Florida's Billy Napier promised better people and better players, but only Miami had the latter

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The first boos poured down came as Florida quarterback Graham Mertz stood and did nothing. Trailing by two touchdowns near the end of Saturday’s first half, Gators coach Billy Napier had ordered his offense to stand down and let the final 35 seconds tick off the clock.

This probably was the prudent football move, but the fans at The Swamp — whose ears had been filled with false promises since last year’s 5-7 team went home the Saturday after Thanksgiving — couldn’t take it. The boos served as a protest: At least try.

But Napier opted not to try. And after a 41-17 beatdown by Miami in the most embarrassing season opener in the modern era of Florida football, it’s fair for those fans to wonder exactly how hard Napier has tried since he began taking their money in November 2021.

He has a team that got demolished on both lines of scrimmage by a team that was supposed to be Florida’s equal if the Gators really had improved. He still has to play Texas A&M, UCF (yes, worry about that one), Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State. And after an offseason spent hinting or outright saying that Florida would be better, Napier has to explain why the Gators seem to have backslid.

“I’m a firm believer that better people are better football players,” Napier said this summer. “We’ll prove that this fall.” 

This is a Nick Saban-ism that sounded great coming out of Saban’s mouth when he was talking about a team stocked with future first-rounders. It means that people who take care of their business in all aspects of their lives tend to perform better at the football aspect of their lives. 

But Saban had baseline requirements for the players his team put on the roster to ensure it didn’t get shoved around. When Napier says better people are better players in reference to this roster, it sounds like his version of Butch Jones saying his 2016 Tennessee team won the “championship of life” after getting asked how much it hurt to beat Florida and Georgia and somehow not win the SEC East.

Napier knows better football players are better football players, but what was he supposed to say? He and his staff spent all offseason suggesting Florida had improved its roster, but a simple look at what went out and what came in made that difficult to believe.

The only hope for Florida is that Napier and company had done an incredible job developing the talent they had. Saturday suggests they did not.

I’m going to stop you right now before you utter the name D.J. Lagway*. Florida’s highly touted freshman quarterback wasn’t recruited to save this year’s team. He was recruited for a future Napier may never see unless the real 2024 Florida wasn’t the one that took the field Saturday.

*Lagway got in the game Saturday with the Gators trailing by four touchdowns early in the fourth quarter. He looked like a freshman at times, but he also looked like a freshman who runs better than Mertz behind a line that struggled to protect Mertz. Since Lagway doesn’t block or tackle, it’s unclear how much he can help right now. At this point, sprinkling in Lagway liberally might allow Lagway to progress and Napier to hint at a brighter future. Or Lagway could get pulverized because a lackluster offensive line and Florida’s schedule do not mix.

The players who would have saved this year’s Florida team can block and rush the passer, and they all either signed somewhere else out of high school a year or two ago or they signed with someone else out of the portal this offseason.

Napier didn’t just fail to make the roster better. He didn’t even replace what he lost. Princely Umanmielen, Florida’s best edge rusher last year, left for Ole Miss. Did the Gators go get an equal or better replacement out of the portal? Nope. Future Florida opponent Texas A&M needed an edge rusher and signed Nic Scourton, who led the Big Ten in sacks last season at Purdue. Future Florida opponent Texas needed an edge rusher and signed Trey Moore, who led the American Athletic Conference in sacks last season at UTSA. 

Trevor Etienne, Florida’s No. 2 tailback in 2023, took a deal from Georgia and switched sides in a rivalry that is laughably lopsided at the moment. Did Napier go into the portal and grab a tailback who could help Montrell Johnson Jr. carry the load? Nah. He rolled with what he had.

Remember, Napier had the No. 4 pick in the draft (Anthony Richardson) and a second-round guard (O’Cyrus Torrence) on his first Florida team, which went 6-7. He had a first-round receiver (Ricky Pearsall) on last year’s team that missed a bowl. If he has any 2025 first-rounders on the 2024 offense, they didn’t play Saturday.

So what exactly did Napier think was going to happen?

Meanwhile, the team on the other sideline Saturday was exactly what Florida was supposed to be by now.

When Mario Cristobal got hired eight days after Napier did in 2021, Miami needed better players. The Hurricanes went out and got them using all the avenues available to teams in the transfer portal/NIL era. Miami built from the inside out, focusing its high school recruiting efforts on the best line of scrimmage players available. Sophomore right tackle Francis Mauigoa was ranked higher as a recruit than any offensive lineman Florida has signed since Martez Ivey in 2015. 

For the skill talent, Miami hit the portal. Quarterback Cam Ward came from Washington State, and he did not come cheap. Neither did tailback Damien Martinez, who played at Oregon State last year. Receiver Sam Brown played at Houston last year, got a sweet NIL deal at Miami and delivered a devastating block to spring Mark Fletcher Jr. for Miami’s second touchdown of the day. Safety Mishael Powell intercepted Mertz late in the third quarter to end a Florida scoring chance and plunge the knife in one more time.

Did Miami outbid pretty much everyone else for those players? You’re damn right it did. In 2024, that’s how teams get better.

Napier’s style of roster construction might have worked had been hired in November 2011 instead of November 2021, but the federal court system, state legislatures and the mainstreaming of the idea that there is nothing morally wrong with giving people money for being good at football have changed the game. Other coaches and administrations adapted.

Napier and Florida didn’t. He was given a blank check to create a bloated staff that mirrored what Alabama did 10 years ago. Imagine Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin had looked toward the future instead of the past and said this to donors: “Instead of giving us money to hire another 10 recruiting analysts, please give that money to our collective so we can buy better players.”

While Alabama and everyone else who would like to win championships quickly figured out how to succeed in the new system, Florida went slow.

Napier didn’t flip his roster when he arrived even though he could have. That left him a year behind. While schools such as Oregon and Tennessee developed collectives that would allow them to compete for recruits they wouldn’t normally have attracted, Florida spun its wheels for another year. When Florida did decide to go all-in on NIL, it was with the stupidest deal in the history of the sport. In a misguided attempt to get one over on Miami, Florida’s collective at the time signed class of 2023 quarterback recruit Jaden Rashada to a deal that would have paid up to $13.8 million over four years had it not A) Violated state law B) Violated NCAA rules and C) Been so utterly moronic that the booster who had pledged to fund it changed his mind. The contract was terminated before a cent was paid, but the damage was done.

Rashada — who in an even funnier plot twist has transferred from Arizona State to Georgia — is currently suing Napier and others in federal court, alleging fraud. Rashada’s case doesn’t seem particularly strong, but he probably hopes Napier will write him a check to make him go away.

If this is the team Napier plans to put on the field against one of the most brutal schedules college football has ever seen, then he’s likely about to come into about $26 million of found money.