Post-Game Discussion: Arkansas at FLORIDA

just spend $5 mill to bolster the OL via portal and for Jordan Seaton (I’m obviously being silly saying $5 mill but you get my drift), Mertz will be back and better and you can slowly bring Lagway along

 

So he thinks Lagway starts as a true freshman and saves the day. Wouldn’t that be nice.

 

That may be exactly how much it would cost. A great upper class man left tackle on the open market, how much do you think the big boys would pay for just one if they don’t feel like they have one.

 

I'll tell you this too......I know we have EW3, Caleb, Jean, Early Mizell, and 3 committed WR's but go get one of the top WR's in the portal as well. FSU had Johnny Wilson but STILL went and got Keon Coleman. That's how aggressive we have to be in the portal. NOBODY in the portal who's a proven top talent and fit the scheme should be off limits

 

For 2025. Recruiting class needs to gel. Not many QBs start as a true freshman and do well...

 

This kind of comment is funny considering the absurd amount of UF fans that act like you can’t question Billy’s “process” or criticize him. After all, he is making 7 million per year.

 

Both GNFP reviews this week actually offer a bit of optimism. Haven’t watched Seth yet.

 

Great point

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Okay, I hope anyone who wants to know my opinion on the state of the program, you made it through the chronological posts that set up this post. It feels like it is important to show what was my thinking up to and through this game. Otherwise, I can be called either a hypocrite or a silly fan. This feels too important to say with conviction and not show that there is a consistency of thought. There IS a change in demeanor, just that the goals and remedies are pretty much intact. At least they are to my way of thinking.

I will NOT run away from saying that the Arkansas game was a given win or else. This was a “Blackout Game” with a bunch of meaning AND it had SO much riding on it. James’ loss definitely hurt, but he wasn’t hurt in the game. Everyone KNEW he was not going to play. And so, man down, man up! Wingo gets to play more than he usually does, because he implicitly KNOWS what is at stake and can show real leadership to the younger guys who may not be as tuned-in. All we need to do is to run an effective offense and make the occasional FG to win the game. It will be nice to win it by a good margin, but when you are getting thin in the LB corps and Arkansas likes to pound the ball, perhaps the guys may miss a tackle or two. But a win is a win. And so we say “whew” and hope like crazy that the younger guys will be smarter and tougher by the FSU game.

That WAS the plan. END OF CONVERSATION.

As I now see it, there is about one decent explanation for all this mess. It would have to be that Napier’s personality does not allow him to acknowledge publicly what are the issues and his expected solutions. Toney “left” for an NFL job. It sort of feels like that fits the description. The other viable explanation is that he has some damn big blind spots or he has a VERY stubborn streak. I guess we could say he has decided to use up all his political capital to play this hand out because he KNOWS he has until the end of either 2024 or 2025 to right the ship. Not my story but perhaps what is going on in the Ivory Tower negotiations. This is all about taking in the anecdotal information and making an educated guess.

I am going to say that the real purge happened before this season began. I seriously doubt that there are some lingerers, although Marshall isn’t doing anything to raise his draft stock. The rest has to be a combination of too young to be trusted and just not talented enough to play Billyball (whatever that means today). BUT………

That does NOT let the coaches off the hook. It may be bad coaching or bad communication between them and the players or each other, but still, we are now looking somewhat UP to see middling. HOLY CRAP! And I posted that at worse, Napier may be more of a chess player than a MMA fighter. I would say that having that trait is NOT good when you are trying to clean up a mess and appeasing the ire of a fanbase who knows what quality looks like. I said the difference between Chris Leak and Tim Tebow was that Leak was like a fine surgeon who is used to working in a nice, clean operating room whereas Tim was like a mudder racehorse. You gotta get the damn job DONE and worrying about the minutia during a crisis is NOT the best concept.

So, let us try to determine what IS the solution if Napier isn’t as demonstrative and forthright as we want. We know the two “solutions”: a real, independent OC and a real ST coach. But from the Arkansas game, that just won’t cut it. We can point fingers at plays called on offense that were less-than-effective and we can definitely say that two kicks that were missed would be the difference between losing in OT and winning in regulation. But that does NOT explain why these were the difference. No different than saying a call by a ref changed the game. No, play the game to a high level and a ref’s call does NOT change the outcome. Well, except for the Swindle in the Swamp. And that was the reason why there is now instant replay.

Again, James was NEVER going to play. Everyone KNEW that. And yet, the tackling was lacking at times, especially in OT. 3rd and long or after the holding call in OT and we do what??? Guys and gals, this is NOT about missed assignments, this is mainly about a lack of communication or accountability.

Okay, here are my other solutions: both O-line coaches HAVE to go. This isn’t the basketball team where there are soo many new parts to mesh. They have been doing this for almost two years. They HAVE to go. End of conversation. It just did not work as planned. The second is, the D-line coach has to go also. I think he is a good guy and recruiter, but he does not mesh well with whomever. Kind of a shame. I don’t know who else will elect to leave but this is the minimum.

If Napier announces at the end of the season (whenever that is) that these changes HAVE been implemented, then he gets a begrudging acceptance that he “gets it” and he is learning. But if he falls short of these changes, THEN the fun begins. Blood WILL be in the water and the major college football sharks of all shapes and sizes will be in a feeding frenzy. Even when he makes all the changes, they will be swimming around with interest. It IS the way it works.

So, what is the state of the program? Simply, he is WAY behind schedule for success and now he has to play catch-up. That means taking chances and possibly cutting corners. Or you die nobly. Hard to “do it the basic way” when the sharks are hungry. We can also call it “Hail Mary” ball. It works…...rarely. But hope CAN be there. But only if we see a win where we did not expect one. Either Missouri or LSU this year would be a basic start. Just not the complete effort to redemption.

Napier is NOT going to go away before the end of the 2024 season, unless he pulls a “Mac.” And he can likely hang in there through the 2025 season. It feels like the brain trust is “all-in” with what he stands for. It is just that he does not show the skill to pull off his goals. But as I posted on one of the posts above, that is plainly called “Dead Man Walking.” It is real as real can be. We just don’t see it right now.

I hope this gives some of you some clarity, whether you like it or not. PLEASE don’t shoot the messenger. I thank you.

 

I see a lot of concern regarding Bill's stubbornness...and I agree that it appears to be a problem. But ultimately I'll wait until the end of the season to see what he does (or does not do) relative to this concern. If he continues to stay the course and not make any changes, then he'll be fairly grouped with past coaches like Zook, Chump, and Mullen who were also (fairly) criticized for unwillingness to change (i.e., being stubborn).

 

"We" are mostly freshman and and other underclassman.

 

tegator80,
Good take and good perspective. We’ve heard on this board that changes are coming, how true that is remains to be seen, as well as the extent of those changes. The obvious changes are OC and ST coaches. If CBN has a stubborn streak like Mullen, and I sure hope that’s not the case, then that will be it. If CBN really recognizes the shortcomings, he’ll drill down to the OL coaches and perhaps the DL coach. If CBN has the right clarity, he’ll make the right changes, if he’s stubborn like Mullen, well, we all saw how that ended.