Florida's Billy Napier: "I've got a lot of respect for Coach Stoops"

While Mark Stoops was discussing Week 2 at his Kentucky Football press conference in Lexington, Florida head coach Billy Napier held his Monday afternoon press conference to talk about the Gators. Most of Napier’s 18-minute conversation was about the big win over seventh-ranked Utah and what it means for Florida moving forward, but Napier also had some positive things to say about Kentucky, the Gators’ next opponent in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Stoops and what he’s been able to do there,” Napier replied when asked about his scouting report on the Wildcats. “The consistency, their improvement as a program to win 10 games last year.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for (Stoops’) teams because I think they’re sound; I think they know who they are on offense, defense, and special teams. I see a good set of fundamentals in all three phases and they do a good job of evaluating players and they’ve got some height, length, and speed. They’ve got some unique players that maybe weren’t highly-regarded but they’re as good as anybody in the country, so this is a good developmental program that I have nothing but respect for.”

Napier added, “You gotta beat Kentucky because they’re going to make you beat them. I think they’re a well-coached team and I got a lot of respect for the intangibles, the effort, the fundamentals; all the things that coaches respect, they do those things.”

One more Kentucky-related note: Napier said there are “just a handful of tickets left” for Saturday following the Gators’ crowd of 90,799 for the home opener, a new record in the Swamp for opening day.

WATCH: Florida’s Billy Napier previews the Kentucky game

(Video via Florida Gators Football on YouTube)