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Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier could be in for a big year in 2025. Matt Pendleton / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Napier Regaining Swagger in Year Four at Florida

Originally posted on Florida Gators on SI
By Dylan Olive | Last updated Aug 26, 2025 9:00 AM ET

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- When hired as the head coach of the Florida Gators, Billy Napier had only lost two games in his past two seasons.

Napier was a version of himself who won and won a lot. He was a version of himself that confidently told reporters, “Scared money don’t make money.” That confidence hasn’t been seen often in his time in Gainesville.

At least until this fall.

Heading into his fourth season at Florida, Napier has seemingly regained a level of surety that he embodied at his time in Louisiana. Contrary to his relatively reserved self in recent years at UF, the Gators head coach has let his swagger show throughout the offseason.

Now with a new slogan, ‘spot the ball,' and a roster he believes has championship potential, Napier has let his moxie loose. However, before it can be said he’s "got his swagger back," the results need to come on the field.

“Yeah. I mean, I like the people that we have in our building. I think, look, you can have a phenomenal off season… You can be in position and have a great roster, but you gotta go put the ball down in play,” Napier said.

Sitting at 19-19 in his time as Florida’s head coach, Napier’s confidence level just feels different in year four. With a roster he clearly believes in, his goal seems obvious: Get back to Florida’s standard.

“We absolutely have aspirations to be a playoff team. That's the intention of coming here is to win championships,” Napier said. “Now, what do we know about that? It's about the work we do.”

Building towards the ultimate goal, Napier hopes to regain the success he was able to find with the Ragin’ Cajuns on the defensive side of the ball, reaching a caliber that Florida needs to get back into national contention.

“We are on a mission here to play championship-caliber defense," he said. "We are on an absolute mission to play defense at a high level. It's one of the things that we have failed to establish here since I've been the head coach, to be blunt. My last stop as a head coach, we were very good on defense. We improved each year… So, we need to do that to become the type of team that we're capable of being. And I think that I've seen this group of players talk more about that. I think we have the personnel and depth and leadership over there to do that.”

After a strong finish to the year, Florida’s defense returns plenty of talent, with the makings of a game changing unit on paper. While the Gators expect to be imposing upfront and explosive with their linebackers, Napier hopes that it is the secondary that can return to true Florida form.

“I think our secondary is on a mission. I always tell them, ‘Hey, it’s time to bring DBU back,’” Napier said. “That room has impressed me. There’s a lot more maturity there. I think that group’s been a little bit up and down since we’ve been here, but I think at all three levels of the defense, we’ve got some presence there.”

With the talent on paper and a coach who appears to know it, there seems to be a shared mindset embedded in Florida’s locker room.

“I want to win," edge George Gumbs said. “That's our biggest motive right now, winning.”

Florida will have a chance to do that out of the gate, with Napier and the Gators seemingly more confident than ever ahead of their Week One matchup against Long Island in the Swamp.

This article first appeared on Florida Gators on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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