GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Billy Napier had three press conferences leading up to Florida’s home game against Eastern Washington.
He spoke to the media on Monday at the Heavener Football Center like he usually does on game weeks. Next, he addressed reporters Wednesday morning on the SEC media teleconference, and finally, on Wednesday evening, Napier held a video conference call with reporters from his new office instead of doing it in person due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Ian.
While the state braced for Ian’s landfall, the 43-year-old Napier took a business-as-usual approach. Napier hasn’t been around UF for long, but by now, those who track his daily routine are conditioned to Napier’s calm demeanor.
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Hurricane Ian was out of Napier’s control, so the coach focused on what he knows: preparing his team to play a game.
“What’s unique about our time at Louisiana, is we played every number-of-day turnaround you can imagine,” Napier said. “Five days, six days, eight, 10, 17, heck, we’ve had unbelievable schedules relative to the mid-week TV games. So, I think this is normal to come up with a unique schedule. I don’t necessarily think there’s going to be any issues here.
“There will be some advantages, in my opinion.”
The Gators (2-2) host Eastern Washington (1-2) on Sunday at noon, the game pushed back a day due to Ian’s impact. Coming off a 38-33 loss at Tennessee last week, the tweak in the schedule provided the Gators an additional day of recovery. That is one of the benefits Napier alluded to.
The Gators are heavy favorites over the FCS-classified Eagles, who lost 70-14 at Oregon three weeks ago. This is not a game most figure the Gators needed an extra day to come away with a victory. Still, they had no choice.
“I think kids are sometimes more resilient than adults are, just to be quite honest,” Napier said. “I think this group, they enjoy practice, they’re competitors. I don’t know that it’s not a little bit healthy to some degree, to have something to do to stay on task.”
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