Billy Napier shares why Florida chose unique timing for scrimmage

Billy Napier wanted a unique time for Florida’s spring scrimmage to appease the fans and especially potential recruits. He settled on 7:30 pm ET on Thursday, April 13.

If Napier wants his Gators to stand out among other SEC powers, this was certainly a good attempt. In his first season, Florida finished just 6-7, highlighted by a top-10 upset opening weekend against Utah. But from there, it was a mixed bag.

But there seems to be a lot of optimism moving forward in Gainesville.

“Yeah, the original idea was twofold,” Napier said. “It was about avoiding Easter weekend. And then also, you know, we look at the calendar and ‘Okay, we got nine Spring Games that day right here in just our footprint.’ So, you know, we knew we were going to have to compete to get people here, so we moved it to Thursday. 

“I thought it went over well, you know, something about that place under the lights. You know, we get a lot of people off work Friday, they make a long weekend and come watch the Gators play. So it’s definitely some recruiting strategy that comes with it for sure.”

Having all eyes on Florida could give recruits a chance to think about the Gators, and only the Gators. Especially if Florida is in on a big prospect with many offers in the surrounding area.

Napier has some work to do ahead of his second season.

Most eyes go towards the quarterback position in 2023 for Florida. Anthony Richardson opted for the NFL Draft rather than return for one more season.

Florida brought in former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz to compete for the starting job in 2023. Then, there is Jack Miller III, who started for the Gators in the Las Vegas Bowl. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Max Brown has a lot of potential.

“I thought we really did a lot of good things,” Napier said of the quarterbacks in spring late last month. “I think the big thing is there is some situational football that we can learn from and we turned the ball over a handful of times that I think we can clean up.

“But, overall, just situational football, game management, understanding, being on the same page as a play caller, or understanding where you’re at, DND [down and distance] feel zone, what’s the thought process, are all things that you would hope comes from a scrimmage.”

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