1/4 through, trendlines of the team

[CU-UF]

I am one of the last ones on here who will go crazy about a single game. I definitely fall into the "lets see how the season plays out" camp. But 1/4 through, I think its pretty reasonable to start making inferences on the type of team we have this year. I am talking purely gut/what my eye tells me. I am sure some others can spout how many times we run out of a certain personal grouping or whatever, which can help too. But in general

1. Lets just say the defense is remarkably improved. The singular coordinator change has made a huge difference and does support the "right coach makes all the difference" argument.
2. Mertz is a capable qb and is absolutely adequate to win games in the SEC WHEN all phases of the game are working well. Jury still out and leaning against him for being a qb who can take over a game and win it.
3. Offensive line needs Kingsley to play center, just two different lines with him not playing.
4. I am leaning towards the camp of we need an offensive coordinator. There seems to be talent at the skill positions but a combination of play calling and design seem to be holding back (see comments on defense)
5. Probably the biggest thing especially for us long-view types, all the playmakers on both sides of the ball are all young players and talent that BN has evaluated and brought in. And his willingness to play them The guy knows what he is doing in regards to culture and talent evaluation. It is easier to see a potential future of positive.

Interested in other opinions on the big picture view of the team this season given what we have seen through 4 games?

 

[GatorJ]

 

[oxrageous]

Good God, what eye-rolling nonsense.

 

[CU-UF]

Numbers dont lie, this is where I have to hope if BN is really a process oriented guy, he looks at that ands says something has to change.

 

[MJMGator]

We’re better at this point than I thought we’d be. OL and special teams are the two biggest areas of concern. The defense is light years better than last year and a welcome surprise. Offensively, if we can’t run the ball effectively, we’ll struggle against everyone remaining but I like our WRs and our QB is better than I expected.
Keep recruiting because talent is what it takes to return to championship level.

 

[oxrageous]

Regardless of a couple of plays where we were supposedly short on players on the field, that was by far the best the special teams had been. Good punts, good kicks, good returns, and we even got a hand on a punt.

 

[t-gator]

Through 4 games I'd say we're better than we were last year. I didn't think that was the case after Utah but I think we're going in the right direction after watching the last 3.

 

[PCGatorAlum]

We are 1/3 the way through the season not 1/4.

 

[Bait'n Gator]

There's probably 100+ staffers on the sidelines during games and countless others in press boxes with headsets or in close proximity to someone with a headset. The fact that not a single fuching one of them can apparently count to 11 on a consistent basis is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

I hope Napier coaches here for the next 20 years and puts us back in championship contention every year like we should be. But if he doesn't hire an actual special teams coach and give up play calling soon it'll never happen. That press conference last night was like watching butters or Mullen pretend they were smarter then everyone else in the room, he needs to cut that shyt out too.

 

[GatorJ]

The biggest issue with the team is OL. Doesn’t matter what you call if Charlotte is living in your backfield.

Egauken didn’t play at all yesterday. And Mazzccua was suspended the whole game. We just don’t have quality depth. We have to close on Seaton in this class. He would start year one.

And for the 2025 class we have to close on Solomon Thomas and Max Buchanan.

 

[GatorJ]

There's probably 100+ staffers on the sidelines during games and countless others in press boxes with headsets or in close proximity to someone with a headset. The fact that not a single fuching one of them can apparently count to 11 on a consistent basis is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

I hope Napier coaches here for the next 20 years and puts us back in championship contention every year like we should be. But if he doesn't hire an actual special teams coach and give up play calling soon it'll never happen. That press conference last night was like watching butters or Mullen pretend they were smarter then everyone else in the room, he needs to cut that shyt out too.

Twitter and the other forums were on fire last night following his press conference. It did not go well.

I really like Billy. But he needs to figure this out.

 

[Fodderwing]

We are 1/3 the way through the season not 1/4.

And if we go 3&1 each trimester, a good season we will have witnessed.

2023 needs to be viewed with Al Davis eyes, just win baby!

 

[MJMGator]

We are 1/3 the way through the season not 1/4.

 

[Detroitgator]

We are 1/3 the way through the season not 1/4.

And…

 

[Fodderwing]

Time get loaded up for this afternoon's dove shoot.

 

[chferg]

The two biggest problems I have with Napier is the way he has structured this offensive staff and his personnel groupings.

Having two OL coaches and no OC would work if your OL coaches were bringing in blue chips and the OL was best in the league/nation. Right now our OL is pretty poor, even with Kingsley and the guys who weren't there for the first half. Our OL consists of a few mid players, a few Mullen leftovers and portal castoffs. We have a few young players on the OL seeing significant snaps in Harris. Kearney will eventually get on the field as well next year if not at the end of this year. Those guys are going to be SEC level players alongside guys like Westphal in the '24 class; however, the results in recruiting and on the field are not good enough to have two OL coaches and no true offensive coordinator. Stapleton needs to be let go at the end of the year; honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Sale head back to the NFL as well.

As for the personnel groupings and overall offensive strategy. Everyone likes to compare it to what Shanahan with the 49ers does with all the motioning, route combos, etc...That's all fine and dandy but that style of play has a very slim margin of error and is especially hard to replicate in the college game because you're not going to wind up with 11 NFL caliber players on offense. You're much more likely to end up with good receivers than a dominant TE and you need an line that can control the game which I explained above that we don't. There will be nights like against UT where everything goes according to plan but what happens when nights like Utah happen again? Our offensive philosophy only works if you have all the pieces; we're not recruiting at the level in the trenches and at TE to be comfortable moving forward that it will win us championships.

Really, Napier needs to let go of his ego. His press conference last night smelled like Mac and Muschamp; "I know better than you, you guys aren't coaches"....even though anyone with eyes can see his ST, offensive and redzone struggles. Step back into the CEO role, allow an OC to come in and don't be so rigid with your offense. Statistics don't lie; Napier's offenses have never been all that great, fired from Clemson as OC, mid at ASU and out talented a lot of teams in the Sunbelt but won by one or two score games against teams that should have been blown out.

Napier is really on the cusp of bringing us back to national prominence. We finally have found a good defensive coordinator. We are recruiting well at many positions and the talent evals are fantastic. We are an offense away from being back.

 

[aka]

We have improved. We need to do better in some areas. I think we will.

 

[RiverRat]

Back to it’s hard to say really where were at. After the Tn. win I really thought the Gators had turned the corner. Now I’m back to wait and see how they do against Ky.
Obviously the potential is there to be a dang good football team but they cannot miss that many red zone opportunities in the coming weeks and expect to win.

 

[soflagator]

We are 1/3 the way through the season not 1/4.

He’s got us in the playoff and NC game. Then rounded down.

Sorry if some of us aren’t ready to throw in the towel on a title chance just yet.

 

[Silverback Gator]

Back to it’s hard to say really where were at. After the Tn. win I really thought the Gators had turned the corner. Now I’m back to wait and see how they do against Ky.
Obviously the potential is there to be a dang good football team but they cannot miss that many red zone opponents in the coming weeks and expect to win.

I think the red zone stats are mediocre if not terrible this season. Napier is not a good OC. Serviceable? Yeah, probably. But that's not good enough to build a strong team. He wants to blame the team for not scoring often with his visionary offense. Just hope we beat Kentucky.