For Billy Napier, Gators what a difference three months can make

True confession time.

Things were really bad back on September 14, so bad that Jacksonville sports talk radio guru Terry Norvelle quipped, “Has any coach in college football history been fired during a weather delay.”

Texas A&M led the Gators 10-0 and there were only 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter when the game was halted for a lightning delay. The Gator Nation was not at all happy with Billy Napier. I can’t tell you how many texts I got from Gator fans who said they were praying that the lightning would continue causing the game to be postponed to avoid further embarrassment.

No such luck.

It’s not that the Aggies were all that good. It’s just that the Gators were playing so poorly they would have made an all-star team from the homeless shelter league look like world beaters. When play resumed after a 47-minute delay freshman quarterback Marcel Reed looked like the second coming of Lamar Jackson as he ran and passed the Aggies to a 33-20 win that was nowhere as close as the 13-point spread would indicate. The Aggies piled up 488 yards, 300 on the ground. Contrast that to the Gators’ 301 yards of which 52 were on the ground.

Marcel Reed was Gallagher’s Sledge-o-matic. He was a slicer, a dicer, a chopper and a hopper all rolled up into a package that the Gators couldn’t seem to tackle. He threw to receivers so wide open you might have thought they had the plague because Florida’s secondary refused to get within 10 yards of them.

Offensively, the Gators couldn’t block, therefore they couldn’t run the ball and had Graham Mertz in his feets don’t fail me now mode from bell to bell. It was pathetic.

Afterward, I wrote that it is time for the Gators to bite the bullet on the gozillion dollars it would take to not only pay the buyouts on Billy Napier and his coaching staff but go hire a coach whose team wouldn’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

Here we are three months later and I confess I was wrong. I didn’t like the path the Gators were on three weeks into the season but I do like the path Napier has the Gators on, particularly after the final three weeks. I’ve gone from believing Billy Napier needs to go back to coaching in the Sun Belt to believing he really can restore the Florida football program to a championship level.

Following that Texas A&M game, I was of the opinion that Billy Napier is a nice guy whose concept of building a winning program might have worked 50 years ago, but no longer. After watching the Gators go from a train wreck looking for a place to happen to a 7-5 team that could wind up in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville or the bowl formerly known as the Outback in Tampa, I’ve changed my mind completely.

For years I have theorized that SEC and national championships are won by teams with a few Boy Scouts and a majority of borderline psychopaths. Case in point the Georgia Bulldogs whose patron saint is Otis Campbell, a regular on “The Andy Griffith Show” who regularly checked himself in to the Mayberry, North Carolina jail. Georgia leads the SEC and perhaps the nation in players familiar with the Athens police blotter. Nobody in Athens or the state of Georgia seems to mind all the arrests as long as Kirby Smart keeps the Bulldogs in the hunt for SEC and national championships.

Georgia beat Texas in overtime yesterday to win the SEC. That’s the same Georgia team that lost at Alabama and Ole Miss, the same one that I am convinced Florida beats if DJ Lagway doesn’t go down wtih an injury in the second quarter in Jacksonville. The Gators proved at Tennessee and against Georgia that they’re capable of competing with teams that will be in the College Football Playoff. Once Lagway returned from the injury suffered against Georgia the Gators finished the season 3-0. The much maligned defense swarmed all over the quarterbacks at LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State.

The team you saw playing so poorly against the Aggies was dominating the last three games. The future that looked so grim in September looks capable of making a playoff run next year without a who’s who from the Alachua County Jail.

Napier and the Gators may very well be on the verge of proving championships can be won with kids who go to class, graduate and spend a portion of their free time visiting hospitals and volunteering at the Bread of the Mighty food bank. The Gators aren’t there yet, but the way the season ended has me convinced it can and will be done.

Sometimes it takes only a Moses arriving to lead a program to the promised land. Sometimes it takes some wandering in the desert before crossing the river to life among the contenders. I think DJ Lagway follows in the footsteps of quarterbacks like Steve Spurrier, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Chris Leak and Tim Tebow. They led, the Gators followed and emerged from the college football wilderness.

This kid is special. He oozes charisma that makes teammates want to play their best for him and recruits flip to Florida to play with him. Lagway makes throws that not many quarterbacks college or pro can make and he wins. The Gators were 5-1 in games he started during the regular season. His combination of charisma and freaky athletic talent helped Napier flip 11 recruits in the final two weeks before signing day to move the Gators to the point they can reach out and touch the top ten classes nationally.

And it doesn’t end there. The Gators are going to be a hot ticket destination next week when some of the top studs who have put their names in the transfer portal start making their decisions. Receivers, linemen, defenders alike ... they see a quarterback who is going to take a team to new heights and they want to be a part of it.

Take a look at the returning quarterbacks in the SEC next year. Do you see one better than DJ Lagway? Carson Beck will be gone at Georgia. Jalen Milroe will be gone at Alabama. Jaxson Dart will be gone at Ole Miss and Garrett Nussmeier at LSU. You’re nuts if you think Nico Iamaleava at Tennessee is better than DJ. While I concede that Arch Manning at Texas is a real talent, I haven’t seen enough to convince me he’s better than DJ Lagway.

This is a team, this is a program that had zero in the way of momentum three months ago. Now it seems the Gators are a team that is going to finish with eight wins, quite a contrast to the 4.5 wins the oddsmakers in Las Vegas predicted back in August.

