Florida’s Billy Napier has been on the hot seat so long he’s probably wearing asbestos pants. After two so-so seasons where his teams battled to reach the .500 mark, Napier needed to make something happen in 2024 to save his job, and when he got off to an unimpressive 4-5 start, everybody figured he was gone.
Then, with the clock ticking and time running out and Florida getting ready to give Napier his final paycheck, the Gators began to turn it around. First, they beat LSU, ranked No. 21 in the country, 27-16. That made them 5-5. Then they beat Ole Miss, ranked No. 9 in the country, 24-17. That made them 6-5. Then they beat arch-rival FSU, 31-11. That made them 7-5 and got them in the Gasparilla Bowl, where the beat Tulane, 33-8. If you’re keeping track, that made them 8-5 for the season.
Now nobody in Gainesville gives you a parade for finishing 8-5, but enough people who mattered decided that instead of pushing Napier out the door and, sigh, starting over again and maybe going through the same stuff again they’d give Napier one more shot to get the Gators where they’re supposed to be. And at Florida, that means contending for the SEC championship and a spot in the playoffs.
And, with spring practice underway, Napier knows that. Another Gasparilla Bowl (he’s been to two) won’t cut it. This year, Florida not only needs to play well against the SEC’s big boys, it needs to beat them, or almost all of them anyway.
And Florida – and Napier – have a shot to pull that off. With a slew of starters back on both offense and defense including a difference maker at quarterback, 6-foot-3. 241-pound super soph J.D. Lagway; Jaden Baugh, another soph who was the team’s leading rusher a year ago; up-and-coming linebacker Miles Graham, yet another soph and Bryce Lovett, a versatile offensive lineman who can play every position up front (he’s a soph, too), Florida has a promising mix of talent provided Napier can put it all together.
Almost everybody on this team was either recruited or brought in by Napier, so these are his guys. Now, it’s up to him to get the most out of them because there will be no second chance, at least not for Napier. He needs to get his system in place and the right people in the right spots.
While attention will be focused on Lagway and names like All-American center Jack Slaughter, the leader of a veteran offensive line and one of the best players in the country, others are ready to make a contribution,
most notably Lakeland high’s Cormani McClain. Coming out of Lakeland High School, McClain was not only regarded as the best defensive back in the country but, according to some recruiting services, the best player, period. He ended up at Colorado playing for Deion Sanders and almost immediately, the two clashed. McClain had all the talent in the world, but he never bought in to Sanders’ system.
So he left and ended up at Florida last year as a walk-on. Seeking to avoid what happened at Colorado, Napier put him on a short lease. McClain put his head down, walked the line and came to camp this year with a new attitude. He has impressed in early drills and could wind up being a very important piece of the Gator defense.
“Spring practice presents on opportunity to really teach not only conceptually what we do on offense, defense, and special teams but fundamentally it’s a chance to start from scratch,” Napier said before camp opened. “It creates an opportunity to develop leadership, new roles on the team.
“We certainly have high expectations here and in no way are we satisfied with where we’re at,” the Gator coach went on. You’re always sorting through the narratives,” Napier continued. “The big message for our team, the way I’ve phrased it, is we’re not worried about yesterday, we’re not worried about tomorrow.
“Our entire focus is on today. There’s always a lot of noise on the back end and there’s always a lot of hype on the front end. We’ve got to live in the middle where the work gets done,” Napier declared. “We have to remain process oriented and just see continued improvement, try to break up our year into phases, small chunks of time with objectives and goals and work our tails off one day at a time.”
That, Napier believes, will get the Gators where they want to go. It’s a big step up from last year, but Florida and Napier don’t have a choice. You’re either at the top or you’re not, and after three years of frustration, the Gators and Napier need to make a move. Napier has swung and missed three times, but he fouled the ball off last year. He can’t swing and miss again.