Billy Napier thinking big picture for Florida following Vanderbilt loss

2022 did not go as expected for the Florida Gators, to say the least. Once the poster child of college football upsetting Utah during Week 1, Billy Napier’s squad is now just lucky to have clenched bowl eligibility two weeks ago.

Negativity can quickly spiral through a program, especially when you’re losing. The Vanderbilt loss did nothing but hurt Napier’s report with the Gators fanbase after stringing together two impressive SEC wins over Texas A&M and a now white-hot South Carolina squad in the weeks prior.

“I think you’ve got to get consumed with the things that you know are under your control,” Napier said. “You’ve got to get consumed with improvement, efficiency, refining every part of the systems that you run, what you do with your time. We’ve been through this before. This is a process, you don’t just flip a switch and the house is built.

“I think that it is truly one step at a time and one person at a time. I think that there’s lots of things that contribute here, but we’ve been here before. I’ve got a ton of confidence in what we do and how we do it.”

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

Sure, the Vanderbilt loss is a setback, but really doesn’t change the outlook of the season for the Gators. As long as they can take care of business against rival Florida State – a feel-good win any year – Florida will be 7-5 entering the postseason with any number of bowls and exciting matchups potentially in store for December.

Looking even further down the line, Napier has put together the No. 8 overall recruiting class, per the On3 Consensus, as of this report. He’s already gained 22 commits in the class, including 17 four-star prospects – 73 percent of which come from in-state recruiting.

Adding to what Napier has been able to do for the Gators’ program, blue-chip quarterback Jaden Rashada made the shocking flip from Miami to UF and is poised to be the future of the program alongside Napier when Anthony Richardson decides to head to the NFL.

That’s all to say – the sky isn’t falling, Florida fans. Billy Napier has had to bring the program back from the brink that was the Dan Mullen era in Gainesville, and that can’t happen overnight. It’ll take time, but the program seems to be in good hands, for now.