Billy Napier's solution for fixing communication for Florida Football has yet to work

I promise we here at Hail Florida Hail don't exist to nitpick every little thing Florida Football does. I'm sure if we were to dissect press conferences from every Power Four head coach in the country, we could find holes in their narratives to write about.

However, time and time again, Billy Napier has this way of trying to highlight basic things as if they are groundbreaking, and that was no different on Wednesday during his weekly press conference.

Florida Football: Mic Drop

Here is something you have probably read once or twice: Florida is terrible on defense.

Now that we have established that, let's see what Napier claims from his press conference on Wednesday the Gators are doing to help fix their communication problems on defense.

"Yeah, we put mics on players in practice, you know, so that we can hear the actual communication. We've done that with the center, the quarterback, the signal-callers on defense, the inside backers, the safeties, you know, we've literally paired the audio with the practice play, and then that gives us a little bit of an idea relative to what's actually taking place. They can't get that on game day, obviously, but we do it in the practice setting, we do it in scrimmages, so that part helps."

It sounds like something super basic, but if it works, it works just like Florida implementing a mat for special teams.

When asked about what he has learned from micing up players in practice, he said:

"I think it's just healthy to see where, you know, who does a great job and who doesn't do a great job, you know. I mean, I think it's – you're coaching every part of football, right? I think that's a huge piece of the puzzle."

He later added "I think ultimately we know, we know what we need to do to get it fixed."

Again, all this sounds like something Florida should have been doing before, but what's done is done. If somehow everything gets fixed ahead of UCF and Tennessee, do whatever it takes.

Hey, just one last question. When did Florida start putting mics in the helmet during practice?

"No, we've done it in the past. I mean, I think when we feel as if we have a young player, you know, like you got a new quarterback, you got a freshman center, you have a rookie Mike backer, you know, I mean, ultimately, it's some checks and balances there. And then, when you feel as if that can improve, then you go back to that. It's a way to create some checks and balances."

So... you aren't actually doing anything new?

Are you just detailing a practice mechanic you have been using that clearly hasn't translated to game day?

Got it.

Easily Amused

In a vacuum, one could look at Napier's diatribe about putting microphones in helmets during practice and barely raise an eyebrow.

The problem is that it continues a trend of Napier being impressed by seemingly basic things that everyone is doing.

Every SEC Media Day, he throws out these arbitrary numbers of how much muscle Florida has put on over the offseason as if no one else in the country has access to a weight room.

He tries to act like it is a fantastic accomplishment for the bulk of the team to show up to the building on their "day off."

Napier bragged in the offseason about delegating tasks so that he would have more time to focus on... well, we aren't actually sure what he is focusing on.

So when he brags about micing up players as a way to improve their communication on defense, even though it is something they have already been doing, it is hard to have faith that there won't be coverage busts this Saturday against UCF.