Billy Napier: 'Gray area is the enemy'

Florida first year head coach Billy Napier is tasked with not only putting together a winning team in the toughest conference in college football, but establishing a new culture at a Gators program that had their first seven loss season since 2017. Napier spoke yesterday about the keys to doing so, and how he’s been changing things in Gainesville.

“You know it all matters, I think the key is that you provide structure and routine, that you define expectations for the players, and there are some detailed things that we ask them to do and they do matter. But the most important part of those little, detailed things we ask them to do is they have to make a decision to do it, if that makes sense. So it’s an opportunity to say yes to the expectations and the standards and for everyone to buy into the team concept,” Napier said.

Napier also spoke on his philosophy on building a successful program, and how his team understanding what they bring to the table individually can help the team as a whole moving forward.

“Individual players don’t make a great team, and I think that we have a lot of really good individual players on our roster, but if you’re going to have an exceptional team, then there’s got to be a certain level of detail and discipline on the roster and the buy in,” Napier said. “One of the great things about this game, we could take Gervon Dexter and put him at X receiver. We could take Justin Shorter and put him at right tackle, Crawshaw could play quaterback, Anthony could play outside linebacker, Ventrell can’t play running back right? I mean this game requires different skill sets and I just think that puzzle, a reality that hey look I’m nothing without the others, coming to grips with that.”

Napier’s perspective on the game is refreshing, and has proven to work at the Group of Five level. At Napier’s previous gig at Louisiana-Lafayette, he was handed the keys to a 5-7 team struggling to compete week in and week out. But in his last two seasons, the Ragin’ Cajuns were one loss, conference champions in back to back seasons.

Florida fans are hoping for a similar turnaround for the Gators, as Napier continues to establish his important values on his players to prep them not only for this upcoming season, but life after.

“Gray area is the enemy, that’s would I would tell you, we want to have a very structured, routine process for our players. I think players develop confidence from that, I think routine and great preparation, that breeds confidence. When I know what to expect, I can execute my plan. I think we’ve got an organization of people that is providing information and wisdom in terms of how to improve. Any person that’s had success in life, discipline’s a direct part of that, and I think these things carry over to life after football too. I think that’s one of the great things about the game of football is these things apply in a lot of different settings. So it’ll be a big part of what we do and certainly a big part of our success,” Napier said.