Billy Napier's my way approach could produce an exceptional 2025

Billy Napier at SEC Media Days (UAA Photo)

“Regrets, I've had a few

But then again, too few to mention

I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way” – “My Way” lyrics by Paul Anka, made famous by Frank Sinatra

Billy Napier showed up at SEC Media Days in Atlanta a quiet portrait of confidence. ESPN and oddsmakers consider the Florida Gators a six or seven win team. The latest from Las Vegas is 6.4 wins as if there is a way to win 6.4 games. That would put Napier squarely on the hot seat, which is the same place he’s been since he was named the successor to Dan Mullen back in December of 2022.

For a coach who supposedly needs a dry ice fanny pack, Napier sounded nothing like a coach who feels his job is in jeopardy. He wasn’t boastful. He’s never sounded over-confident in any way. He is the coach who has the longest winning streak in the Southeastern Conference (4 games) and he has a roster that several of the SEC Network commentators have declared is loaded.

“It’s the most talented team we’ve had since we’ve been in Gainesville,” Napier told the SEC Network crew. “Yeah, and when I say that I’m talking about two deep, right? There’s not many players in the two deep that haven't played, and then I think there's young players that could really change the game here in year one.”

It’s kind of like Todd Golden said at a breakfast meeting last July: “We got some dudes.”

Florida does have some dudes and look how Billy Napier has gone about collecting them. Rather than spend gazillions in the transfer portal, hoping and praying everybody (a) gets along and (b) can produce in a brand new environment with new coaches and teammates, Napier has done it his way. Now, no one is saying the Gators aren’t spending NIL money because they are. Maybe not as much as some others and certainly on transfers, however.

For the most part, the money is being spread among the guys who Napier and his staff recruited. On Florida’s anticipated two-deep for when fall camp begins in a couple of weeks there are only eight transfers, only two of which are newbies. All the others are in at least their second year in the system.

When Billy Napier talks about doing it his way, this is how he goes about describing it.

“When I look around those team meetings, we recruited every kid on our team, outside of about six or eight guys,” he said. And some of those guys are absolutely the best … I see the individual sitting in that seat. I remember sitting in their home. I remember going to their school. I know their parents and I think that changes the dynamic a little bit.

“… There's a confidence that they could play with anybody. And I think that's the biggest difference, is our process is working for them. They’re observing players get better, they're observing people achieve at a high level and I think that belief is powerful. Man, you can say what you want to say, we've all been in these locker rooms. When the players look around, and they trust the people in that room, and they believe that they can go toe to toe with anybody that's half the battle. Belief is a huge deal. And one thing that I love hearing you talk about was the developing of young men, it's not about being transactional, which everything feels so transactional in this day and age, you're sticking to your guns, you're going out and you're developing guys, you're getting them in high school, bringing them in … and you're seeing that growth and that maturity, and those opportunities.”

In DJ Lagway, Napier has a quarterback that turned down multi-million dollar opportunities to transfer. There are whispers from some rather good sources who say Georgia was willing to fork over $8 million to try to poach Lagway from the Gators. Given some of the money that’s being thrown around there is no reason to disbelieve.

The Gators may have the best collection of skill people in the country. There isn’t a team in the SEC that can match Florida’s top two running backs (Jadan Baugh and Ja’Kobi Jackson). Then there are the receivers. When the SEC Network people mentioned Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and UCLA transfer J. Michael Sturdivant, Napier responded with a rather sly grin that didn’t go unnoticed.

“We have more playmakers than we’ve had and look, Chim Dike, Elijhah Badger did great for us last year and both are off to the NFL,” Napier said. “And, we had (Ricky) Pearsall two years ago, but we added five new players to that room. Nobody’s talking about Trey Wilson coming back  … he’s a difference maker for us.”

The O-line is led by first team All-America center Jake Slaughter, so good he might be a shoo-in for the Remington Trophy. This unit (LT Austin Barber, LG Knijeah Harris, Slaughter, RG Damieon George Jr., RT Bryce Lovett) might be as good as any in the entire country.

Defense? Media sees that as a potential weakness. Napier, not so much.

“We’ve got a chance to be really good at every level of the defense and I think it’s more about who the twos are,” he said. “I think about LJ McCray in year two. I think about Kameron James, his growth, George Gumbs, going in his second year of the program. Linebacker, we’ve got four guys that I would consider starters: Myles Graham, Jaden Robinson, Pup Howard Aaron Childs, and then we've got a bunch of guys in the secondary that have played not only one year but multiple years of football. We do need to develop the depth of our team on defense. I think there's rookie players in the secondary now, who’s the third and fourth safety, who's the fourth corner … but I do think, in general, we’ve got a chance to be really good at all parts of our defense.”

The Gators could be and should be really good on both sides of the ball and special teams feature All-SEC long snapper Rocco Underwood, placekicker Trey Smack, who is 35-42 on field goals in his career, and punter Tommy Donnan, whose 42.6-yard average at Michigan should increase substantially kicking in good weather.

So why don’t the majority in the national media and the oddsmakers in Las Vegas see Florida as something more than a projected 6.4 wins in 2025? Some of that could be a schedule that includes road trips to LSU and Miami on back-to-back weekends in September, a home game with Texas and the annual Jacksonville encounter with Georgia.

Some see that schedule as brutal. In reality, it’s manageable as long as the Gators aren’t hit with a rash of injuries.

But, the second, and perhaps biggest reason so many have such low expectations is Napier himself. They look at losing seasons in years one and two at UF and the rocky start to 2024 before the ship was righted and the Gators went on that tear. There were at least eight winnable games that the Gators found ways to lose in the first two seasons. Last season, the Gators were poised to beat Tennessee in Knoxville when Graham Mertz went down with an injury. The Gators were ahead of Georgia when Lagway was injured and the score was 20-20 last in the fourth quarter with a walk-on at QB before Georgia pulled away.

Instead of 19-19 through three years, Napier could just as easily be 29-9 or something close to it. Perceptions would certainly be different if that were the case, but whether the Gators are even-steven for three years or 10 games better, Napier would have still gone about building the program the same way.

He’s done it by changing the football culture and that starts with relationships.

“The relationship piece is real,” he said. “I don't care what anybody says, this game's played by people. There's a human element to the game, and I think that you got to build that connection and that camaraderie, that chemistry. If you played with a guy for multiple years, you lived on the same hole in the rookie dorm, you know.”

The Gators have those guys who have grown up together. They will be bigger, faster and stronger than any team Florida has put on the field in years. The doubters are plentiful just the same. The only way that will change is with wins on the playing field.

Billy Napier knows it. Don’t let the quiet demeanor or a face that tends to make deadpan look downright joyful fool you. The Gators have the players. They’ve got the culture that extends off the field to the locker room and on to the playing field in place.

And, they believe, which, as Napier noted, is a powerful force. Belief stems from a head coach with a my way approach.

Will it work in 2025? Something about Napier’s very quiet but noticeable confidence in Atlanta says yes.