Florida Football: Billy Napier gets a passing grade for 2022. Barely.

We here at Hail Florida Hail try to be optimistic when it comes to Florida football. While certain segments of Gator Nation have meltdowns when the slightest of adversity hits the program, we do our best to take a wholistic view of what is happening.

This week we have given out report card grades to the staff assistants, the offensive coaches, and the defensive coaches and while we try to be optimistic, we also are realistic that not everyone associated with the program is carrying their weight.

So handing out a final grade for Billy Napier for his debut season with Florida football is tough because the choices he is making now won’t have a clear outcome for another two or three seasons.

But there are legitimate concerns to be had, and with that in mind we give Napier a passing grade for 2022, but not by much.

Florida Football: It’s complicated

Coming into 2022, it didn’t feel like it would be possible for the Gators to not be better than the 2021 squad. Todd Grantham was gone, Anthony Richardson was now the QB, and everything we heard out of camp was how Florida football was going to be more focused and more disciplined.

One game into the Napier Era, it felt like anything was possible. Let’s not forget that Utah would go on to win the PAC-12 and keep Southern Cal out of the playoffs, so it’s not like the Utah win lost value as the season progressed.

However the following week the Gators were brought back to Earth when Richardson imploded against Kentucky.

And thus gave us a season of maddening inconsistency that left Florida right where it left off, 6-7.

The same squad that beat Utah, that beat South Carolina to a pulp, and that was one play away from wins at Tennessee and at FSU is the same squad that almost lost to USF and did lose to Vanderbilt.

That falls on Napier.

One may defend Napier by saying he inherited a dumpster fire from Dan Mullen, and there is a hint of truth to that, but it’s not like Florida football was an untalented roster this year. They were ranked 12th is the 247 Sports roster composite when the season started and for the most part the Gators stayed healthy.

The counter to that of course is the Napier is weeding out the guys that don’t have buy in and don’t want to follow the process that prevents the inconsistency. He made the bold choice to kick Brenton Cox off the team when he was one of the only bright spots on the defense. 

The truth is probably in the middle and this is where Napier’s recruiting saves him from a D or a F. He isn’t just taking guys to take guys. He is getting quality players who genuinely seem like they want to be in Gainesville for reasons beyond just NIL money.

In time, this should pay off.

But speaking of time, clock management is also a glaring weakness in Napier that better recruiting won’t fix. Napier doubles as the offensive coordinator, and while there are critiques one can make with his play calling ability, the offense put up enough points to win more games than it did. The problem always came at the end of the first half when Napier seemed to have zero faith in his offense and would eat the ball rather than go for more.

The reason why the offense always needed to chase points was because the defense couldn’t stop anyone. Yes that falls on Patrick Toney, which is why he earned a F from us, but it also falls on Napier since he’s the guy that hired Toney. He also hasn’t indicated he will let Toney go, so if the defense goes south again Napier has to fall on that sword.

Florida Football: Moving forward

Florida leads the country in guys entering the transfer portal, and this is either a sign Napier is cleaning up the program or there is something very wrong happening.

We tend to lean towards the former, recognizing that by cleaning house now the 2023 season is going to be an uphill climb.

So for 2022, we are giving Billy Napier a C. The loss to Vanderbilt and the near loss to USF can’t be defended. The clock management at the end of the first half is concerning. And if his wagon is hitched to Patrick Toney as tightly as Mullen’s was to Grantham, then he will fail.

But Napier was brought to Gainesville to be a builder. And we have to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.