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Posted on 4/27/22 at 10:29 pm to Partha
Gators football found opponent it couldn’t block: Parking enforcers
By Alexander Lugo
April 27, 2022
A University of Florida Transportation and Parking Services employee places a parking ticket on a vehicle in the O'Connell Center's north parking Lot in Gainesville in January 2022. (Kiara Cline/Fresh Take Florida)
Interesting story but I disagree with the premise. There were plenty of opponents this team couldn't block last season
By Alexander Lugo
April 27, 2022
A University of Florida Transportation and Parking Services employee places a parking ticket on a vehicle in the O'Connell Center's north parking Lot in Gainesville in January 2022. (Kiara Cline/Fresh Take Florida)
quote:
The University of Florida football team found an opponent it couldn’t block: Campus parking enforcers have issued hundreds of tickets to players parked illegally around the stadium during mandatory practices.
On the sprawling campus of 2,000 acres at the state’s flagship university – where finding parking can be a daily challenge for students, faculty and employees – Florida’s new coach, Billy Napier, found a solution: premium parking for his players in a convenient lot and forgiving fines for up to 10 tickets each.
The university athletic association, responsible for all Florida Gators intercollegiate sports, leased the parking lot for football players starting this semester for nearly $12,000 for the first year. It’s a grass lot just north of the stadium and a short walk to the team’s indoor facility and practice fields.
Students who aren’t athletes and live on campus pay up to $160 per year for a campus parking decal, and most faculty and staff pay $420 per year for one. Those decals don’t guarantee a parking spot, just the opportunity to hunt for empty spaces in lots that can be one mile away from the heart of campus.
Many full-scholarship football players live in private apartment complexes off campus, meaning they are eligible to buy decals only for the school’s park-and-ride lots along the edge of campus that are served by local transit buses. The nearest such lot is nearly two miles from the football stadium.
To use the new lot, players must pay $160 for a decal. It’s not available for use by students who aren’t players, said Scott McLain, the school’s director of football operations.
On-campus fines can run up to $260 for parking in a disabled spot but usually run $35 each time drivers are caught parked illegally in a spot they hadn’t paid to use. UF issued parking fines of nearly $4.7 million between 2019 and last year.
Providing premium on-campus parking for football players – a perk not available to other students – appears to be permitted under NCAA rules. Some schools use money for parking from an NCAA-approved student assistance fund, intended to help athletes cover unexpected school expenses.
Tracking the numbers of parking tickets and fines the university issued to its own football players required comparing records of more than 134,000 parking tickets issued since January 2019 against players’ license plate numbers, which were included in circuit court records across Florida when they were caught speeding or committing other moving violations.
The players’ parking problems peaked last year when Gators cornerback Jaydon Hill, 21, of Huntsville, Alabama, racked up 101 parking tickets with fines of $5,640 between 2019 and the end of last year, according to university data. Hill was ticketed more often, for more fines, than anyone else on campus.
Hill was frequently ticketed around the stadium on consecutive days, sometimes four or five times per week.
Hill, a redshirt sophomore who missed last season with a knee injury, pleaded guilty last summer to felony fraud and theft charges for stealing a credit card that police said he used to pay for nearly $1,700 of his own parking tickets, $20 worth of fast food and $30 in gas for his Chevrolet Camaro. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, the charges will be dismissed if Hill commits no further crimes through July.
When police arrested Hill in his fraud case, he had a UF parking ticket on his car’s windshield, according to police video from that day.
Even after Hill pleaded guilty in the case, he continued parking illegally for four more months, the ticket data showed. He added 11 tickets with fines of $1,030 – including three $260 tickets for parking in a spot designated for a disabled driver and another $35 ticket the morning after he signed his prosecution agreement for parking without a decal.
Hill did not respond to phone calls, emails or texts to discuss his case.
Other players also ran up lots of tickets. Florida’s former starting quarterback, Emory Jones, 21, received 75 tickets with fines of $2,980 – including four tickets early last year that cost him $100 each – between September 2020 and Nov. 30, parking records showed. He received the fourth-most tickets among anyone on campus during the period. Jones has decided to enter the transfer portal to play for another team.
Running back Malik Davis, 23, of Tampa, a redshirt senior who played his final season last fall, was ticketed 54 times between March 2019 and December 2021 for $2,365 in fines, including once for parking in a space for a disabled driver near the stadium’s south end zone, parking data showed.
Gators safety Donovan McMillon, a sophomore from McMurray, Pennsylvania, posted a now-deleted video on TikTok showing himself throwing a parking ticket in frustration atop a pile of tickets on the hood of his car last year.
The caption read: “When you get your 40th ticket of the semester and have to figure out how to find $2000+.”
McMillon’s car was ticketed 41 times with total fines of $1,480 between May and November, parking data showed. His license was briefly suspended earlier this year for failure to pay a ticket for speeding 91 mph in a 65 mph zone in December, court records showed.
Gators wide receiver Daniel Cross, a redshirt junior from Orlando, said parking tickets were common for players. He received 15 since 2019, parking records showed. Some teammates receive tickets every day, he said.
“We’re at the stadium 24/7,” he said. “We need to be able to park somewhere.”
Napier, who was hired in November, secured use of the parking lot for players earlier this semester and arranged for up to 10 tickets for each player to be waived, Cross said.
Team officials did not respond to emails or phone messages over four months to discuss the parking problems or Napier’s solution for his players. The university has not produced a copy of the $12,000 lease agreement more than one month after a request for it under Florida’s public records law.
A university spokesman said UF also waived some tickets for other students. The school said ticket waivers were offered to any students, not just football players, with at least 10 tickets, as part of the school’s efforts to help students cope with the pandemic. The university waived 761 tickets worth more than $41,000 in fines. It did not say how many of the 761 forgiven tickets had been issued to football players.
