← See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack
See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack
David Pollack ONE-ON-ONE with Florida Head Coach Jon Sumrall
00:30:21
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- [00:01]
Billy Napier
Lifelock. How can I help?
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Lifelock Customer
The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't.
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Lifelock Announcer
One in four taxpaying Americans has paid the price of identity fraud.
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Lifelock Customer
What do I do?
- [00:09]
Billy Napier
My refund though. I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this.
- [00:12]
Lifelock Announcer
Lifelock fixes identity theft guaranteed and gets your money back with up to $3 million in coverage.
- [00:18]
Lifelock Customer
I'm so relieved.
- [00:19]
Lifelock Announcer
No problem.
- [00:19]
Billy Napier
I'll be with you every step of the way.
- [00:21]
Lifelock Announcer
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Lifelock Customer
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Host/Interviewer
And how about that Pollock interception in the end zone.
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Billy Napier
Well, it's David Pollock and I think people going to learn what kind of ball player he is. He's got a heart of a line. I'm real proud of that kid. This is C ball get ball.
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Host/Interviewer
College football's top show for football analysis,
- [01:15]
Billy Napier
predictions and coach interviews.
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Host/Interviewer
Now here's your host, three time all American, seven time Emmy award winner. All right, welcome into cBall.
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Billy Napier
Get ball.
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Host/Interviewer
Our next guest is another one, a new coach in college football. We're going around but more importantly another defensive coach, another C ball get ball kind of guy. John. It's John Sumrall from Florida. It's good to have those guys, man. It was good to play against you when you were at Kentucky. I did not enjoy playing against the Pillsbury throwboy because he was fan freaking tastic like he was unbelievable. But great to have you on, man.
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Billy Napier
Yeah, I appreciate you have me on. Yeah, yeah. Jared, if he was anything, he was entertaining as a player.
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Host/Interviewer
He made me look the stupidest of anybody I've ever in college football. I was a true freshman playing against him. I still remember the call. It was pop taco. It was a zone blitz. I'm a defensive tackle and he pump fakes to the flats and as soon as he pump fake I sprinted like like a dog throwing a faking a tennis ball and I fly out there and on the broadcast they circle me, they star me and all my buddies back home are texting me like, you're such an idiot. They put you all over the TV on how bad you were. And I'm like, that dude was a magician. Like, he was always pulling stuff out.
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Billy Napier
Oh, yeah. All kinds of crazy stuff. Yeah. I'll never forget playing LSU one year, and Brady James, you know, Jared's the lefty, comes to hit him from behind, and Brady James kind of, like, sort of crumpled, almost like he was in the matrix. Like he just sort of. And Jared absorbed the hit from behind and stayed on his feet. And I'm like, all right, when you're going to tackle him, you got to tackle him different than the normal quarterback. I'll tell you, a player I remember from you in college was we were on punt team. I played right wing on our punt team. And you were playing left defensive end on punt. Safe. And the right tackle right in front of me was a game. Justin Haydock, he's now a police officer in Louisville. And you didn't take the playoff on punt. Safe. You brought it, and you freaking mauled him. And Thomas Davis, right, played all and. But moved to linebacker later, I think, with the Panthers. And yes, sir, he. He was kind of, like, responsible for me, sort of. I was the wing, and it ended up being a fair catch. And I looked back behind me, and you were like, just giving Haydock the business. I'm like, dude, it's freaking punt safe. Like, I love the way you played because you played every snap like it was the most important one of the game. So you. You played the game the right way. If we can get these dudes at Florida to play the way you. The way you play, with energy and effort, we got a chance.
