Billy Napier: From Furman QB to Florida Gators Head Coach - A Complete Career Breakdown

hey everybody and welcome back to the Huddle report today we are going over Billy Napier so without further Ado let's jump into [Music] it Billy nap's football Journey Begins in Chatsworth Georgia where he is a Star Quarterback for Murray County High School under the guidance of his father who is also his coach and he accepts a scholarship to Ferman University in his senior year here during his time with the paladins he is named a four time Letterman and Daran has took over his starting quarterback his Junior and Senior year under his leadership the paladins won two conference championships and in his junior year they actually made an appearance to the NCAA division one AA football championship game where division they narrowly lost to Montana 13 to6 Napier's performance earned him second Team all Southern Conference honors and both two 2001 and 2002 fun fact though Napier was college teammates with bear Reinhardt who you might know as the lead vocalist of the band need to breathe from 1992 to 2002 Napier and Reinhardt actually set numerous team records together at Ferman then we go into the Clemson era of Billy Napier where he graduates from Ferman transitions into coaching and is now a graduate assistant at Clemson University significant coaching role came in 2004 when he was hired as the quarterback's coach at South Carolina state at South Carolina state Napier began developing his coaching identity focusing on the fundamentals of quarterback play and offensive strategy however his time there was brief as he quickly returned to Clemson in 2006 to take on du roles as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Under head coach Tommy Bowden we all know that guy so this is a very important part of the story when Bowen resigned in 2008 we all remember this right Napier was promoted to quarterback's coach by interim head coach dbo Sweeney pretty interesting The Following Season s Sweeney becomes the full-time head coach and nap is actually promoted again to offensive coordinator making one of the youngest coordinators in the country at this time and they had this record-breaking 2009 season where ner just seems like the absolute die and this all comes to a crashing halt The Following Season it just doesn't work out Clemson's offensive struggles in 2010 led to Napier's dismissal but as they say every setback is a setup for a comeback so Napier's comeback came quickly he joins Nick Sabin staff at Alabama as an offensive analyst and Daran his time and Tuscaloosa he earns a BCS National Championship ring and worked closely with some some of the top Minds in college football then he follows Jim mcelwayne to Colorado State in 2012 where he serves as the quarterback's coach and assistant head coach this role gives him the opportunity to work directly with players and help rebuild the Colorado State program and then nap is hired briefly by Jimbo fiser at Florida State in 2013 as the tight ends coach again and a recruiting coordinator but before the season began Nick San called him back to Alabama and this time Napier took on the role of the receivers coach a position he held for four years and this helped develop some of the best receivers in the nation and they actually won another National Championship in 2016 then in 2017 Napier gets another shot to be an offensive coordinator this time Arizona State and under his leadership the Sun Devils offense flourished leading the team to a s and5 record and a sunbowl appearance but when head coach Todd Graham was fired after the season Napier decided it was time to take on a new challenge so this guy just moving and the challenge came in the form of a head coaching role at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette uh this is where Napier quickly turned his name into one we all are hearing about we've since only been hearing Billy nap Billy NP Billy Napier it's everywhere I keep hearing it and this is why this guy gets over to Louisiana and lafette Napier quickly turned this program into a Powerhouse leading them to a 40 and 12 record over his Four Seasons with the school three consecutive 10 plus win Seasons what in multiple Bowl victories he takes on the biggest challenge yet which is leading the Florida Gators something a lot of coaches struggle with it's a really difficult conference to have success in but he says you know what I just on average lost four games the season at most I think we'll be all right well so far you haven't been Billy that's what we're talking about man he's terrible in 2021 November nap takes on the head coaching role at Florida his first two seasons have been a mixed of highs and lows 11 and 14 overall record with the game th far and with what many are calling the toughest schedule coming up in this or coming up this season the pressure is on for Napier to turn this program around and that's really what we're here to discuss I mean what is the future hold for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators can he navigate this tough schedule that's something we're going to figure out as the season goes on of course I'm going end of the 2024 year with a lot of games that they probably have circled on their little calendar that they have in the back room they're not even showing the players