Billy Napier says Florida is 'getting closer' to turning corner

Coming into the 2022 season, new Florida head coach Billy Napier knew he would have a rebuilding season on his hands. To this point, there have been ups and downs as the Gators transition to a new era. Now, Napier feels that Florida is getting closer to turning that corner.

While speaking to the media, Billy Napier explained what he has seen that lead him to believe Florida is approaching that turning point.

“Getting closer. I really believe that,” Billy Napier said. “I think to go three and out, to get a big punt return to put a touchdown on the board, you know, I think when we had lost momentum right there at the end of the half.”

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“So, I mean, I think what I’m seeing is kind of what I described after the game. That human element. We’ve spent a ton of time on scheme, fundamentals, situational football. We lift weights, we run, we focus on all different forms of development, physically,” Billy Napier said.

“Okay, but I think that team dynamic, you know, the quote-unquote culture or the brotherhood. However you want to describe that. The expectation from each other, right? The accountability at the player level. Actually, I’m not necessarily worried about my coach getting on me, but I’m worried about letting my teammate down. I think there’s a place in this game for an elite team, you’ve got to have that, and I think that’s what we’ve been working hard on. Starting to see some of that show up, I think.”

Florida’s next game is against South Carolina. With a win, the Gators would become bowl eligible.

Billy Napier on roster management

Part of turning the corner long-term at Florida is going to be finding a way to manage the roster. In the era of the transfer portal and NIL, this is harder than ever. Because of that, Billy Napier knows that roster management is going to be a challenging issue.

“Yeah, I think it’s something I think about every day, you know. Because I think you’re always trying to take that wet towel and get every single drop you can get out of it, right? So we get 85 scholarship players. We’re trending towards having 50 walk-ons, you know. We’re not quite there yet. But in that perfect world we’ve got 135 players. And we want each one of those to be the best they can be, right? So it’s a big jigsaw puzzle,” Billy Napier explained.

“Certainly when you takeover a program there’s a lot more that comes with that. So it’s a big problem that is very fluid, and certainly at this time of the year in today’s era even more than ever, right? So, a lot of variables that contribute to that. And I would tell you that I think it was one of the reasons we had success at the previous stop. We worked really hard at that component. There’s a lot of rules, a lot of things that contribute to that. We’ve got lots of ways that we keep up with it. We’ve got a very systematic approach. But it’s something that we’ve refined. I mean, that’s one of the great things about those jobs, those G5 jobs. I mean, you got to become an expert in that area. It’ll be beneficial for us.”