re: 2022 Football Discussion Thread General Thoughts & Comments

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It's been quite some time since new Florida coach Billy Napier publicly announced any new additions to his support staff, but that changed on Wednesday with another one.

The Gators announced that Brandon Taylor has joined the staff as a "Gamechanger graduate assistant." Napier refers to his staffers in charge of special teams as "Gamechangers."

That special teams unit is led by Chris Couch, who was previously appointed as the Gamechanger coordinator.

Napier does not have an on-field assistant coach in charge of special teams, instead delegating that to Couch in an off-field role and working to provide him with assistance via hires like Taylor.

"We call our special teams gamechangers," Napier said. "So when we're trying to create a game-changing play, we all know the power of an explosive play on special teams. Kind of our way to create some urgency, some importance to that part of the game."

Taylor joins Florida after spending the last two seasons as a special teams graduate assistant at LSU.

Like many of Napier's new staff hires, he has heavy roots in Louisiana. He's a Slidell, La., native and got his coaching start at Southern University in Baton Rouge in 2016.

Taylor then spent the 2017 season as a defensive assistant working with linebackers at Louisiana Tech before taking a graduate position working with linebackers at FIU in 2018. He played a long-snapper at FIU from 2011-15, giving him his background in special teams.

Following his one-year coaching stint at his alma mater, Taylor then spent a year as a defensive analyst at Jacksonville State in 2019 prior to his most recent gig at LSU.

Now he'll be tasked with turning around a special teams unit at Florida that has been subpar outside of the specialists for the last couple years.

"I think it's the area of your team where you start building culture," Napier said of the importance he places on special teams. "It's a combination of offensive and defensive players. Oftentimes young players will get opportunities to contribute to the team first there.

"And then your walk-ons can earn a niche on the team there as well. So it requires a lot of coordination, a lot of team effort. Coach Couch will be leading that area as an analyst off the field. And we're trying to change the game on special teams."

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The trend at Florida since the start of the NCAA Transfer Portal five years ago was to take full advantage of the players that were considered quality prospects to add to the roster. Certainly most schools have used it, but Florida has done more than their fair share of bringing in players that can help them.

While there are certainly going to be more additions after spring ball, players brought in to fill holes that the staff feels that still exist on the roster, Florida brought in a handful of guys at multiple positions to help. Getting them here for the spring, especially with a new staff, will allow them to learn the schemes and give them just as much opportunity as anyone at their position to get on the field.

Florida brought in five transfers since head coach Billy Napier took over the program. Quarterback Jack Miller, running back Montrell Johnson, offensive lineman O'Cyrus Torrence, offensive lineman Kamryn Waites, and cornerback Jalen Kimber are all going to be a part of spring practice that starts on March 15. They all have to be highly considered for playing time or maybe even to start in the fall.

We will start with Miller, the quarterback. There are plenty of arms in the quarterback room with Emory Jones still feeling things out at Florida with a new staff. There is a mending Anthony Richardson from MCL surgery who is expected to participate this spring but likely drills that have no chance of contact. Redshirt freshmen Jalen Kitna and Carlos Del Rio-Wilson are two more arms for Miller to compete with this spring.

Despite all of that competition, the staff chose to bring another arm into the mix and they must like Miller to do so. Coming from Ohio State, Miller and Richardson were in the same 2020 class meaning only Jones is older and has been in college football longer. That maturity could be something that could help Miller. My sources have seen Miller throw this spring and say that he throws a beautiful deep ball. Of course there is more to the quarterback position. One way or another, he will get his shot in a totally open quarterback competition.

Next in line is running back Montrell Johnson. His competition comes from a couple of former five-star running backs in Lorenzo Lingard and Demarkcus Bowman who both have played very little over the last two seasons after transferring from Miami and Clemson respectively. The most experienced back on the roster, Nay’Quan Wright will miss the spring as he recovers from a torn ACL.

If we go by high school rankings then Johnson would be getting third team reps as a three-star prospect. But he will know the offensive system better than anyone. He transferred in from ULL where Napier, his running back coach, and offensive coordinator all coached before coming to Gainesville. Not only that, but Johnson was able to rush for 838 yards and 2 touchdowns while starting just one of the 14 games he played in as a true freshman last season in Lafayette. He’s a talented back that was given a four-star ranking as a transfer by 247Sports transfer rankings.

Moving to the offensive line, we can start with offensive tackle Kamryn Waites who also transferred to Florida from ULL. A big unknown as a high school prospect, Waites redshirted as a true freshman last season and still garnered a four-star transfer rating from 247Sports. The staff evidently liked him.

