WATCH: Billy Napier praises Florida's resolve, defense after win at A&M
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Billy Napier and the Gators picked up their fourth come-from-behind win of the season Saturday with a 41-24 win at Texas A&M. However, it marked UF’s first win of the season in which it was trailing at the half.
The Gators rushed for a season-high 291 yards, led by Montrell Johnson with his second 100-yard game of the year. Trevor Etienne had 80 rushing yards and quarterback Anthony Richardson added 78 yards on the ground, including a 60-yard touchdown run, while throwing for 201 yards.
Florida’s defense, after giving up 307 yards and 24 points in the first half, pitched a second-half shutout and allowed only 106 yards. The unit forced four punts in the third quarter, including a trio of three-and-outs, before back-to-back strip sacks and a turnover on downs in the fourth.
“When adversity is presented to you, it gives you an opportunity to prove what you are made of. It gives you a chance to refine and develop your character, and I think that’s what we saw,” Napier said after the win. “It’s good to see players lead and I think that’s part of a team that we are developing. We took a step in the right direction in that regard.”
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In the video below, Napier gives his opening statement and reacts to the Gators’ defensive performance.
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Billy Napier opening statement
“I think that this game of football we spend countless hours on scheme, countless hours training, lifting weights, running working on fundamentals, working on situational football, but there’s a human element to this game and that’s a battle that we’ve been living with this group of players and I really can’t complement the leadership on our staff and the leadership amongst our players enough relative to, the character right, the accountability, the brotherhood, playing the game with a special team dynamic, a certain morale, just out of respect for the game and the way it should be played, and I think we saw some of that today. I think could have easily got frustrated with our defensive performance in the first half, but man in that locker room you would never know.
“It’s really a group that stuck together, they knew exactly what the issues were. The ownership in each position group, being vocal, about the things that they could do better, and I think the staff did a terrific job making adjustments, just really proud of the overall response here. There’s a certain part of this game we’ve been working hard on and I think it showed up today. The execution was there. Really proud of the defense to shut this group down in the second half, to play complementary football, I’m pretty sure we didn’t turn the ball over, three weeks in a row that we haven’t turned the ball over. We’ve gotten takeaways, we’re starting to play football the way it’s intended to be played in just the energy and the approach. Just extremely proud of the players and of the staff.”
