Despite claiming Austin Armstrong would call plays for Florida Football, he is not

One of the grand mysteries for Florida Football that also felt like a rhetorical question was who would be calling plays for the Gators on defense in 2024. Austin Armstrong is still on staff, but Billy Napier opted to bring Ron Roberts on board back in February.

When Roberts was introduced back in February, Napier painted a picture that Armstrong was still going to be in charge of play calling in 2024. Based upon Napier's answer on Monday, that is officially not the case and it raises another set of questions for the seasons.

Florida Football: This Town Isn't Big Enough

Armstrong took over for Patrick Toney ahead of the 2023 season. While early returns looked promising, as the Gators were playing in a far more aggressive manner, coverage collapses and a lack of tackling led to a second-half collapse of the defense.

When Roberts was brought over from Auburn and was given the title of Executive Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator, it raised eyebrows as to whether Florida was going to have a third defensive coordinator in three years.

At this time, Napier claimed that wasn't the case:

"Austin (Armstrong) calls the plays, but we are getting a guy who can coach the coaches… (Roberts) is the head coach of the defense to some degree."

It seemed weird at the time, but that's what Napier wanted to do. We were sold all offseason by Napier this idea that Roberts was going to be a mentor to Armstrong.

Well, it appears the mentor has said screw it and has taken over from Armstrong the playcalling duties on defense.

On Monday, Napier was asked why the defense has continued to struggle this far into his regime:

"Yeah, no, I think it's the same system, verbiage. We have had three different play callers, but ultimately you're recycling players, too, right, in terms of experience.""

Three different play callers you say.

So Armstrong isn't calling the plays in 2024.

Got it.

Two relevant questions stem from this admission. The first is something we wrote back in February when this plan was originally announced:

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"As we here at Hail Florida Hail highlighted when Roberts was first announced as Executive Head Coach, there is merit to having veteran leadership among your coaching staff and not just a bunch of youthful wiz kids.

It also raises the question of whether Napier is admitting without admitting it that Armstrong wasn't ready for the job in 2023.

For the record, we love the energy that Armstrong brings and would take his style of high energy and at least trying different schemes when one doesn't work versus the vanilla defense we saw under Patrick Toney. And it is possible, given his youth, that Armstrong is going to benefit from someone he trusts and has a solid rapport with.

But why at the University of Florida are you bringing in a mentor for your defensive coordinator? This is not the type of place where it exactly exudes confidence among your fanbase that the man calling the defensive plays needs to check in with someone as if he is back in high school and has to take around a grade sheet on Thursday to all his teachers so he can be eligible to play on Friday.

This is going to continue to be a topic of conversation because if Florida comes out against Miami and lays an egg on defense, or frankly lays an egg against anyone this season, questions will be asked as to who is calling the plays.

It's also possible Napier is ahead of the game and sees a vision the rest of us don't.

The curse of February is that we don't get to find out if this set up will work until September."

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Well, it is September, and Florida continues to lay eggs on defense. And now that we know Roberts is in charge, it is fair to bring up our second question:

Why is Florida insistent on playing two high safeties 15 yards off the ball who do nothing but back peddle and continue to leave acres of space underneath because they refuse to come downhill to make a play on the ball?

The defensive line is what it is for Florida, but safety play has taken a noticeable nose dive in 2024. If I were the offensive coordinator for Mississippi State, I'm coming up with every route combo I can think of 10 to 15 yards down the middle of the field because Florida's safeties have this mentality of "This land is your land."

Three years in a row, Napier has hand-picked a buddy of his from Louisiana to be the defensive coordinator at Florida. Three years in a row, the defense looks like they would struggle to stop an offense playing on Freshman in CFB25.

It's another footnote in the sinking ship that Napier is determined to go down with.