Florida Gators football primer: Billy Napier in Year 3, players create a covenant, roster and coaching changes

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Image Credit: UAA

A new football season is upon us, and there has no team outside the top 25 that has received more attention entering 2024 than the Florida Gators. Unfortunately, it has mostly been for undesirable reasons.

Head coach Billy Napier begins Year 3 in Gainesville, Florida, coming off consecutive losing seasons with a 6-10 record in SEC play. Including the final year of the Dan Mullen era, the Gators have amassed three straight seasons below .500 for the first time since 1945-47.

Florida will look to buck that trend starting Saturday … against the nation’s toughest schedule and arguably the most difficult single-year campaign in college football history. (Only Gators will touch on that subject further later this week.) This as the Gators welcome a completely retooled coaching staff, a pair of five-star true freshmen and a thirsty fanbase seeking respectability and perhaps even contention in the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff.

In other words, there is a lot on the line as Florida welcomes rival Miami to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Before the Gators can get to kickoff, though, they have spent the offseason attempting to make drastic improvements to a team that has sorely needed them of late.

Let’s take a look at what has gone down through summer practice and fall camp.

The block seat is hot

Yes, Napier is on the hot seat. Hell, one could argue more than 90% of all FBS coaches are on the hot seat entering any given season, but Napier’s is among the warmest. There have been numerous extenuating circumstances to this end — ranging from Napier’s in-game play calling to his staff hires to his early perspective on the transfer portal to some bad luck Florida has faced on the field — but the end result is inarguable: UF’s coach needs to start winning while showing significant improvement.

There is no set number of wins or list of must-defeat opponents that will ensure Napier keeps his job. Given the difficulties of the schedule and various other elements, it’s possible the Gators could look much improved without seeing a significantly higher number in the win column. Athletic director Scott Stricklin, who has somehow retained his position despite numerous failures over the years, is tied at the hip to Napier’s performance; he will not get an opportunity to hire a third football coach.

“Every year you got a set of problems, whether you lack momentum or you have momentum, whether  you’ve had a great offseason and you’re coming off a fantastic year or maybe you struggled and didn’t quite perform the way you like. Each team is its own entity,” Napier explained last month.

“You gotta be objective about how you make decisions. With leadership comes tough decisions, right? Every good story has challenges. We’re right in the middle of this one, and I’m hopeful the things we’ve done to make change will help us perform better. I’m a firm believer that sometimes you need to go through struggle. We’ve done that, and I’m hopeful that it’ll be rewarded when we do accomplish things of significance.”

It has been incumbent upon Napier to block out all of this noise while preparing for a make-or-break season at Florida, a job he accepted and opportunity he embraced after turning down so many other top-tier opportunities to stay at Louisiana.

“One thing about this game, just big picture here, from a perspective standpoint, this game — like most careers — is conditional,” he explained. “I’m a person of faith, and there’s an unconditional element out there to life, too. It gives you some perspective.”

Napier said Week 1 against Miami is a chance for a much-maligned Florida team to start telling its story. As for him, he sees it as the jumping off point for the next phase of his career: “I’m 20 [years] in to hopefully a couple more rounds.”

Creating a covenant

Napier has harped on team chemistry since the day he started wearing orange and blue (well, black with the Gators logo). He believes his 2024 squad is tighter than any he has yet to coach at this university — not only because Napier has three years worth of his players in the system but due to concerted efforts to create a covenant between players and coaches throughout the offseason program.

Florida players camped together — in unique roommate pairings — at Tolbert Hall off Stadium Road rather than remaining in their apartments during summer practice. Napier believed that created an old-school training camp atmosphere that would also lead to further appreciation from players when they went back to their luxury digs.

Phones have been disallowed from training rooms and recovery centers so players would interact with one another more frequently. They were told to keep the locker room spotless as a means of teaching responsibility and gratitude while combatting entitlement. Players even had a hand in roster building, Napier said, as the coaching staff consulted them about potential transfer portal additions following visits to campus.

He believes this effort, combined with improved play on the field and coaching on the sidelines, will make up the difference that has exited of late between top teams and the Gators: “We’ve got an understanding of where the gap is at and what we need to do to make up that gap.”

