Everything Florida coach Billy Napier said ahead of FSU game

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier spoke with the media for the final time Wednesday night before the FSU game. He discusses the matchup against the Seminoles, some injury updates, Thanksgiving Day and more.

Below is everything Napier said.

Billy Napier Q&A

Opening statement:

BILLY NAPIER: “I think it’s important that we continue to emphasize the identity of our team in terms of what we want our players and our team to look like. I think it’s key that we put extra-effort plays on the film, that we play with physicality. Obviously, we want to be elite communicators and the game comes down to point-of-attack, one-on-one wins and I think that fundamentals and techniques are part of the type of football team that we want to be and certainly the passion, the energy and how we celebrate with our teammates. Trying to finish the race here. I think that’s been the message this week. Obviously, three days in, really energetic practice today. I was very impressed with the attitude and approach today. I do think that tomorrow’s schedule will be a little bit different. We’ll move everything up three hours, give the players an opportunity that are within range to go home and get back and then certainly if they can’t or don’t have anywhere to go with a teammate, they can come to our house or their coach’s house. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and, obviously, we got some work to do here in the next two days to be ready, but we’re excited about this opportunity.”

On adjusting the developmental process for DJ Lagway since he’s a true freshman:

BILLY NAPIER: “Well I think the big thing now is you got to have systems on offense, defense and special teams where a year-one player, whether he is a rookie and a high school freshman or maybe he is a portal sophomore, whatever the case may be, I think you have to have a system where they can get up to speed. You have to have a blueprint for how you run your offseason bye phase and there’s a little more football involved in that now. Got to be able to get a guy ready to play as a first-year player, regardless of his experience in the past and I think sometimes that’s a really talented high-school freshman or that’s a one-year player that’s in his sixth year. I think it’s critical that you got a system where a first-year player can contribute.”

On how many players typically go to his house for Thanksgiving:

BILLY NAPIER: “I think it’s year-to-year. Sometimes there may not be any and sometimes there may be a handful. Maybe there’s a bunch, it just depends on — we try to make sure every player has somewhere to go and we are intentional about that early in the week. We’ll kind of have a roll call early in the a.m. to make sure everybody’s good to go and anybody that doesn’t have anywhere to go can come over to the house. Lot of position coaches will do things with their position and a lot of local guys will have guys over to their house with their families and then we have some families that will come into town and maybe do something at the player’s apartment. I think it’s just year-to-year and it just depends on the group and the team.”

On the program’s identity carrying over from year to year:

BILLY NAPIER: “Yeah, I think you’d like to have some consistency. I think the key is that you retain your good players, you develop leaders that maybe have to understand expectations, they understand kind of who we are, what we’re about, and then they carry that torch forward to the next year. I think that’s the big thing I would say, is just this team in particular we gained traction there midseason, and then it started kind of taking off. I think the belief factor, and obviously then they get some self confidence, and they start to have a little bit different approach. So once things start working, that’s when you got a chance to do it consistently.” 

On the FSU pass defense:

BILLY NAPIER: “They’re always very sticky in coverage, just by conceptually, the format of their defense, they are in good coverage position. They play with leverage. Oftentimes they are a gap short in the run game and they’re doubling a lot of your skill guys. So I think they do a really nice job. I have a ton of respect for the schematics of their defense, having played against it a couple years in a row. I think they have some really unique front players and edge players, and I think they’re good on the second, third level. So, they’ve got a height, length and speed on the back end, some very highly regarded players. We know them all just because of our recruiting footprint. So we have a ton of respect for the personnel. And I think defensively it’s a good blueprint. I’ve got respect for it.” 

On Aaron Gates and Damieon George:

BILLY NAPIER: “Gates won’t be available for the game. He’s out. Damieon is to be determined. I think there’s a chance that he’ll be available. He can turn around.” 

On if it’s surgery situation for Gates:

BILLY NAPIER: “It is.”

On the team starting to reflect his favorite Bill Walsh quote:

BILLY NAPIER: “Look, we’re dealing with young people, and what we ask these guys to do is not normal. I mean, we ask for incredible commitment from these guys in terms of time, energy, effort. Not only is there a physical part of the game, but there’s a mental part of the game. And then you have all the intangibles that we’re trying to develop. So this game is extremely challenging and the league that we play in, it is very competitive. So oftentimes you may work for a long period of time, you know, days, weeks, months, years at a time, and you’re not quite getting the outcome and the result that you want. But you have to continue working. You gotta have some courage. It takes courage to put that amount of effort into something and there’s no guarantee of the result. So, ultimately, what I would like to say is that what we’ve been talking about and teaching in our three years here has started to stick and I think within the walls, there’s a belief that the way we do things works and it can help the player as a person, student and football player. And then winning obviously contributes to that, right? And I think ultimately, when they reap the rewards of the hard work, then they want to go back and do it again. So we have to continue to be objective. We have to continue to fix the things that are wrong and encourage the things that are being done the right way. And we have to be very consistent and fair. And I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been able to kind of stabilize a little bit is we’ve never wavered. We just adapt a little bit here and there in certain areas and make decisions that we think can put our team in the best position. But I do think that statement is real in life and I think also in the game of football.”

On no more national letters of intent this year:

BILLY NAPIER: “They are signing a financial aid agreement, it’s just a binding document. Really not a ton of specifics there, I think there’s probably a little more wiggle room in terms of getting out of the agreement, but just in general, I don’t necessarily see it being much different than years past, a little bit different paperwork. In the future with rev share, the financials will be agreed upon before they sign that document, so that will all be a part of it. That will be the big difference next year, you’ll literally have a salary cap, you’ll have a contractual agreement, I mean it’s ultimately like hiring an employee, and everything will be agreed upon prior to signing.”

On whether scholarships are still a year-to-year deal:

BILLY NAPIER: “I think each institution will have maybe some flexibility there. Now you could see some league wide arrangements maybe, where each conference has a generalized agreement that they create, but as of today our understanding is that each institution can kind of format the way they would like, and that’s why we are doing what we’re doing, building out a front office and having someone, we’re gonna hire someone with significant experience, negotiating contracts, and managing the salary cap. You’re gonna have a huge math problem and you’re gonna be restructuring with veterans, you’re gonna be moving money around to try and maximize each team each year. You’re gonna need someone that has experience in that area on your staff.”

On if signing day will be business as usual:

BILLY NAPIER: “Yeah. Look, I do think this period already has seen some differences relative to NIL and rev share. The makeup of the agreements in that space are hybrid agreements because you’ve got six months of NIL from the collective and you’ve got basically the first year of the players’ career from a rev share standpoint. So, little bit of a hybrid situation this year, obviously next year it will be all rev share.”

On the feedback from recruits after the last two weekends:

BILLY NAPIER: “A lot of these kids we had really good relationships from in the past, maybe we finished second or whatever the case may be. I think the stability, and then obviously the performance on the field, the energy amongst our players. Yeah, I think Gator Nation is rallying the troops a little bit. All of that, this is a powerful place, when we have momentum, we can be dangerous, and I think it’s critical that we keep that. Obviously our focus right now is on Florida State and the game Saturday. We need to continue playing well and we got to earn the right to win this weekend and try and finish this race and keep this momentum. I do think recruiting is affected by that. I tell the staff all the time, the most significant recruiting factor is winning. I think when we do that, we’ll get our fair share of good players.”

On Pup Howard’s status for the Florida State game:

BILLY NAPIER: “To be determined.”