There will likely be linemen moving from tackle to guard or center and vice versa as we move through the spring and the offensive line coaches get a better feel for where they belong. But it is safe to say there will be five or six tackles to compete against this spring. Waites is listed at 6-foot-8 and 358 pounds on the current roster. He’s a big man and is known to have very quick feet. Tackle was a position that wasn’t exactly a strength last year. He will be firmly in the mix and early on.

Junior offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence is the most highly rated of the four transfers and has already been mentioned as a high future NFL Draft pick. Again there is going to be changes made between the tackles and inside linemen with the new staff and so the number he competes against will be determined as they go.

Torrence spent three years at guard for ULL but he is a player that could find his way at tackle if he fits the mold of what they are looking more than others on the roster. He’s a talent and it would be a huge upset if he wasn’t in the starting lineup when the season starts. Get used to his name.

The final transfer to talk about is cornerback Jalen Kimber who joined the Florida roster from Georgia. Kimber saw action in three games as a true freshman in 2020 and saw action against UAB in the second game of the 2021 schedule where he injured a shoulder that would force him out of the rest of the 2021 season. Kimber will be competing with seven cornerbacks this spring with Jaydon Hill still likely in recovery mode from an ACL tear in August. There could also be movement between the corner and safety ranks depending on what this staff is looking for at each position.

He’s listed at 6-foot and 170 pounds on the official Florida roster so Kimber could use some weight and likely strength. 247Sports Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong offered up what he has heard about Kimber in terms of what he can bring to the table.

“Hearing he is a terrific cover guy,” Wiltfong wrote. “I think the thing that kept him behind some of the others at UGA was physicality. I'm excited to see how he continues to develop in that department but he should have a skillset to cover the SEC’s top WRs.”

Kimber will definitely be heavily in the mix at corner.

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(6) RUNNING BACK
Lorenzo Lingard (R-JR), Nay’Quan Wright (R-SO), Demarckus Bowman (SO), Montrell Johnson (SO)

If we went by high school rankings, this would be the best group on the roster by a good margin. But the two five-star prospects in Lingard and Bowman have played very little in the last two years and there is a lot of unknown with those two. The player that we know the most about is Wright, but he will miss all of spring recovering from ACL surgery.

Then there is Johnson who transferred in from Louisiana. He had a very impressive first season in Lafayette rushing for 838 yards and 12 touchdowns while starting just one game all year. He will already know the offensive scheme so that’s a big bonus for him.

I think Bowman and Lingard are going to make some noise this spring. They have big time tools and while Johnson has a head start, they are going to get a ton of reps to prove themselves, something that didn’t happen last year for the two.


(7) QUARTERBACK
Emory Jones (R-JR), Anthony Richardson (R-SO), Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (R-FR), Jalen Kitna (R-FR), Jack Miller (R-FR)

I think it’s important to know that in Napier’s offense at Louisiana, quarterback Levi Lewis threw for 2900 yards, 20 touchdowns, and four interceptions. But he also ran for 343 yards and five touchdowns. The point being is that he probably wants a quarterback that can run, but won’t rely on it as much as Jones did this past season at Florida.

The ranking of this unit would be a lot different if Richardson was healthy. I think the thing to consider here is that if he can’t do much this spring, how much will his recovery set him behind for the fall? Regardless he needs to be healthy by then. I think he does non-contact work but nothing else this spring.

Of the healthy quarterbacks Jones is likely the best runner by a wide margin. But what order do they fall in as far as a passer? Again I’m going on the premise that Richardson won’t be available if there is a pass rusher on the field this spring, so there are just too many questions in this group for me.


(8) TIGHT END
Keon Zipperer (JR), Jonathan Odom (SO), Nick Elksnis (R-FR), Gage Wilcox (R-FR)

We haven’t seen much from this group even though Zipperer and Odom have been around for at least a couple of years now. One good reason for that is a guy named Pitts who was the answer to everything for Florida in 2020. Last year Kemore Gamble got most of the action, but Zipperer saw the field a lot and actually had 11 receptions in each of the last two seasons with a couple of touchdowns in 2020.

Elksnis is a breakout guy in my opinion. He was a star during spring last season, but they felt like they wanted to save his redshirt and he got in four games and didn’t make a catch. Odom is another that impressed last spring. He’s physical and showed good improvement last spring and appeared in seven games in 2021, although mostly on special teams. I actually think there is talent at tight end, but we have to see it.


