Everything Billy Napier said after the Florida Gators first spring practice

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Billy Napier spoke with the media following the Florida Gators‘ first spring practice.

Opening Statement

“I think before we get going here, it wouldn’t be right without congratulating Tim Walton on 900 wins. Pretty significant accomplishment. Certainly enjoyed getting to know him. He’s a class act and has had a ton of success. Spending time with him, you figure that out pretty quickly.

“I think the big thing for us going into Year 2 is we – I think we understand expectations, but now that we’ve turned the page to football, it’s about kind of establishing how we practice, right? Reality is, you’ve heard your entire life that practice makes perfect. But the reality is, practice makes permanent. Good practice will help you improve, bad practice, you can regress and go backwards. I thought for the most part today, the focus was there, the energy was there. Lot of new faces. Certainly I think we’ve done ourselves well with the new group we’ve added.

“Each person in the organization right now, in particular the players, need to be thinking about what do I need to do to become a complete player. Certainly my role in the organization in terms of what I do to contribute to the team, how can I improve, and how can I be a complete person relative to that role? Good first day. I know we’ve got a lot of questions here, so we’ll get straight to it.”

Napier on the Gators first practice

Any new leaders evolve?
“Yeah, no. I think it’s probably been – probably I would say one of the more impressive things about this group. I think we’ve got pretty good group of players there that have been with us for a year. They experienced the good, bad and the ugly last year. I think we’ve got character. I think we’ve got a group that is setting a really good example and has a voice. We’ve done a little bit of extra from a leadership development standpoint in the first year. Yeah, I feel really good about that part. I think the accountability, the detail has been much better through the first two phases.”

Anyone stand out?
“I think on offense, Austin Barber, Kingsley Eguakun have been really good. I think the two backs, Montrell and Trevor. I think Ricky Pearsall. Defense, I think Boone has been impressive. Wingo. AP. Jason’s even growing in that role, is more vocal. We’ve always got pretty good leadership from Crawshaw, too. I’m probably leaving a few out, but I do think we’ve done a lot relative to allowing the team to have input on who they think is doing a good job. And we’ve worked in different groups, team as a whole, by position, by class, we’ve done cross sections of groups, doing a lot of small group work there. I think that’s going to pay off.”

Filling out the coaching staff

What is the challenge of losing three coaches three weeks before spring
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s three weeks before spring, seems a lot (more recent). But, yeah, I think it’s unfortunate. I think with the NFL calendar kind of being shifted around a little bit, I do think it’s a compliment to those guys and how hard they’ve worked in their career, their reputation and certainly for the NFL to come calling and be willing to do what they needed to do contractually to acquire the coaches. More than anything, I think it’s a compliment to the staff, but there are challenges that come with it. You got to go through … I’m not just going to flip a coin and hire a guy. If we have the person in place that we think is capable, we make those moves quickly. If we don’t, then we’re going to be very thorough. So we’re making progress in that area. We should have some news here shortly.”

Are analysts filling those roles now?
“We’re built to handle the attrition to some degree. The layers that you’ve got in each room, whether it’s analyst or graduate assistant or a student, whatever we have in each of those rooms, we’ve been able to manage it. Still it’s evident we need a coach or two there. But we’re going to be patient and work hard but work smart at it.”

More from the press conference

On the Gators’ quarterback room
“I see really a group that wants to please. I think I see a group that’s working really hard. Obviously, Jack’s benefiting from being in his second year, but I’ve been impressed with Graham’s work ethic. I think he’s done a good job. He’s got a really good grasp of the system. Max is obviously in Year 2 as well. Most importantly, just the example there, working hard to connect with the rest of the team. But, yeah, I’m excited about that group and certainly some good and bad out there, like you would expect the first day, but overall really looking forward to that group and the progress that they can make.”