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Host/Interviewer
Well, thank you very much. So what has it been like, man? What has it been like coming over and trying to implement that style in this day and age? And. And as you've just taken over a
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Billy Napier
new program, it's been fun. You know, the change of scenery has been exciting. We've got every resource you could ever ask for here at the University of Florida. You know, when I went through the process of interviewing for this job, they. They. One of the people on the committee said, coach, what do you see as our weakness? And I'm like, in. In what regard? Because I've coached at places where I've been the head nutritionist, not just the football coach. I'm sure at Florida, I've got a nutritionist. Like, I view this job as one of those jobs where I'm like, man, we've got every luxury and every resource to be Successful here. These guys have been really eager. You know, we had spring practice number three on Saturday. Our fourth practice is tomorrow morning. These guys are eager. We have a lot of work to do. We're nowhere near where we need to be. But the guys have been hungry. They're doing everything we ask of them. We have a long way to go. But I'm having fun. Our staff's having fun. I'm really enjoying where we are in spring practice right now. And we've got to grow each player. We got to grow as a team, but it's happening, and we're enjoying doing it every day.
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Host/Interviewer
So. So how is being, you know, a defensive player and, you know, your. Your injury that ended your career, too? Like, how did that shape you and make you, you know, first of all, how did you get into coaching? Because you get injured, you don't get to play. So how does coaching come about? And then, you know, your temperament, your demeanor, I love it. It's no nonsense. Like, I'm all for it, but I'm a defensive guy, so obviously I would be all for it.
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Billy Napier
Yeah, well, 2004, I tell people all the time I led the team at Kentucky in trips, not tackles. I wasn't fast enough to actually put my face on the ball carrier. I was swiping ankles. But led the team in tackles in 04. Had had some pretty major neck issues. Like, you know, we all get stingers. I know you had issues as well. And so was getting some stingers, though, that were lasting like two or three days. Like, not like two or three minutes, you know, and so eventually had to go get those checked out. Have cervical spinal stenosis and narrowing in my neck spinal column, and so had a little bit of nerve damage and some issues that why they're feeling weight coming back to my arms for a couple days. I just got my degree that spring of 04, and, I'm sorry, in 05, I should say, in business finance, and with one year of eligibility left to play. And so I was, you know, going to be a team captain and had been named to a couple of the watch lists going into that summer and had to give up playing. And I was down in Destin, Florida, as soon as I got done with graduation and thought my career was over. And I'm like, what do I do now? I knew I wanted to be around the game. I thought I wanted to coach. And then I'd gone down to Destin, though, to try to see how many beers I could drink because I was a little bit depressed that I that my career had been yanked out from underneath me. And I was on the beach, probably 12 beers in. I get a phone call on a flip cell phone at the time from Steve Hellyer, who is Rich Brooks's football ops guy. And Coach Hellier says, hey, Coach Brooks wants to know if you want to be a ga. And I'm like, yes, I want to be a ga. I want to coach. And he's like, no, no, two thoughts.
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Host/Interviewer
You were in right there.
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Billy Napier
There was no thoughts. And I'm like, when do I need to be there? He's like, we need you back here tomorrow. We start kids camp tomorrow. So I so, like, quit, merely quit drinking, chugging as much water as I could, went and hung out at the condo that night in Destin. Next morning, woke up early, got in the car and drove back to Lexington and started coaching, like the next day. And so that was. That was May of 05 and getting ready to go into year 22 coaching college football at this point. So it's been a whirlwind, but it's been fun. Who's.
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Host/Interviewer
Who's taught you the most along the way? Who's the reason you're sitting in that chair?
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Billy Napier
Man, I'd say it's a lot of people. It's not just one person. You know, you don't get to be in this situation by just being, quote, unquote, self made. Right? Like, it takes a lot of people and you learn from everybody you're around. You know, Rich Brooks was a big one because he gets. I went from playing for him to gain for him in a matter of a month. And so he gave me a ton of opportunities and knowledge. You know, Neil Brown and I are pretty close. Neil was head coach at Troy, and I was the assistant head coach, special teams, corner linebackers coach there for him. You know, Matt Luke, who I know you're. You've got a good relationship with Matt kind of gave me a break, an opportunity of a lifetime. I had been a G5, you know, coordinator at Tulane as a young guy, like in my late 20s. That was a big deal. Getting to go work for Neil is a big deal. But 2018, Matt. Matt hired me to be his linebacker coach at Ole Miss. And that was sort of a career break because you get. It's hard to get into the sec, but I got in and. And then from there went back to Kentucky and worked for Mark Stoops for three years, who, Mark was awesome to work for. All those guys gave me a lot of skills and training that helped me kind of cultivate and craft who I am as a head coach.
