Billy Napier is only months into the job as Florida head coach, but he’s making quite an impression on many members of Gator Nation, including players who used to wear the orange and blue. Kevin Carter, a Gator Great, says Napier is more inviting than any of the previous coaches who have held the job since Steve Spurrier departed after the 2001 season.

Carter, now an analyst for CBS Sports, was back at UF to check out Florida’s new $85 million football facility, the James W. “Bill” Heveaner Football Training Center.

“It’s really an honor and it’s really cool to receive that invite from a current coach. He wants to reach out to the former players,” Carter told reporters. “We know how special this place is and how special it was, what an integral part of the fabric of who we’ve become as adults in this world. We wouldn’t be there without this program so for us to be invited back, it really means the world and it’s really a cool thing for Coach [Napier] to do that.

“Every coach that has taken over since Coach Spurrier left hasn’t been as inviting with former players coming back and it’s really refreshing to have someone who wants to include, I think, the rich history of the Gator program, through its players that were here so long ago. So, I think it’s great.”

Carter played at Florida from 1991-to-1994, earning All-SEC honors twice (’93, ’94) and consensus All-American recognition his final season. In 1995, he was the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL Draft. He was inducted into the UF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.

Carter played in the NFL until 2008, picking up a Super Bowl ring in 2000 with the St. Louis Rams. During his NFL career, Carter was named first-team All-Pro in 1999 when he led the the league in sacks and voted to the Pro Bowl twice (’99, ’02).