Florida coach Billy Napier is 1 of several high-profile names in the SEC that’s spent time working with Alabama under Nick Saban. Some are brought in based on merit shown at big programs. Others find a way onto the staff based on production at small schools.

According to Napier, he made his way down to Tuscaloosa thanks to Georgia’s Kirby Smart. Without the Bulldogs’ coach, would Florida have its man?

“I wouldn’t have been at Alabama if not for Kirby,” Napier said during this week’s SEC coaches conference call, via 247Sports. “Our dads were high school coaches in Georgia. There was certainly some familiarity there and certainly his influence on that with Coach Saban. He had a lot to do with me being there. I’ll always be thankful for that.”

Smart served on Saban’s staff with the Miami Dolphins in 2006 before following him to the SEC in 2007. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2008 and held the title en route to 3 national championships before finally being offered the job at his alma mater in 2016.

Napier, who played quarterback at Furman in the early 2000s, first served as an analyst at Alabama in 2011 after spending the previous 5 seasons at Clemson. He was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator in 2009 and 2010. He spent 2012 as Colorado State’s QBs coach and then was hired by Saban in 2013 to take over as the team’s wide receivers coach. After 4 seasons, Napier was hired by Todd Graham to take over for Chip Lindsay as Arizona State’s OC. A year later, he was hired by Louisiana as the head coach, where he’d go on to post a 40-12 record in 4 seasons, winning a pair of Sun Belt championships in the process.

Napier’s Gators will take on Smart’s Bulldogs this Saturday in Jacksonville at 3:30 p.m. E.T. The game will be played in TIAA Bank Stadium as part of the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.”