Interesting story but I disagree with the premise. There were plenty of opponents this team couldn't block last season
Posted on 4/30/22 at 11:14 am to Partha
Interesting insight from one of Napier's speaking tour events from a poster named Branimal in this thread on 247
quote:
Nothing super new on the speaking event tonight. Billy truly is a great guy and seems like he has his priorities in order. Did confirm that the swamp is not going to have drastic seating reduction though which is awesome. Said his 2 main things he is trying to figure out are NIL and his 9 year old daughter.
I did somehow get to talk 1 on 1 with an nil guy on staff in the parking lot for like 15 mins and got a lot of good info on the real deal with where we stand on NIL and where he expects it to go in the future. I typed it all out but don’t know what is safe to put on a message board so I’ll drop whatever I think is safe in here tomorrow.
Some innocent nugs:
-The Tennessee qb deal is 100 percent true
-Most the recruiting big dogs have a war chest of 8-16 mil with a&m at 25
-We are going to see some top teams struggle to pay out some of their deals and a lot of them have been created through entities that can be dissolved anytime. Collective and gator guard are a great way to guarantee to recruits we will pay. Every deal goes through compliance
-A lot of the deals we are hearing about on other teams are creating major locker room issues.
-We are structuring everything as similar to the nfl as possible
-Every deal you have heard of is one we are capable of making
-I asked him if I should be excited about our board for 23 and it was a resounding yes
I know a lot of this is common sense but I’m no insider, just got a lucky conversation with the right guy and don’t want to get him or the school in trouble
Posted on 4/30/22 at 1:40 pm to Partha
quote:
The Tennessee qb deal is 100 percent true
What is this?
Posted on 4/30/22 at 2:32 pm to finchmeister08
quote:
What is this?
I'm not 100% sure, but am pretty confident that it is this:
5-star 2023 CFB recruit reportedly lands $8 million NIL deal: Media, fans react
Andrew Olson
quote:
On Friday, The Athletic shared some eye-popping college football recruiting news: a 5-star prospect in the class of 2023 has already signed a deal to be compensated $8 million for his name, image and likeness.
A portion of The Athletic report can be read above the website’s paywall. It details that the 2023 5-star signed with a “school’s NIL collective.” The article does not name the prospect or the affiliated collective.
From Stewart Mandel:
On Friday, a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023 signed an agreement with a school’s NIL collective that could pay him more than $8 million by the end of his junior year of college, The Athletic has learned. He’ll be paid $350,000 almost immediately, followed by monthly payouts escalating to more than $2 million per year once he begins his college career, in exchange for making public appearances and taking part in social media promotions and other NIL activities “on behalf of (the collective) or a third party.”
NCAA rules say that NIL deals cannot be “pay-for-play” in exchange for a prospect signing with a school. In the paywalled article, Mandel details that the $8 million deal avoids violating the rules by not mentioning a requirement to enroll at any specific university. The deal does not mention any school by name, per Mandel’s report.
Reactions from fans and media varied. Some applauded the athlete for inking a big payday, while others expressed concern about college football’s future.
Posted on 4/30/22 at 3:55 pm to Partha
Posted on 4/30/22 at 6:08 pm to Partha
Napier discusses the push for improved player housing
THOMAS GOLDKAMP Apr 29, 5:44 PM
THOMAS GOLDKAMP Apr 29, 5:44 PM
quote:
A common theme during spring football as player after player trickled into a small room on the north end of Florida's indoor practice facility to meet with local reporters after practices was how significantly new coach Billy Napier and his staff have improved the everyday life of the players.
From a significant parking problem essentially disappearing overnight to a completely revamped nutrition program with a much heavier emphasis on fresh food, seemingly no detail went unnoticed.
But perhaps no detail was as significant as Florida's living situation for players.
And, to put it mildly, the dorms players have stayed in at UF for years are fairly behind the times. They're certainly not visually appealing, with white painted cinderblock walls housing players in relatively austere quarters.
"We were very fortunate we were able to solve the housing problem," Napier said. "What maybe was considered a weakness is now considered a strength. You're just trying to improve your product, but more importantly you're trying to improve the experience of the student-athlete. There's nothing more important than that."
So what did the Gators do, exactly?
Well, first Napier outlined the living situation as a problem spot. That was the easy part, likely made even easier by the fact it's been one of the biggest complaints of former UF coaches for at least a decade. Will Muschamp publicly blasted the dorms after he was fired at Florida and landed at Auburn as a defensive coordinator, using the opportunity to note how much easier it would be to recruit thanks to the Tigers' much nicer living quarters.
Former coach Jim McElwain has shared coaching stops with Napier in the past and Napier has been open that he sought out UF-related info from McElwain.
"I think any time you take over a business or a company or a football team, one of the things you do right away is you do as much research as possible," Napier said. "So we uncovered a lot of issues, outdated processes, whatever the case may be. You put your head together with your staff, you brainstorm, you come up with solutions for those problems."
Back to the fix, though.
With director of football operations Joshua Thompson running point on what Napier dubbed the "housing initiative," UF's new staff set out to learn if it could arrange some type of relationship with local apartment complexes.
"I don't necessarily know that we've nailed down what apartment complex we're going to be in, if that makes sense," Napier said. "But I think the big initiative was to improve the initial start of housing, where you're going to be when you're a rookie. I don't know about you guys, but when I went and visited schools I wanted to see where I was going to live."
One complex that came up a bunch was The Standard at Gainesville, located on the corner of West University Avenue and 13th Street.
After visiting several complexes, UF honed in on The Standard as a really quality option.
"If you look right there across the street you have The Standard, you have the StadiumHouse, which opens in July," Napier said. "You've got a number of different apartment complexes -- The Hub -- I mean there's a million of them right there downtown. For me, we went and toured them all. I think we've come to a good resolution there. If we can have the best, why wouldn't we have the best?"
Needless to say, when recruits come to town now asking about living arrangements, UF doesn't need to tuck tail and rush through that part of the visit any more.
"We've been able to improve that presentation," Napier said. "And it would be the rookies initially (living there), but even the veteran players if they want to be there, they can too. And we've had a few decide to do that."
