Florida Football: Billy Napier spring debut date set
![New Gator Head Coach Billy Napier was on the sideline for interviews during the first half. The Gators lead 10-9 over the Central Florida Knights at the half in the Gasparilla Bowl Thursday, December 23, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner]2021Oca 122324 Ufvsucfgasbowl](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F4a35de54d54d27c5c373fd7fbabf6472c4f3f1f1d988080c9c834ee0f6333eec.jpg "New Gator Head Coach Billy Napier was on the sideline for interviews during the first half. The Gators lead 10-9 over the Central Florida Knights at the half in the Gasparilla Bowl Thursday, December 23, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner]2021Oca 122324 Ufvsucfgasbowl")
Date, Time, and information regarding Gators’ orange & blue game
This morning we got information about when the spring game for the Florida football program would be. It was announced that the game would be held on April 16th at 1 P.M. This game had not been held the last two seasons due to COVID-19, and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was being utilized as a testing & vaccination site during that period of time.
📅 Save the date! #GoGators
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) January 31, 2022
🔗: https://t.co/83QVTZtJaI pic.twitter.com/UiYTRh4jLY
This game serves now as more of an introduction to the Billy Napier era than anything, and it is fitting that the game returns during the first year of his tenure. With Napier recruiting left and right all offseason, as well as grabbing a few key transfers, his offseason has been effective, to say the least. However, we have yet to see him actually coach for Florida football yet, so April 16th will be the first day the fanbase can witness his coaching for the Gators.
The Gators head coach, who spent time under Nick Saban as well as Dabo Swinney will be dealing with re-forming the Florida Gators, and bringing them back to their former glory, as they had a 6-7 season in 2021 which also included a bowl game loss to UCF to make things worse. Overall, Florida has a lot of young talent to develop now with the 2022 recruiting class being a relative success, however, getting the team back on track to the days of Tim Tebow will take some time.
The Florida Gators have hired Billy Napier as their next head football coach. First reported by @Brett_McMurphy #ToTheSwamp pic.twitter.com/HzavH5fcQ4
— Florida Zone (@Florida_Zone) November 28, 2021
The orange and blue game is essentially a scrimmage/exhibition game where the Gators players will play 11 on 11 football with their own units on the field at the same time. This game is more an experience for fans, both to get back into the Swamp and experience gameday, but also to see how offseason developments could take. With the potential of a new starting quarterback, and a definitive change at head coach, OC, and many other coaching spots, this game could at the very least be fun to witness as a fan.