UF coach Billy Napier pushes to create a winning culture in Year 2 with Gators

Florida coach Billy Napier plans to stick with what he knows.

As the Gators open preseason practice Monday, it also matters who you know.

Progress during Year 2 of Napier’s rebuild can be measured by something as easy as recognizing a member of the support staff or as grueling as registering significant gains in the weight room.

Napier aims to create a winning culture rooted in teamwork, hard work and accountability while he pushes to compile a roster capable of competing for SEC titles.

Personnel questions abound, including at quarterback. Expectations rarely have been lower; SEC media picked the Gators to finish 5th in the East division and Las Vegas oddsmakers set the over/under on wins total at 5.5.

But Napier produced championship teams at Louisiana by cultivating the intangibles to ultimately produce concrete results. He’ll rely on a similar formula as he aims to build a winning foundation in Gainesville.

“If we can agree as a team … this is the expectation we’re going to establish for each other, and that should be much higher than any outside narrative or outside opinion,” Napier said Sunday during the team’s media day. “If I’m walking around the building each day, if I’m living life and I’m most concerned with not letting the people down that are going to be in this team meeting in a couple hours, that’s the most important piece.”

A lot of pieces have to fall in place for the Gators to remove the yoke of consecutive 6-7 seasons.

To make everything fit as one, Napier expects everyone in his organization to be in lockstep.

A “know-your-teammates” quiz is among the 44-year-old’s methods. Players must identify a person and his or her hometown by their picture flashed across a screen. Answers don’t always come easily given the scope of Napier’s 70-plus person staff.

“You’d be surprised how competitive these guys will get,” Napier said.

Veteran defensive back Jaydon Hill said his only miss in 10 tries occurred when presented a photo of Ashour Peera, the director of football logistics and Napier’s omnipresent right-hand man.

“I just knew Coach P,” Hill said.

Napier wants everyone in the state-of-the-art Heavener Football Center to be on a first-name basis and have familiarity with each other’s background.

“You want a place where everybody’s role is appreciated and everyone feels like they can make an impact — and they might just be the difference,” he said.

The impact of Napier’s approach will bear out during the 2023 season, beginning Aug. 31 at Utah.

Entering preseason camp, the fruits of the Gators’ labor are evident following an offseason with strength and conditioning coach Mark Hocke and his staff.

Napier noted 53 Gators set records for reaching their maximum velocity. Many key players made noticeable strides in other areas, too.

Veteran edge defender Princely Umanmielen, for example, added 10 pounds of lean muscle while dropping 7 pounds of body fat. The 6-foot-5, 254-pound junior also had personal bests in bench press, squat lift and the clean-and-jerk.

“Really good summer there,” Napier said.

Umanmielen was not alone on a defense ranked among the worst last season in the SEC.

Starting cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. gained 7 pounds while potential bookend Jalen Kimber packed on 8 after recovering from a broken hand. Sophomore edge rusher Jack Pyburn put on 10 pounds of muscle and dropped his body fat 6%.

On the other side of the ball, intriguing first-year receiver of Andy Jean of Miami bulked up 9 pounds to 198 at 6-foot-1.

Given the Gators’ offseason gains, Hocke said the large ‘F’ on his weight room wall has dual meaning.

“‘F’ is not for Florida, it’s for freaks,'” he said.

Meanwhile, Napier also sees leaders emerging.

At the head of the class is Wisconsin transfer quarterback Graham Mertz, who is expected to emerge as the team’s starter.

“He just got here, but he acts like he’s been here,” 2022 leading rusher Montrell Johnson Jr. said. “He leads the team. He talks to us like a coach.”

Johnson, Umanmielen and Marshall are among a veteran core of returners on a retooled team featuring 27 players who joined the Gators in January. Unlike Mertz, who started 32 games in the Big Ten, many newcomers are inexperienced, if not first-year players.

“There’s going to be a ton of competition going into this camp,” Napier said. “But I do anticipate as we approach that first game, we’re going to have young players that are going to be out there.”

With the season a little more than four weeks away, the Gators are on the clock.

“The theme here … is we have to agree to an expectation,” Napier said. “That’s a big deal. I would say you almost have to ask yourself: Am I doing the things that I expect of others?

“If all parts of our team and organization take that approach for the next 21 days, we’ve got a chance to have a good football team.”