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UCF collective trolls Billy Napier ahead of Knights’ trip to The Swamp
By Andrew Olson
Published:
A UCF NIL collective has added some spice to the Knights’ upcoming game against the Florida Gators with a little online trolling of UF head coach Billy Napier.
The Kingdom, a UCF NIL collective, has started selling a Nike t-shirt that says “Rural Central Florida” in UCF’s black and gold colors.
We like the rural part of Central Florida https://t.co/dqD3hNi9sH https://t.co/MXUuDA1vbU pic.twitter.com/xcgnxpXA5x
— The Kingdom NIL (@KingdomNIL) September 3, 2024
Napier is taking all kinds of heat for his recent comments that online criticism is coming from rural basement dwellers.
“We got to go to work on the football part, we have to become a more consistent team and we have to execute better,” Napier said in his Monday press conference. “If we can focus on those things and not necessarily on what some guy in his basement in rural Central Florida is saying on social media, then we got a chance to get better.”
It was pointed out that Napier also said, “Sometimes we deserve criticism. I have no excuses,” but the damage was already done.
Social media took aim at Napier incorrectly implying there are basements in Florida homes. Paul Finebaum called the comments “simply egregious.”
UCF plays Florida on Oct. 5 in Gainesville. The game does not have an official kickoff time yet, but is designated for the night window of 6-8 p.m ET.
The Knights were the last team to face Florida ahead of Napier’s tenure. After Dan Mullen’s dismissal during the 2021 season, Greg Knox took over a interim head coach. Knox led the Gators to secure bowl eligibility, and the bid ended up being a matchup with UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Gus Malzahn’s Knights got the best of the Gators, winning the bowl game 29-17 as Napier looked on. It goes without saying at this point, but UCF will be considered a must-win game for the embattled Napier.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
