Billy Napier gives impressions of Tate Rodemaker

Florida was not the only program within the state to lose their starting quarterback for the season in Week 12. The Florida State Seminoles lost their star quarterback, Jordan Travis, to a gruesome leg injury against North Alabama. Now, backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker will lead the Seminoles the rest of the way in 2023. And as Florida gears up for their clash with their heated in-state rival, their head coach Billy Napier shared a few thoughts on facing the Seminoles’ junior quarterback.

“I’ve got a long-standing history with Rodemaker,” said Napier. “His dad is a longtime friend of my dad. And when I was growing up, Coach Rodemaker was always around at different events and camps and things that we went to. I think we even started the recruiting process with him at Louisiana.

“He’s a coach’s son, very bright; this is his fourth year in the system. He’s acquired reps throughout his time there. He’ll have a good grasp of what they do. Little bit different type of player, but certainly he’s got his strengths, and they’ve got terrific skill around him. There’ll be an element of experience. There’s a pretty good sample size of him playing.”

On Saturday, there will be a noticeable difference in Florida State’s style of play, with Rodemaker leading the offense in comparison to Travis. Still, the Seminoles’ backup quarterback is talented enough to be a starter on multiple programs rosters throughout the country. This season, Rodemaker has quietly thrown with 376 yards, completing 64.5 percent of his pass attempts while leading the Florida State offense. But arguably, his most impressive stat is his five touchdown passes to zero interceptions.

Paul Finebaum: Week 13 vs. Florida State will be ‘critical’ for Billy Napier

Sitting at 5-6, the Gators need a win over their rival to become bowl-eligible and to cool off chatter about Napier’s future with the program. It’s only Year 2, but the folks in Gainesville want progress and they want it fast.

After nearly knocking off Missouri and still maintaining a solid recruiting class, there’s hope for Napier and Florida. But a win over the Seminoles might be necessary.

“Napier is one of the toughest calls,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “I like a lot of things about the program. But the next week is going to be critical to watch what happens off the field as well as what happens on Saturday night. 

“Can you hold on to this recruiting class? I think the trend line probably points a little more toward him staying, but this is one of those situations where Saturday night is going to answer so many things and if they have a similar type performance that we saw in Missouri, then I think the feeling of the administrators in the booths are walking out (saying) let’s roll the dice.”

Basically, Finebaum doesn’t want to see Florida make its coaching decision on Napier based on a win or loss against Florida State. For cohesion, Napier should be back, but 2024 is the make or break year for the Gators.

“We all know it’s a hot seat season in ‘24, but I think the real issue is you’ve got an athletic director down there who chose him and I think you face a lot of chaos if you suddenly decide we didn’t like what we saw Saturday,” Finebaum said. “And I’ll say one more thing that I’m sure I’ve heard both of you say, you should not determine a coach’s career on one game. That’s foolish.