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Billy Napier explains how off-field structure should translate to the field

Untitled designby:Nick de la Torre•08/03/24•

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tuesday during the Florida Gators‘ media day ahead of fall camp, head Billy Napier said he was a “firm believer that better people are better football players.” The quote was taken and run with on social media with many pointing out Georgia’s tumultuous summer off the field and even some of Florida’s players during their two championship runs. On Saturday, Napier expanded on what he meant.

“I’m a firm believer that a player that lacks character, at some point , he’s going to let you down. My history in coaching will tell me that,” Napier said. “And the more we can kind of create that throughout the offseason, I think there’s a chance that it’ll carry over. It’s why we do what we do, but we got to go do it.”

Throughout the offseason, players have commented on the expectations off the field. Several Florida players and coaches have noted how clean the locker room is. People who work inside the Heavener Football Training Facility have complimented the players based on their interactions. Make no mistake about it though, Napier isn’t running a Boy Scouts summer camp. He knows that, at the end of the day, it comes down to winning football games.

“We got to go do the football part. Look, ability gets you so far. Everybody’s working hard at this point. Then it becomes about the intangibles of your team and the execution part,” Napier said. “We’re working on the football piece now, and that’s what we’re trying to get done.”

Billy Napier says team asked for tougher offseason

At media day ahead of fall camp, redshirt junior EDGE Justus Boone told reporters that it was the players who asked to be put in together situations and to be held to higher standards. Napier and strength and conditioning coordinator, Tyler Miles, were happy to comply with the request.

[RELATED: Gators had their best summer ‘by far’ after asking for a harder offseason]

I think it’s just our effort to teach a sense of responsibility, you know, to have some self-discipline and take care of your stuff, to appreciate what you have, to build in some gratitude. We’re trying to combat entitlement, and then we’re forcing the player to make a decision every day. Am I gonna do what’s right? Am I gonna do what’s asked of me, and the more times a player and a group of players says yes to that, like, ‘OK, I’m in’,” Napier said.

“We’ve all done it before, right? You know, my wife, she wants me to make the bed before I leave the house. Will the guy leave his space the way it should be left? And I think if we can get him to make that decision and there’s accountability there and the players take ownership of that. I think Tyler’s done a really good job of taking ownership of that throughout the offseason, throughout the summer.

Ultimately, the belief isn’t that keeping a clean locker room adds points to the scoreboard. It’s the mentality of accountability and attention to detail that the strictness of the offseason program is trying to instill. That doing the little things off the field will create more accountable and dependable players on the field.

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