(9) DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Griffin McDowell (R-JR), Jaelin Humphries (R-SO), Gervon Dexter (SO), Jalen Lee (SO), Desmond Watson (SO), Lamar Goods (R-FR), Chris Thomas (R-FR), Chris McClellan (FR)

Right now there is just one answer in this group and that is Dexter. I think that is a big answer but there is no doubt that Coach Sean Spencer has a lot of work ahead of him. If there was a sure fire answer to go along with Dexter, this group would be a lot higher in my opinion. He’s a playmaker at the position and had more tackles last year (51) than any other defensive tackle at Florida since 2009 except for Jonathan Bullard in 2014 and 2015. Find a sidekick and a couple of decent backups and it is game on.

The good thing is that there are a lot of healthy bodies and they aren’t small. Dexter goes 313 pounds, Goods (351), Humphries (330), Lee (305), McClellan (304), Thomas (309), and one that is too big in Watson at 415 pounds.

If Spencer can find a real gap filler to go along with the play making ability of Dexter this group could shoot way up the charts and combined with the ends would make that defensive front fierce.


(10) INSIDE LINEBACKER
Amari Burney (R-SR), Ventrell Miller (R-SR), Diwun Black (JR), Derek Wingo (SO), Scooby Williams (R-FR)

This one is tough to gauge. Burney and Miller have a ton of experience, but Burney has struggled and we likely won’t see any contact play from Miller this spring. Black may be the most athletic player on the entire team and I feel he needs to be on the field, but he was a safety last year. When Wingo got playing time in the bowl game, he produced with five tackles, but we just haven’t seen much of him. . I really like Williams, but he hasn’t seen the field.

I could see some development this spring from this group and the ranking before the fall might be a lot higher, but their ranking now is based more on an incomplete grade.

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adequate offense

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If you're forced to move as many as four players from their typical position to another in order to practice as a team, chances are your roster isn't in great shape, at the very least from a depth perspective.

That's the position Billy Napier is in amid his first spring camp as the Florida Gators' head coach — two defensive tackles, an outside linebacker and even a long snapper have taken snaps at tight end across the program's 12 practices this spring. And, although it hasn't been that drastic elsewhere, a lack of depth has caused problems for Florida in plenty of other spots as well.

"I think the team as a whole lacks depth," Napier told reporters on Saturday following the team's second scrimmage of the spring. "We need more players as a whole that do their job consistently and play winning football."

This wasn't the first Napier has made such a comment, sharing last week that the Gators will be "aggressive" in the transfer portal in the coming months, if not weeks, in order to rebuild the foundation of Florida's roster and add ready-to-play talent.

The above quote was prompted when Napier was asked about progress at the wide receiver position.

“I think we have a group of players that can play winning football, if that makes sense," Napier said, regarding wide receivers. "There are a handful of players in that room that I think we could run out there and we can depend on them to do their job and play winning football for Florida. We need more, does that make sense?

"The receiver position is much like every position on the team. We have a good group of 1s and a couple 2s we can put in the game, but after that, we have to prove more."

This aligns with Napier's honest comments following the team's first scrimmage: Florida really only has a first and second team to deploy in practices right now due to a lack of experience among the reserve players. Programs strive for three teams worth of depth to make up their roster.

He offered a similar sentiment in response to a similar question about the defensive line following Lamar Goods' departure from the program to the portal on Friday, but added some additional context pertaining to what the team needs from its depth players.

"I think I would answer the question the same way I just answered the receiver question. I think we can run a pretty good group of ones out there and we have some twos that, you know, we could roll in there and play," Napier explained. "We need more depth, right, we need more players. But I think we have capable players, does that make sense?

"I think there are some redeeming qualities, right? There's height, length, there's athleticism, there's power. And I think it's more about learning what to do, how to do it and doing it more consistently. You know, being loyal, being dependable and accountable, right? Playing winning football. You can do your job for the team every single time, right?"

One way Napier assesses players individually to understand if they meet these expectations, specifically being able to do their job for the team, is on a dimensional scale — does the player know what their responsibilities are, and do they understand why those are their responsibilities?

Napier splits this scale into four tiers: One through four-dimensional players. A one-dimensional contributor understands their role and tasks; a two-dimensional player can grasp the responsibilities of their entire position group — for example, an offensive tackle being cognizant of the entire offensive line's duties.

A three-dimensional player takes it a step further, recognizing the obligations of their entire side of the ball, such as a quarterback knowing what the remaining ten players on offense are required to do on a given play. And a four-dimensional player, which is hard to come by, can comprehend the responsibilities of all 22 players on the field, offense and defense.

Levi Lewis, Napier's starting quarterback at Louisiana from 2019-21, is an example of a four-dimensional player, the head coach has previously acknowledged.

Napier doesn't expect every member of his roster to emerge as four-dimensional players, he even said that it could take a couple of years for a handful of Gators to prove themselves as such. He's been thorough when it comes to tempering expectations as he rebuilds Florida's roster, and this point is no different.

