Billy Napier explains what it means to him to stay on schedule in Florida rebuild

I get what he's trying to say....that doing things right in building a foundation is important. What rubs me the wrong way is when he says things like “I think you’ve got to get consumed with the process, not the outcome, to some degree...." The outcome is what they keep the records of....the score....the team record, etc. Bottom line is that he was hired to coach the team to win games. Maybe he is just trying to say that the outcome will take care of itself if you immerse yourself in the process. I sure hope so, but I sure wish he could learn to say it better and demonstrate some urgency to close the gap between UF and the top programs in the SEC.

 

Iirc CBN essentially agreed in an interview that Mertz would have more freedom to go longer. Several things are likely to available that weren't last year:

A defense that can get the ball back, making a turnover in the game less devastating.

Receivers who can get behind the defense: Mizell and Hawkins.

OL and TE and RB who can hold the pass rush longer.

More players who can play slot receiver to allow Wilson to be flexible to get open in deeper routes.

Mertz having mastered the system.

 

I could be proven wrong - I agree 100% with Napier as it relates to Pop Warner football.

He is paid as a professional and needs to perform (win) on a consistent basis. If we’re looking at 4-5 wins we could pay a competent high school coach ( I’m looking at you Jerry Faust) a couple of hundred grand and call it a day.

 

To me it sounds like he’s talking about playing a solid 4-quarter game and not letting it slip away late like we have in recent losses. Conditioning, depth on both sides of the ball, and playing sound ball late in the game. Finish games. If he’d said ‘we’re gonna go out and blow their doors off and demoralize them with a 4 TD lead at halftime’ would you have taken that seriously?

No matter what he says it’s easy to pick fault with it

 

Come on man, nobody plays to keep it close

EDIT: Will Muschamp says hi

 

Lame

 

It's actually "true" based on Napier's results so far, his mistakes, ineffectiveness, and .... some of the odd things he says. You could not at this point say the HC has done well, is doing well, and will do well. Even if you don't like it, it's just odd that we have a season like last and find out several positions(S&C included) weren't performing well and getting the best for our players. A qualified, experienced HC KNOWS when the entire team is focused and ready, or not, and especially if his staff is not adequately preparing their units.

 

I want to see some longer pass plays too. We need to stretch our opponents secondaries more than last year. The sub par play of our OL made plays that developed slow or called for a couple of extra seconds for Mertz in the pocket very often got blown up.

 

OK, you can't say "come on man" or that you're a friend of "corn pop". Just say "winning" that's what we'll be doing this year, It will be Yuge.

 

Might take a few games for Mertz to believe he will have the time to look long. He must have been uncomfortable last season going through his reads but also feeling he's about to take a hit. We were 75th in sacks allowed last season.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/28/p2

FWIW, Deion's team, Colorado, was 121st.

 

…and then they make changes. Like BN did.

I don’t get why this is such a hot button issue with some. Coaches make bad hires all the time. The good ones react and make changes.

 

The best teams in college football typically only have a few close games per year.

They comfortably win the rest.

 

We are nowhere near the best team in college football right now so we don’t have to worry about that too much. Maybe in a couple more years

 

Yup.

 

I'm re-watching our 23 season now- really focusing on Mertz and his decisions. i'm halfway now...
You nailed it when you said he was uncomfortable. It's clear he was both rushing and trying hard to avoid throwing picks.

Good news is that he started slow but got better as the year went on. (It was our defense that was responsible for our losing streak, not Mertz.)
More good news- Mertz is a gamer. He would miss reads but also found ways to extend plays and make yards.
If he can get a decent OL, and if we start running the ball well again, we could have a very good offense.

 

Yep, those teams were ranked 5th and 6th. Both teams had the perfect opportunity to fight to prove that they deserved to be in the playoffs. One fought, and one didn't even show up.

 

Well he's right in that you should get consumed with the process and not the individual game and season outcomes. No matter how good you are you'll fail sometimes or just get beaten by someone better, and focusing on those instances won't help.

This only applies if the process consistently produces good outcomes and the jury is still very much out on that at the moment.

 

I don't mind most of that, but, Billy has to understand that if you don't quickly produce good outcomes while you are following that process, you won't be given time for the full rebuild. You have to coach and play above your talent level early to be given that. And, I'm not talking way above, just win a couple of games a year that you weren't supposed to win, don't let close game opportunities pass you by, and steadily improve your team talent level each year. Much easier said, than done, I know.