Billy Napier explains what it means to him to stay on schedule in Florida rebuild

Billy Napier has pieced together an 11-14 record across his first two seasons as head coach of the Florida Gators.

Of course, the Gators are a team that perpetually boasts one of the hardest schedules in the country based on conference opponents and rivalry obligations. That doesn’t excuse Florida missing out on a bowl game in 2023, however, but Napier is optimistic about his team’s capabilities heading into a new-look SEC this fall.

The process is fully underway in Gainesville.

“We’re evaluating the game over the last couple years,” Napier said at SEC Media Days. “It’s changed significantly every six months, every season, every off-season. Not only are we trying to create culture at Florida; we’re building new facilities, we’re creating infrastructure.

“You go back to the very beginning, you’re hiring a staff, you’re trying to improve the roster. The game continued to evolve while we’ve been doing that, so that’s where the challenge has been. I’ve been — I’m on the inside. I get a chance to be around our staff and our players, going all the way back to the beginning of this off-season. That’s what gives me confidence.”

Napier’s predecessor Dan Mullen took over ahead of the 2018 season and turned a 5-7 Florida team into a 10-win in his first season. After two years, he was 21-5 before things took a turn for the worst beginning in 2020. Ultimately, Napier inherited a six-win team by the time Mullen was fired before the end of the 2021 season right when NIL and the transfer portal were about to kick off.

Since taking over the program, and despite Florida’s win-loss record under Napier, he’s still been able to recruit at a high level. His first full recruiting class finished No. 13 in the country, and his incoming 2024 class featuring five-star quarterback DJ Lagway is ranked No. 10. Now, there’s quite a bit of excitement regarding the personnel Napier has acquired in Gainesville heading into the new year.

Napier is hoping two years of grinding the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal will pay off sooner rather than later.

“I think you’ve got to get consumed with the process, not the outcome, to some degree, and the thing that I would say with conviction is we have been very close,” Napier continued.

“We’ve played in a lot of close games. We’ve got to learn how to close those games out, and I think that’s where the leadership and experience of this team — we have to leverage that experience, the lessons that we’ve learned, get in position in the fourth quarter and close those games out consistently.”

In Vegas, oddsmakers have set the Gators win total at over/under 4.5 wins. Napier and company will look to shatter that glass ceiling beginning on Aug. 31 against in-state rival Miami.