- [09:40]
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- [10:38]
Billy Napier
Lifelock how can I help?
- [10:39]
Lifelock Customer
The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't.
- [10:42]
Lifelock Announcer
One in four tax paying Americans has paid the price of identity fraud.
- [10:45]
Lifelock Customer
What do I do?
- [10:46]
Billy Napier
My refund though. I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this.
- [10:50]
Lifelock Announcer
Lifelock fixes identity theft guaranteed and gets your money back with up to $3 million in coverage.
- [10:55]
Lifelock Customer
I'm so relieved.
- [10:56]
Billy Napier
No problem. I'll be with you every step of the way.
- [10:58]
Lifelock Announcer
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- [11:07]
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Billy Napier
And then probably defensively, a guy named Dave Adolf. Dave was Marty Schottenheimer's defensive coordinator everywhere in the NFL. Dave's deceased, but Dave's sort of like my football granddad, if you will. And no longer. No longer living. But man, Dave, I learned a ton from just from a schematic standpoint in defensive football.
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Host/Interviewer
So why. Why Florida? You know, why was that the spot for you when you started looking around and making your decision?
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Billy Napier
Yeah, you know, really, as I went through the season last year and knew that there was going to be some opportunities probably present, I didn't have Florida maybe at the top of the list initially. And the more I found out about the Place, the culture, the people. I felt like it fit me and our family and, and so, you know, and then too, man, like I grew up in the 90s and the, in, you know, early 2000s in this game as a young player. And then I GA'd, oh, 5.06at Kentucky and man, Florida was one of one of those schools, right? Like, we got our ace beat by him. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Look, man, I'm telling you, 06 is my last year's G8, Kentucky. And Chris Leach, the starting quarterback here, Tim Tebow, is walking from the, from the, from the, their walk here down through the stadium. And I'm like, hang on, that's the freshman quarterback. He looks like an edge rusher. Like, what are we doing? Like, I'm like, I don't know if we got a very good chance at winning the game today. And that ended up being the 06 national championship tee. But as I went through the process and you feel phone calls from Urban Meyer and Steve Spurger and some of the people that have had a high level success, this place, it just starts, really started to clarify that like, this is where me and my family felt called. And what's crazy is if you ask me the beginning of November, I would probably not even listed Florida as one of the jobs that I felt like might fit. And by the end of November, I'm like, this is the one. And it was the one that as you, you know, peel back the layers of the onion, if you will, the more I'm like, man, that that place really fits who we are, what we want to be about.
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Host/Interviewer
When you say your family, I imagine that's one of the first conversations you had, like how, how did that go with the family? And, and, and what kind of, what kind of dynamics do we have? You got four, I believe.
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Billy Napier
Correct.
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Host/Interviewer
So what kind of, what kind of, hey, what kind of youngins. What kind of youngins are we raising? So how would the conversation go? And I want to know if you're as intense with your babies as you are on the football field.
