Billy Napier breaks down Austin Armstrong's impact on Florida defense

Just three seasons ago, Austin Armstrong was the linebackers coach at Louisiana under head coach Billy Napier. That was in 2020. A few years and a few stops later in 2023, the two have linked back up in Gainesville, where Napier is head coach at Florida and just hired Armstrong to be his defensive coordinator. Armstrong has just two years of experience as a collegiate DC having ran the Southern Miss defense for the last two seasons.

So far, Napier loves Armstrong’s ability to develop relationships with players and fellow staff. He said as much when asked about how the new DC was coming along as practice gets underway.

“You know. I think Austin’s done a really good job connecting with the staff and with the players,” Napier told the media after practice one day recently. “You know, I think first and foremost, that’s where it, you know, anytime you take on a new group of people, that’s the most important piece, right?” Napier added.

He went on to comment that Armstrong has also been in contact with former Florida DC Patrick Toney, who left this offseason to join the Arizona Cardinals new staff as the defensive backs coach.

“And I think from the jump, he did a really good job obviously getting the cliff notes from (Coach Toney) coming in … Okay, ‘hey, I’ve been here a year, these are the issues, these are the things that need to be resolved and cleaned up.’ His relationship with (Toney), obviously having worked with him myself in the past has benefited us.”

That experience will definitely help Austin Armstrong, who is one of the youngest defensive coordinators in the country. Per Napier, he’s mature beyond his years, though.

“But you know, I think Austin has a certain temperament and I think that that’s rubbed off on the staff and the players. I think we’re benefiting from that,” Napier said.

Lastly, Napier said he believes that Armstrong has better personnel to work with compared to last season and that he hopes that talent increase will help solve the Gators’ issues on third down.

“I do think — again, I can’t emphasize enough — we’ve improved personnel, and I think we also have the staff is in this second year,” Napier said. “All the people around Austin are doing all these things for the second time. So, you know, we need to improve on third down. I think that’s about as obvious as it could be, and we’re working hard on that as we speak.”