Perhaps the best part? UF has been very forward-thinking about the approach and arranged to keep tabs on the players living in the new digs.
Swamp247 detailed some of that in writing about Thompson, the self-dubbed "Master of the Miscellaneous," this spring, but it includes the accounting department looking over rent payments to make sure nobody faces eviction for backlogged rent piling up -- something that has happened to several players over the years.
Needless to say, Napier and his staff tackled a major issue quickly and effectively. It should pay dividends sooner than later.
"The big thing is it's about the player experience and how can we improve that, how can we make that first class?" Napier said. "And we've been able to answer that issue.
"The best recruiters we have are the players on our team. And we have the ability at the University of Florida to have the best student-athlete experience for our players in the country, and that's part of it. Where you live's a big component."
Posted on 4/30/22 at 8:58 pm to Partha
There’s a New Boss at Florida, and His Name Is Billy Napier Part 1/3
The Gators’ coach will wrap his first spring in Gainesville on Thursday night, but his plans to remake the program are well underway.
RICHARD JOHNSON APR 14, 2022
The Gators’ coach will wrap his first spring in Gainesville on Thursday night, but his plans to remake the program are well underway.
RICHARD JOHNSON APR 14, 2022
quote:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It’s Billy Napier’s first spring practice at Florida, and he’s doing something that much of the hype surrounding his first offseason hasn’t been too focused on: coaching actual football. He’s with the quarterbacks, and he’s coaching his players as well as the student managers who set a drill up in the wrong place, proving that it takes everybody a little time to get used to things on Day 1.
“That’s the cool thing about football,” he said to reporters after practice. “It’s not just the players, man. You get to know the managers, the student trainers, the video crew. We’ve got a lot of people that make up the team. You want each one of those people to take pride in their role. When we win, they win.”
Napier, the coach, has seemingly given way to Napier, the CEO, since he’s arrived on campus. It’s easy to see why when you consider the task of the modern head football coach at a program with championship aspirations.
“You’re taking what is already a large organization in our athletic program and you’re building an organization within that organization that then has to tie back into the larger organization, and you do it in a short period of time,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin says. “You’re not taking 10 months to do it, you’re doing it in a couple weeks.”
In more ways than the obvious ones, the fact that Napier did not take any of the multiple jobs he’s been connected to over the last few coaching cycles paved the way for him to become the new coach at Florida.
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While he was at Louisiana, Napier had been linked to Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Baylor, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas to varying degrees. The fits weren’t right, nor was the timing or the scenarios he’d be entering into. That hesitancy is what got him on Stricklin’s radar.
“Usually that guy, when an SEC job approaches them, jumps at the opportunity,” Stricklin says. “He didn’t do that. That’s different, right? You’re always curious about people who do things differently. That’s probably when I first started noticing and paying attention.”
Napier stood pat in Lafayette and won 33 games in three seasons. Shortly before Napier won his second conference championship in a row, Stricklin stood in the coach’s home for their first meeting, late at night a few days before Thanksgiving.
“He was my priority. [With] everything I’d learned about him, he was the first guy I wanted to go see, and I wanted him to know he was the first guy I wanted to go see,” Stricklin says. “I said, ‘I want you to know my goal is that these conversations are gonna lead to you being the next football coach of the Florida Gators.’ He was like, ‘O.K., let’s do it.’”
There was a two-pronged reasoning for the meeting that Stricklin termed as more a recruiting trip than an interview. First, he wanted Napier, who was already sought after in the coaching cycle by that point, to know the interest was real. And secondly, he wanted to make sure the person he’d seen on YouTube and heard about through others in the industry was legit. They didn’t even really talk about football that night. Napier didn’t have a giant binder detailing every part of his program organization. Stricklin joked that it’s a good thing he didn’t because Napier’s level of detail meant they probably wouldn’t have gotten through it considering the meeting occurred after 9 p.m.
This post was edited on 4/30/22 at 9:01 pm
Posted on 4/30/22 at 9:00 pm to Partha
There’s a New Boss at Florida, and His Name Is Billy Napier Part 2/3
quote:
When you ask people who work with and for Napier what he’s like as a boss, his detail-oriented nature is one of the first things they point out. He’s known amongst his staff for taking copious “Napier Notes,” always handwritten because iPad stenography is a little too new-school for the 42-year-old. He quality controls every part of the organization, using notes to focus his one-on-one meetings with staffers and set the agenda for daily 7:45 a.m. full-staff meetings. Those are attended not just by the coaches, but most of the football building as well—the “army” of people Napier said he was going to hire. Included in that list are Katie Turner (assistant AD of recruiting strategy) and Bri Wade (director of on campus recruiting and events).
“I couldn’t ask to work for a better person. He gives me full autonomy in my role,” Wade says. “He doesn’t micromanage; he fully trusts me with my vision. All I have to do is communicate with him. This is what I’m thinking and this is why I’m thinking this, and he’s like, ‘I trust you,’ and he lets me go with it. I don’t think I’ve found that at a lot of places, and I don’t think I will find that at a lot of places.”
Wade and Turner’s group chat with Napier features a constant stream of consciousness from the head coach about ideas. It’s the communication that is key for any organization to make sure the left hand knows what the right is doing. There are new roles on Florida’s organization chart, with some who have come from Louisiana and some from other places across the country. Everyone has to quickly get in sync. Turner worked with Napier when he was a position coach at Alabama for Nick Saban as well as at Louisiana.
“He demands a lot out of you; he never stopped doing that,” Turner says. “The way that we coach the players or we interact with them or we have visits. He’s the same person day in and day out. I think that’s what makes him really great at his job because when someone’s super consistent it’s easy to know ebbs and flows.”
When Napier started coaching he was on a staff with nine assistants, two graduate assistants, an operations person and a high school relations person. One of the nine assistant coaches ran the entire recruiting operation. It’s safe to say things have changed, and Florida is trying to get near the forefront of that change.
