GAINESVILLE — Everyone gave up on Billy Napier.
The followers gave up on him.
The media gave up on him.
You marvel if some in his personal administration have been beginning to surrender on him, too.
However you recognize who didn’t?
His gamers.
His workforce.
And himself.
When the skin noise was deafening – when the seat was hotter than a Gainesville sidewalk in July – Napier’s gamers nonetheless believed. And on Saturday, that perception became one thing lovely.
Florida 29, No. 9 Texas 21.
It wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t luck. It was downright domination – a press release from a workforce that refused to stop on its embattled coach even when the remainder of the world already had.
“We see all of the stuff on the Web, however we don’t let it outline us,” stated Florida working again Jadan Baugh after carrying the ball 27 occasions for 107 yards. “We play arduous for him as a result of we care about Coach Nape and he cares about us. He offers us 100% and we’re going to offer him 100%.”
Napier, who got here into the sport with a 1-3 file and the worst general mark (20-22) by a Florida coach because the leather-helmet days of the Nineteen Forties, had been written off by practically everybody. The requires his firing had grown louder with each loss – USF, LSU, Miami – every one uglier than the final. His offense was useless final within the Energy 4 in scoring towards FBS opponents. Quarterback DJ Lagway, as soon as thought of the savior of this system, regarded damaged.
After which got here Saturday.
Towards one of many nation’s prime defenses, Florida rolled up practically 500 yards offense. Lagway regarded reborn, true freshman vast receiver Dallas Wilson launched himself to varsity soccer with one of the crucial dazzling debuts in class historical past, and the Gator protection made Arch Manning appear to be a rattled rookie as a substitute of the inheritor obvious in quarterbacking’s royal household.
Manning was sacked seven occasions. Hurried and harassed a dozen different occasions. He threw two interceptions and doubtless felt very similar to Uncle Peyton, who was 0-4 towards the Gators throughout his faculty profession.
“These days in faculty soccer, the game will get a bit little bit of a black eye about what it could actually educate and what locker rooms are like,” Napier stated. “I can solely converse for ours, however I’m humbled to be part of this workforce and what they’ve achieved during the last couple of weeks. ,,, I’m not giving up on this workforce.”
Extra importantly, they haven’t given up on him when it will have been very simple to do exactly that.
Napier’s Gators weren’t simply struggling; they have been sinking. Shedding to USF at residence? That’s all-time low. Following that up with agway’s five-interception implosion at LSU and a 141-yard offensive efficiency at Miami? That’s bury-the-program territory.
Napier wasn’t on the new seat – he was roasting on the spit.
However each time we depend him out, he drags himself up once more. One way or the other. A way.
It’s nearly supernatural. Save-Your-Butt Billy has a present for doing what it takes to outlive. Final season, when it regarded like he was achieved, Napier strung collectively a four-game win streak to shut the yr and purchased himself time. This season, it regarded like that goodwill had evaporated for good. After which, by some means, he went and did this.
That’s Napier for you. He’s Gainesville’s personal Hope Seller.
He retains handing out small doses of perception simply when everybody’s about to surrender the behavior.
And Saturday’s win wasn’t only a victory; it was a full-blown hope excessive.
Lagway, who’d spent three weeks wanting like a shadow of his former self, performed just like the five-star gunslinger from the top of final season, finishing 20-of-26 passes for a season-high 289 yards and two touchdowns.
Then there’s Wilson and fellow newcomer Vernell Brown Jr., who now appear to be essentially the most thrilling tandem of freshman receivers within the nation. Wilson’s 55-yard landing catch within the third quarter – breaking tackles, spinning free, dragging defenders into the top zone – made him appear to be a person amongst boys. Brown turned a easy deep ball right into a 60-yard spotlight reel crammed with athleticism, steadiness and velocity that electrified the group.
“We’re all combating for one another,” Lagway stated afterward. “It’s us towards the world.”
That defiance wasn’t new. After the humiliating loss to Miami, Lagway stood in entrance of the media and made his personal Tim Tebow-style assure – promising that the workforce would get higher and that it will begin with him.
On the time, it felt like blind religion.
On Saturday, it felt like a prophecy.
The Swamp, useless silent after the USF loss, was alive once more – deafening, shaking, even forcing Texas right into a string of false begins and delay-of-game penalties. The identical followers who booed Napier off the sphere a couple of weeks in the past have been roaring for him like he’d simply overwhelmed Alabama for the SEC title.
However beneath all of the noise and redemption arcs, Saturday revealed one thing deeper: this workforce hasn’t stop on its coach as a result of he hasn’t stop on them.
Napier will not be flashy. He could not win press conferences. However his gamers belief him. They imagine in his regular hand, his message, his tradition.
“Coach Napier is like one other dad to me,” Wilson stated.
“We imagine in him,” Baugh stated.
That’s traditional Napier – nonetheless promoting perception when everybody else is promoting skepticism.
And, now, the unimaginable query: can he do it once more?
Can he take this spark and switch it into one thing actual? Can he go on the street subsequent week and beat No. 6 Texas A&M? Can he stack wins and switch this into greater than one other temporary reprieve?
You wouldn’t guess on it. However you wouldn’t guess towards him, both. Not anymore.
You see, Napier doesn’t simply dodge bullets – he catches them in his enamel and spits them again.
He’s the Houdini of the new seat.
And now, for at the very least yet another week, Napier’s Gators are respiratory once more – filled with hope, fireplace, and perhaps even future.
Everyone gave up on Billy Napier.
Everyone besides the individuals who mattered most.
His gamers.
His workforce.
And himself.
E-mail me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and take heed to my new radio present “Sport On” each weekday from 3 to six p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/pay attention
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