‘I Get It’: Billy Napier Stands Firm as Gators Ready for No. 9 Texas

Among the many reasons for Florida’s sluggish 1-3 start to the year, the offensive performance five weeks into the season has been anything but desirable.

Struggles at the quarterback position, poor offensive line play, lack of big plays down the field and injuries have all contributed to some gaudy offensive rankings. UF ranks 113th in total offense and 98th in scoring offense (22 points per game), 95th in sacks allowed, 129th in tackles-for-loss allowed and 88th in passing offense.

Still, coach Billy Napier believes he is the man for the job despite the criticism from the local fanbase. He believes that with how long he has been a play-caller, he has earned the right to make these decisions and believes every decision made is to better help the team from a players’ and staff standpoint.

“Well, it’s Year 8 for me, and I think it’s the way we’ve done it. I think it helped us get here,” Napier said. “You’re always just evaluating what’s best for this team. That’s ultimately what drives every decision that we do, no different than a lot of the changes that we’ve made in the past. I get it.”

Florida used its Week 5 bye to address issues before facing No. 9 Texas on Saturday, focusing mainly on giving quarterback DJ Lagway and others during full-padded 11-on-11 reps. Gators coach Billy Napier believes that it is the best way to keep Lagway and others in tune.

“That was important, just more live bullets with him and the other players. That that’s what he needs, and that’s ultimately what we decided to go with,” Napier said. “So we did quite a bit of competitive work, ones on ones, twos on twos. Obviously, some of the players that have played a lot of snaps around here, we tried to take care of, but in general, that was beneficial for him and what he needed.”

Lagway has been heavily criticized this season for his poor play, despite being a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate. Following the Miami game, Lagway put out a Tim Tebow-like promise speech to the media, guaranteeing that his and the team’s play will be fixed and this season will get turned around.

That energy carried into the bye week practices, where the focal point became getting Lagway on track. Napier saw a different play-caller than the one he saw heading into the bye, specifically at last Thursday’s practice, where he saw Lagway’s best outing.

“He was really sharp Thursday, and that’s important going into a couple of days off,” Napier said. “I see the look in (No.) 2’s eye, I think that’s important. That’s ultimately, we’re trying to do our best for him in terms of creating an environment where he can continue to get back in his rhythm.”

While most of Lagway’s struggles have been pointed toward rust, others blame the struggles on Napier and the in-game play calling this season. Napier has been under fire all season for his comments about remaining the team’s primary play-caller despite cries for him to give up the duties.

“There’s a lot of teams out there this weekend that struggled, and there’s going to be criticism when you’re not as productive and that contributes to the team not winning, no different than when you give up a lot of points, there’s criticism on the other side,” Napier said. ”We’ve got to play complementary football.”

He said his staff always uses bye weeks to meet, review which calls are working, and decide what needs to change. It is something Florida did a season ago and found success shortly after. 

Napier said that having that kind of communication is important to the overall team’s chances of winning.

“Great teams, great staff, your players have a voice. You’re trying to empower your people and give them ownership and their responsibility,” Napier said. “Certainly, we’ve done that. We did it last year. It’s one of the reasons we were able to continue to improve, and that’s the goal is to continue to improve as the season goes on. That’s the most important part. So …  It’s been healthy and much-needed. … It’s been positive.”

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