Florida Football: Billy Napier confirms offensive line shuffling

Following the saga last week on whether Micah Mazzccua was transferring from Florida football, Billy Napier took to the podium yesterday to confirm the good and bad news.

The good news is that Mazzccua has since taken down his tweet saying he wanted to transfer and that he will still be a part of the Florida Gators. The bad news is that Napier confirmed that Mazzccua is injured, had surgery, and his readiness for week one against Utah is unclear.

Florida Football: Musical chairs

Napier didn’t squash that the Mazzccua saga was over when asked at his press conference to give an update.

"“Tough dynamic. A lot going on there behind the scenes.”"

He went on to say that the injury to Mazzccua was one he had prior to coming to Gainesville and was caught when Florida did an MRI. Napier defended the Tweet, saying that the injury had mentally put Mazzccua in a bad place.

Later in the press conference,  Napier was asked about the left guard position and who was stepping up to fill the void. He rattled off the usual names we would expect to fill the gaps, including Jake Slaughter and Knijeah Harris. He also mentioned Kamryn Waites as a possibility, but Waites is now injured.

"“That’s a position we have confidence in”"

Notably, and what wasn’t brought up when asked about how to fill the left guard was Kentucky transfer Kiyaunta Goodwin. As we mentioned when the Mazzccua saga went down, Goodwin is a tackle rather than a guard, so unless Napier plans to move Damieon George or Austin Barber to guard, which doesn’t sound like the case, it doesn’t sound like Goodwin is in the picture right now to fill the hole.

Napier’s press conference lasted 18 minutes, and you can watch the entire conference below.