Florida football players asked for change, Billy Napier listened and now the Gators may save his job Florida's Billy Napier may save job after embracing players-led change I can't believe this is a Matt Baker article.
I've got hope that DJ makes another huge leap from 2 weeks ago and wills his team to victory. I feel like he's the combo of the best elements of KT and TT all rolled up into one!, but with a stronger arm! I know he has it in him. If our D can bring their best for this game, we can pull it off. I'm almost certain the mutts won't cover the spread in this game and I see it as a very close match up as long as the Gators don't regress to their early September form!
I think this article reflects poorly on Napier. He is paid millions of dollars to make these decisions and put the players in the best position to win. It should not have taken this long to figure this out.
I don't give any credibility to articles based on anonymous booster or unnamed player etc. Anybody can write anything they want with an unknown source. But people read it so they do it.
I agree. Head coach and 2 DCs are getting handsomely rewarded to be at the top of their profession. If in fact this was the problem (and solution), it’s inexcusable that they (the coaches) didn’t figure it out themselves.
How many times in the past has coaching, the defense in particular, needed to be simplified before every single coach ON EARTH gets the message? Our Gators' football team has had this problem before... and that was another coach with another defensive scheme. Will these head coaches and DCs EVER GET THE MESSAGE? Now, I doubt that was all of it... I think we started scrimmaging in practice more than we were before. We're playing like we've been practicing game speed situations that can only be truly simulated in a scrimmage. It's the only way to explain the incredibly quick turnaround on the defensive side of the ball. Simplifying the defensive schemes and assignments... play designs, are only part of what fixed our previously inept defense. But why do we have to go through this every other time we get a new coaching staff? And why did it take over 2 full years of futility on defense to figure that out? Pisses me off... what could have been... and what lows we could have avoided. The defense is playing better, however, we still need to fix our run defense. That is NOT going to be an over night fix, but at least we seem to be headed in the right direction... finally.
Hes has the tools to be a better passer than Tebow but i dont think he is Alstott-like like Timmy was.
Now if we could only get the offensive players to get together to ask for another change in to the fine details of the 2 minute offense, use of the final two minutes of the half, 3rd and 17 shouldn't be a two yard pass, running repeatedly into a 8 man front is not wise, trick plays need to be practiced until they may actually work, being up 3 at any point in the game doesn't mean you need to milk the clock the rest of the game, 12 on the field...bad, 9 on the field...bad...10 on the field...bad...etc. Then maybe our two extra non Billy offensive coordinators could go back to coaching o-line and tight ends exclusively. Who needs these high priced coaches when you can just ask 19 year olds to solve your problems.
I believe it based on his math in this sentence… “In the three games since the players asked for change, the defense has given up a combined 56 points to Central Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky (23.6 ppg.)” I am pretty sure that is 18.67, not 23.6,per game.
We "might" need a dedicated OC for that... so I'm not holding my breath for that. Not for this season. We lost the Tennessee game twice... once in the first half miscues and the second time with the 12 men on the field nonsense. But it really burns me up to here his answer to the special teams and their screw-ups... He dismisses the special team's failures as no big deal, in an answer to that question earlier in the season. News flash, it's a freaking HUGE deal... But we can get to above average if we can get the offense to PLAY TO WIN instead of playing to keep it close... or instead of playing not to lose. We seem to get worn out in the second half, so we had better get the points in the first half if we can... and stop the running game that will come in full swing in the second half. It always seems to happen that way.
I was going to post something similar, hearing the defense needs to be simplified. So it takes the players to come tell the head coach that?
While i agree that i would ideally want the staff to be figuring out the answer, i am heartened by the fact that the players cared enough to go to him and that he was receptive enough to make changes. IF he is still going to be here, i think the ability to listen to the players and make changes is a positive.
He hasn't gone into run-beast-mode yet and he likely won't until we have an actual backup QB. It's too bad Mertz isn't available. And no, he's not an Alstott-like battering ram, but he can run powerfully and very fast. I think we'll see a bit of it in Jax, most likely ending in slides instead of squaring up the shoulders for extra yards.
