Billy Napier explains removal of Diwun Black from Florida roster

Florida has had some significant attrition during Billy Napier‘s first year in charge of the program and two prominent players have now been dismissed from the team midseason. On Wednesday, Napier explained the removal of Diwun Black from the team.

Black was a fan favorite after signing with Florida following a stint in junior college, and he recovered a key onside kick in a furious comeback bid against Tennessee earlier in the season.

He was dismissed for ‘undisclosed disciplinary reasons,’ according to a report from GatorsOnline on the On3 network.

“Diwun is focusing on academics right now,” Napier said. “It’s really important that he has additional time for academics. Yeah, that’s all I’ll say about that.”

Napier didn’t delve into particulars of his decision on the removal of Diwun Black from the roster any further than that, but he spoke broadly about the difficulties in making those decisions.

Following the Georgia game, Florida dismissed star pass-rusher Brenton Cox, so Black’s dismissal wasn’t the first such instance Napier has run into while at UF.

“Overall it’s one of the hardest things that you do as a head coach is to have to make decisions like that,” Napier said. “Because you get in the boat with them in the beginning and you work tirelessly and you create structure for them and routine and you have a plan and you have goals.

“All those things I just talked about, you have a vision for what you see for their future and they have that as well. You develop a plan for them and you try to implement and create structure and routine so that they can develop good habits and you’re hopeful that they experience success and they get an opportunity to contribute to the team and develop some belief in themselves and ultimately the game impacts them in a positive way.”

Removal of Diwun Black continues streak of attrition

Florida has had multiple players announce their intent to transfer in recent weeks, from guard Joshua Braun, to long-snapper Marco Ortiz, to receiver Trent Whittemore.

Black’s dismissal continues the roster turnover, but Napier isn’t overly concerned with the churn.

“I don’t sit around and worry about that,” he said. “Majority of those guys don’t play. They have a role during the week, they contribute to our team. If I see a guy that I feel like is not doing his best for the team we address that. But we don’t have that problem out there right now.

“We’ve got a great group that, some don’t even play in the game, they just show up out there every day and do their part to help the team, to help their teammates. Some play a minimal role in gameday, some have a huge role. As long as we see the players doing what they’re asked to do, doing their part to help the team, it is what it is.”

Expect more attrition to come at Florida

By the sound of it, Napier doesn’t believe Florida is quite done with its roster attrition, either.

That’s not terribly surprising; coaches often deal with quite a bit of roster turnover in their first year or two, particularly when there are big shifts in scheme on either side of the ball.

Napier indicated others will head out in the next few weeks, as well.

“We’ve got players that have told me that they are gonna leave, but they’re not going to leave the team (midseason), you know what I’m saying?” Napier said. “They’ve got a certain level of commitment to that group and what we started all the way in the very beginning.

“I think as long as your culture’s healthy it’s not a problem. If you’ve got great relationships, if you’ve got open, honest communication… one thing I do respect is players that want to play, that want to compete. I mean I played FCS ball, but I’m different because I got a chance to play. That fourth and fifth year of my career when I actually got to go run out there and contribute to the team made me different. I’m a completely different person as a result of that experience.”

Despite the roster turnover, Napier believes his first year has allowed a lot of players to get involved and become part of the team-building process.

“We play a lot of players every week and we do that specifically for a reason,” he said. “I want to have as many players that are ready to play, that can contribute to the team. We’re going to give them an opportunity to play.”