Article: Culture Change Will Define Billy Napier’s 2023 Season

The biggest advantage a coach like Napier has today is the transfer portal and the NIL (when it's set up right) when it comes to making big moves upward in talent.

Yes, we get it, culture is important... but we have more than that... it's family and a brotherhood. Each person knows each other by name, and Napier makes sure to make that happen on purpose. From making offensive players room with defensive players, to the dinner hall seating to making sure the players know everyone's name.

This is a great way to instill a bond and friendship with one and other. In the end that keeps these player focused on football in a way that most other school/teams never achieve. I hope this pays off in wins... I think it will.

It's been years since I felt this way about a team, especially a Gators team without a known superstar QB1. But at least our QB, Mertz, has his family and brotherhood of Gators to help him out. Mertz has the experience to be a difference maker, and he's not alone. Mertz and the Gators are hungry to win.

I think we surprise all the naysayers out there this year. 9 to 10 wins in not out of the realm of possibilities with this team.

 

Right there with you, my brother. Was going to post something about the game, but this said it best.

It's Great To Be A Florida Gator!

 

Thank you too, ANF...

I have been reading so much on Napier and the way he comports himself that I just feel the excitement with this team he's building. He is a man that has an acute sense of planning and detail... attention to every aspect of the game... It gives me confidence that he and his extended Gator family, coaches and players, will win many games in the SEC... and I mean this year.

I know you're relatively new here, so I bid you a belated Welcome To Gator Country... the best Gator sports (not just football) site on Earth.

You've been here over a year and I never really welcomed you into the Gator brotherhood. Welcome...

 

I agree and hope so! If we don't do it this year, I'm ok with the building blocks. We are headed in the right direction.

 

Yes! Been a HUGE fan of the Napier hire. He was THE coach I wanted to replace Mullen. No one else.

Thanks, man. Am a proud UF Alum who considers North Central Florida God's Country. Outside my family, UF means more to me than anything, and I owe my time at UF for everything I have,

It's Great To Be A Florida Gator!!!

 

When I think of great team culture with expectations, I think of the Miami Heat. Strong-willed CEO (Riley) who knows what type of player he is looking for, work ethic, and expects every player to master his position and perform at a certain level. It might be a bit easier to do that in a smaller organization like basketball in comparison to the "army" that is a football team, but I think Napier, moreso than any of his predecessors since Meyer, has that unique understanding.

It isn't just a schematic advantage that some of the more shortsighted coaches (Charlie Weis/Mullen/Mcelwain) seem to think is sufficient, its the totality of the organization, what values/principles that you want each and every person (player or otherwise) to embody and also having the vision to get there.

I'd like to be pleasantly surprised this year with 8 or more wins, but to me, that won't make it a successful year. Seeing the growth in players and coaches on the field, and being able envision the trajectory based on their growth is what I'm hoping to see this year. I don't know how to describe it, but it's not really the stats but how the team plays, how they communicate, and the familiarity with what we are trying to accomplish. You see that with the top teams...everything seems so second nature

 

Super impressed with this culture change.

 

I’m not going to knock the culture change. It was needed.

But it’s not a substitute for solid Xs and Os, which we have yet to see from Napier in 14 games.

 

It appears that the OL will define Napier's 2023 season

 

For whatever reasons we struggled At bringing in portal OL. So we have some injuries, some freshmen and folks who haven’t been to battle with each other. Perfect storm for OL struggles.

combined with other issues and Houston…

 

I mean, they brought in one of the top OL transfers in the country with the kid from Baylor and they also brought in a kid from bama that was pretty highly rated out of HS. Neither did very good last night, but we didn’t really whiff in the portal either. I’m anxious to see how the humongous kids he’s recruiting out of HS perform over the next few years, and hope the transfers get better over the course of this year. Backup center can cause a lot of issues on the line too. So much is based on timing and cadence. He’s also usually the guy calling coverages. Who knows how much different the line will look simply by getting the starting center back? I’m hopeful it helps with both penalties and blocking.

 

Its about winning. Win and everything else follows.

 

If you follow the NFL closely, starting caliber OL are in the shortest of supply. When you watch preseason, the 2nd and 3rd string DL feast on the 2nd and 3rd string OL. But when it gets to the regular season, all those 2nd and 3rd string DL can't do anything against starting OL.

I imagine college is the same. We've had success with one-off OL transfers in the past but you're not building a whole unit out of players who weren't cutting it for other programs. You have to build a OL from the ground up.

 

Which is what Napier is trying to do, but you can’t really build an OL in one class, or in a couple weeks which is all that Billy really got to work with in 21. The guy I was responding to made a comment specifically about the portal which is why my response is talking about the portal.
I don’t really follow the NFL at all.