Billy Napier: "We're built to be sustainable, repeatable"

What used to be one of the more fun days in all of college sports – National Signing Day, the first Wednesday of February – was like going to Baskin-Robbins where they have 29 flavors of ice cream and being served a scoop of vanilla, probably sugar free and in a cup. Nowhere was National Signing Day as dull or boring as the University of Florida. Billy Napier didn’t have a single new player or any further changes to his coaching staff to announce. He certainly didn’t have to spend more time in the spin cycle than your basic Maytag trying to explain away an NIL public relations disaster that a year ago was akin to the Titanic going down in the North Atlantic.

Exciting it wasn’t, but we knew that at 11:30 when Napier walked into the room minus his signature three-day growth of beard. A clean-shaven Napier was perhaps the most exciting revelation of the day, yet it wasn’t without some rather candid moments describing how the transfer portal has changed recruiting and how the University of Florida has grown in a positive direction from the Jaden Rashada NIL fiasco that has the enquiring minds of the NCAA’s men in blue suits knocking on the doors of The Heav.    

Napier explained that he couldn’t get into the details of the NCAA investigation. That didn’t stop Tennessee, which went scorched earth in its response when word that that $8 million NIL deal quarterback Nico Iamaleava has the Kojaks and Colombos of the NCAA picking up Marriott Rewards points in Knoxville. The Vols have reason for a scorched earth response since they’re already on NCAA probation, but give them credit for creativity. Who else could have turned 238 recruiting violations into more than $4 million in savings? Tennessee wanted to fire football coach Jeremy Pruitt but didn’t want to pay a hefty buyout, so it turned itself in, threw itself on the mercy of the NCAA courts and got probation plus an $8 million fine. It would have cost at least $12 million to fire Pruitt without cause, hence at last $4 million saved.

Florida’s saving grace could be that no money ever changed hands with Rashada. That doesn’t change the fact that amateurs in a collective and at least one high profile booster with more money than brains created a perception that the Florida program is being run by the same terrorists that Norm Peterson swears took over his stomach and demanded beer for ransom. The Rashada ordeal was indeed a black eye but if you think there isn’t a list of NIL deals gone bad longer than your leg across the nation, then you’re terribly naïve.

In the year since Rashada and Florida divorced when the NIL war chest lacked the $13.8 million it contracted to bring him to Gainesville, the amateurs have been discarded in favor of a collective called Florida Victorious. It took time and effort to get to a point where Napier believes the Gators have done a good job of leveling the playing field.

“The amount of time and effort and energy that's been put into creating the system that we have in place now, I think probably took us about 18 months to get a pulse on the landscape and what it would require to be competitive but, more importantly, what our approach is going to be relative to who we want to be, the caliber of player that we need to compete and more importantly the type of people that you want to attract to your program,” Napier said. “I think to some degree the way we've structured this thing, we're built to be sustainable, repeatable.”

Getting a handle on NIL in spite of an NCAA that is all too willing to enforce rules that seem to change like the direction of the wind is just one problem that Napier and every other college football coach in the country deal with on a daily basis. The combination of an early signing period combined with NIL and a transfer portal that is nothing more than free agency on steroids have brought about changes that threaten not only football but all collegiate sports.

It's enough that Billy Napier goes to work every day wondering if we haven’t reached a point of no return. It’s like that way too often used analogy of once the toothpaste is out of the tube. Now that we have NIL (“Now It’s Legal”) and free agency removing all precepts of loyalty, many of the good values that college football can teach teeter on the verge of being lost forever.  

“I told staff yesterday at the staff meeting at 7:45, when I’m riding to work every morning I think the big thing for me is I would like to get back to the game’s about the players, it’s about the team,” Napier waxed nostalgically. “I think so much of this consumes your time and some of the things that are good about our game, I’m just hopeful we don’t lose those things. I think the game can teach you a lot about life. There’s a lot of intangibles and values we get to teach. I think the game has become a little bit more transactional – used to be a little more transformational. I think there’s an element to our game that I’m hopeful we get to keep.”

How the good things will be maintained is anybody’s guess. The NCAA hired politician Charlie Baker, a former walk-on basketball player on the Harvard freshman team, to solve NIL matters by going to Congress but NIL is only a portion of what is changing the college game. Congress, of course, had no solutions to offer. Since when is that a surprise?

NIL is here to stay. There are likely to be tweaks to the portal, but, like NIL, it isn’t going away. The calendar might be adjusted to at least make it easier for coaches to get a solid grip on how they deal with a roster that is constantly changing shape like an amoeba.

“I think this is much like the old junior college model to some degree where, ‘Okay, hey, here's the roster that we have, here are the issues on the team, here are the depth issues here, here's where we need immediate impact,'” Napier said, offering examples of how the transfer portal has benefitted the Gators the last two years. “When we first got here, we needed a running back, right? So Montrell Johnson came. We knew we needed offensive lineman, O'Cyrus Torrence. We needed a receiver, Ricky Pearsall. We needed a quarterback, Graham Mertz. You know, there's some success stories there.”