Stricklin says the total staff is only about 15% more than what former coach Dan Mullen had in the building, and Napier downplays the actual size of the org. But the message is clear. The teams Florida wants to compete with—particularly national champion Georgia, which happens to be one of UF’s fiercest rivals—is backed by a listed staff of around 70 people. Keep up with the Joneses, or get left behind. Florida’s Twitter account announced hires (the number sits somewhere over 50, at present) one-by-one over multiple months. Everyone got a tweet, from dieticians to offensive coordinators. Accompanying was a graphic and a small press release to keep the momentum going. Fans definitely noticed; Wade says she was stopped by someone on her second day in town, something that surprised “a girl from Mississippi.”
“There’s nobody that’s just sitting around eating popcorn watching the game. We’ve got things for them to do,” Napier said in January. “We’re not gonna hire anyone we don’t have a clearly defined role for.”
Support staff does just that: support. Napier talks about analysts, grad assistants and quality control assistants being extra sets of eyes for the on-field coaches, but they also can help take stuff off the plate of those coaches so everyone that can have a work/life balance (something anathema to the job description of a football coach at some spots). Much of the new roles are also focused on recruiting infrastructure. Of Mullen’s missteps in charge, Florida’s inability to recruit at the highest level was the biggest issue. It was never more clear than after the 31–7 rout by Georgia in 2021, where Mullen dodged questions about recruiting and the talent gap between the teams for multiple days while Dawgs head coach Kirby Smart told reporters directly after the game: “I believe you better always be recruiting. Always be recruiting because if you're not, someone else is."
No detail is too small around the Gators program. For instance, Napier and Turner (who previously worked with Smart at Georgia) recently met about where recruits sit at home games. Whether or not the current field level bleachers in the end zone behind some hedges is the best vantage point is yet to be decided. They’ll work through it to see if a temporary fix is needed with stadium renovations down the road that are part of a broader facilities push that includes a new football operations center, which Stricklin says soothed any concerns Napier had about facilities. It’s part of a recruiting strategy that is focused on hospitality separate from evaluation. (There are staffers for the latter, including some focused on high school scouting and other keeping tabs on transfer portal players).
Napier is also very keyed into the way the program is portrayed. He admits recruiting is a sales business. Look closely at the staff announcements and you’ll notice a design element that’s become a staple of Florida’s online brand, a stripe pattern that’s on the team’s main helmets. It can be seen everywhere from Florida’s social media posts, to media credentials, to Napier’s own business card.
Those stripes and the Gators script have been on the team’s helmet since 1979. It’s not a coincidence that the stripes are now part of the front-facing identity of the program, popping up in most of the in-house graphics made since he took over. It stands to reason the script and the stripes are going to be staple design elements moving forward.
This post was edited on 4/30/22 at 9:34 pm
Posted on 4/30/22 at 9:00 pm to Partha
There’s a New Boss at Florida, and His Name Is Billy Napier Part 3/3
quote:
Napier is a traditionalist by his own admission, especially when it comes to uniforms. Florida has only once strayed from its orange, white and blue uniform color combinations (doing so in 2017 for a one-off alligator skin pattern). That’s going to change soon.
“We’re gonna wear black uniforms here at the University of Florida,” Napier says. “But each one of those uniforms that we wear we are going to auction off, and we’re gonna sell those and take the money and we’re gonna give that to families that maybe had some type of injury and setback and are living a little bit different lifestyle as a result of their military service and their setback.”
Napier doubts the Jordan Brand will be able to turn around black uniforms for the 2022 season, but does anticipate doing so for ’23. From his experience at Louisiana, he knew it was important to grant his player’s wishes to don black, while using it to teach a lesson. He brought guest speakers in the week of the game to teach the Ragin’ Cajuns players about different branches of the military, and his staff wore camo on the sideline for its ’20 win over South Alabama, held the week of Veteran’s Day.
There’s a notion with Napier of everything tying into a broader purpose. He says his biggest leadership tool is the example he sets, and the relationships he builds with those on his staff are patterned after how his father, a high school coach, related to his players and coaches. Napier’s father, Bill, passed away in 2017, but his mother, Pam, is still there to set him straight—like the time he let a curse word slip in a pregame speech that made its way into one of Louisiana’s promo videos, prompting a text from the matriarch that asked, “Did I hear this correctly?”
“To get where you want to go, it’s important that you know who you are and what you stand for. I think that we want our brand to reflect those things,” Napier says. “It is about recruiting, but more importantly it’s about once the player arrives, the brand should reflect who you want the people to become and the example that you want to set. There’s a fine line in there between being old school and new school and we’re always looking for that.”
Napier talks about constantly tweaking the various systems that make the program operate. Those who work for him say he’s eager for new ideas, even ones he might not agree with. There is no quick fix to contend longterm with behemoths like Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State on the recruiting trail or on the field. It takes time and effort. Florida has a six-stage recruiting plan and an eight-stage football plan it’s moving through to get ready for the season. In some ways football is just like any other business, but in many ways it isn’t.
“It goes back to those notes,” Napier says. “It’s like ironing a shirt that’s got a bunch of wrinkles in it. You keep ironing that shirt until you get the wrinkles out.”
This post was edited on 4/30/22 at 9:34 pm
Posted on 4/30/22 at 9:06 pm to Partha
Tim Tebow weighs in on expectations for Florida's Anthony Richardson
David Rosenberg
April 27, 2022 7:09 pm ET
David Rosenberg
April 27, 2022 7:09 pm ET
quote:
A new era of Florida football is officially underway with Billy Napier at the helm, and there’s a ton of pressure on the team to turn things around. Perhaps no individual player faces more pressure than quarterback Anthony Richardson, who is projected to be the team’s starter after splitting the load with Emory Jones in 2021.
Richardson’s Heisman odds climbed after a strong performance in Florida’s spring game. Napier all but endorsed him as the team’s quarterback of the future, but it’s important not to set expectations too high.
Tim Tebow chimed in on the AR-15 conversation on social media Wednesday and honed in on a few things to consider when watching Richardson this season.
