Should Florida football coach Billy Napier give up play calling? What he said at SEC Media Days
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Florida football coach Billy Napier will enter year two calling the plays again for the Gators, but admitted giving up play calling has crossed his mind.
Under Napier, Florida's offense finished seventh in the SEC at 424.1 yards per game. The Gators had the fifth-ranked rushing offense in the SEC (200.23 ypg) and the ninth-ranked passing offense (233.8 ypg).
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin are among offensive minds who intend to give up play-calling this season, to focus more on overseeing the program as a head coach.
"It's a relevant question," Napier said before taking the podium at SEC Football Media Days. "I do think it's part of the evaluation process to some degree, but I feel confident in our process, we've done it before."
Napier's offenses as Louisiana, where he went 23-2 over his final two seasons, were predicated on establishing the run and creating explosive plays off of play action. There are elements of read option in Napier's offense was well, which puts responsibility on quarterbacks to make decisions at the line of scrimmage.
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"I do think some of the growing pains that come that year one, I went through some of those things much like some of our other staff and others players did," Napier said. " I'm very hopeful we'll continue to improve and I'll benefit from year two just as much as any player or any staff member."
But Napier said there are advantages to a head coach calling plays as well.
"I like having my hand on the scripts, the installation, that process," Napier said. "I think I can help establish our identity and personality as a team through that process. And I'm always -- I think if you get too far away from that, I think there could be some things from a sustainable, repeatable part.
"So I want to continue to do it, and I think each year, much like all parts of what we do, we'll continue to evaluate."
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators coach Billy Napier plans to still call plays in year two
