BUDDY MARTIN BLOG: It Was A ‘Good Night’ For The New Coach In An Authentic Orange And Blue Game
Updated: Apr 19, 2022
“Thursday night football … Gainesville, Florida … It was electric.”
GAINESVILLE – It was just a spring football game. So what can we really take away from a beauty pageant? As Jerry Seinfeld said to NBC on the pitch for his hugely successful series, “It’s a show about nothing.”
Nothing? Not so fast my Gator friends. It was NOT nothing. Even Billy Napier himself bragged on what a special night it was coaching his first game in The Swamp:
“Thursday night football … Gainesville, Florida … It was electric.” Napier said the atmosphere exceeded his expectations.
I wouldn’t characterize it as “electric” – wait until Coach Napier gets a taste of 90,000-plus zealots in Ben Hill Griffin Church on the Sept. 3 opener vs. Utah – but there was a bit of a buzz about the first Orange and Blue Game on Steve Spurrier-Florida Field in three years. And kudos to those who went back to the original, proper title and decided to make it more like a football game than a county fair extravaganza. Authentic.
The reported-but-no-doubt bloated estimate of 45,000 in The Swamp included a good chunk of students able to attend because the game was rescheduled from Saturday in sort of a good faith gesture from Napier with his student constituency in hopes of creating a bond. It seemed to be the start of something. Because it was NOT nothing.
Even Napier said Thursday night’s return of an authentic Orange and Blue Game was “like mid-term exams,” except no grades.
Anthony Richardson was extremely impressive. And if you didn’t realize it by now, this young quarterback is the real deal. I don’t even care about these numbers: 18x24 passing for 207 yards. Two touchdown passes, one rushing, no turnovers. (More on him later with not such promising news.)
More importantly, Richardson looked the part with an auditioning cast around him which is awaiting the authenticity stamp. I liked what I saw among the newcomers, especially tight ends Noah Keeters and Dante Zanders and running back transfer Montrell Johnson.
Meanwhile, in my encyclopedia of Special Gator Quarterbacks I Have Seen And Written About, there is perhaps a page awaiting to be filled. I say “perhaps” because there are miles to go and promises to keep. He must prove he is durable, stay healthy, show good judgment and keep improving on his QB acumen.
There is no pun intended about the “miles,” but it’s a fitting metaphor of a dangerous path ahead, given that Richardson is going to court soon to tell the judge why he was recently allegedly clocked at 105 mph in his sleek new NIL-gifted sports car at 4 a.m. on Newberry Road in Gainesville.
On the scale of screwups by teenagers – he isn’t even 20 yet – this isn’t very exotic. Who among hasn’t felt the need for speed which prompted us to push the pedal to the metal on a lonely road in the shank of the evening?
Hell, I even got my old “Rusty Roach” Plymouth up to 90 one night. With the kind of car he was driving, that was only on cruise control. And as a friend who knows him well said, “Good thing he’s not a drinker.” So let’s not panic. Chalk it off to lesson learned.
Later, Richardson explained to Gators Online:
“I know I’m not perfect, but it was a mistake. I was speeding. My mom always tells me to drive safe because I can not only hurt myself but I can hurt other people. I shouldn’t have done it and I can definitely say I learned my lesson.”
Richardson told Nick de la Torre he and his family reached out to the coaching staff to make them aware of the ticket and began the process to handle it. His court date is scheduled for May 25.
“I talked to the team today,” Richardson said Friday night. “I let them know I’m gonna handle my business. I’m going to do everything right from this point forward. Doing something like that makes the team and the organization look bad and I don’t want that.”
Another hot button issue for Napier: Keeping players safe and out of trouble from now until fall practice.
But Napier also passes the look test: Looks like a coach. Walks like a coach. Acts like a coach. Must be a coach. From his “Nick Saban Position” watching on field from behind, he liked what he saw in the 34-0 route by the Blues over the Oranges. Especially in the competitive department.
“One thing about this group,” said Napier. “When you put the ball down, they’re going to compete.”
He also lauded his young and promising quarterback: “Anthony is a production of a lot of hard work. His approach has been first-class,” Napier said. “He communicated well and the ball went where it was supposed to go. The players around him played well. The pocket was clean. Guys caught the ball. It was a good day.”
So if you’re keeping score of Billy’s phases – wasn’t that the third he just finished? I can’t remember – Florida’s new coach is on schedule to deliver the goods after making almost-brilliant progress yet to be determined in the fall.
I like very much what I saw, heard and felt at The Swamp in his unofficial debut. As I listened to him being interviewed by Paul Finebaum a few hours before kickoff, I was struck by his introspective comments. And so was Finebaum, who I texted and he responded how much he was impressed.
“We have a long way to go and a lot to improve,” he told Finebaum. “I like what I see. The glaring issue is the depth issue.” And he once again stressed the need for leveraging of the transfer portal.
“Basically, we have made the bed and we’ve got to sleep in it,” he said.
At the same time, taking off the Orange and Blue lenses, we should be aware of how big the challenges are ahead for Napier in recruiting, NIL opportunities and the transfer portal.
“We’re very much in an adjustment period.”
There is one that goes almost unnoticed: The CEO-like qualities mandated for coaches who now must figure out how to coach and manage their respective “Army.”
Communication has to go from horse and buggy days to Star Wars in a hurry. Let me give you an example.
Much to his surprise, when a reporter queried Napier in the post-game interview about the so-called new “turnover chain” that had surfaced on the Gator sideline, he was caught flatfooted and unaware.
“Turnover chain?!! Nobody ran that by me! That ain’t gonna happen!” Napier said in one of the first impassioned comments we’ve heard from a guy who rarely raises his voice except on the field.
A tweet by Nick de la Torre set off a torrid Twitter response. My favorite was: “Scared Money Wears Chains. Gators Don’t.”
I inquired with de la Torre and the UF about who the coach or person was that placed some kind of chain necklace on Keeter after his touchdown that we all saw on TV (once we were able to unlock the mystery of how to find it on ESPN). Turns out de la Torre clarified in a tweet it wasn’t a “turnover chain” but a “team thing.” Not sure of the difference, except that the assistant coach who did it won’t be shipped off to Miami. (BTW, it was Frank Ogas of the player development staff who works with tight ends. But it won’t really matter.)
It might be helpful if somebody explained to us the difference between a real “turnover chain” and the “team thing.” Looks like one, acts like one – well, you know.
However, this does bring up two interesting questions:
1. How are coaches going to be challenged to stringently coach their minions in this permissive Wild Wild West culture? If you don’t allow turnover chains, are you an old stick in the mud who can’t relate to young fun-loving recruits?
2. How do you communicate to the 47th person on a 50-person staff, when some coaches are still trying to resolve the basic issues of how to simply get plays sent into the game so their eleven can get lined up right on the next play?
So let me stop here and give Napier a grade for his “Mid-terms.” He gets an A for planning and effort. They showed up. They looked like football team on the hoof. They played. They lined up properly and most of them hit the snap count. And they now appear on track for a measure of improvement — maybe even success. As for performance on the field, these 2022 Gators get an “I” as in “incomplete.” But I can’t wait for the finished product.
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