Billy Gonzales officially announced as Florida Gators receivers coach

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators have officially announced Billy Gonzales as its wide receivers coach. Gators Online broke the news of Gonzales’ return to Gainesville last week.

Gonzales returns for his third stint with the Gators and brings 20-plus years of coaching experience. He was a coach on Florida’s 2006 and 2008 BCS National Championship teams and has 27 players drafted since 1999 with 12 in the first three rounds. Gonzales has worked with notable wide receivers such as Kadarius Toney, Van Jefferson, Odell Beckham Jr. and Percy Harvin.

He spent the 2021 season at Florida Atlantic as their wide receivers coach after spending four seasons in the same role for the Gators from 2018-21. In 2020, despite UF losing three receivers to the NFL Draft, the position group continued to shine under Gonzales. Florida receivers combined to catch 189 passes for 2,716 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Gonzales track record

Kadarius Toney proved to be one of the elite weapons in college football in 2020, culminating in being selected 20th overall in the 2021 draft. He finished fifth in the SEC and 28th among all FBS players in all-purpose yards per game (130.8), in addition to being one of 25 FBS players and one of six SEC players with 12-plus total touchdowns this year (10 receiving, one rushing, one punt return). Toney’s 10 touchdown receptions were tied for seventh in the FBS while his 984 receiving yards ranked 13th nationally.

In the passing attack, Florida’s 46 touchdown passes led the nation by four, marking the fifth time in school history the Gators led the FBS in touchdown passes. UFs 46 touchdown passes were the second-highest season total in school history, only trailing the school record set by the 1995 Gators (48). Florida was the only FBS team featuring six players with at least three receiving touchdowns and was one of four FBS teams featuring six players with more than 20 receptions and 225 receiving yards. The Gators were also one of eight FBS teams featuring seven players with multiple touchdown receptions.

In 2019, Gonzales’ mentorship played a crucial role in allowing Florida to reach its second consecutive New Year’s Six bowl. The Gators made a name for themselves as one of the best-receiving teams in UF history, recording 33 passing TD’s over the course of the season – the most since 2008. Florida’s pass offense averaged 300.8 yards per game, ranking 16th nationally.

Florida was the only FBS team featuring eight pass catchers with 20-plus receptions, 250-plus yards, and a touchdown. Nine different players also finished with 150-plus receiving yards, something no Gators team has achieved since at least 1990. Additionally, seven Gators had multiple touchdown receptions for the first time since 2007.

Four senior receivers under Gonzales — Tyrie Cleveland, Josh Hammond, Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain — led the talented group of offensive skill players, combining for 2,006 total yards, 17 total touchdowns, and 139 of the team’s 317 receptions this year (43.8 percent). Moreover, Swain, Jefferson, Lamical Perine and Kyle Pitts finished the season with at least five receiving touchdowns for the first time since 2008, when four Gators had at least five touchdown catches.

Overall, ten Gators had at least one touchdown catch during the season, and 11 Gators had one in 2018 — marking the first time since 2000 and 2001 that 10 different Gators caught a touchdown in consecutive seasons.

Under Gonzales’ guidance, Swain recorded seven touchdowns in 2019, tying Demarcus Robinson (2014) for the highest single-season total since Riley Cooper had nine touchdown receptions in 2009. Additionally, his 15 career receiving touchdowns made him the first Gator since Cooper (18 from 2006-09) to finish a career with 15-plus receiving touchdowns.

Hammond, another senior standout for Gonzales, accounted for two of the Gators’ nine scrimmage plays of 60-plus yards, recording a 76-yard touchdown run at Kentucky and a 65-yard reception to set up the winning touchdown versus Miami. Hammond was one of nine FBS players with a 65-yard run and reception in 2019.

During the 2018 season, Gonzales helped devise game plans each week that allowed 11 different Gators to record a touchdown reception – the most by a UF team since 2009.

Gonzales’s receivers room played a key role in Florida recording 425-plus total yards six times in 2018, tying the 2009 Gators for the most games of over 425 yards in a season since 2008 (eight times). The Gators finished with 350-plus total yards 10 times in 2018, which tied the 2007 and 2009 Gators for the second-most times UF did that in a season since the start of 2005; only the 2008 Gators (12 games) had more in that span.

Over his five seasons (2013-17) at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs recorded 18 100-yard receiving games, including a school-record seven in 2015. Five times in his tenure, MSU posted multiple 100-yard receiving games in the same game, something that had only been done five times in MSU history prior to his arrival.

In addition, the three highest team single-season receiving yard totals were all on Gonzales’ watch, and every individual single-season school receiving record was broken under Gonzales. The Bulldogs shattered the school record for total receiving yards for a third straight year in 2015, amassing 4,113.

Gonzales arrived in Starkville following a one-year stint as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Illinois.

Prior to coaching the Fighting Illini, Gonzales served as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at LSU. During his time in Baton Rouge, Gonzales helped the Tigers to the 2012 BCS National Championship game and the 2011 SEC Championship. His development of Odell Beckham Jr. and Reuben Randle were apparent during the Tigers’ season, as he led them to Freshman All-SEC and All-SEC First Team accolades, respectively. Beckham is now one of the NFL’s elites.

Prior to his stint at LSU, Gonzales coached under Urban Meyer at Florida. During his time as wide receivers coach, the Gators’ high-octane offense translated to two BCS national championships in 2006 and 2008.

During that span, Gonzales and Florida produced seven All-SEC wide receivers, including first-team selections Chad Jackson (2005), Dallas Baker (2006), Percy Harvin (2007, ’08) and Brandon James (2008), and second-team honorees Cornelius Ingram (2007) and Riley Cooper (2009).