Billy Napier’s Secret Weapon For Utah. Not Playing The Game Before Its Time.

By BUDDY MARTIN

GatorBaitMedia.com Editor

It’s some of the best advice Florida’s two-time national championship coach ever received. And it made a huge difference in the way Meyer approached THE Ohio State. Did it win the game for the Gators? Probably not, but it played an important role in the 41-14 thumping of the Buckeyes.

“It made me rethink the entire practice plans,” Urban told me this week. “It broke preparation into three phases:

1. Fundamentals. 2. Preliminary Game Plan. 3. Game Plan.”

The lesson re-learned was patience. We don’t always get what we want when we want it. Which is what the biblical scripture (Galatians 4:4-7) references with “in the fullness of time.” It will happen. Eventually. At the appropriate time. Wait.

“Don’t play that game before January 8th at 8 p.m.”

--Lou Holtz to Urban Meyer, December 2006, a few weeks before the BCS National Championship.

You don’t have to explain that to Billy Napier.

His impeccable sense of timing was nothing short of bombastic last week when he whipped out the names of four 4-star commitments like he was ordering at Starbucks. And then he opened the gates of Heaven(er) – a palatial complex that could never have even been imagined by the likes of Knute Rockne, Gen. Robert Neyland or Bronco Nagurski.

Or for that matter, even Steve Spurrier or Shane Matthews.

You could see the joy on the faces of the Gator football players as they swung open the doors of the $85M facility for all UF athletes and romped through it with the look of “Is this real, or am I dreaming it?”

They say you can play a virtual live football game against a video of your man in the Gator Room, which players are raving about.

Never mind the barber shop, cryogenics room and other bright shiny things. The lounge-chair lockers with all the necessities for electronic plug-ins are so enticing that some players may never go home for the night.

Shane Matthews: Nap time was different (UAA)

“I remember we put all our gear – dirty jock strap, helmet, etc. – in a mesh bag and laid it on the floor,” Matthews recalled of the early 1990s. “Then if I wanted to grab a 10-minute nap before the game, that was my pillow. You can imagine how that felt – and how it smelled.”

Just the short cuts of having the weight room, meeting rooms, video room within an Anthony Richardson touchdown pass distance is estimated to save 36 minutes a day. Supposedly, the NCAA mandates that coaches only get 20 hours a week for “athletic-related activities.”

“Efficiency,” said Napier.

“Efficiency,” echoed players like veteran Trey Dean. “You walk in the (Gator) room and simulate the game as another plus on your opponent, because we know the more times you get the more game reps in your head, it’s going to make the game easier. Practice makes perfect. Preparation prevents poor performance."

In all my years of writing, reporting and talking sports, I don’t remember such a momentum swing by a team, coach or program without so much as seeing the first snap of a game.

Some people close to the Gator program are left scratching their heads and wondering whether Napier could have possibly orchestrated the recruiting bonanza to be unveiled concurrently with the crown jewel facility.

Some of that “fullness of time” patience has got to rub off on those of us who want to see that Utah game right now, right here!

Not to pop the balloons and rain on the Orange & Blue parade, because the Sept. 3, 7 p.m. game has created the biggest buzz around the Swamp since the beginning of The Mosquito.

The question remains, however: Was last week’s bonanza just a temporary momentum changer, or a paradigm shift?

Grand as it might have felt, none of those off-field victories last week will translate to wins on the field this season – unless you count mood. All the commitments are for next year. Sure, all of it will help recruiting, but those new recruits won’t be putting up points or making stops against Utah.

As sorely as it was needed to help bring the fans in out of the cold, here is the reality check:

Utah is very good at football, with a coach who is very good at coaching and 17 returning starters who are very good at playing – nine of them all-Pac 12 off the conference champions who barely lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, 48-45. (One of the Utes’ featured newcomers is 5-7 running back Jaylon Glover from Lakeland, ugh a 4-star running back who scored 80 touchdowns for Lake Gibson.)

Which is why the guys in Las Vegas, who are very good at evaluating point spreads, have made the Utes a field goal or so favorites – and, yes in The Swamp, where you’ll probably still be able to fry an egg on the bench by kickoff.

Kyle Whittingham knows ball. (Utah U. Photo)

Don’t make light of Coach Kyle Whittingham’s “turn up the heat” practices because he’s extremely good at prep and has lasted 17 years at this coaching business in an era where some guys last only 17 games.

Whittingham is not providing the media with a depth chart.

Meanwhile, Napier is putting the finishing touches on his three-deep as he explained this week, deciding who will be getting the majority of the reps these final 10 days of practice and, ultimately, the last two scrimmages.

Then it’s time to play that game. As counted down by the guy who has “quality controlled every second” of fall practice, according to a Billy Napier assistant. Right about then is when we’ll know it has reached The Fullness of Time status.