Billy Napier is only 19-19 after 3 seasons at Florida, but you would never know it by the way he talks about his program.
Napier’s teams are an unimpressive 10-14 combined in the SEC through those first 3 seasons, but for the 45-year-old Tennessee native, all those numbers are old news.
What Billy Napier really wants to talk about is the here and now, and there is plenty of momentum for the previously much-maligned head coach and his Gators going into the 2025 season. First, there is the momentum that Florida created last fall in going 8-5 to nail down Napier’s first winning season in Gainesville.
Throw in the excitement over budding star quarterback DJ Lagway, who is one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy this fall, and there is reason for real optimism at Florida for the first time in a long time.
Napier tapped into that optimism on Wednesday while speaking with reporters at SEC Media Days in Atlanta. Specifically, Napier tapped into the excitement over his program’s player development and what that could mean for the Gators in 2025.
“We are dominating in that space. The GatorMade program is second to none,” proclaimed Napier to reporters.
It remains to be seen what that “GatorMade program” produces as far as wins and losses this fall. But however many games the Gators can win this season coming off last year’s breakthrough, Napier is pumped about what’s ahead for a program that’s desperate to get back into the national championship discussion.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