New faces everywhere

Tuning into Florida football games this season may leave one scratching their head. Hopefully not due to the play on the field but rather the different faces that will be seen wearing jerseys and polo shirts on Saturdays. Only Gators has covered all of these acquisitions, of course, but allow us to provide a refresher:

Coaches

• Ron Roberts — executive head coach of defense, co-defensive coordinator: An experienced defensive leader with two years serving as coordinator under Napier at Louisiana (2018-19). He moved to Baylor from 2020-22 before working in the same role with Auburn last season. Roberts now oversees defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong — having coached football longer than the 30-year-old has been alive — as the architect of the defense Napier runs. Roberts took a staff position opened when linebackers coach Jay Bateman left for Texas A&M.
• Will Harris — secondary coach: Napier waited for Harris to come available as he was assistant secondary coach for the Los Angeles Chargers after serving as a defensive coordinator at Georgia Southern in 2022. He spent the prior four seasons coaching defensive backs at Washington. The former USC star, who has a professional relationship with Snoop Dogg, had brief stints in the NFL and CFL before moving into coaching. Harris replaces former secondary coach Corey Raymond, the most notable assistant hired as part of Napier’s initial coaching staff.
• Gerald Chatman — defensive line coach: Previously leading the same position at Tulane, Chatman was a defensive assistant for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2019-20 before becoming a defensive analyst at LSU in 2021. Then he joined Colorado as defensive line coach (ultimately interim defensive coordinator) before working as an interim defensive line coach at LSU only to take a previously agreed upon job at Tulane. Chatman replaces former DL coach Sean Spencer, who was hired at Texas A&M.
• Joe Houston — special teams senior analyst: Napier shook up the beleaguered special teams unit by bringing in the New England Patriots’ third assistant in another off-field role. This as “GameChanger” coordinator Chris Couch remained with the team. At one point, Houston was expected to become Nick Saban’s on-field special teams coach at Alabama ahead of the 2020 season, but he took the job under Bill Belichick instead. The Gators remain a head-scratcher as one of few teams nationally without an on-field special teams coach on game days, though NCAA rule changes allowed Houston and Couch to start working with players during practices.

Transfer players

• LB Grayson Howard (South Carolina): Expected to start alongside Shemar James.
• DB Asa Turner (Washington): Expected to start alongside Jordan Castell.
• WR Chimere Dike (Wisconsin): Familiarity with quarterback Graham Mertz and on-field experience will lead to Dike seeing significant action and a potential starting job.
• OT Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (San Diego State): Expected to start at right tackle but part of a significant competition for the job.
• DL Joey Slackman (UPenn): Potential starter or heavily used defensive tackle. Heavily praised by Napier for his character and ability to impact the game.
• CB Cormani McClain (Colorado): A former five-star prospect who spurned Florida for Miami only to sign with CU as a recruit, McClain had a difficult experience with the Buffaloes and joined the Gators without a scholarship. He will look to earn opportunities throughout the season.
• Offensive backups: WR Elijah Badger (Arizona State), OL Jason Zandamela (USC), QB Clay Millen (Colorado State), OT Devon Manuel (Arkansas), TE Caleb Rillos (Air Force)
• Defensive backups: EDGE George Gumbs Jr. (Northern Illinois), CB Jamar Grimsley (Alabama), CB Trikweze Bridges (Oregon), DB DJ Douglas (Tulane), DB Alfonzo Allen (Baylor)

Freshmen players

• Five-star QB DJ Lagway: The No. 3 player in the nation, Lagway will serve as Mertz’s backup. It is expected that he will have a package of plays similar to how Tim Tebow was used alongside Chris Leak. He is UF’s highest-rated recruit at his position since 2011.
• Five-star DL LJ McCray: The No. 4 player in the nation, McCray is expected to work his way into a playing role as the season progresses given his immense talent. He is UF’s highest-rated recruit at his position since 2010.
• More notable signees: Four-star LB Aaron Chiles, four-star LB Myles Graham, four-star WR Tank Hawkins, four-star TE Amir Jackson
• Additional signees: Four-star OT Fletcher Westphal, four-star RB KD Daniels, four-star DB Gregory Smith III, four-star WR TJ Abrams, three-star RB Jadan Baugh, three-star DB Josiah Davis, three-star OT Mike Williams, three-star DL D’Antre Robinson, three-star DL Brien Taylor Jr., three-star CB Teddy Foster, three-star DL Michai Boireau, there-star OT Marcus Mascoll, three-star OL Noel Portnjagin (Germany), three-star OL Enoch Wangoy