Mike Norvell previews matchup against Billy Napier, Florida

Now in his third season with Florida State, Mike Norvell has yet to beat the Florida Gators. That isn’t entirely his fault, as the 2020 game was cancelled because the SEC chose to only play a 10-game conference schedule due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. At the same time, it would have been nice to have beaten them while the Gators had an interim coach in 2021.

This year, Mike Norvell is facing a new-look Florida team under Billy Napier who has Florida bowl eligible in his first year as the team’s head coach.

“You see talent,” Mike Norvell said. “This is a talented team. You’ve got great size, speed, athleticism. You’ve seen them play at very high levels at different spots of the year.”

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“It’s one that is very capable and they’ve played at a high level throughout, and I mean they’re in the first year of a new staff. So, they’ve got new schemes, different things like that, but it’s a talented group we’re playing.”

Mike Norvell was then asked a follow-up question about Billy Napier, and if he saw similarities between the two of them, given their backgrounds. Both of them moved from Arizona State offensive coordinator, to Group of Five head coach, to Power Five head coach in the State of Florida. So, the comparison is there, even if Norvell disagrees with it.

“I mean, no,” Mike Norvell said.

“Billy was the offensive coordinator at Arizona State right after I left. So, he does a good job. He and I don’t really know each other like that, but a lot of people that have worked with him that know him have got respect for him as a who he is, and you see he knows what to do offensively. They do a good job schematically and how they try to attack. They had great success at ULL in his time there, so he worked for the opportunity and he earned the opportunity”

Mike Norvell on redshirting players

As the season winds to an end, coaches need to make big decisions about redshirting different players. Mike Norvell explained his strategy for this.

“It’s something that we’ve definitely put a lot of thought in,” Mike Norvell said.

“There’s still guys that we have that have one game left. We didn’t play Rodney Hill the other day. That’s intentional, and we’ve had those conversations with him about the process of what we’re doing and trying to make sure we’re maximizing these guys and their opportunities through their careers.”