One of the never-ending topics of conversation for Florida Football is whether or not Billy Napier is ever going to hire an offensive coordinator. Sure, he had Rob Sale and Russ Callaway listed with some form of OC in their title, but it has been well established that Napier himself is the one calling plays on gameday.
After another offseason of speculation, Florida is right back where they started with just some slight semantical changes.
Florida Football: Ask Madden
Following up with statements he had made on Gators Breakdown last week, Napier was asked on Tuesday at his press conference if it gets annoying to always be asked if he is going to give up play-calling duties:
"Look, I'm beyond that. We get it. We're going to always be – it's a production business. My job is to get the team to win, and I try to make decisions that reflect that. I still have conviction about it."
Napier would go on to defend his decision with:
"It's what got me here. It's how I became the head coach. It's what's helped us make progress and win in the past. I'm confident it will help us do that in the future."
As we have chronicled here at Hail Florida Hail, Florida has yet to have a season where it finished in the top 50 for points per game since Napier arrived.
And as much as Napier talks about how calling plays is what got him to Gainesville in the first place, only once in his ten seasons as either a D1 head coach or as a D1 offensive coordinator has he finished in the top 25 for points per game (2019).
We have chronicled before our concerns with Napier's offense, but the deeper problem with Napier insisting he is going to continue to call plays is that time after time, there have been organizational issues on gameday that Napier could have possibly had a grip on if he wasn't being pulled to do double duty.
No, he is not the only head coach in America who is also calling plays. But beyond the backbreaking gaffes that have cost Florida games (see Arkansas and Tennessee), Florida just always feels slow in getting the play call in and, too many times, has taken needless timeouts.
The Gators were 87th in 2024 in time per play, taking over 27 seconds on average between plays. In 2023, they were 97th in time between plays, and in 2022, they were 85th.
A New Hope
So, heading into 2025, Napier has bet on himself that he is the chosen one to lead the Florida offense on game day.
With DJ Lagway at helm, Napier's offense is built around having a strong arm QB who gives the defense just enough to think about to exploit the running game.
Combined with four starters along the offensive line, both his main tight ends, and a stable of running backs, the only real question mark Florida has from a player standpoint on offense is the wide receivers. And even then, there is a pathway Florida's wide receivers could be a plus in 2025.
There is minimal reason Florida shouldn't be a top-25 offense in 2025.