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Billy Napier
Oh, yeah. So me and my wife are both from Alabama. My wife's an Auburn alumni. You know, she, she, she had a big say in it. Like, we don't do anything without mama say, like she, she happy wife, happy life. Yeah, we had to sit down and make a decision. You know, she, her voice matters as much, if not more than mine. And we, we prayed over the decision of where to go. And I said, I looked up and I was like, jenny, I want to hear your heart first, before I even speak. And her heart said, look, while some people may think you may do this, that or something else, she's like, I feel like you're being called and we're being called to Florida. Even though maybe it's not what we thought was going to be the right fit. Even as recent as like a week prior to this conversation, we sat down at the dining room table one night. And so that was sort of the, the decision process. Her and I sat down and prayed over it. And I listened to her voice more than I spoke, to be honest. And then, and then, and it kind of resonated because I knew this is maybe where I felt like I was being led. But it was cool to hear her say it without me bringing it up. And then our kids, man, like when I brought it up to our four kids. And yeah, I do, I'm intense all the time. Like my kids. Like my son, yesterday at a flag football game, he scored a touchdown. The first drive of the game. And then a couple of drives later, he had a drop and he looked over at me. I'm like, dude, don't, don't start whining and complaining. Like, get your butt back out there. Like, don't even come talk to me. Like, leave me alone. Go play. But my son's first question was, could he meet Tim Tebow?
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Host/Interviewer
I think I can make that happen.
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Billy Napier
I think we can make that happen. My, his twin sister who's 12, her first question was, could we get, make sure her seats are out in the like general population of the stadium, not in the suite with mom. And I'm like, yeah, we could. Because she's, she's all in. My 12 year old daughter, she's a freaking maniac. Like she loves it, she's ate up with it. And so I'm like, yeah, I'm sure mom would actually enjoy you sitting out in the crowd and giving her the suite to herself. And then my, my nine year old daughter, she wanted to know, can we go to Disneyland or Disney World or whatever it is right here in Orlando. I'm Disney. Like I'm not really. I didn't grow up getting to go to Disney. I get, I got, I grew up getting to go like baseball tournaments and go fishing. But she want to know, can we go to Disney in Orlando? And then my seven year old daughter, she, honest to God, my seven year old daughter, her name's Salah. Her name has meaning. So in the Hebrew, Selah means to pause and reflect. We didn't just pause and reflect with her we stopped. She's our fourth and our last kid. We were having no more kids. And so her question was, dad, can we win at Florida? And I'm like, you damn right we can win at Florida. Like. But she literally asked my 7 year old daughter goes, dad, can we win at Florida? That's really all I'm worried about. I just want to win. Like, she's a maniac. All she knows is winning. So her, her five years of life or five of her last, she's seven years old, but her last five years we've won 53 games. The last five years I've been coaching, 43 is a. In the last four as head coach. So she thinks you just win 10 games a year. It's like, like all she knows. And, and so she, she legitimately asked my 7 year old daughter, Sailor looked up and goes, dad, we can win at Florida? And I'm like, yeah, we can win there. And she goes, all right, I'm cool, let's go. And so that's amazing.
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Host/Interviewer
So that I hear a lot of called, man, that's so cool that you feel like you were called and led. What do y' all do for. What do y' all do for fun in the family? Like what, what's the games we play? I bet you if they're that competitive, I bet there's some competitive games.
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Billy Napier
Yeah, it's everything, man. Like basketball in the front driveway, you know, board games. Like, I came home the other night, me and my wife had to go to a charity event here in town or got to go. We didn't have to. We got to go to this really cool charity event Saturday night. And I come home and they're all sitting around playing gatoropoly. Like Monopoly, but yep, Florida Gator version. So like, and whoever is losing that is pissed. Like, they're, they're all competitive. But yeah, we, we competed. Everything. We're not very good losers in our family. Like, you know, it's like the old quote, you show me a sore loser and I'll show you a loser. Like, we ain't got like, we got a lot of sore losers in my family if they ever lose. They're not very, we're pretty competitive. They're not very casual about competition. But yeah, we, we have an awesome family, man. I, I pretty much coach football and I'm a dad. That's what I do. I go home and I'm around my kids. Everybody's like, what are your hobbies? I'm like, well, I grew up fishing and duck hunting. I don't do that as much anymore. I'm not a golfer. Like, actually, actually kind of despise golf. I kind of hate it. Not, not a big fan of golf, but I tolerate it. But bless, man, we, we do, we do a lot as a family together and spent yesterday watch hanging out with them all, all Sunday.
