Billy Napier reveals why Kamari Wilson wasn’t on sideline for Florida

On Saturday, Billy Napier and the Florida Gators earned a win over Charlotte in The Swamp. It was a defensive battle that saw the Gators’ defense suffocate the 49ers offense. However, safety Kamari Wilson was missing from the sidelines during the game, leading to some concerns about that absence.

After the game, Napier explained what led to Wilson’s absence from the game.

“Kamari Wilson didn’t make the travel roster this week,” Napier said. “We can take 80 to the hotel and Kamari wasn’t on that list. Yeah, I mean, that’s pretty simple. What else we got?”

Not making the travel roster is usually going to impact players for away games, not home games. However, there are still differences in players who make the travel roster for home games. Basically, it means that those not on the 80-man roster need to get to the locker room and stadium on their own because they aren’t able to go to the team hotel the night before.

Billy Napier didn’t add any details or clarify what led to Kamari Wilson missing the travel roster.

Kamari Wilson made an appearance at The Swamp during the game. He was wearing shorts and a jersey and showed up in the middle of the first quarter. However, Ed Thompson, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, quickly escorted him off the field. Napier didn’t add any details about why that happened or why Wilson was late.

A four-star recruit in the 2022 cycle, Kamari Wilson was the third-ranked safety in his class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He played in 13 games as a freshman and in the first three games of the 2023 season.

During the offseason, Billy Napier had pointed to Kamari Wilson as a young player who was going to need to play for Florida. However, in the first month of the season, he has lost his starting job and has also been losing reps to freshman Jordan Castell.

Billy Napier expected Florida to be shorthanded against Charlotte

At the end of Florida’s win over Tennessee, a fight broke out that led to suspensions. That included three different players who were suspended for the first half of the game against Charlotte for the Gators. On top of that, Kingsley Eguakun missed the game due to injury.

Billy Napier noted that even if the conference hadn’t punished those players, there would have been some kind of in-house punishment.

“I think it’s to be expected,” Napier said, via Gators Online. “Regardless there would’ve been in-house discipline.”