two seasons.
Still, optically, it’s a bad look for Napier, and it is another round of public comments criticizing how he runs his program. It was less than a month ago that Steve Spurrier tossed all sorts of chum in the water, saying, “There’s a feeling around the Gators of ‘What the heck are we doing?’”
And now Florida has a former player — maybe its best defensive player from last season — taking shots at its coaching.
But you know who believes there’s some truth to what Umanmielen said — both about UF’s lackluster defensive coaching and strength and conditioning program?
Billy Napier.
Florida’s head coach may be swimming in a pool of negativity these days, but he’s making the necessary changes he believes will turn around the program.
Time will tell if he’s right, but the strength and conditioning coordinator Umanmielen questioned that came with Napier from Louisiana-Lafayette?
Napier demoted Mark Hocke this offseason, and hired a new director.
Umanmielen’s position coach the last two seasons?
Sean Spencer was fired and is now at Texas A&M. Napier has made several other staff changes this offseason, too. Again, we’ll see if the assistant moves were upgrades, but Napier isn’t sitting idly by. He’s trying to make the program better.
The fact is Florida football is in a bad spot these days.
The Gators’ chief rivals are championship contenders. Fans aren’t angry. They’re apathetic — which is worse, and scary for a program with UF’s tradition. Expectations are super low entering the 2024 season, and many are simply waiting for the next shoe to drop with the team facing a nightmarish schedule.
Billy Napier can’t score any wins until Florida actually takes the field in Week 1 against Miami, but contrary to what many on social media would have you believe, Umanmielen didn’t deliver the Gators’ embattled head coach another offseason L.
Napier is keenly aware of the issues within his program. Florida is broken right now. Does Napier have the answers to fix the problems? Will he even be given the time to solve them?
That’s more concerning than anything Umanmielen said Tuesday.