Billy Napier reacts to MSU victory: ‘It feels good to win a game’

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Florida Gators won their SEC road opener Saturday with a 45-28 victory at Mississippi State. UF put up 503 yards of offense in the win.

Here’s video of Billy Napier’s postgame press conference and everything he said after the game.

Opening statement:

Billy Napier: “Man, it feels good to win a game. I think we did enough to win today. I was really impressed, thought offensively we had some tempo about us, thought we played well around the quarterback. And I thought the quarterbacks did a really good job kind of being the point guard of the offense and distributing the ball. We had some balance. Outside of the think we had a three and out early, and then we fumbled. I thought we did a lot of good. I think we started both halves a little slow, but once we settled in I thought we moved it well. Defensively, at times we did a lot of good things. I thought we did a good job getting off the field on third down to the first half, but there’s just, there’s three or four or five possessions there where we disappeared. We were a little more consistent across the board today, but we know that there’s going to be more consistency required. The rush and the coverage got to work together. Overall, the rush defense has got to get shored up, and we have to eliminate some of these penalties that we had. We got away with a couple, on offense we overcame them. And then defensively, we had a few that were costly. Another good day in the kicking game, thought we did a lot of good there, the specialists were sharp. We gave up one kickoff return, I think maybe got out to the 35. Outside of that a big punt return that turned into points, and then a big field goal there at the end to make it three scores.”

On adjusting the quarterback rotation:

Billy Napier: “I think you’re just evaluating how the week went, just in terms of Graham being back healthy. Really was impressive this week in practice, I thought he had a great week – just really sharp. The ball was jumping out of his hand. And then DJ obviously got some great experience last week, and then we just kind of went with our gut there, kind of what we felt like was best for the team. We’re still committed to playing DJ. I think today, he showed that he’ll get a little better the more experience that he gets, I think he’ll improve. So, I think we’re getting the best of both worlds there. Both guys make our team better. We used DJ’s legs a little bit today, knowing that Graham was really healthy. So again, I think this is the best thing for our team. And both guys play really well.”

On the skill position players stepping up:

Billy Napier: “In a perfect role that’s who we are. The quarterback is making good decisions, we’re distributing the ball based off the defense, and I think that’s what we did well today, we took what the defense gave us, and we were spot on. I think the decision making was really good handful in completions, but outside of that, I thought we were on point.”

On the Montrell Johnson blindside block call:

Billy Napier: “Look, they’ve got a hard job to do, much like we have a hard job to do. Those are tough judgment calls. The point of view there, the angle. We don’t have anything to do with it. We can’t control it, so we’re not going to spend time worrying about it. We overcame it. That’s a good thing. And there’ll be some things that we can coach Montrell there. He may be able to save it, post the guy out, play with low hands, use some of the kicking game tools that we teach. So ultimately, we’ll look at the tape a little closer when we see it. I haven’t seen the video.”

On the play by Aidan Mizell on the negated TD:

Billy Napier: “Yeah, I predicted. I told Aiden pregame, I thought it was going to be a great day for him. Hey look, he still made that play. We still got a chance to see him. He did a lot of good things run-after-catch today, his speed shows up. He’s another young player that’s gaining confidence. And with Tre Wilson out, he was kind of the third guy that we pushed to the forefront there, and he made the most of his opportunities.”

On the goal-line stand and ensuing TD drive:

Billy Napier: “Big, big momentum play. And really great to see our defense kind of stand up there. Again, we know that there’s multiple opportunities to prevent even getting into that position. But a big stop. I thought we called it well right there, not just the fourth down, but first, second and third to get it to fourth. I thought Jack Pyburn was phenomenal today. I don’t know if anybody was taking note. I just thought he made a bunch of plays, disruptive. Played more snaps today, and deservingly so. He was right in the middle of that fourth down stop.”

On having to outscore teams because of defensives lapses:

Billy Napier: “Well, look, we are what we are. I don’t have any other answer for you other than I think we’re capable of better, I think we can play better, I think we can coach better. And look, we’ve got an open date here. We need to take a good look in the mirror on both sides of the spectrum, players and coaches. And maybe we need to adjust who plays and who doesn’t play. I still think that we need to handle the tempo better. I think ultimately, a lot of their success was built around the tempo. And we know we’re going to play teams that do that in the future, and we gotta get ready for it. So it’s good to win a game like that and go into the open date. I told him in the locker room, I said, Look, we’re going to rest and recover, and we’re going to take care of guys and all that, but when you show up Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week, we’re working, and we have work to do to improve, and we’ve got to put all of our heads together to try to get it shored up. But I do think we played well around the quarterback. I think when we protect the quarterback we’re capable of distributing the ball. I think we have skill. I think we played really efficiently today. We need to do that, and we called it aggressive, because I think that’s who we got to be, I think we need to use tempo, we need to be more aggressive and certainly we got a capable group.”