this is the little book that they're like the when they actually are circling how many games they think they're going to win you know like they'll be in front of the team and they'll be like we're going to go 12 and0 and then they're in the back room you know talking to other other the coaches and they're like yeah but we're probably going to win like maybe three of these four five that's what we're going to do here um I have a feeling they will beat Miami that first game I have a feeling they'll beat Samford in the second game I have a feeling they'll beat Texas A&M in their third game and Mississippi State in their fourth game and UCF in their fifth game I think they'll lose to Tennessee I think they'll be Kentucky I think they'll lose to Georgia I think they'll lose to Texas I think they'll lose to LSU I think they'll lose to miss I think they'll beat Florida State so I think they'll go one two three five I think they'll go seven and five this year um which would be great seven and five gets you back on track as a competitive School in the SEC you're having no issues whatsoever with recruiting in fact your last class was better than the one before that and your last season was worse than the one before that so uh for whatever reason people love the University of Florida and I'm not saying there's not a reason to love it I I just haven't been exposed to it yet I guess um but yeah people want to be in Gainesville and the play I mean just look at this or listen listen to this or look I could show you seventh overall class for 2024 uh for transfer that were the fifth class overall composite that were 13th overall uh this team has every bit of talent you can need I mean they have their they have a quarterback who's a five star he has every single point he's at a 100 you know most guys are like 99 their second guys 99 so yeah it's a really great team um I don't know how many other teams that they're going to be facing this year have the amount of depth that they have I and that's kind of where it's coming down to and why people are so upset with nap with all of the talent you have with the athletic facilities that you guys are able to show players during visits you have the swamp people love the swamp the swamp and you're still losing all these games it's crazy and you almost got you were this close to losing to South Carolina that's the other thing uh last year I think 49 41 to 39 maybe uh I I think South Carolina if I remember right just threw the game away essentially these are things that we're going to work on you know not me but hopefully the Florida Gator staff and as we continue to go throughout the year maybe they win some more games than I were expecting them to but guys I mean I'm giving them a really hot start I'm saying they're going to start off one two three four five and O drop the game to Tennessee win Kentucky so six- one lose to Georgia 6-2 lose to to Texas 6 and3 lose to LSU 6 and4 lose to Old Miss 6 and5 beat Florida State 7-5 and who knows if you go and you play a bowl game and you're not going against any of these guys uh maybe if we could just choose a school that wasn't in the SEC the Big 10 um the Big 12 at any other program any group of five school I imagine they'll win the bowl game and finish the season with an 8 and5 record a three- game improvement from last year just something to go into the offseason with because again you're surrounding yourself by these awesome High Caliber players every single day uh I bet the culture is cool over there but they're having fun just so I think this could be a great year for Florida and you know they could actually they could potentially beat Texas I would still give LSU andus and Georgia those games but they could beat Tennessee they could it's either going to be seven and5 or 9 and3 7 and5 they can't beat Tennessee I don't see them beating Texas that's what I think nine and three seven and five what do you want might not matter might not matter what you want anyways guys I feel like this video is high energy I hope you like it I hope I'm giving you what you want to see if you have any ideas whatsoever whatever that might be I'll definitely read them I don't know if I'll do them but I'll read them and I'll think about it and I'll give you a thought I'll give you some time in my mind also uh don't forget comment with anything that you agree or disagree with I'm always happy to take any corrections had a guy helped me out the other day one of the players is not at the school anymore he was somebody I was saying to look out for how you going to look out for him if he not at the school so sorry I dropped the ball on that one guys uh to be fair it happened extremely recently anyways I hope uh everybody has a fantastic fantastic Monday I hope that your week started well uh if this video in any way made you just a little bit happier more entertained please like And subscribe come back for more we're doing these every single day quality varies uh IDs idea ideas vary ideas they vary um but I definitely am not giving up and I want to learn and I want to get better and I want to do this every single day for the rest of my life four four times over so four life sentences of videos every single day would be my goal um we'll see if I can get there but this is the Huddle report I appreciate you guys tuning in [Music]