Thoughts of the Day: One More Day Left

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

It seems so long ago, that January night in 2009 when the Florida Gators ruled the football world by shutting down Oklahoma’s vaunted point-a-minute offense, holding the Sooners and Heisman Trophy quarterback Sam Bradford to a mere 14 points while Tim Tebow and the Florida offense put together a magnificent fourth quarter to seal the win. Back in those days, Florida fans never gave a second thought to the notion that the Gators were the most feared team in all of college football. Nobody ever thought there would be a 14-year championship drought.

So here we are, about to start another season, this one the second for head ball coach Billy Napier. Napier is the fourth football coach at Florida since Urban Meyer called it quits after the 2010 season. The three previous coaches – Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen – all arrived at Florida believing they could lead the Gators back to the promised land. Muschamp went 28-21, McElwain 22-15 and Mullen 34-15. All three had just enough success to make us believe along with them that the Gators would be back on top again. All three also couldn’t get the Gators over the hump.

And now it’s up to Napier, whose 6-7 year one was hardly what he or anyone else expected, but the only thing 2022 did was strengthen Napier’s resolve. There isn’t a moment of hesitation when he’s asked if Florida football can win championships again.

“It’s the reason I’m standing here today because I really believe it can be done again and we’re going to do it here,”

Billy Napier said Monday evening on the eve of an early departure to Dallas where the Gators will spend the night before resuming their journey to Salt Lake City on Wednesday. Under normal circumstances, departure date for the Thursday night game against 14th-ranked Utah would be Wednesday morning, but Hurricane Idalia forced a hasty change of travel plans.

The Gators are 6.5-point underdogs but there is a growing belief that maybe, just maybe, Napier has a team that could surpass the low expectations of a national media that seems to think a losing season is in store. Stewart Mandel, the college football editor of The Athletic, predicts a 3-9 season for the Gators, 1-7 in the SEC. Consider Mandel one of many who seem to think Napier is just a flip of a switch away from a hot seat if he has a losing season, but athletic director Scott Stricklin has made it clear that the revolving door of football coaches has to stop. In Napier he may have the perfect restoration specialist, an insanely well-organized and confident coach whose plan to rebuild the football program from the ground up may be ahead of schedule judging by the success on the recruiting trail.

Frank Bettger, the one-time Major League Baseball player turned self-help author, once said, “If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, neither will your prospect.” That may explain the recruiting success because Napier really believes in the University of Florida.

“We've got a very capable, fertile recruiting grounds and player production is off the charts,” Napier said. “We’ve got an actual brand. We have elite education. We have 500 million (actually thousand) living alumni, and we have an administration that has conviction about athletics. “There's a championship culture here within the athletic department. We happen to coach football, but football's not the only thing around here that wins championships. We live it around here, we breathe it. We're tasked with getting the Gators back in the game of football where we all know that they can be.”

He sounded like he was across the table from a 5-star recruit and his parents. He talked about growing up in north Georgia in the 1990s, the son of a legendary high school football coach, and how he was consumed with the college game including Steven Orr Spurrier, who went 122-27-1 from 1990-2001, winning a national championship (1996) and six SEC titles. He talked about how, as a young assistant coach in his first Division I job at Clemson, he watched how the Gators were the talk of the college football world.

“So well aware and believe in the place and I'm going to tell you something: the more people that I meet, the more motivated I am,” Napier said. “One of the things that’s unique is you settle in a place, the more people that I meet that tell me their story, that have great memories about the things that have been accomplished here in the past. When you got a guy like Mike Peterson (All-American linebacker at UF and NFL All-Pro) on your staff; Brandon Spikes (two-time All-American linebacker during the Urban Meyer days) is walking the hallways; you go all over the country and you speak to these Gator clubs and you see it in their eyes. That's a motivating factor. We're going to work hard and represent this place the right way. Got to go create a contender again. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Napier on a major area of improvement for 2023: “We’ve always taken great pride in being a team that doesn’t beat itself, not giving the other team anything relative to eliminating undisciplined penalties, eliminating mental errors, eliminating lack of effort, communication miscues, any fundamental or technique chinks in the armor. So our teams from the past have played that way and I anticipate us taking a step forward being more like that this year.”

Injury report for Utah: Listed as questionable are center Kingsley Eguakun and defensive tackle Chris McClellan. Jack Miller III is listed as the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart, but his availability is also questionable due to tendonitis in the rotator cuff of his throwing arm.

Surprise starters: On offense, wide receiver Kaliel Jackson (son of Willie, nephew of Terry), and true freshman tight end Tony Livingston. On defense, true freshman safety Jordan Castell.

UF volleyball: Gators move up to No. 8

The Gators moved up three places into the top ten of the latest AVCA poll with a date against No. 2 Stanford on the road tonight. The Gators are the highest-ranked SEC team with Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee also cracking the top 25.

Freshman Kennedy Martin was named SEC Overall Player of the Week and SEC Offensive Player of the Week while Anna Dixon was named co-SEC Defensive Player of the Week. In Florida’s two weekend wins, one of which was over then No. 8 Penn State, Martin had 45 kills and 22 blocks. Dixon had 32 blocks in the two games.