As Tebow suggested, Napier needs to do his best to surround Richardson with the right talent. The Gators lost several pass catchers to the transfer portal and graduation, leaving Richardson with few experienced options in his first full season as the Gators’ quarterback. Making a splash in the transfer portal with a player such as the speedy Malik Benson could help Richardson.
Tebow’s second and third points sound like they come from experience. There was certainly a ton of hype surrounding the team during Tebow’s years in Gainesville, but one of the most important moments in his career came after he failed to live up to it. The promise speech was the stuff of legends and it took a big loss for Tebow to learn those lessons and fully value consistency over explosiveness.
Richardson showed signs of pushing the limits as a freshman, and Tebow is not so subtly warning him about overdoing it. Let’s not forget Richardson dealt with a few injuries over the course of 2021 and needed surgery during the offseason to repair a lingering knee issue.
If Richardson can truly take Tebow’s advice to heart, and Napier can find the right combination of players to put around him, the sophomore might be in for a truly special season. Time will tell on this one, but Tebow does see a path to greatness for AR-15.
Posted on 4/30/22 at 9:27 pm to Partha
Trey Smack to compete with Adam Mihalek for starting kicking job
ByTHOMAS GOLDKAMP 10 hours ago
ByTHOMAS GOLDKAMP 10 hours ago
quote:
Florida's special teams have left a lot to be desired over the last couple years, to the point that even the usually trusty specialists have been a bit of an adventure recently.
The Gators didn't seem to trust the kicking game all that much last year following the departure of eventual NFL rookie star Evan McPherson, despite bringing in Mississippi State transfer Jace Christmann at kicker to try to alleviate that issue.
And for good reason.
Former walk-on turned scholarship kicker Chris Howard missed a very costly extra point against Alabama that ultimately led Florida to attempt a two-point conversion for the tie; it failed and Florida fell 31-29.
Christmann later got his shot as a kicker but finished the year 3 of 6 on field goal attempts, missing one in a one-possession loss to Kentucky and then two against rival Georgia. Howard closed out the year as the kicker but missed 2 of 3 attempts in the Gasparilla Bowl at UCF.
There were same frank conversations after new coach Billy Napier had a chance to evaluate the position this spring. In the annual spring game, Howard missed a 32-yard attempt, while walk-on redshirt freshman Adam Mihalek hit field goals from 48 and 52 yards.
Howard entered the NCAA transfer portal following spring practice.
"Well we were impressed with Adam this spring, there's no question," Napier said Thursday at a spring speaking tour stop in Lakeland, Fla. "He made significant progress. We were in a situation with Howard where, with (incoming signee Trey) Smack and Howard both on the team we'd have two players on scholarship at that position, and ultimately we made a decision there as a group, Chris, relative to the competition; I mean, heck, the guy's made a lot of kicks for the Gators, so we support him.
"But I think overall we positioned ourselves really good there. Mihalek will compete with Smack. We have other players on the team that we're confident in as well."
Napier is hoping that an improved attention to detail and heavier emphasis on that group will help improve results.
Some of the negatives on top of the kicking have been a lack of potent punt returns (the Gators have returned just one for a touchdown in the last three years) and lack of blocked kicks (Florida hasn't blocked a kick in the last two seasons).
To that end, Napier hired Chris Couch as an analyst to lead the special teams unit, dubbing Couch as the "GameChanger Coordinator."
"We've got a good group of specialists," Napier said. "I mean, (long snapper Marco) Ortiz, (punter Jeremy) Crawshaw... we've got a chance to have one of the better specialist groups in the entire country," Napier said.
"If you dig into Florida, when they've had good teams they've had good specialists. And certainly I think special teams -- we call them gamechangers -- that's where you start. You want to build a great culture on a football team, the combination of offensive and defensive players, a lot of times your rookies get a chance to contribute for the first time there and some of your walk-ons can earn a niche on your team. I think for me that's where you start when you're building a football team and a culture within that locker room: that teamwork that's required on special teams."
Posted on 5/2/22 at 1:52 pm to Partha
Lingard eager for his shot, discusses 2021 RB rotation
By THOMAS GOLDKAMP 69 minutes ago
By THOMAS GOLDKAMP 69 minutes ago
quote:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- One of the most frustrating things for Florida fans during the 2021 season was the extensive rotation of the running backs within games, to the point that it often seemed to steal momentum from individual ball-carriers right when they got going.
The numbers, of course, bear that out. No running back topped 100 carries, with fourth-round NFL Draft selection Dameon Pierce seeing 100 right on the nose.
Turns out the running backs themselves didn't really like or always understand the methodology behind such a heavy rotation, particularly after one back had led the team down the field.
"None of us really did. But those guys ended up staying healthy," tailback Lorenzo Lingard said on a recent episode of the Gettin Swamped podcast with David Soderquist. "With the system now, we get about 15, almost 20 carries. As far as yards, they increase. Our role is bigger.
"That whole rotation was kind of weird because a guy would earn their run down the field then get taken out. But here, I mean, basically with this staff they don't do that."
In a pretty telling interview with Soderquist, Lingard outlined his long journey from Miami to Florida and what went into his decision to join the Gators. He discussed his thought process on proving himself in college and how he can carve out a role for himself going forward.
He also hinted at some easy changes that might alleviate some of the 'hot hand' frustration fans came to see a year ago.
"Coach (Jabbar) Juluke said that we have our one shot," Lingard said. "We bust a big run, we get down there, you've got one more shot to make it. But if you don't, then you get out. At least we get a shot to score if we're still running."
For a player who has recorded just 16 carries in two playing seasons with the Gators, Lingard didn't sound like a player frustrated by his lack of opportunities at all.
Instead, he sounded motivated to figure out why he hasn't been able to get more carries yet and how to fix that. He outlined why he picked Florida in the first place on the Gettin Swamped podcast.
