Legendary Florida coach Steve Spurrier dubbed Saturday’s win over South Carolina the “biggest” of the Billy Napier era, but the incumbent head coach is hoping that kind of praise doesn’t get to his team’s head.
Florida’s schedule goes Georgia, Arkansas, at LSU, at Missouri and Florida State to close out the season, and Napier knows that finishing the season second in the division is a reality with at least one upset. The Razorbacks are the only unranked opponents left on the schedule, making that game a must-win for bowl eligibility.
Napier spoke about the growth he’s seen in his team during the weekly SEC teleconference, according to Swamp247.
“We’re going to try and find out what we’re made of here in the back half,” Napier said. “It’s important that we keep humility. I was reading earlier today, Mick Cronin the UCLA basketball coach, said show me a guy that’s not humble and I’ll show you a guy that’s getting ready to be humbled. I think it’s important for us.”
Napier said that the team needs to keep the “big picture approach” following the win against South Carolina. The 41-39 win was far from perfect, and there are numerous young players still figuring out their roles on the team.
“Your team is really close to being below average and really close to being really good. I think we’ve proven that this year,” he said. “We’ve yet to play a complete game, and I think we’re still pursuing that. We do have a bunch of young players and new faces from the portal who are in their first year at Florida that I do think are getting better at preparing and practicing.”
Florida’s secondary has been a particularly shaky unit, but Napier pushed back a bit when pressed about the defensive backs’ performance. He said the in-house evaluation process provides the team with things to get better at, but that list doesn’t always line up with what the fans and media think.
Other than hoping for a bit of health over the bye, Napier didn’t add much more on Wednesday. He declined any questions about Georgia, noting that there would be time to talk about the Bulldogs next week ahead of the game.
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