Billy Napier: We're going to let Patrick Toney coach

When Billy Napier got the head coaching job at Florida, he brought some assistants with him from Louisiana. One of them was Patrick Toney, who came on board as co-defensive coordinator and came up in Napier’s press conference on Wednesday.

A reporter asked Napier about how involved he is in calling the defense, and the new Gators headman said his rapport with Toney is a big reason why he’s going to mainly keep an eye on the progress Florida is making. In fact, there’s a “gentlemen’s agreement” in place.

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“Patrick and I have been working together for a number of years now. I let Patrick coach,” Napier said. “One of the things that we do is we work hand-in-hand together the entire year. We’re playing chess throughout every part of the installation. We’ve got a little bit of a gentlemen’s agreement in terms of what that progression looks like. We play complementary football here.

“He’s well aware of what we do, I’m well aware of what he does. I know why he’s doing what he’s doing. He’s an extremely bright coach and you think about what we did at Louisiana, we went from 124 to 25 to 18 to 11th in the country in total and scoring defense, and he was behind all of that. He’s a very bright coach. We’re going to let him coach.”

Billy Napier on Anthony Richardson: ‘I have nothing but great things to say about Anthony’

Napier also extended high praise for quarterback Anthony Richardson as Florida nears a Saturday night kickoff against No. 7 Utah.

“I have nothing but great things to say about Anthony,” Napier said. “You don’t know until you get on the inside. Obviously, we watched him play from afar. I remember sitting down and watching the Oklahoma game and when he went in I was like, wow, that guy has a bright future. He made a few plays in that game that I thought were pretty special.

“I can’t say it enough, he’s selfless, he’s humble, he cares about people. He’s a diligent worker and a great example to his teammates. He’s learning how to be a big-time quarterback and he’s getting comfortable with his role. Very impressed with some of the growth from a leadership standpoint. He’s been dreaming of this opportunity and I can’t wait to watch him play.”