In 2022, Jonathan Odom was one of the players who started to emerge for the Gators at tight end, and he was expected to be a key cog for Florida in 2023. Odom took 182 snaps in 2022, Billy Napier’s first year in Gainesville, including 48 against FSU, but tore his ACL to close out the season. He recovered for 2023, but would eventually get a concussion and never play football again.
But given that Odom got to work with both Billy Napier and Dan Mullen, he has a unique perspective as to what went wrong with both. And while he acknowledges the downfall of both, it is clear he has way more respect for one than the other.
Jonathan Odom highlights the downfall of Dan Mullen and Billy Napier
Appearing on the Elliott Caldwell Podcast, Odom talked about both Mullen and Napier. His insight wasn’t necessarily anything new, more so a confirmation of what fans saw from the outside.
Of Mullen, Odom said:
“The year before he got fired, we should have won. We had a few unfortunate plays. It's football, but we really should have won against Alabama. Mullen's downfall happened when he kind of didn't like the recruiting, was getting into it with media about recruiting, getting into the administrative people at Florida about recruiting, and then just kind of, I'd say, lost the team a little bit. Not the respect of the team, but just kind of like people weren't really bought in anymore and just kind of got away from them a little bit.
I still talk to him every once in a while. I think he'd say the same thing. I think that was his downfall. His downfall wasn't coaching. He really just needed a manager. Someone to manage the recruiting and manage the stuff and let him just coach.”
Mullen infamously said in November of 2021 that “We're in the season now. We'll do recruiting after the season. When it gets to recruiting time, we can talk about recruiting.”
As Gator fans have always been quick to rebuke, it’s always recruiting season and that comment has always lingered around that while Mullen was a great X’s and O’s guy, he just didn’t have the drive behind the scenes to get Florida over the mountain top.
His comments about Napier also weren’t anything new, but a reminder that the players sensed too the flaws of Florida:
“Napier, he didn't have the mindset. He would fold anytime we got into pressure situations. It'd be third and 11. He'd call a screenplay every single time, and we just became super predictable. Our offense was like a bland waste of food, basically.”
Former Gator Jonathan Odom sounds off on Dan Mullen and Billy Napier pic.twitter.com/osfmDazuIF
— David Soderquist (@Hightop_Dave) June 5, 2026
Now, it should be noted that last September, Odom took to social media to blast Napier. Odom claimed that Napier accused him of faking his concussion, which he suffered in 2023.
But his overarching comment that Florida was predictable was a common theme in the Billy Napier Era, as even opposing defensive coordinators would state out loud that they knew what was coming.
In time, the hope is that Jon Sumrall can erase the stains from that era. But it is also interesting to hear from the people who were inside the building as it was crashing down.
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