Billy Napier's staff addressing undisciplined penalties that plagued 2021 team, Florida TE shares

Billy Napier and his staff are working to address an issue that plagued Florida’s 2021 squad: undisciplined penalties.

Over 13 games, Florida committed 104 penalties for 918 yards last season. Among the 14 SEC teams, UF ranked 13th in penalty yards per game (70.6), 13th in penalties per game (8), 12th in penalty yards (918) and 12th in total number of penalties (104).

Nick de la Torre and the Gators Online crew went through every individual box score to find that of those 104 penalties, 75 qualify as “undisciplined,” including a whopping 29 false starts.

Speaking to the media Saturday, Florida tight end Dante Zanders shared that Gators players received a report from the staff detailing their penalties from last season, game by game. Procedural penalties were highlighted. Zanders called the report “shocking and embarrassing.”

Dante Zanders says Billy Napier handed out a detailed report to all the players on their penalties last year, divided by game. The penalties that were avoidable (false start, offsides, procedural things) were highlighted.

“It was shocking and embarrassing (to see it)”

— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) August 6, 2022

Florida dropped 4-of-5 games decided by 7 points or fewer in 2021. The Gators might fare better in those situations in 2022 with improved discipline.

The Gators open the 2022 season against defending Pac-12 champion Utah on Sept. 3.