Napier needs to add elite talent so Gators don’t need tricks

By Hays Carlyon

Florida coach Billy Napier got the perfect start to Saturday’s rivalry game against No. 1 Georgia at EverBank Stadium.

The Gators went 66 yards on seven plays, scoring a touchdown to open the game on a 25-yard pass from quarterback Graham Mertz to receiver Tre Wilson.

The Gators led 7-0. A Georgia field goal still left the Gators with a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter.

Then, Napier got cute. He tried to get tricky. And the upset bid for the Gators (5-3, 3-2) quickly disintegrated in an embarrassing 43-20 loss.

The Gators got two first downs to start the next drive, leading by four. Florida reached midfield with a fresh set of downs. That’s when Napier got gimmicky. He elected to have Mertz make a quick shovel pass to Wilson, who then flipped the ball to Pearsall. The play didn’t work as Pearsall lost 2 yards.

The loss put Florida in an unenviable down-and-distance situation. Running back Trevor Etienne ran for 3 yards and then Mertz was strip sacked for a loss of 13. Florida punter Jeremy Crenshaw then shanked a punt that resulted in a net of 28 yards.

Georgia, of course, took advantage and scored a touchdown.

Napier then really made a mistake.

Down 10-7, he elected to go for it on fourth-and-inches from his own 34-yard line. Instead of running right at the Bulldogs, he got tricky.

Again, it backfired. Mertz lined up in shotgun but then ran to the line showing a sneak. Instead, the ball was directly snapped between Mertz’s legs to Etienne. He tried to pass, but Georgia was all over it. Etienne was tackled for a loss of 3.

Georgia scored a touchdown off of that.

Game over.

Napier certainly shouldn’t be expected to compete with Georgia in his second season. Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart is in his eighth season and is the two-time defending national champion.

Napier is playing with a roster that has five seniors, and only one is of any significance. That would be Pearsall.

There’s a reason Georgia was a 14 ½-point favorite entering the game.

The hope for Florida is that Napier won’t need to rely on tricks against Georgia in future years, because the talent and experience gap won’t be so wide.

He has currently assembled the nation’s third-best recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com. Yes, Georgia is No. 1 in those ranking too but the hope for Gators fans is the talent discrepancy will shrink in future years.

Napier is on his way to building a roster that won’t need tricks.

He should’ve left him in Gainesville on Saturday. The Gators looked like they might give the Bulldogs a fight before the gimmicks blew up in their face.

(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on X @HaysCarlyon).