Billy Napier discusses player-to-staff ratio on display in Gators team photo
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When the Gators released their 2022 team photo this week, the full scope of Billy Napier’s army came into focus.
There was a notable difference in the player-to-staff ratio, with 140 blue polos and 116 blue jerseys in the picture. That prompted fans to dig up old team photos, including one from 2007 where there’s 45 staff members.
Napier has nearly 100 more in his inaugural season with the Gators. The support staff is now on steroids compared to previous coaching regimes.
Napier admitted Wednesday that the team photo was beefed up with some student workers from the “G-Unit.”
“We try to make a concerted effort to involve everyone in the team photo, including all our student workers, all the people that contribute to some degree to our operation. I think that’s maybe gotten inflated a little bit out there,” Napier said. “But I’m excited about the infrastructure that we have. That’s made up of a lot different components, obviously the players, but leadership in each area of the organization — full-time employees.
“We also have I think it might be 85 undergraduates that contribute to our team as well, equipment room, video, training room, personnel, OCR and strategy. We’re calling that group the ‘G-Unit.’ … So, it takes a team. It truly takes hundreds of people to put a good product out there on game day. I think we want each person to take pride in their role, realize they can make an impact and they may well be the difference. I think the team photo is a reflection of that.”
Napier got wind of the reactions to the team photo on social media, with his brother even reaching out to poke fun at his army.
“I had many people tell me about that. My brother sent me a picture and I guess they photoshopped three or four rows of the staff members on top of it. My brother sent me that, so I got a laugh out of that.”
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In other Florida football news
- Some position battles for Florida have “shaked out” after competitive week in camp.
- Billy Napier singles out a trio of freshmen who have impressed him during fall camp.
- True freshman Caleb Douglas is jumping onto the scene in Florida’s receiver rotation.
- Florida’s Ricky Pearsall and Jason Marshall Jr. are getting closer to playing against Utah.
- Know Your Foe: Get to know the Gators’ first opponent of the year, the Utah Utes (Part I).
UF recruiting roundup
- Billy Napier’s “inside-out” recruiting strategy is paying dividends for UF in the 2023 class.
- A look at three 2024 prospects committed elsewhere who are flip candidates for the Gators.
- A top-100 defensive back committed elsewhere is set for another up-close look at Florida.
- Gators Online identifies the UF commit most deserving of a bump in the 2023 rankings.
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