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Host/Interviewer
Man, I can tell you why you hate golf. It's the same reason that I hated it when, when you can't bring more physicality and effort to a game and get better. It's a stupid game. Like, there should be passion and physical, right? Like, shouldn't there be?
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Billy Napier
I mean, well, it takes, it take, you know, it takes so much dagum time to get good. Like, I got, I got. I actually have decent clubs. So when I do play, I suck less. But. But I'm not great and I don't have, like, I don't have the patience to go out and just like you having to go to the range, just hit balls for a couple hours, I'm like, no, I'm not doing that good. I'd rather go run or lift or do something else.
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Host/Interviewer
Well, I can tell you this. I walk every time I play and I do 25 push ups a hole. So I get eight miles walking and 450 push ups and nine holes. So when my wife asked me how I played, I'm like, baby, I got eight miles and 450 push ups. Like, that is awesome.
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Lifelock Announcer
Yeah.
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Billy Napier
Yeah.
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Host/Interviewer
I mean, I got to do something to make it physical. Hey, one of my favorite quotes you said, and I'm interested to hear this, so you're putting your squad together, you know, your staff. You said, I don't hire my friends. And that was a quote that I saw all over the place. Like, I, I'd love to hear behind that. Like, what you meant by that.
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Billy Napier
Yeah. You know, when I took my first head job at Troy In December of 2021, I probably had some friends that were disappointed because they didn't get the phone call to come. And it wasn't that I didn't think highly of them or like them. It was simply that every place you're at, you're tasked with putting together the best staff you can for that place. And so took the job at Troy. And some people probably thought they're gonna get a phone call and didn't. Doesn't mean I don't love them or care about them or hope they have success. It just had to put together the staff that fit there. Left Troy and went to Tulane and then it like, it wasn't like, hey, everybody, pick up your stuff and we're all going to Tulane. Some guys were able to go. Some guys fit staying at Troy. There was some moving parts there and. But some guys had to add to the equation at two lane. And then you leave Tulane and you come here and there were some guys that stayed at Tulane that are, man, big time coaches. Like, I got some young coaches that didn't make the trip from Tulane to here. They're going to be freaking SEC coordinators really soon, like some freaking great coaches. But the next step in their maturation process was, was to stay at Tulane or whatever it may be. And then I had to bring some guys with me that maybe knew the processes I have, but then go out and acquire and add pieces to the equation, like a Brad White or a Buster Faulkner, who I'd worked with Brad. So we had history together. Never worked with Buster, but had coached against him and had gotten to know him over the years. You add pieces to the equation that can maybe help you evolve as a coach or as a staff. And man, we're at the University of Florida. We should be able to attract the best of the best and guys that are ready for this job, guys that are, you know, have such great experience and knowledge and cutting edge thinkers and they're also calloused and got a little toughness about them that you have to have to be successful in this league. This is a tough league and you don't want people going through some of these things for the first time in this league. They need to be seasoned to some degree.
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Host/Interviewer
I love you said this quote. You said rivalries matter. You said they matter. They're not just like, it's not just another game. A lot of people are the next game, next game. How do you emphasize that? Do you have the signs in the building like some people does a countdown sign? Or how do you make sure that rivalries really matter at Florida?
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Billy Napier
Well, I think probably one of the biggest things you have to do in this world we live in now is we have this transfer portal culture of transient players where you have a lot of players in our team who don't understand maybe right now, as we sit March 10th on what Florida, Florida State or what Florida Georgia is all about. And so the educational component, I think you got to start there, like you. You have to help them understand the backstory of what the rivalry is and how it came about and what its meaning is to the fan base. Because, man, like those games mean something to the fan base. They need to freaking mean something to the players. And as you and I can promise you, that's going to be something to the coaches. And so I think just the education component and embracing every part of it. I think one of the things that makes sports great, and in particular college football, are the great rivalry games. Dang. Right. It's bragging rights for a year. It's. It's the pageantry around our game, I think is unique. And the rivalry games, they matter. Anybody. How you get ready for the game in regards to practice doesn't change. Right. But I think you'd be naive to go, oh, it's just another game. No, they're not just another game. Some of those games, they do hit a little different, and we have to make sure our guys understand that.