There have been 29 transfers since Napier arrived, 11 new ones that are enrolled and prepping for spring practice. Some have come and gone. Others are still around like Johnson, who heads into the fall as the leading returning rusher in the SEC, and Mertz, whose success was like a shot of Novocain to ease the pain of the Rashada fiasco. When the Gators take to the field for their season opener with Miami in the fall, it’s likely that 14 or 15 starters will be players who began their careers at another school.

As much as Napier hopes to build the Florida program on a foundation of talented high school and junior college recruits, the portal has changed the way he and every coach in the country builds a team.

“I do think from a sustainability standpoint, and just from a market value, overall big picture, I think you've got to draft your team, recruit your team, and then you answer questions with free agency,” Napier said. “And that's one cycle at a time, right? So you spend the recruiting cycle recruiting high school players, you get to the end, you know, the fluidity of your roster right before the portal, there's attrition and then you got to fill those spots. So, I think that it's much more complicated than it's ever been.”

Napier on the amount of NIL money the Gators are going to need on a yearly basis to compete with the Alabamas and Georgias of the SEC: “I think each cycle, the market changes, if that makes sense. I think we've seen an evolution. We're talking about drastic change every six months since I've been the coach here, if that makes sense. It took us a little bit of time there to get in position but I don't know that there's a number. I think that number grows every six months."

On adding Ron Roberts as “the head coach of defense” as part of a wholesale change that brings three new coaches to that side of the ball: “You think about Ron Roberts and what he brings to the table: veteran coach, been a head coach, been a coordinator and a play-caller. Austin and him, there's a mentor-type relationship there. And a ton of respect, mutual respect on both sides, so I think we get the wisdom … But this guy's mentored a million defensive coaches in his career, some of which are coordinator/play-callers in the NFL and college football. So I think it's a positive because I think the system that we run, Ron started that system at Louisiana … They call him the OG, the Godfather, whatever you want to call him. We get him back in the building and he’s going to make us better and he'll make the players better. His guys have always been productive, the guys that he coaches and the units that he coaches. So there’s a track record of really good defense and we're fortunate to have him.” 

The Gators are No. 4 nationally in returning production for 2024: “Yeah, I think ultimately the goal for a long time has been to build a veteran team. I think ultimately the playoff kind of proves that, to some degree. I think the two teams that played for it had really strong cultures, and I think they also had veteran teams, right? So it’s a process to get to where we want to go. We’re right in the middle of that. Part of that is building an experienced roster — continuity in system, experienced roster, the height, length and speed to win the matchups. Ultimately I think we’ve got to continue to get better here. We’ve got to grow up, and there’s got to be some maturity. This offseason will be a part of that. But we’re going to start in a much better place. All these guys that played – first-time starters, freshmen, sophomores last year — they start this offseason with a ton of experience and wisdom. I think that leadership component, too, with the talented group of rookies coming in, I think that’s good for the Gators.”

On Tulane transfer safety DJ Douglas: “DJ Douglas is a player that we're excited about, the safety from Tulane. He's impressed so far. He's got a temperament about him. He's a leader, He's a good communicator. Think there's some continuity in the system he played in and he's an alpha and he's a worker. His work ethic has impressed so far. He’s 6-foot, 205, came from Thompson High School in Alabama, which is a really good football program. And then certainly playing at Tulane for Coach Fritz, there's a ton of respect there in terms of the type of program that they run.”

On Alabama transfer corner Jameer Grimsley: “Grimsley, we all know is 6-foot-2 and change. He's like 190 pounds. He's a two way player, a guy that played receiver as well. But big, long corner, heavy handed, balls skills, was a little bit banged up as a senior but I think we feel really good about the skill set there. Certainly keeping a player from the state of Florida at home. And Jameer is a Gator. He grew up dreaming of playing for the Gators and we were able to get that done.”

On Washington transfer safety Asa Turner:  “Asa Turner, 26 starts, 6-foot-2 and change. I think he’s 208, productive, good tackler, leader on the team. Had a voice. I think we really went for high character, leadership traits, production in the portal. That was kind of the theme of the year. Like okay, if we're going to add players at this point in their career, they need to really be team oriented and high character, bring some things to the team other than just the production on the field. So, I think we've learned that a little bit over time. I think it's so far so good in that regard.”  

On Northern Illinois transfer EDGE George Gumbs: “Gumbs is 6-4, he weighs like 242, unique story right started as a walk-on, Chicago Simeon HS. Started as a walk-on receiver, moved to tight end and then last year made the move to pass rusher, and then kind of took off and had a great year, so we’re getting a two-year player that’s got some traits there, maybe could help us on third down, and I think his best football in terms of being a defensive football player is in front of him.”

On South Carolina transfer Grayson “Pup” Howard: “Good there to get Pup Howard back. I think with Pup we were really close, like one phone call away, in the beginning. I think Pup, Pup walking around here at 6-foot-4, 240 inside backer, you know and just the intelligence, that he brings, the character, the work ethic. I mean the guy is wired right, he’s what you want, so, we need more of that, we’ve got to keep the good players in our state at home and it’s a good win for us to get him back.”

On NT D’Antre Robinson, flipped from Texas: “… Grew up a Gator. Kind of a unique dynamic with the defensive line coach felt like we were really close the first time, and then able to get him back … 6-3, 315 pounds, lean, twitchy, could play on all three downs. I think he’s got good things in front of him and a lot of work to do.”