What's Left For Us Here In 2022

[DRU2012]

As I proposed mid-game, as things coalesced into recognizable shapes and the likely "immediate future" began to come into focus, that "right on the edge of .500"-record ball we indeed appear to be staking out (while still essentially a mark of mediocrity) is worth following and ATTAINING now for TWO main reasons: The extended month-PLUS of practice a Bowl game brings AND the time-in-the -spotlight that BOTH bring to our program "out there" on the recruiting trail. These continue to play their roles, direct and INDIRECT, in our continued all-important rebuild. And WINS help too, by the way. Even otherwise now near-meaningless "rankings"...They mean less-than-EVER with the changing CFB Playoff picture rendering irrelevant everyone who DOESN'T make THAT group I p, whatever is settled on, WHENever it is finally implemented--but everyone reads and follows it
...young prep player's, prospects and PENDING recruits are HYPERaware of it, and the sports shows all mention it, MAKE it "important" somehow. So "all THAT" is what we are playing for now--for the sake of the "FUTURE" we are trying to build, that our staff must continue to maneuver and somehow gain advantage in and through.

 

[Escambia94]

I would not worry about the recruiting. These high school kids really do not care about wins and losses with a team that still has 60 of Mullen’s recruits. Napier is not changing his schemes for the 2022 season. I follow most of these recruits on social media and they supporting the team though the last couple struggles in the Swamp. They still had a great time at the game and they have not wavered on their commitments. The undecided recruits are still undecided. Nothing has changed there, other than the fact yet some of them continue to take unofficial visits.

 

[Escambia94]

From what I can tell of Napier, he is less concerned with wins and more concerned about installing his plan to win. There is a reason many of his recruits are starting over veterans recruited by Mullen. In some cases he has no choice, e.g., Trey Dean. He is not going to mold the offense around AR if those changes nullify what he is recruiting for in 2023 and beyond, so stop demanding he change the offense for AR. It is not happening. AR will learn it Napier’s way, or he will fall to the wayside as another wasted talent. That is how life works. He is not going to switch the defense to a permanent cover-6 defense just because we lack playmakers at linebacker, so stop demanding a better defense overnight.

We are now heading into week 5. The team is what it is. The offense is capable of about 32 points a game when it is clicking or 16 points when it is not. There will be 10 penalties a game. There will be missed field goals. We will go for 2 whether you want to or not. We will go for it on 4th-and-short. Quit complaining about it. The losers that we fired before never did any of the above, yet here we are complaining that Napier is not copying the loser behavior of the bums that were fired.

 

[Escambia94]

The crazy thing about Anthony Richardson is that in his first 4 games in 2022 he posted two of the best (Utah and Tennessee) and two of the worst (Kentucky and USF) performances by a Gator QB. As a team we know what we have, but at QB we still have a mystery.

 

[Leakfan12]

The best case scenario is 9-3, 8-4 depending on TAMU.

 

[DRU2012]

From what I can tell of Napier, he is less concerned with wins and more concerned about installing his plan to win. There is a reason many of his recruits are starting over veterans recruited by Mullen. In some cases he has no choice, e.g., Trey Dean. He is not going to mold the offense around AR if those changes nullify what he is recruiting for in 2023 and beyond, so stop demanding he change the offense for AR. It is not happening. AR will learn it Napier’s way, or he will fall to the wayside as another wasted talent. That is how life works. He is not going to switch the defense to a permanent cover-6 defense just because we lack playmakers at linebacker, so stop demanding a better defense overnight.

We are now heading into week 5. The team is what it is. The offense is capable of about 32 points a game when it is clicking or 16 points when it is not. There will be 10 penalties a game. There will be missed field goals. We will go for 2 whether you want to or not. We will go for it on 4th-and-short. Quit complaining about it. The losers that we fired before never did any of the above, yet here we are complaining that Napier is not copying the loser behavior of the bums that were fired.

Not me; I WANT him to "stay the course" he has embarked upon from the moment he arrived. That is exactly what his postgame pressers have uniformly been about: Togetherness, resiliency, and a winning attitude.
I don't get the impression at this point that Billy is all that concerned about "record" beyond how the rest continue to develop AND how it all figures into our continued growth heading into NEXT season, and beyond.
As for Anthony Richardson and the quarterback position, HE either puts it together and makes the most of the rest of THIS year, then STAYS and bursts forth with a "season to remember" in 2023, or he won't be a big part of our resurgence after all--more just a "talented place-holder" while the Coaches get out there and nab at least a couple of promising 5-stars at that position, destined to play central roles themselves after AR is gone...It is looking more and more like any sort of eventual "RETURN of the GATOR" won't be the banner news before then now in ANY event. If Anthony wants (still dreams of) that personal goal himself at this point he will have to explicitly dedicate his present and immediate future to accomplishing just that, starting now.
And frankly, that is the only way it happens.
One hopes that such things are among the no doubt intense discussions the two have on the sidelines, in the locker room, office and practice fields. If he is only thinking NIL and soon-to-be-offered pro-contracts, well, that might explain some of what we've seen in GAMES lately--and rather than warning him about "wasted talent" and "missed opportunities", probably best to do the best we can with what we've got here and now...and then move on.
For now. I prefer to take both player and Coach at their word--that they are both "team-guys" who are sticking with "the plan" as explicitly promised since each got here.