AVCA top 25: 1. Wisconsin 2-0; 2. Stanford 2-0; 3. Louisville 3-0; 4. Nebraska 3-0; 5. Minnesota 2-0; 6. Oregon 3-0; 7. Texas 1-1; 8. FLORIDA 2-0; 9. BYU 3-0; 10. Pittsburgh 2-1; 11. Georgia Tech 2-0; 12. Ohio State 3-0; 13. Houston 3-0; 14. Penn State 0-2; 15. Kentucky 1-1; 16. Baylor 0-2; 17. Washington State 2-1; 18. Rice 2-0; 19. Marquette 2-1; 20. Creighton 2-1; 21. Arkansas; 22. Western Kentucky 2-1; 23. Kansas 2-0; 24. Tennessee 3-0; 25. Purdue

UF soccer: Goldberg wins SEC weekly honors

Goalkeeper Lena Goldberg’s two shutout performances earned her SEC Defensive Soccer Player of the Week honors. Goldberg got a solo shutout in Florida’s 0-0 tie with Miami and then shared shutout honors with freshman Jayden Emmanuel in the 8-0 win over Stetson. Through four games, the Gators (3-0-1) have outscored opponents 11-0. Next up for the Gators is a Sunday match at Kennesaw State.

SEC football

No. 4 Alabama (0-0): Nick Saban still hasn’t named a starting quarterback for the season opener against Middle Tennessee State but most expect Jalen Milroe to get the call over Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner. Monday, Saban said, “He’s been more consistent in the way he’s played.”

Arkansas (0-0): Because of the high heat index expected for Saturday’s game with Western Carolina in Little Rock, game time has been changed from a 3 p.m. start to 12 noon. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+/SEC Network+.

Auburn (0-0): Hugh Freeze calls UMass head coach Don Brown one of the best defensive playcallers in the entire country. That UMass defense gave up 30 points and 459 yards to New Mexico State last week.

No. 1 Georgia (1-0): VegasOdds has Georgia favored by 44.5 points in its opener against D1AA UT-Martin. Most would take the over on that one.

Kentucky (0-0): Ohio State transfer O-lineman Ben Cristman and true freshman O-lineman Nik Hall are both out for the season with injuries.

No. 5 LSU (0-0): LSU is a slight 2.5-point favorite in its season opener against No. 8 Florida State at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

Mississippi State (0-0): At the season opener with Southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi State will pay tribute to former coach, the late Mike Leach.

Missouri (0-0): With Chad Bailey out at least three weeks, sophomore linebacker Dameon Wilson will play next to All-SEC Ty’Ron Hopper.

No. 22 Ole Miss (0-0): Running back Quinshon Judkins, who ran for 1,565 yards and 16 touchdowns last year as a true freshman, told The Rebel Walk, “I view myself as the best running back [in the nation]. What separates me is my speed, my change of direction … not only running around you but through you as well.”

South Carolina (0-0): There are ongoing battles for both offensive tackle spots. Sidney Fugar or Jaxon Hughes will be the starter at left tackle while Cason Henry or Tyshawn Wannamaker will start at right tackle.

No. 12 Tennessee (0-0): Starting center Cooper Mays is still listed day-to-day ahead of the Vols season opener with Virginia. Mays has started 19 consecutive games.

No. 23 Texas A&M (0-0): Connor Weigman has been named the starting quarterback for the Aggies’ season opener with New Mexico. Weigman and Max Johnson had been battling it out for the No. 1 job.

Vanderbilt (1-0): “It was not pretty” is how HBC Clark Lea describes the O-line play against Hawaii. The Commodores gave up three sacks and the running backs averaged just 1.9 yards per carry.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Jim Harbaugh spoke for the first time since Michigan self-imposed a three-game suspension to counter the NCAA’s rejection of a four-game plea deal. Needless to say, Harbaugh didn’t sound pleased.

“I’ve heard people comment that it’s a slap on the wrist,” Harbaugh said Monday at the press conference ahead of the season opener with East Carolina. “It’s more like a baseball bat to the kneecaps or the shoulder.”

Harbaugh had a few other choice remarks about the current state of college football, among them a call to share TV revenue with players, an idea Harbaugh first brought up at Big Ten Media Days more than a year ago.

“What I don’t understand is how the NCAA, television networks, conferences, universities and coaches can continue to pull in millions and in some cases billions of dollars in revenue off the efforts of student-athletes across the country without providing enough opportunity to share in the ever-increasing revenues,” Harbaugh said. “We have to try to make it work. We have to try to make it better and right now. The current status quo is unacceptable and won’t survive.”

A growing number of people are of the opinion that the answer to college football problems is to make players employees with salaries and benefits, while others see that as a Pandora’s Box, leading to unions and player strikes. Change is on the way and we might not like what we’re about to get.

Harbaugh is right, the status quo isn’t working. We are headed for radical changes to the college game that have nothing to do with the game itself, but everything to do with the kids who play it. There was a time when the players only asked to be able to finish school and get healthcare for bodies that took way too much of a beating after their eligibility expired. The NCAA fought and lost common sense issues like that for years. Had it listened rather than fight we might be at a much different crossroads than the one we’re at right now.