"I came home with the hardship with my dad and his health," Lingard said. "I've seen him feel a lot better with me being closer to home. Florida, I just knew that it was going to be a tough school to come to. It's a lot of pressure being a Gator, what with the guys that come through here and what they do and what not. So I was like, 'Man, I'm going to go there and it's not going to be easy, but with it not being easy I'm going to be the best player that I can be and I'm going to get better every day.' And that's pretty much what happened."
How's this for work ethic?
Lingard shared on the podcast with Soderquist he recently went into Billy Napier's office after his spring exit interview and asked him which books Napier and the coaches recommend for self-improvement.
Napier's suggestion: The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills.
The redshirt junior has already secured a copy and begun reading it, something that surely has to impress the new coaching staff. Lingard spoke highly of that new staff.
"These guys came in, they were humble," he said. "They weren't lying about the work we had to put in. Most coaches come in, 'Oh yeah, it's going to be tough, you're going to have to do this, do that,' and they weren't lying. I haven't seen a flaw in their actions yet, and it seems like each day I'm around that staff I get better, I feel more comfortable around those guys, and I'm actually learning a lot from them."
With a strong work ethic and a more clear depth chart now, Lingard will almost certainly get his shot to show out this fall. He was explosive throughout the spring, though he wasn't able to show off what he could do fully in the spring game thanks to a minor hamstring tweak.
But after a few years of learning behind the likes of Dameon Pierce, Malik Davis and Nay'Quan Wright, Lingard seems ready to roll in 2022.
He knew coming in he'd have to be patient.
"I knew, but I just knew that with the work that I'd be putting in every day in practice, that even though I didn't get my shot, I would be getting better, bettering myself as a player so that when I do get my shot I'd be ready," he said.
Each of the veterans has helped him get to where he is now.
"I'd say all of them, pretty much. Everybody," he said. "There wasn't a day where I couldn't ask a question and anybody, like either of those guys would help me out. All those guys helped me out every day and I pretty much learned everything from Nay'Quan, Malik, all those guys."
Lingard's interview with Soderquist on the Gettin Swamped podcast was terrific, and you can listen to the full episode below. Lingard's interview starts at the 25-minute mark.
Posted on 5/3/22 at 1:57 am to Partha
Florida Gators 2022 post spring depth chart: Defense
Nick de la Torre
Photo courtesy of UF Communications / Jordan McKendrick
Nick de la Torre
Photo courtesy of UF Communications / Jordan McKendrick
quote:
The Florida Gators are two weeks removed from the Orange & Blue Game. It was the first time fans had a chance to see the Gators and new head coach Billy Napier.
Florida’s first-team offense looked good against the first-team defense, with the Blue team coming away with a 34-0 win.
With time to digest the spring as a whole, Gators Online will take a look at what the depth chart looks like leaving spring camp.
Breaking down the Gators defensive depth chart
Defensive End
Princely Umanmielen
Tyreak Sapp
Justus Boone
Breakdown:
The Gators have a lot of depth here. Umanmielen took a clear lead here to start but both Sapp and Boone have shown to be capable players.
Sapp has matured a lot in the last year and was a force in the spring game. Boone continues to make strides and both should get playing time as backups. Florida feels good about the talent and depth here.
EDGE (Jack)
Brenton Cox Jr.
Antwaun Powell
David Reese
Lloyd Summerall
Chief Borders
Breakdown:
Cox is the clear starter here but the Gators have really developed depth at the position. Powell has emerged as the next man up. He’s a physical player who has a mean streak on the field.
After those two the depth chart will be fluid. Reese is finally healthy and was a full participant in the spring. Summerall looks the part now. After flirting briefly with the transfer portal, he returned to the Gators and put together a good camp. Borders will compete with Reese and Summerall for the remaining reps.
Defensive Tackle
Gervon Dexter
Jalen Lee
Chris McClellan
Chris Thomas
Breakdown:
Dexter was and is as advertised. One source told Gators Online that Dexter is really flourishing under new defenisve line coach Sean Spencer. Spencer is working on the more technical aspects of Dexter’s game that the past staff neglected to hone in on.
Dexter is big and strong and can get away with sloppy technique. Spencer is teaching him and holding him accountable for his hand placement, footwork and the intricacies of playing defenisve line and Dexter is getting better for it.
Jalen Lee should be the next guy behind Dexter or next to him if the Gators have four down linemen. Chris McClellan enrolled early and took advantage of the head start, leapfrogging Chris Thomas on the depth chart.
Nose Tackle
Jalen Lee
Desmond Watson
Jaelin Humphries
Breakdown:
Lee is listed at both nose and defensive tackle. He has played both but will likely spend more time at nose. Depth is a major concern here.
Desmond Watson has a ton of potential. He moves exceptionally well for someone that tips the scale at 415 pounds but is that sustainable? Can he play 20 snaps a game? Would he benefit from playing at 380 or how much more effective could he be at a more manageable weight?
That’s what the staff is asking and where they’re trying to get him.
Linebacker
Mike
Ventrell Miller
Derek Wingo
Scooby Williams
Breakdown:
Miller is the alpha dog in the locker room. He’s the unquestioned leader for not only the defense but the team. He’s not a perfect player and needs to get better in coverage but the Gators are better when he’s healthy and on the field.
Wingo had a lot thrown at him as a freshman. He was used primarily to rush the passer in high school and then was asked to learn all three positions in his freshman season. He moved to middle linebacker in 2021 and has found a home there. He continues to learn and grow into the position.
Will
Amari Burney
Diwun Black
Breakdown:
Burney has a ton of experience and was able to hold down a starting job in the spring. Black continues to learn a new position but continues to show his athleticism.
Cornerback
Starters: Jason Marshall, Jaydon Hill, or Avery Helm
Backups: Jalen Kimber, Devin Moore, Jordan Young, Ethan Pouncey
Breakdown: Marshall has a starting spot locked down. Hill and Helm spent much of the spring splitting first-team reps but Helm didn’t play in the Orange and Blue game. That competition is likely to continue into summer and fall.
