Billy Napier had a lot to manage in his first season in charge of the Florida football program. He walked into an ecosystem that desperately needed to be revamped from top to bottom. He spent the first few months of his tenure focusing on cleaning up in-house so that the product on the field could rise to the standard that Gators fans have come to expect. The man quite literally warned us that there was a lot of work to do at his introductory press conference, and then again in his open letter to the fans issued back in June.
I think that’s why I’m a bit more optimistic than most about the season that just ended. At 6-6, clearly, it wasn’t what everyone associated with the program wanted, but I think it’s what we deserved. For a long time, Florida has gotten away with structural problems by depending on elite talent to do just enough to consider the season a “success”. Since the rug was pulled out from under the program last season, the “real” Florida program was finally shown to the world. Mullen’s inability to recruit at the level necessary to compete with Georgia and the administration falling behind in off-field spending necessary to win SEC and national championships were a hole that Napier stumbled upon, except he wasn’t given a shovel to get out.
This season was Napier waiting for a shovel to arrive via Amazon so he could get the program out of that hole. The new football facility opened up, Napier significantly improved recruiting, and there were more polos than jerseys in the team picture. Did that translate to the field in year one? Not as much as we would have hoped. But there were moments. The running game blossomed and was one of the best in the nation. Trevor Etienne arrived. Young players that Napier brought in like Kamari Wilson got a lot of playing time to adjust to the SEC. The defensive scheme improved significantly as the season went on.
It’s not the 8-4 or 9-3 that we’ve become accustomed to seeing out of a first-year Florida coach, but that might be a good thing in the long run. 6-6 isn’t good, but it might be what the program needed as they fixed all the prior mistakes made by previous staffs dating back to when Urban Meyer coached the team. I do think there are some serious questions that need to be asked, like if Billy Napier needs to hire an actual offensive coordinator. If not, then he needs to look at his play-calling philosophy. You can only run so many first and second down screen calls before the defense figures it out.
I have faith in Napier to continue this rebuild that was so obviously the result of years of mismanagement. 6-6 in year one isn’t good, but it’s understandable. I expect significant improvement next year. The cleansing of the program happened last season. This upcoming offseason is the rinse cycle. The upcoming season should see significant improvement and establish Florida’s identity in the Billy Napier era.
Hopefully, it’s a long one.
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