UF head coach Billy Napier made his weekly appearance on the Southeastern Conference media call Wednesday morning. Napier said the Gators returned to practice on Tuesday and will practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He said the team will make contingency plans should Hurricane Helene impact the region on Thursday when it is expected to make landfall. (Editor’s note: Soon after the call ended, UF announced the campus will be closed on Thursday).
“Even if the university is closed, they provide us with parameters in terms our how we meet, practice, and just the safety of the staff and the players,” Napier said. “We would most likely be in the indoor and our process would stay the same depending on how severe the storms are.”
Florida returns home to face UCF following its 45-28 victory at Mississippi State last weekend. UF quarterback Graham Mertz finished 19 of 21 for 201 yards and three touchdown passes as the Gators rolled up 503 yards of total offense. The Manning Award honored Mertz for his best performance of the season.
“We’ve had a chance to kind of evaluate the first four weeks and a really good practice [Tuesday],” Napier said. “I think it’s important that we take a good look in the mirror and build plans for improvement this week, for not only individual players, position groups and units, [but] the entire team. I thought we took a step forward Saturday against Mississippi State and excited about the plans we have in place to get better here the next couple of days.”
Here are some of the topics Napier addressed on the call:
— Florida’s running game has been a group effort through four games, with Montrell Johnson Jr., Treyaun Webb, Jadan Baugh and Ja’Kobi Jackson part of the rotation. Johnson suffered and minor knee injury in preseason camp and leads the team in rushing, but Webb, Baugh and Jackson have all played regularly. Jackson scored on a 10-yard run at Mississippi State.
“We’re trying to get [Montrell] back into a rhythm there,” Napier said. “We felt really good about that running back room. I thought in particular Saturday, Treyaun played really fast and physical. Jadan was exception. And Ja’Kobi, you can see where he’s got some wiggle. He can make you miss and is very instinctive. It’s a good group and we’ve always been intentional in involving the running back. Jadan Baugh is a little bit more…
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