‘It’s Time to Bring DBU Back’: Napier Challenges Gators’ Secondary
In his first news conference before the start of the regular season, Florida Gators coach Billy Napier focused on one unit and three letters that will help his program return to glory.
From Joe Haden to CJ Gardner-Johnson and Ahmad Black, the Gators own a strong claim to producing standout defensive backs in the past.
Now, Napier is hoping to add to the list after back-to-back seasons of struggling overall to stop the pass. The secondary seems as determined as ever to rewrite the narrative about this pass defense.
“I would say the intangibles from the secondary, I think our secondary is on a mission,” Napier said Monday. “I’m always telling them, ‘It’s time to bring DBU back.’”
“We have players that we played as really young players, and we all remember those tough days. But I think they’ve been here for a number of years now, so I think there’s experience there. … And I know that this group has been a little up-and-down since we’ve been here. But I do like that in all three levels of the defense, we got some presence there.”
Florida’s pass defense has been an eye sore for the last few years. From 2022, when Napier took over, until now, Florida has had the 83rd, 70th and 83rd-ranked pass defense.
Along with that, the Gators have struggled to stop explosive plays, ranking 101st in 2024 and 123rd in 2023.
“We need more consistency,” Napier said. “In the secondary, you can play five plays just right, you make one mistake and it is points on the board. Those folks in The Swamp are getting rowdy and so am I, but that’s what we have to understand. The games are coming, so there’s no more, ‘My bad.’”
There is hope that those growing pains in the secondary will start to level out with senior Devin Moore and juniors Jordan Castell and Bryce Thornton trying to uphold the standard set for the corners and safety room, respectively.
One of the standards set in practice is the three-interception rule. It is mandatory for the secondary to achieve three picks before the end of practice, otherwise, they have to step on the line and start running.
Florida made an 11-interception jump a year ago, after only securing three interceptions the entire 2023 season.
Entering year four under Napier, the Gators have made significant strides to bring back that ferocious defense that drove Florida to winning two titles in three years earlier this century. But now it needs to all come together to restore “DBU.”
“We are on a mission here to play championship-caliber defense. That’s what I would say,” Napier said. ”We are on an absolute mission to play defense at a high level. … We need to do that to become the type of team that we’re capable of being.
“We have the personnel, depth and leadership over there to do that. I think this group of coaches has done a fantastic job with this group.”
The Gators host Long Island at 7 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network+, 98.1-FM, 850-AM).
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, SEC
