The phrase “spot the ball” will either be remembered as a rallying cry for the 2025 Gator football season, or the empty words that preceded the beginning of the end for Billy Napier. (Photo credit: Matt Pendleton, Gainesville Sun)
“Spot the ball,” says Florida coach Billy Napier.
Of course, it’s “talking season.” Which means those three words from the mouth of Billy Napier are going to get more media attention than they would in other contexts. But in using those three words to answer a question about the toughness of Florida’s schedule, he’s absolutely right.
It’s put up or shut up time for Gator football under Napier. This year. In 2025.
No more “the schedule is so hard, give him a pass!” talking points allowed. Nope, not this year. He got that pass last year; this year, he’ll either show he’s able to do what Florida coaches are expected to do and win anyway, or he won’t.
No more “but DJ Lagway got hurt!” excuses to bail him out. Nope, that’s not going to work this year either. That’s what you recruit backups and depth for, and while Lagway is undoubtedly a next-level player, there can’t be a dropoff like a continental shelf behind him on the depth chart.
And no more “fighting hard,” or similar such participation trophy-style platitudes. That’s definitely not going to fly. Not this year.
Napier himself used his time at SEC Media Days to tell the world that Florida has the most talented roster it’s had since his arrival in 2022. And, well, good, because it should. Three years of painful rebuilding better have some awesome roster development at the other end.
It does look like Napier’s telling the truth here. An elite athlete at QB will be operating behind a veteran offensive line that returns four of five starters, including an All-American in Jake Slaughter, and with a frightening array of receivers—namely, transfer J. Michael Sturdivant, explosive freshman Dallas Wilson and the always-dangerous Eugene Wilson—coupled with an experienced backfield composed of Ja’Kobi Jackson, Jadan Baugh, and Tre Webb. The defense, for its part, loses some key pieces across the board—most importantly, Cam Jackson up front and Shemar James in the middle—but returns plenty of talented guys like Caleb Banks on the line, Myles Graham patrolling that middle level, and Devin Moore in the secondary to provide a good reason for confidence.
But we’ve heard it before. The names have changed year over year, but Florida’s staff and players alike have put similar levels of stock into the Gator football team each offseason. And I’m not saying they shouldn’t feel confident in themselves this season, but fans are very much not wrong to say, “yeah, great, now go prove it.”
And unlike last year, a slow start—by which I mean a horrible start—to the season isn’t going to be fixable. Few Florida fans and prognosticators believed the ceiling was any higher than eight wins last year. Sure, the Playoff was the goal for the simple reason that it always is, but few realistic fans believed anything more than 7-5 or at best 8-4 was even on the table.
This year, it’s different. The expectation is universally higher. The goal for Gator football isn’t to reach seven or eight wins anymore. It’s College Football Playoff or bust.
Which means that things could spiral out of control very, very quickly for the Gators this year. If they need half the season to wake up and find their footing again, they’ll be buried before they even know what happened. After a two-game preseason against LIU and USF, Florida then has to play at LSU, at Miami, Texas at home, and then at Texas A&M in succession. Law of averages says Florida should probably sneak at least one win out of there, but it is by no means unfathomable that Florida could go winless in those four games. And even a 1-3 mark in that stretch, and the season is shot (if last year’s CFP selections were any indication).
So I’m glad Billy thinks this is his most talented roster yet. Either he’ll use it to finally produce the kind of record that Florida fans are used to, or he won’t, and instead go down in history as one of the worst coaches in Gator history.
But I’m tired of talking about it too. It’s time to see if Billy’s team can finally uphold that Gator Standard, or if he’s just a nice guy who isn’t meant to be an SEC head coach. Either way, Gator fans deserve their answer. This program has been in the limbo of “wait and see” mode for far too long. One way or another, this program is breaking out of its self-imposed purgatory this year.
So yes, let’s spot the ball. Time to spot the ball and play.