So, I confess. I was wrong back in September when I called for Scott Stricklin to bite the bullet on the money and replace Billy Napier. Now, take a moment, be honest and ask yourself these questions: Did you think Napier should have been fired back in September? Do you believe Stricklin made the right decision? Do you believe DJ Lagway can lead the Gators to the Promised Land?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

1. Oregon (13-0); 2. Georgia (11-2); 3. Boise State (12-1); 4. Arizona State (11-2); 5. Notre Dame (11-1); 6. Texas (11-2); 7. Ohio State (10-2); 8. Tennessee (10-2); 9. Penn State (11-2); 10.  SMU (11-2); 11. Indiana (11-1); 12. Clemson (9-3)

First round

No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Notre Dame

No. 11 Indiana at No. 6 Texas

No. 10. SMU at No. 7 Ohio State

No. 9 Penn State at No. 8 Tennessee

Second round

Penn State-Tennessee winner vs. Oregon

SMU-Ohio State winner vs. Georgia

Indiana-Texas winner vs. Boise State

Clemson-Notre Dame winner vs. Arizona State

SEC FOOTBALL: PORTAL DEPARTURES/ARRIVALS

Alabama: LB Keanu Koht (RJR); CB Jahlil Hurley (FR); WR Kobe Prentice (JR); DL Jehiem Oatis (JR)

Arkansas: WR Jaedon Wilson (RJR) to UCLA; QB Malachi Singleton (FR); TE Tyrus Washington (SO); TE Var’keyes Gumms (JR); OG Patrick Kutas (JR); TE Luke Hasz (SO); OG Josh Braun (SR); S Nico Davillier (JR)

Auburn: DL Gage Keys (RJR); TE Grant Hidalgo (RJR); QB Holden Geriner (RSO); OG EJ Harris (SO); P Gabe Russo (FR); WR Camden Brown (JR); TE Micah Riley (SO); EDGE T.J. Lindsey (FR); S Caleb Wooden (JR);

FLORIDA: DE Justus Boone (RJR); OL Mike Williams (RFR); EDGE Quincy Ivory (RJR); EDGE Bryce Capers (SO); WR Andy Jean (RFR); CB Ja’Keem Jackson (SO); DL Kelby Collins (SO); OG Christian Williams (RSO); TE Arlis Boardingham (RSO); LB Deuce Spurlock (RSO)

Georgia: CB Julian Humphrey (SO)

Kentucky: DL Keeshawn Silver (RJR); LS Walker Himebauch (SO); CB Avery Stuart (FR); WR Dane Key (JR); LB Jayvant Brown (SO); EDGE Tommy Ziesmer (FR); TE Khamari Anderson (SO); TE Tanner Lemaster (FR); OT Courtland Ford (SR); WR Barion Brown (JR); WR Anthony Brown-Stephens (SO); OT Ben Cristman (RJR); EDGE Noah Matthews (SO); EDGE Tyreese Fearby (RSO)

LSU: WR London Ibieta (SO); QB Rickie Collins (RFR); WR CJ Daniels (RJR); S Kylin Jackson (FR); WR Shelton Sampson JR (FR); LB Xavier Atkins (FR)

Mississippi State: QB Chris Parson (RFR); WR Creed Whittemore (SO); WR JJ Harrell (FR); CB Jayven Williams (SO) from Kennesaw State; EDGE Ty Cooper (JR); LB John Lewis (RJR); OT Makylan Pounders (JR); LB Tabias Hinton (FR); WR Antonio Harmon (JR)

Oklahoma: WR Jaquaize Pettaway (SO); QB Jackson Arnold (SO); RB Kalib Hicks (FR); WR Nic Anderson (SO); RB Emeka Megwa (JR); TE Bauer Sharp (JR)

Ole Miss: S Key Lawrence (RSR)

South Carolina: LB Bangally Kamara (RSR) to Kansas; LB Mohamed Kaba (RSR); WR Tyshawn Russell (FR); TE Connor Cox (SO)

Tennessee: OG Vysen Lang (FR); RB Khalifa Keith (SO); WR Kaleb Webb (SO); CB Jordan Matthews (RFR); LB Jalen Smith (RFR)

Texas: WR Johntay Cook II (SO); DL Jaray Bledsoe

Texas A&M: DL Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (SO); QB Conner Weigman (RSO); WR Cyrus Allen (JR); TE Jaden Platt (FR); QB Jaylen Henderson (JR); OT Aki Ogunbiyi (JR); OT Hunter Erb (SO)

Vanderbilt: LB Jeffrey Ugochukwu (JR); QB Nate Johnson (JR); EDGE BJ Diakate (JR); LB Steve Sannieniola (JR); DL Devin Lee (SR); OT Gunnar Hansen (SR)

COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY: NEW HIRES EDITION

UCF: Scott Frost, who was 19-7 in two years including 13-0 in 2017, is coming back for a second stint.

Appalachian State: The Mounties are hiring Dowell Loggains, the offensive coordinator at South Carolina.

Charlotte: The new head coach is Tim Albin, who led Ohio U to the Mid-American Conference title this year. Albin went 25-8 at Northwest Oklahoma, where he won an NAIA national title, and 33-19 in four years at Ohio where he’s won 10 games three straight years.

Florida International: The new head coach will be former FAMU head coach and current Duke assistant Willie Simmons.

Utah State: Bronco Mendenhall has been hired from New Mexico. Prior to that he was head coach at BYU and Virginia.