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Host/Interviewer
Yeah, the pettiness of it, I'm here for, too. I just. I love the. I love the pet. I. I think it's the best part about sports is just like, I get to ridicule you. It's part of it, man. You. You. You took a. You took a photo recently, and there was a lot of it spreading around with this alligator. I want to know how close, how close did we get to this? How much. How much were we willing to tempt fate? And how much was photoshopped?
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Billy Napier
No, it was like four, four or five feet away. Closest. Yeah, I was pretty well, actually, before they put her back in the truck to take her back to the farm she's at, I got to touch her. So I did. I did put my hands on the alligator, but not without it being, like, very controlled. That was. I. Like my hands. Yeah, Like, I. I touched it. But no, it was. It was an unbelievable experience when they. I found out I was doing it for my wife. So my wife and maybe Ms. Nancy, who's one of our administrative assistants here, Ms. Nancy tells my wife, I think that I have this on my calendar. And so my wife and I were talking one night. She goes, hey, you're going to, like, see an alligator tomorrow, do some photo shoot with an alligator? I don't think I am.
- [25:26]
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- [26:23]
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Billy Napier
Yeah, I'm like. She's like, yeah. I'm like, okay. I assume it's like some little like one foot alligator that's got its mouth taped shut. And on my way over there, like, oh yeah, this is a seven foot female alligator named Selena or Helena or something. And I'm like, excuse me, said, how many feet? I said, seven feet. I'm like, all right, yeah, right.
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Host/Interviewer
What the Helen are you talking about?
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Billy Napier
Yeah, exactly. What are we doing? So I get there, we had a couple guys that they were able to, you know, that, that train with the alligator. I don't know how you train alligator exactly. It's not like a dog where he's like, sit, stay. But yeah, I get over there. I got about 4ft away, probably at closest. Definitely not 4ft away, right in front of it, more like behind it or to the side. But as I got more comfortable at one point I was like probably about 5ft away, 6ft away, and started to kind of like hiss a little and then turned and snapped. And I'm like, whoa, easy. Like chill out. Like I didn't sign up for this. And so I was worried they're gonna have me like, have me like Chubbs from Happy Gilmore, man, be walking around one arm. Yeah. I was like, I'm gonna have to have this plastic arm on the sideline.
- [28:04]
Host/Interviewer
That's fantastic. All right, a couple more questions for you. What do you hope defines football for Florida in year one?
- [28:10]
Billy Napier
Yeah, we want to achieve excellence, man. Like we're going to compete in everything we do. We do it every day here. We start our off season match drills with competitive scoring. For every rep, you're a winner or loser of every rep. And so I think getting a mindset here where we compete every dagum day, I don't care what we're competing over OR four. I want to win. And I think reinstilling some of that mindset here is sort of probably the biggest goal or our culture thing we have to create for the long term sustainability of getting Florida football back to where we want it to be. And look, I'm not real patient. Like, yeah, I got it. There's a timeline maybe or a process it takes to build a championship level program that can sustain over the long haul. And I understand that doesn't just happen overnight, but I want to win right now. Like, I didn't come here to, like, hopefully we, you know, have a, an okay year. Like, I want to win every game we play. I don't ever go on the field and go, hey, I hope we just play them close today. Like, that's not how I roll. Like, I want to win every time we take the field. And so we have a ton of work to do to get there. Like, we're nowhere near ready for that. Like, we have a long way to go. I'm glad we've got several months before now in game one, but creating a mindset where we're not going to back down anybody. We're going to bring it every day and we're going to compete with a chip on our shoulder and a blue collar mentality that we're going to be ready to go every time we take the field.
- [29:39]
Host/Interviewer
Better roaster, Kirby or Cristobal? Because we know Spurrier is probably the best, but who's a better roaster?
