Napier confident Gators have the talent and right attitude

(Photo by Chris Spears)

Unlike the previous three years when his press conferences were running over with platitudes, there is something remarkably different about Billy Napier this August. There is an air of self-assurance in the way he’s dealing with the media. He doesn’t gush about a roster that he has carefully constructed from the ground up but when he answers questions, it is like those old E.F. Hutton commercials. Remember them? “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

When Billy Napier speaks these days, it’s best to listen. It’s sort of like last summer when Todd Golden confidently declared “We’ve got some dudes” one July morning over breakfast at the Mi Apa eatery on 34^thStreet in Gainesville. Now, Billy is too conservative and much too wise to go into a whole lot of detail about his 2025 Florida football team, but he does indeed have some dudes.

A lot of them in fact. Enough that he believes this could be that breakout year Florida fans have been waiting for ever since he was hired from Louisiana back in December of 2021. It has taken two seasons of heartbreaking and often confounding losses, a season salvaged by four consecutive wins at the end of 2024 and careful evaluation to find players that fit exactly what he’s trying to accomplish to get to this point.

Talent? There is plenty and if quarterback DJ Lagway can stay healthy the Gators will have the ability to light up scoreboards. The Gators might not have to win games in shootout fashion because this is year two with the Godfather of the Creeper, defensive coordinator Ron Roberts. The defensive lights came on in November of 2024. If Ron Roberts history repeats itself, then this will be a year in which the defense is formidable.

“I think we’re on a mission here to play championship caliber defense … We are on an absolute mission to play defense at a high level,” Napier said Monday evening at a Heavener Center press conference. Napier explained how the defense continually improved during his four seasons as the head coach at Louisiana. Roberts was his defensive coordinator the first two seasons (2018-19). In year one, the Ragin’ Cajuns gave up 34.2 points and 435.4 yards per game. Year two, they gave up 19.7 points and 371.8 yards, a difference of two touchdowns and six first downs per game. Year one, Louisiana was No. 97 nationally in total defense, No. 105 in scoring defense. Year two, the Ragin’ Cajuns were No. 47 in total defense, No. 18 scoring defense.

Roberts moved to Baylor in 2020 where the Bears gave up 29.2 points and 383.4 yards per game. In 2021, the Bears gave up 18.3 points and 346 yards, a difference of a touchdown, a field goal and four first downs per game. Year one, Baylor was No. 48 in total defense, No. 62 in scoring defense. Year two, Baylor improved to No. 32 in total defense, No. 10 in scoring defense.

Once Roberts took over the defense from co-coordinator Austin Armstrong last year, the defense improved markedly. In the final four games, the Gators gave up an average of 13 points and 321.8 yards per game. In those four games the Gators had 19 sacks (39 for the year) and 12 forced turnovers (25 for the year).

Now that the Gators have gotten the hang of the creeper defense that Roberts runs, there is reason to expect defense played at the championship level of which Napier speaks. This is year two and Roberts defenses historically improve. Just like the offense, there is no shortage of talent on hand to get the job done.

But an exceptional offense and a defense capable of such disruption are no guarantees of a championship team. Talent alone rarely gets the job done. Championship teams learn to park any and all sense of entitlement at the door and leave it there. Eliminate the what’s in it for me attitude and the betterment of the team becomes the driving force.

"I would say that's one of the things I'm most proud of about our football team,” Napier said. “We don't have those issues, in my opinion, we don't have distractions. I think that these guys appreciate everyone's role within the organization, how they treat people. As simple as it sounds, leaving your space clean before you go home and having a healthy respect for the people that take care of the building, as simple as that sounds. How you treat the equipment staff, how you treat the academic staff, the trainers, the video staff, everyone that is here way before you get here, and they're here way after you leave here. They're here to serve you. I think we have an emphasis on treating those people with respect and gratitude. And hopefully that sticks, and they can take that with the rest of the way. But I do think that's one of the good things about this team. Nobody feels entitled with what they have."

The combination of a team that has the right attitude and talent at all levels is very, very dangerous. Talent alone doesn’t get the job done, but a team that has more than enough talent and few, if any distractions, can go a long way.

When Napier surveys his team, he sees one that is aware of what it will take to compete for and possibly win a championship.  

“I think they've bought into the fact that hey, look, we have ability,” Napier said. “There's enough talent here to go toe-to-toe with anybody, and it's gonna be about the character of the men that are leading the team and that are representing the team.

“And look, there's no guarantee. You have to invest the entire offseason, and then you have to prepare each week, and then you're presented with an opportunity to go toe-to- toe and compete. And you have to earn it on the field in that three or four hour block, right? So there's no promise. It's just an opportunity and you gotta go make the most of that.”

There is no promise of a championship here, but the opportunity certainly has presented itself. The Gators play eight teams that made it to a bowl game a season ago. Seven of the teams on the schedule are currently ranked in the Associated Press top 25. The Gators will open the season ranked No. 15. Starting with the third week of the season, the Gators have a 4-game gauntlet that is easily the toughest any team in the country will face and three of the four games are on the road – September 13 at No. 9 LSU; September 20 at No. 10 Miami; October 4 No. 1 Texas; and October 11 at No. 19 Texas A&M.

Against a schedule this tough, the Gators have to be driven by a team-first mentality. What’s in it for me attitudes are contagious, capable of destroying team chemistry like a plague. They create doubt and destroy the kind of trust it takes for all 11 players on the field to work together as a cohesive unit.

“So I think the mentality here is that we know the competition is coming and it's important that we prepare a certain way to be in the best position when we do get to the game. And then spot the ball, and we have to earn it one play at a time, one possession at the time, and play complimentary football and hopefully that leads to winning football.

“So, there's no promises in this game. You prepare, and then you go compete, and you gotta go earn it with the time comes. So we could do everything perfect, but there's no promise of getting the outcome you want when you get to the game. So I think this group understands that, and they look forward to competing this fall.”

Lagway update: “Today this is the most, he took team reps today which was good and obviously he was hitting. He had a great full stack of throws last week four days in a row, didn’t scrimmage but did quite a bit of work that day, so yeah he’s feeling much better and he’s moving around well.”

Progress since fall practice began: “I think we went into training camp with kind of some assumptions about, you know, where we needed to make work. I think we've seen some of those things come to light. We need to get healthy. You know, I think some of those positional battles that we talked about, I think we have made progress in those areas.”

It's been a good training camp: “I like where we're at. I think the training camp has been positive. We got to get a few healthy here down the stretch. But in general, it's a greater good game. You gotta go to the deep water, you know, and I think we did that. There's always gonna be some casualties that come with that, but I think, overall, we got out of it pretty healthy, and I feel good about where we're at."