Billy Napier channels Nick Saban to shut down the praise parade

For the first time in four years during the Billy Napier Era, the national narrative surrounding the Florida Gators has been mostly positive. Beyond the saga of DJ Lagway's health status, most national pundits have Florida as a threat to make the playoffs and beyond in 2025.

But Billy Napier also comes from the tree of Nick Saban, and on Monday Napier took a page from Saban's playbook when dealing with praise.

Napier thinks "That's an insult"

Florida is ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll, the first time in the Napier Era that Florida has started the season ranked. Jake Slaughter is a preseason first-team All-American. And there have been plenty of offseason pieces about Lagway, Dallas Wilson, and Jayden Woods, among others.

But during his press conference on Monday, Napier went into a diatribe about the expectations set for the Gators in 2025:

"Look, I don't think we can buy into any narrative about this team. This team is going to have an opportunity to define themselves. So being ranked, people telling you, you got a good team, you're capable. To me, that's an insult.

They tell you that, oh man, they might be, they're capable, they're scary. To me, that's an insult. So, we are going to get to decide, with how we play. So I think ultimately that's what we have to prepare, and then we will get to play, and we will decide – and I think that's what our focus is on."

It comes from the same family of coach-speak that Nick Saban used to engage in, claiming that anything positive written about the team was "rat poison."

Mind you, Napier went on his infamous "fan in a basement" diatribe last year when the team wasn't doing so hot, so he would probably just prefer we say nothing at all about the Gators.

But it all ties in with what has been an increasing theme from Napier about "blocking the outside noise." It was a common talking point he hit on during Florida's appearance on Netflix, and he has made references to it throughout the offseason.

And at times this offseason we have been seeing the version of "Scared money don't make money" that we thought we were first getting, with quips like "Spot the ball," and "It's one thing to practice like you want to win, it's another thing to practice like you want to win a championship."

In the end, only wins and losses are going to dictate the noise. Napier is correct, though, that Florida alone can control which way that noise goes.