Billy Napier on Texas: "You can see this team’s got an identity"

Florida head coach Billy Napier met with the media on Monday to preview the Gators’ upcoming showdown against the Texas Longhorns. Coming off a bye week, like Texas, Napier emphasized the importance of improvement, detailed his respect for Steve Sarkisian’s program, and called on Florida fans to create a special home atmosphere on Saturday.

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Using the Bye Week to Improve

The fourth-year head coach opened by reflecting on the benefits of the open date before the Longhorns visit Gainesville.

“Each team has its own set of problems,” Napier said. “I think it’s important that as the season goes, it’s about coming up with solutions. Your team has to improve as you go. Open dates present that opportunity and we certainly got a lot of good work done.”

Napier added that Florida was strategic about player health during the break while still getting valuable practice reps.

“I do think the majority of our team got really good work. I was impressed with the energy and effort of the players. I thought the staff did a good job. We showed up each day and we worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Players were off Saturday and we were back at it yesterday.”

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Respect for Texas’ Defense and Sarkisian’s Offense

Napier had high praise for what he sees on film from Texas, highlighting defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s scheme and the depth across the roster. Most opposing coaches talk about Sark and the offense first but Napier started with the Texas defense. 

“A good Texas team comes to town 3-1 with a road loss to a really good Ohio State team. It’s evident, you can see this team’s got an identity. PK does a great job on defense. I think they’ve gotten incrementally better each cycle, and they continue to add wrinkles each year to make them difficult to prepare for.”

Napier pointed to Texas’ returning experience and strength across the entire defense as challenges for Florida’s offense.

“The personnel is exceptional. Very experienced group on the second and third level at linebacker and secondary, almost all back. And then good edge players and probably five portal defensive tackles that all have height, length, girth, power—that can cause some problems for you.”

On the other side of the ball, Napier praised Steve Sarkisian’s offensive system and the way it’s adapting around new quarterback Arch Manning.

“Obviously offensively, Sark does a great job with the formation, motion, the combination of run-pass and situational football. They’re breaking in a new quarterback. Arch—his reputation speaks for itself—one of the best quarterbacks in the country. They’re also breaking in new players at other positions: up front, tight end, running back, receiver. More new faces on the offensive side of the ball, but I do think you can see their rhythm getting better each week.”

Napier also singled out Texas’ special teams as a hidden weapon: “Banks does a really good job with special teams. Very unique, very aggressive. They have height, length, and speed, which make them a difficult prep.”

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Calling on the Home Crowd

For Napier, one of the biggest factors on Saturday will be The Swamp itself. He said Florida fans need to provide the boost that could make the difference against a top-10 opponent.

“It’ll be good to be at home. That needs to be a huge advantage for us. We’re going to need our fans to be there and be a huge factor as they usually are. This has the chance to be a pretty special venue and atmosphere this Saturday afternoon.”