- [29:46]
Billy Napier
Well, we caught some strays that night. I, I didn't do a whole lot of talking. I did a Q and A with Chris Doring at the start of it. They were both unbelievable. You know, I don't know that we've won enough most recently to catch a whole lot of the flak. They were really going to each other for the jugular. It felt like for a minute there, they were both really entertaining. It was a fun night. Both guys took the gloves off and let it all hang out. That was a fun night. I think Spurrier wins the, wins the, wins the top award for that though. I mean, you look at the longevity, the track record of his onliners, I think he's unmatched.
- [30:27]
Host/Interviewer
It's incredible. Like, and, and that's why you either hated him or you loved him. Like, there was no, there was absolutely no middle ground with that. Well, hopefully you get to get in the mix, but last thing, man, just, I, I have been a proponent and a fan of Buster Faulkner for a long time because when I Watch him. The, the guys that drive me nuts defensively are the guys that I would hire and his ability to live in so many worlds in the drop back game, in the RPO game, in the movement of the quarterback game, the gadgets game, like it's, it's, it's, it's absolutely, it's frustrating like it's frustrating to watch as a football fan. So how important was, was that hire for you? Because I don't know if you know this coach, but Florida fans ain't real happy winning 3 to 2 games or 10 to 7 games. The era that we played in, like they put up points and that's what Florida fans are kind of accustomed to get.
- [31:24]
Billy Napier
No doubt. When I took the job here and I was going through the process, I told the administration and search committee and I said at my opening press conference said man, Florida football is high powered offense, it's explosive offense. It's fun to watch. Well, I think it's fun to watch. I don't always think about just drop back pass only, but I do think you have to throw the football around the yard and maybe threaten every blade of grass. What I love most about Buster, you know, I've known Buster from afar for a long time. We've got to know each other better the last four or five years. You know he's got an air raid background, right. So sort of more of the Mike Leech, how mummy Chris Hatcher tree. And then you know he evolved a little bit obviously from his time working with Kirby and at Georgia. Maybe some more pro style and Bobo. Yeah, yep, Monkin and Bobo and all those guys. A little bit more pro style in nature at times and some of that stuff to some degree. And then goes to Georgia Tech and evolved and had Haynes King, who's really a talented dual threat guy and became more of a quarterback run game driven deal. I think probably the thing that I love about Buster is the multiplicity, the variety of things that he's comfortable doing and then evolving, adapting the offense to, to fit your players and their skill sets. And you know, we've talked about this like some people are stuck to certain systems or styles of play or personnel groupings. Well, we're going to be stuck to the personnel grouping that gets our best people on the field. So if we got six receivers that are better than any tight ends and we're going to play with more receivers in the game, if one year we have three tight ends that are better than our best receiver, then we're going to play with more tight ends. In the game. I'm not saying either of those are true yet for this team. I don't fully know that. But I think the secret to running good offense is how do you put your best people in situations that go make plays? And. And it all starts really with your. What can your quarterback do? Yep. And. And what is your O line strengths and weaknesses? And. And still you have to be able to run the football to win games. Like, we want to be explosive and fun to watch and exciting and get the ball in the perimeter and threaten the 53 and a third width and the full length of the field as well. But. But you still have to be able to run the football to win games. And so I think that's one of the things you look at what Coach Meyer did here when Urban was here, you know, they were. They had no problem running the ball down your throat. That didn't mean they were going to take shots in the throw game too. They were. But man, this day and age, I think being able to beat people multiple ways is what wins well.
- [34:13]
Host/Interviewer
And that was what was impressive even when Philo played at Tech. Like, different game plan and still super successful busters. He's an absolute superstar and got a cool personality about him too. So listen, Coach, it's fun to cheer for you because defensive guy, love the intensity. I love when you talk about running the ball because you also know on the other side that means you've got to tackle the ball over and over and over again or trip people over and over again. You got to get those some raw trips. So we appreciate your time very much, man.
- [34:47]
Billy Napier
Appreciate you, brother. Thanks for having me on.