Behind those two is a ton of depth. Kimber looked good in camp when he was healthy. The staff is absolutely thrilled with Devin Moore and he’s certainly going to be one of the freshmen that play the most this season. Jordan Young had a good camp and a really good spring game.
Safety
Strong Safety
Trey Dean III
Mordecai McDaniel
Kamar Wilcoxson
Kamari Wilson
Free Safety
Rashad Torrence II
Donovan McMillon
Corey Collier Jr.
Nickel
Tre’Vez Johnson
Jadarrius Perkins
Kamar Wilcoxson
Jordan Young
Breakdown:
Going into spring Dean and Torrence were penciled in as the starters at safety and nothing changed in camp. Johnson is also locking down his job at nickel. Perkins missed the end of camp and the spring game with a leg injury. Wilcoxson has shown the versatility to play multiple positions.
One of the most interesting developments was Kamari Wilson getting first team reps in the spring game. The five-start freshman is in a crowded room but already earning playing time.
Posted on 5/3/22 at 2:01 am to Partha
Florida Gators 2022 post spring depth chart: Offense
Nick de la Torre
Photo courtesy of UF Communications
Nick de la Torre
Photo courtesy of UF Communications
quote:
The Florida Gators are two weeks removed from the Orange & Blue Game. It was the first time fans had a chance to see the Gators and new head coach Billy Napier.
Florida’s first-team offense looked good against the first-team defense, with the Blue team coming away with a 34-0 win.
With time to digest the spring as a whole, Gators Online will take a look at what the depth chart looks like leaving spring camp.
Breaking down the Gators offensive depth chart
Quarterback
Anthony Richardson
Jack Miller
Jalen Kitna
Max Brown
Breakdown:
There is a clear separation here between Anthony Richardson to Jack Miller. Florida could have a special player and talent in Richardson, he just needs to stay healthy and on the field. Miller appears to be an adequate backup. He can run better than expected and is an accurate passer.
Carlos Del Rio-Wilson saw the writing on the wall and hit the transfer portal. Jalen Kitna and Max Brown, who will enroll this summer, round out the depth chart.
Running back
Lorenzo Lingard
Montrell Johnson
Nay’Quan Wright
Demarkcus Bowman
Breakdown:
There isn’t a lot of separation at running back. Lorenzo Lingard came up a little limp in the spring game with a hamstring injury. It’s something to monitor moving forward, not necessarily the one injury, but if it could be a recurring issue.
Simply put, the Gators have a ton of options here and different skillsets with Nay’Quan Wright back in the fall. They’ll add Trevor Etienne this summer as well.
Tight End
Dante Zanders
Keon Zipperer
Nick Elksnis
Jonathan Odom
Noah Keeter
Breakdown:
The tight end toom took a few blows this spring. Elksnis and Odom were lost with injuries, which caused Dante Zanders and Griffin McDowell to move to the room. Zanders will stay at tight end. Billy Napier has called him a “godsend relative to his skill set.”
Zanders had a great spring game and he’ll anchor the room with his experience. The tight ends may not be huge pass-catching threats in this offense but they’ll be necessary to the Gators and what they want to do offensively running the ball.
Receiver
X
Justin Shorter
Ja’Quavion Fraziars
Marcus Burke
Z
Xzavier Henderson
Ja’Markis Weston
Daejon Reynolds
Slot
Trent Whittemore
Jordan Pouncey
Fenley Graham
Breakdown:
The Gators are actively looking to add to this room. Two names to watch are Arizona State transfer, Ricky Pearsall and Cody Jackson. The Gators have a lot of big, possession receivers. They need help with speed. Both Pearsall and Jackson can do that. Persall will visit the Gators this week. Jackson just hit the transfer portal a day ago but is a player they should reach out to.
The top three receivers here are fairly set in stone. Shorter, Henderson and Whittemore will all play a ton for the Gators in 2022. Fraziars, Weston and Burke put together nice spring camps and will serve as backups.
Offensive Line
Left Tackle
Richard Gouraige
Austin Barber
Left Guard
Ethan White
Riley Simonds
Center
Kingsley Eguakun
Richie Leonard
Jake Slaughter
Right Guard
O’Cyrus Torrence
Josh Braun
Will Harrod
Right Tackle
Michael Tarquin
Kamryn Waites
Breakdown:
This could be one of the best offensive lines, in terms of what the offense wants to be. They have a ton of size in the middle with White, Eguakun, and Torrence. White and Eguakun are returning starters and Torrence is an All-Sun Belt senior who hasn’t allowed a sack in three years.
Napier wants to win the line of scrimmage and control the game on the ground. This offensive line is a unit that can do just that.
Posted on 5/4/22 at 1:34 pm to Partha
Posted on 5/4/22 at 8:28 pm to Partha
UF one portal difference-maker from solid receiver group
By THOMAS GOLDKAMP 10 hours ago
By THOMAS GOLDKAMP 10 hours ago
quote:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- With spring football now a couple weeks behind us and players nearing the end of the rest and recovery Phase 4 prior to the grueling offseason summer strength and conditioning program, Swamp247 stops to take a look at each position coming out of the spring.
We have a much better idea what the depth chart looks like after spending time out at Florida's practices this spring, so we give you the full picture at each spot going into fall camp.
Today, we continue with wide receivers.
Position Review: Wide Receiver
Overview: Florida went into spring football feeling pretty good about its top three veterans at the position -- Justin Shorter, Xzavier Henderson and Trent Whittemore -- while looking for some of the younger players to emerge as viable targets. The Gators were also trying to figure out if anyone can be a true No. 1 playmaker. It's unclear if a whole lot changed coming out of spring. The top three veterans remain fairly entrenched in their positions and none of the younger players really made a ton of noise this spring. The Gators will likely try to add a receiver from the transfer portal to bolster the room this offseason.
Strengths: Size, Perimeter Blocking
Florida should have one of the bigger receiving rooms in the country, with several players who are big enough and physical enough to really use their body to shield off defenders. The unit was also well coached up in terms of blocking during the Dan Mullen era, and that continued this spring, evident on some of the outside running plays the team ran. There are some definite physical tools to build on in the group.
