Billy Napier explains value of play-action while establishing run game

In his second season at Florida, Billy Napier is looking to leave his stamp on the Gators’ program. A big key to that is going to be on the offensive side of the ball, where Napier has become known over the years for his use of play action.

Napier joined the Andy Staples On3 podcast where he broke down the value of running play-action while trying to establish the run.

“When you can rush the ball, I think you force the defense’s hand a little bit, the throw game can become simpler,” Billy Napier said. “You create more individual matchups, more vertical seams. When they can play split safety and start doubling players, then you’ve got some problems, right?”

Napier explained that his offense is going to be reliant on the quarterback, but life becomes easier on a quarterback when defenses need to respect those skill players.

“So, ultimately, we’ve got a great system that distributes the ball depending on how the defense aligns and we need Graham [Mertz] to make great decisions. We’re going to feature these backs. We’re going to feature Ricky Pearsall,” Napier said. “And we’re going to evaluate the other group of skill players that we have and we’ll get the ball to the playmakers.”

Billy Napier and Florida are expecting a ton out of the running backs in this offense. Luckily, as Greg McElroy explained previously, that’s a rock solid unit for the Gators.

“Nobody talks about them by the way. Nobody talks about Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne — nobody talks about them. People need to,” McElroy said.

“Now, part of if we’re bullish on them will be dependent on the guys who are blocking up front, but the scheme and Billy Napier’s commitment to running the football leads me to believe that those two are still going to be among the better duos, if you will, in the entire SEC. No one’s talking about them, but just keep in mind.”

Billy Napier on expectations at Florida

At SEC Media Days, Billy Napier spoke about expectations at Florida, explaining that context matters for the program.

“Well, I think it’s important to evaluate things in context. We talk a lot about this in recruitment. In 2008, the Gators won the national championship. That’s 15 years ago, the last time the Gators won the SEC or the national championship. So, the young people that were recruiting, now, they were one-two-three years old, right? So that’s one of the battles that we have, recent success,” Napier said.

“One of the things I respect about the place is people care. You want a job with high expectations. You want a job, whether it’s alignment, there’s commitment, there’s resources, and we have that. So, we are not lacking in any area at the University of Florida. Our player experience right now is as good as anywhere. I’ve been impressed with the caliber of people that we’ve hired. I think as we continue to evaluate, recruit well, and retain our people, not only the players but staff, and we have consistency in our process, consistency in our systems, the way we create habits, the values that we teach, the big picture approach relative to our purpose. If we can keep people at the core of what we do, we got a chance to do something really special here.”