Billy Napier sends message to Florida fans following spring game

Billy Napier was hired to restore Florida‘s football program and build it back to a championship level, and that’s what he’s been working to do ever since he first arrived in Gainesville. Among the many key elements that go into Napier leading the Gators back to prominence is generating plenty of support from the fanbase – and that’s off to a strong start.

As Florida held its annual Orange vs. Blue spring game on Thursday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, many fans and students showed up to see their new-look team in action as it wrapped up spring ball – and that meant a lot to Napier and his Gators’ club. Meeting with reporters following the game, the head coach sent a message to his team’s supporters.

“I do want to compliment our fans, I want to compliment our student body,” Napier said. “Thursday night football games at Florida – it was electric out there. … Even better than I expected. I’m very thankful for the support. We made the decision to move the game, and they rallied behind that and showed up. We had a great group of recruits here today, as well – and hopefully we can capitalize from that.”

With the spring football period in the books, Florida now turns its attention to summer workouts and later to fall camp ahead of the 2022 season, which is scheduled to kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 3 against Utah in Gainesville.

Napier hammers team, coaching staff over specific problem following recent scrimmage

Meeting with the media last Saturday following a spring practice scrimmage, Florida coach Billy Napier shared that his team didn’t perform the way he had hoped.

“I do think that we had a few too many undisciplined penalties today. … That’s probably the main takeaway,” Napier said. “Last week, we played 120 plays and had two penalties. This week, we were way up there. I’m not sure how many exactly we had, but too many for my liking. … But overall, general message here – need more consistency across the board, both sides – and certainly the kicking game, as well. … I think we need better execution, and then we need to make better decisions at the point of contact and post-whistle when it comes to discipline.

“I think when you – in life sometimes – learning as we go here, if you do the things that are easy, your life is hard. If we can do the hard things on a consistent basis, embrace the work and decide that we want to be a little bit different, then I think life gets easier. I think we all could probably agree on that. We’ve got some work to do.”