On the bang-bang plays against the defensive backs:

Billy Napier: “Yeah, secondary is a position where confidence is key. Much like the offensive line, you’ve got five players that are working together and you got to be on the same page. I mean, it’s got to be, it’s alignment, it’s leverage, it’s knowing where your help is at. it’s eye discipline, it’s fundamentals, and I think ultimately, we’ll be able to look at the tape and coach some of these guys relative to things that they can do better in those areas. But we did play tighter coverage. I thought there were times out there where we played legal and we were able to break up some passes and get off the field. And some of those are bang-bang. I think you gotta without taking the aggression away, just coaching the technical part in terms of what they can do better.”

On MSU getting a few runs up the middle:

Billy Napier: “I agree with you. We got to get it fixed. If you want to play really good defense, you got to be strong up the middle. It’s discouraging because it’s at the core of what you do. And I think we’ve got the personnel in there to be really good. And again, you got to give Mississippi State some credit, they ran it into the light box and then they threw it when we were loaded up in there so the RPO conflict was on full display today. Lebby’s good at that. That’s what he’s made his living doing. So we got to get to this stuff where maybe we can show something and change the picture a little bit. And we did that a little bit in the second half. We got to get better. There’s no question.”

On the skill position depth without Trey Wilson:

Billy Napier: “Yeah, well, Mizell in particular is a player that we felt strongly about. He’s had a great offseason, had a good camp. I think he’s kind of in that fourth, fifth spot. Guy can run, man, and his hands have improved. I think Coach Gonzalez has done a good job, and Aiden’s done a good job. He’s tougher, he’s more physical – that’s an area where he needs to continue to grow. But just the ball skills, the play speed, some of the things you saw out there today are what we saw in high school. Aidan could have gone anywhere in the country. He’s elite track speed, 6-1. He’s got a bright future in front of him.”

On if he thought about sticking with Mertz inside UF’s own 10:

Billy Napier: “I think it works best, these things work best when you define the plan and you stick with the plan, and you got to play the long game a little bit, and you got to coach the player through it. We practice those situations with the players. He knows how to manage the game, and he did a great job. He did what he was coached to do.  I want both those guys to lead our team. I want both of them to have a positive effect on our team, and both have that ability. The team respects and loves both those guys. And they affect different parts of the team. DJ affects the younger part of our team. Graham is more established and has the respect of the entire team. It’s his team. He’s the leader of the team. So, it works best when they’re on the same page, they’re encouraging each other, they’re working together throughout the week, and they’re preparing together, and there’s a confidence and an encouragement and selflessness that I think is best for both players and for our team.”

On how it feels to get a win for him personally:

Billy Napier: “Yeah, it’s good to win on the road in this league, it’s always tough. And this can be a challenging place to play. Look, we have more work to do. Okay, we won today, but we are very much a work in progress. And this group can get so much better. I mean, we got so many individual players, position groups and units on our team, that we’re not even close to being who we can be – and they know that. That’s what I told them in the locker room. I think we saw flashes of it today, but we have to become a more consistent team, and I think that’s going to be the emphasis here in the open date. And look, I just want to see a little more scrap, a little more fight, in particular on defense in some of these situations that we had today. We got multiple opportunities to get off the field, and I just think we got to challenge the leadership, and we have to get a little bit more out of them. I think ultimately that’s what’s going to be for us to have success in future we got to play complimentary ball, and at some point we got to play really good defense.”

On the decision to put Ron Roberts in the box:

Billy Napier: “Yeah, I do think we got it in better, think it helped. I think he did that at Auburn the last two years, and I think ultimately he and I both agreed that that would be best for the team. He has a good game day eye up there. There’s, there’s pros and cons. He’s not around the players between possessions, but I do think just his ability to see it, call it quicker, get the call in, and for those guys to go play. So I think a lot of the things that we did early in the game, I think there was some benefit to that.”

On if he communicating on the headset from upstairs:

Billy Napier: “Yes.”

On whether he thinks Roberts will do that moving forward:

Billy Napier: “I do.”

On Marcus Burke’s performance:

Billy Napier: “Well, Burke is a player that flashes. I think I’ve always felt strongly that Burke is a very capable player. It’s just about doing it every day, and that’s the challenge for a lot of parts of our team, for a lot of young players – can you do it every play? Can you do it every day? Ultimately, that’s who we are. Burke’s a talented player, but I want him to do it every day. Obviously, he’s capable of making plays, but he needs to be much more consistent throughout the week to earn more of a role in our team. But he stepped up today, and I’m hopeful he can do that more consistently in the future.”

On Austin Barber’s touchdown:

Billy Napier: “You’re not gonna be able to tell that guy anything.”

On what he wants to accomplish during the bye week:

Billy Napier: “Well, I think ultimately, we’re gonna take a day and get them out of the building tomorrow. We have to develop practice plans that reflect the areas where we need to improve, and that’ll be the challenge on all three parts of our team. We’re going to get some guys back that are injured and unavailable now, which will be beneficial. But ultimately, it’s back to the basics here. We got to really take a good look at where our issues are at, at the self-scout, and then getting ready for a Power Five opponent coming to the Swamp, which will be a handful and be a challenge there.”