GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The first day of Gators head coach
Billy Napier's second season officially arrived on Sunday when players reported for preseason camp.
The goal is to build a winning team over the next month.
The Gators have 18 practices, including a pair of scrimmages, before transitioning into game week for the Aug. 31 season opener at Utah. Florida finished 6-7 in Napier's first season and was picked to finish fifth — behind Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky — in the Southeastern Conference's East Division earlier this month at SEC Media Days.
The lack of faith in the Gators by outsiders has provided an extra pinch of spice with the first practice scheduled for Monday morning.
"It blows my mind a little bit,'' said fifth-year defensive back
Jaydon Hill. "But then again, we've just got to win games."
Following a program overhaul in Napier's first season, which included moving into the $85 million Heavener Football Training Center, the Gators remain in a rebuild on the field in his second season. However, recent momentum on the recruiting trail and a revamped roster have Napier optimistic about where the team is at the start of Year 2 compared to a season ago when players reported for camp.
"I think there's a renewed accountability with this group of players," Napier said. "We saw really good leadership."
To continue trending in that direction, the Gators will move into Tolbert Hall for the first week of camp and be assigned roommates. They will eat their meals together, put their smartphones away, and develop bonds Napier and his staff envision leading to victories on the field.
Hill said that the Gators are developing camaraderie in the offseason by participating in a "know-your-teammates" drill that Napier introduced. The premise is simple: learn more about the people on the team and in the building to build better relationships.
"You randomly get questions, and you've got to know what's his name and what's his hometown,'' Hill said. "[Coach] puts a lot of emphasis on that. I feel like it just makes the team closer, and you play better just because, like the person beside you, you really know him, and in the heat of the moment, what he's about."
The departure of quarterback
Anthony Richardson, who was selected fourth overall in the NFL Draft, and the addition of transfer
Graham Mertz from Wisconsin highlights the roster makeover since last season. Mertz is considered the leading candidate to replace Richardson but remains in a battle with returnee
Jack Miller III, who made his first career start in the Las Vegas Bowl loss to Oregon State.
Competition across the board is the major headline this preseason with so many new players and so few returning starters.
"We're turning the page,'' Napier said. "This is a time of year that you really look forward to. The theme here for training camp, all parts of the organization and the team, is we have to agree to an expectation. I think that's a big deal."
While the league's media and Las Vegas oddsmakers have muted expectations for the 2023 Gators, those who wear UF uniforms focus on what they can control.
For running back
Montrell Johnson Jr., that means showing up at practice determined to prove the naysayers wrong.
"We take that to notice,'' he said of the underwhelming preseason projections. "They doubt us. We had a bad season last year and use that as motivation. We feel like the world is against us, so we're going to try and keep it all in-house and get better as we go."
Johnson and sophomore backfield mate
Trevor Etienne provide the Gators with one of the SEC's top one-two punches at tailback. The duo combined to rush for 1,560 yards and 16 touchdowns a season ago and likely will play a significant role in what success the Gators have offensively.
Meanwhile, Napier hired defensive coordinator
Austin Armstrong to recharge a unit that features a large batch of newcomers and returning veterans such as Hill, linebacker
Princely Umanmielen and cornerback
Jason Marshall Jr.
Armstrong worked with Napier at Louisiana and spent two seasons as defensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi. He took a job at Alabama after last season but quickly jumped to Florida after former defensive coordinator Patrick Toney departed for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.
Armstrong enters camp eager to make an impact on his players so they can make a difference on the defense when the season starts.
"This time of year, relative to our team, you've got to start with the individual,'' Armstrong said Sunday. "And one of the things we share with our unit all the time is that individual greatness equals collective success, and collective success equals individual greatness. This time of year is about establishing your identity as an individual where you can create value for yourself, and you can contribute on and off the field for us."
One player at a time seems a fitting starting point for this group of Gators.
They are still getting to know one another. They are inexperienced as a whole. And they are in a rebuild that will require regular trips to the team's roster for many fans to know who is who.
In other words, kind of like a get-to-know-your-teammate drill.
"It's one thing to know the guy's first name, but it's another to know his first and last name, where he's from, part of his story, and I think we'll get to that place with time. It's about agreeing that there's an expectation and then, 'Hey, if you can do better, you can do better.'
"That's the key to the drill. That's where we're at as a team."
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