NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Now, Florida knows how it feels.
Georgia watched the Gators become college football’s prime program from 2006-10. Florida won two championships and posted three 13-1 seasons in a four-year span. Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow were among the best coach-quarterback duos in history. Gators fans weren’t shy about letting Georgia enthusiasts hear about it, either.
Since 2021, the reverse has unfolded. Georgia is the crème de la crème, winning consecutive national championships while going 29-1 over that span. Its defenses have been among the more talented in history, especially in the 2021 season. And of course, Bulldogs supporters are returning the favor to the Gators fans who taunted them for so long.
Georgia has defeated Florida by a cumulative score of 76-27 across the past two years.
“Y’all know what (the Bulldogs) are right now and what we’re trying to get to,” Gators junior center Kingsley Eguakun said. “That rivalry since I’ve been here has been everything. That one, FSU, those are huge games, and you can feel that in the week when we go through our weekly routine.”
But this isn’t just about how Florida compares with Georgia. It’s about Florida becoming what it expects to be after enduring middling and maddening results since its last championship in the 2008 season.
It’s been a long fall for the Gators, who are on their fourth full-time coach since Meyer. Second-year coach Billy Napier, whose team went 6-7 in his debut season, requires patience as he retools the program.
Florida and patience don’t typically mesh because the Gators hold themselves to a championship standard. Indeed, Florida is one of the country’s greatest jobs. It should, theoretically, almost be impossible to fail consistently in Gainesville given the resources. But a series of coaching misfires, organizational issues and quarterback struggles have placed a program once ahead of the pack squarely in the middle of it.
The last fired coach, Dan Mullen, had some success with consecutive double-digit-win seasons. His 2020 team boasted the high-powered offense Florida fans expect thanks to Steve Spurrier and Meyer. But Mullen was undone by his personality and dismissive attitude toward recruiting.
Enter Napier, who built a winner at Louisiana-Lafayette and brought a needed steady hand in Gainesville. His first season was ugly – the Gators lost to Tennessee, Georgia and Florida State, among others, including Vanderbilt – but he’s taken the long view since he was hired. Florida, in its present state, has little choice but to embrace a ground-up rebuild.
The new $85 million, 140,000-square-foot facility opened in August 2022, which introduced Florida to modern times. And players have said they’ve bought what Napier has preached despite the rough on-field beginning.
“It’s in the making right now,” receiver Ricky Pearsall said. “Just by (Napier’s) demeanor, you have no choice but to respect him. I think Florida fans grasp that already. The way he handles his business. Other guys have put their full trust in coach Napier and the program he’s setting up for us. He’s trying to change the culture of Florida football.”
Outside expectations are that Florida won’t be a factor this season. Even at SEC Media Days, the blueblood seemed an afterthought.
“One of the things we are not going to do with our team is we are not going to allow outside opinion or create a narrative to define the reality for the 2023 team,” Napier said. “The Head Ball Coach, Gator legend Steve Spurrier, said it best: ‘This is talking season.’ The games are coming, and in the meantime, this group will continue to work like it’s been working.”
The Gators have momentum in recruiting. Thanks to their hot summer, they have the No. 3-ranked class for 2024 right now, behind only Georgia and Ohio State. That class includes five-star quarterback DJ Lagway, whom the school hopes will headline its turnaround.
Just as Florida has churned through coaches, it hasn’t found a consistent quarterback since Tebow. Anthony Richardson was the No. 4 overall pick in the NFL draft in April, but he wasn’t a great college quarterback. Kyle Trask’s brilliance was one season (2020). There were exciting moments from players like Will Grier and Jeff Driskel, but quarterback problems are part of Florida’s recent up-and-down results.
It doesn’t look like that position will be a strength before Lagway’s arrival. Florida took unspectacular Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz to compete with Jack Miller, who transferred from Ohio State a year earlier, for the starting job. Mertz and Miller were four-star recruits.
“I’ve been very impressed with Graham,” Napier said. “Graham is a 32-start player. He’s played over 2,000 snaps at a really established program in Wisconsin. We went through an extensive process to make that decision. I think Graham is an accomplished player, but more importantly, I’ve been impressed with the person, the leader. This guy has an incredible motor and work ethic. He is in the building, and he is fanatical about his preparation. That’s helped the competition. I think that’s caused Jack to respond. Jack has had an incredible offseason, and he’s in position for great camp.”
The Gators open at Pac-12 champion Utah, which is one reason they’ll lead the SEC in miles traveled this season. They host playoff hopefuls Tennessee and FSU while facing LSU on the road. Napier gets his second shot at Georgia on Oct. 28 in Jacksonville. The Gators presumably need a respectable season to keep their promising recruiting class intact.
While the College Football Playoff expands next season, Florida has a deeper slate. The Gators face the other three main Florida schools – Miami, Central Florida and FSU – while also opposing Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and new SEC member Texas.
Will Florida be ready for the gauntlet? It will have a better idea after 2023, a season the program hopes it’ll look back upon as the promising start to its rebirth.
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