However, this is how Napier and his staff will judge their players in order to have confidence in their ability to help the team on the field. Simply put, more players need to take steps forward on this scale, and the Gators will be pressed to add contributors from the transfer portal in the coming weeks who can quickly grasp their own responsibilities as well as those of the players around them.

"We get to put eleven out there at a time. We need more players to make progress and get in that group, does that make sense?" Napier pondered. "And we've got a lot of players that I trust and we will put out there, but we've got a lot of work to do to create depth and add more players to that list."

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Before he took the job at Florida, new coach Billy Napier made sure to do his homework. He had plenty of avenues to fully figure out exactly what the UF program might still need to put in place to be able to fully execute his vision.

He talked extensively with former Florida coach Jim McElwain, who he worked with at both Alabama and Colorado State.

Once he eventually accepted the job, though, Napier knew he'd need other resources to tap into to get a more updated outlook at where the program really was. Who better than a player who was at UF under head coaches Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook and Urban Meyer, then later joined the support staff under Dan Mullen?


Napier wasted little time in meeting with Vernell Brown, who Urban Meyer once famously called the "face of Florida football" for his dedication to the Gators.

"He knows not only how things are done, but the history behind why they were done that way," Napier said. "He’s really helped us solve a lot of problems so far."


Brown was one of the first staff retentions Napier announced.

Whatever Brown said, Napier sure got the impression the former Florida defensive back was being straight up with him. After all, why sugarcoat things when you've seen the program have championship-level success under multiple previous coaches? It can obviously be done.

"At the end of the day I feel like it's my job as somebody that knows the lay of the land and knows the guys to be extremely honest, regardless of how good or how bad it is, that we at least know where we are and what we're dealing with and where we need to go," Brown explained.

Within a matter of months, Napier has drawn almost universal praise from the players for his ability to bring about changes that have enhanced the player experience. Years of fighting with UF parking and transportation over ticketing issues have been put to bed; players can now park right near the stadium. The food players have access to is now a whole lot fresher, with chefs ready to provide an array of menu options crafted by Kelsee Gomes and her team of dietitians.

All of that, coupled with some messaging from Brown himself about what it's like to go through a coaching transition, have served to lead to a pretty healthy buy-in from players.

"I think what happens to you in change is all about the way you embrace it," Brown said. "If you’re negative about it, then you’re probably going to have a negative experience. However, if you embrace it and you’re positive about it and just do the things that you need to do and worry about the things you control, I think you’ll have a lot of success with change."

Of course, it helps having someone around like Brown who is specifically dedicated to mentoring the players wherever possible.

That was a luxury Brown didn't have when UF transitioned from Spurrier to Zook, then from Zook to Meyer.

"Back then you had your position coach, maybe a teammate that you can kind of talk to," Brown said. "And obviously you got the blind leading the blind if you’re talking to an 18-year-old."

Now there's a much more robust infrastructure to help players along. Brown's thrilled to be a part of it.

"I think it enhances the experience tremendously because now you no longer have to stress about things you don’t know about," he said. "You got somebody to actually hold your hand and walk you through the process, for lack of better words, to make whatever you’re going through or whatever you’re trying to accomplish that much easier."

Several have tipped their cap to Brown for sort of opening the door at UF.

He's the bridge between different eras of Florida football, in a sense. The players have certainly picked up on his knowledge. And his availability.

"Always available, great attitude, loves the guys, the young men love him, they go to him," director of player engagement and NIL Marcus Castro-Walker said. "He’s a great mentor."

Added Napier:

"VB is, his reputation speaks for itself amongst the administration, amongst former players, amongst current players. I kind of told him the other day you’re the jack-of-all-trades. ... And probably the most important here is this guy really cares about the University of Florida. He cares about going about things the right way and I think he’s objective enough to give his good, bad, ugly of all the things he’s observed over time, if that makes sense."

Brown, being no stranger to coaching transition, knew the natural reaction for some players is to panic when the coaches that recruited them are no longer employed by the program.

With the popularity of the transfer portal these days, it's not uncommon to see a mass exodus. The Gators certainly took some short-term hits, especially at linebacker, following Napier's hire, but things steadied in relatively short order.

Brown's message hit home for several.

"The main thing is hold your water. Don’t get antsy," Brown said. "You never know what’s going to happen. At the end of the day, regardless of who’s coaching you, you’re still at the University of Florida. And so always remember that. You’re still getting a Top 5 education. There are a lot of things that come along with being at the University of Florida that have nothing to do with football.

"So why get antsy and forget about those things? Let’s wait and see what happens and then let’s make some decisions."

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