Weaknesses: Quick-Twitch Ability
This wasn't really an issue that could be solved in the spring, as it's more inherent to the group that was recruited under the former staff. But the Gators just don't have a ton of players with elite quick-twitch ability in short spaces on the roster right now. Fenley Graham certainly has some of that but is still a bit raw after moving over to offense this spring. Though Whittemore has emerged as a quality option in the slot, he's more athletic from a top-end speed and jumping standpoint rather than cutting on a dime. Florida could still use an elusive, shifty type in the slot.
*** What We Like: Shorter appeared to take things to another gear this spring and he could legitimately be in for a breakout campaign. Whittemore proved pretty quickly once he got healthy this spring that he's going to be a major part of the offense. Henderson was also quite solid this spring and appears to be emerging as a leader. Those are some great building blocks to start with at the position, with a couple others like Ja'Markis Weston, Jaquavion Fraziars, Daejon Reynolds and Marcus Burke flashing potential here and there during the spring. There are enough options that even with injuries Florida should at least have adequate replacements for guys that go down hurt.
*** What Needs To Happen: First and foremost, Florida needs to attempt to add another experienced, talented option to the room via the transfer portal. If that happens, concerns about whether any of the group listed above can break through to become a regular contributor get eased considerably. Beyond that, Shorter really needs to come through as a true No. 1 go-to target. He has certainly put in the work, it just needs to show up in the form of consistency on the field this fall. If he can do that and UF can land a quality transfer, this room should be solid next season.
Summer Additions:
Caleb Douglas: A wiry receiver with good length, Douglas will offer Florida a prospect with above-average ball skills. He's not hesitant to go up and make tough, contested catches at the high point. As a former quarterback, he'll likely have the ability to pick up the playbook a little quicker than most and will have a unique perspective as a receiver having seen things from the other side. Florida's staff was high on him, with Keary Colbert having recruited him when he was an assistant at USC, so there's a chance he could work his way onto the field this fall with a strong fall camp.
Posted on 5/4/22 at 8:40 pm to Partha
Richardson's health, Miller's development the QB keys to 2022
ByTHOMAS GOLDKAMP May 3, 9:29 AM
ByTHOMAS GOLDKAMP May 3, 9:29 AM
quote:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- With spring football now a couple weeks behind us and players nearing the end of the rest and recovery Phase 4 prior to the grueling offseason summer strength and conditioning program, Swamp247 stops to take a look at each position coming out of the spring.
We have a much better idea what the depth chart looks like after spending time out at Florida's practices this spring, so we give you the full picture at each spot going into fall camp.
Today, we begin with quarterback.
Position Review: Quarterback
Overview: Going into spring football there weren't really major questions about who was the likely starter next fall, but there was at least some thought that Ohio State quarterback transfer Jack Miller -- who Billy Napier recruited back at Arizona State as a prospect -- might make things interesting. For the most part, that didn't happen. If anything, Florida fans will come out of spring feeling a bit unsettled about the backup. The good news? There shouldn't be many concerns about starter Anthony Richardson at this point. After an excellent spring game, he has settled the nerves quite a bit. But there's zero doubt the Gators need significant improvement from Miller and the other backups at the position.
Strengths: Scrambling Ability, Elite Upside
Richardson offers Florida something few programs can boast: legitimate Heisman Trophy type ability if he's playing his best. What fans saw in UF's spring game was similar to what we saw last year in the second half against LSU. When Richardson gets rolling with some tempo the offense can be lethal. In the group as a whole, though, there's some decent running ability. Miller can scoot, as well, showing throughout the spring he could break contain and extend plays. Incoming signee Max Brown is also solid from a mobility standpoint.
Weaknesses: Consistency, Accuracy
Though it didn't show up in the spring game, even Richardson's accuracy left a lot to be desired in the open portions of practice the media viewed throughout the spring. Accuracy was a big problem for everyone on the depth chart past Miller, though Carlos Del Rio-Wilson entered the transfer portal following the spring. Given Richardson's excellent spring game, the concerns about accuracy should be at least somewhat mitigated. Tempo can help alleviate some of the issues for him. But consistency at this point will be worth watching going forward. What happens when teams get a decent bit of tape on Richardson as the full-time starter? Improve consistency and that shouldn't be much of an issue.
*** What We Like: You can't coach what Richardson has. He's got an absolutely elite skillset Florida's coaches can build on. Moreover, he certainly shouldn't lack confidence, because there's virtually zero reason for him to be looking over his shoulder at this point. Perhaps the thing we were most impressed by in the spring game was Richardson's quick release. He didn't stare down targets and he got the ball out on time, allowing the offense to get into a rhythm with the slightly up-tempo approach.
*** What Needs To Happen: For the 2022 season, it's probably as simple as Miller needing to improve enough to be a competent backup in the event Richardson goes down with an injury for a game or two. Realistically, if Richardson is out for any extended period of time the 2022 season is probably a bust. But if he's out for a half, or a game or two, depending on where it happens on the schedule Miller's improvement could be the difference between a couple wins and losses. Miller doesn't have Richardson's innate ability, but if he can at least begin to process reads faster and make safer decisions than he did in the spring game, UF might be able to survive a game or two against an opponent of roughly the same talent.
Summer Additions:
Max Brown: With Jalen Kitna failing to impress this spring, Brown will have a chance to fairly quickly work himself into position to be the reserve quarterback. He is a talented dual-threat prospect who can make things happen with his legs but doesn't necessarily rely on that mobility to create offense. The biggest thing for Brown will be picking up the playbook as quickly as possible.
Posted on 5/5/22 at 4:43 pm to Partha
Posted on 5/5/22 at 5:29 pm to Partha
Twitter LINK - Emory Jones transferring to ASU
Good luck to him.
Good luck to him.
This post was edited on 5/5/22 at 5:42 pm
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