Billy Napier shares difficulty of setting up NIL structure during first year at Florida

Billy Napier took over the Florida Gators football program ahead of the 2022 season, needing to completely rebuild the team in the modern era of college athletics. A big piece of that puzzle was setting up a NIL structure for the program.

However, as Napier explained, there are a lot of challenges that go into setting up that kind of structure.

“I think it’s all about education,” Billy Napier said on Andy Staples On3. “And I think Florida Victorious has done a really good job of doing NIL in a very strategic manner. The service- oriented work with the financial literacy component.”

Florida Victorious is a NIL collective that launched at Florida this spring and has the goal of supporting Florida athletics and has a monthly subscription for fans.

“I think we’re going out of our way to do what college athletics should do. Shape the character of the player and also prepare them for their future from a financial perspective. So, we’ve got great leadership in that organization. They’ve hired people from within the athletic department from the university side. I think there’s good alignment there and the state law has benefited us, and I think going forward Florida’s position for that is going to have to be a very strong, repeatable kind of product that we can all be proud of.”

Staples asked Napier about his attitude toward dealing with changes like NIL. As Napier explained, these changes are so extreme, especially financially, that the players deserve some kind of compensation.

“Well, you want to do the best job you can do for your people, right, and ultimately, my career kind of reflects the evolvement of the revenue and the expansion and the explosion,” Napier said. “So, I’ve seen it it was a bare bones operation to where we’re at today and I think it would be foolish to think that the players don’t deserve some of this revenue that the game is creating.

Billy Napier on recruiting victories amid a tumultuous first season

On the field, Florida has had a lot of ups and downs early in Billy Napier’s tenure. However, he has already seen a number of wins on the recruiting trail. In fact, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, Florida has the fourth-ranked class in the 2024 cycle.

“I think that ultimately, young people, they go through their own recruiting process. They go visit these other institutions,” Napier said.

“They see the place, they see the resources, they understand the degree, the alumni network, experiences that we can create through GatorMade. Equipping them, educating them, and then you know, our football plan is proven. It works. So, I think we’ve got a unique combination of things that we offer. That we completely rebuilt the player experience. Our administration has been phenomenal.”