Challenges at defensive coordinator, filling it quickly, how much running last year vs. his system?
“I think were, we’re in our tree of coaches if that makes sense. I think Austin is well respected out there. I think the opportunities he had this offseason is a reflection of that, Austin was with us in the past as a graduate assistant, came back as a position coach and then certainly for him to get an opportunity to coordinate defense for two years and really do a good job, I think his reputation is good so that one was a little simpler than the others and I think it’s going to allow us to, he knows the verbiage, he understands the system and certainly that network of people is pretty well respected there. I think from that staff at Louisiana I think we’ve got four defensive coordinators out there, calling defense. Austin has done a great job, he’s hit the ground running and so far, so good.”

Is there an advantage to Armstrong not having a position group to coach too given his youth?
 “I think he’s still working with the safeties you know I think we’re sticking with kind of just our overall plan relative to improving the defense from an efficiency standpoint … I would say the attention prior to Patrick’s departure was to make Corey (Raymond) the secondary coach, we’re doing a number of other things there relative to edge players and interior defensive line, so that was the intent the entire time and certainly we just had a coordinator change, we’ll take the same approach.”

 Moving Ja’Markis Weston to safety?
 “I think it’s a position that’s probably a little thin, truth be known and Ja’Markis is a guy that’s played reallywell for us on special teams. He’s done a good job on the punt team and the cover team. And we do a number of drills where we ask those four core offensive players to take part in tackling circuits. I think the defensive staff felt like observing him in those settings that he had the skillset. He know he was a really good defensive player in high school so there’s a skillset there it’s just going to be a matter of learning the system, learning the communication, fundamentals but I know Ja’Markis is excited about it and I know our coaching staff is looking forward to working with him.”

Is your tight ends hire, is he also going to have any special team responsibilities maybe as a coordinator?

“I don’t think so. All of our assistant coaches on both sides have responsibilities in the kicking game. He’ll carry a heavy load on offense with the tight ends and then certainly, in the return unit, the block unit, and the PAT field goal unit. Our offensive coaches coach those units so we’ll stick with the same blueprint.

Talk about the receivers in Day and the push-up thing, is that new or is that something you’ve been doing?

“We’ve always done that. I feel really good about that group. Got a couple of new players there that are here mid-year. I thought Andy Jean, as a newcomer today, did a lot of really good things. I think we’ve got some guys in the second year in the system. A little wet ball drill out there today. That was beneficial.We’ve only had a couple opportunities to work in the rain. So good day. I look forward to watching that group”.

Where do you hope or where do you expect to see the biggest jump in Year 2 success this time of year maybe?

“I think probably the biggest thing is you start in a different place from a knowledge standpoint, a communication standpoint, a set of fundamentals at every position. So you’ve got a core group of veteran players that walk out here the first day you put the ball down, they don’t blink, right? So not necessarily what to do, but now it’s how to do it. Why we do it that way. I also think the players will benefit from all parts of the organization being in the second year. I’m going back looking at my notes from the previous year, I mean, need multiple pages, to get to get all those things fixed. I think we’re starting in a different place. It’s all ultimately from a system standpoint: offense, defense, game changers – It’s like you moved to a new country and learned a new language last year. Now you’ve been living in the country for a while so you’re a little more fluid and you all of a sudden you start to process a little quick little bit quicker. You anticipate better, you play faster, you get more production. So we still have 27 brand new scholarship players out there, but overall, veterans and then a group of rookies that I think bring some things to the table”

You have a new offensive line coming out here with this dynamic running game. So what’s the timeline for this offensive line to gel and get ready for the season?

“That’s probably one of the things I’m most excited about. Line of scrimmage players in particular all the mid-year players I think, make us better. And then we’ve got a good core group when you think about offensively: Austin, Kingsley, Richard, or Richie. I think, guys like Slaughter. We’re in Year 2. Herman’s in Year 2 and then here comes all the rookies – the freshmen and the transfer, so defensively kind of feel the same way. A good looking group of portal players out there … 10 of them.”