University of Florida Football Media Conference
Sunday, December 5, 2021
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Coach Billy Napier
Athletic Director Scott Stricklin
Press Conference
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Good afternoon. I appreciate everybody being here. Appreciate your patience with the timing of this.
This is an exciting day. And it’s not very often you get a chance to bring really important people into the Gator family. So we’re excited to be here today to welcome Coach Napier and his beautiful family — Ali, Annie, Sammy, Charlie, and his mom, Pam. Thank you, guys, for being here.
We sought out to identify somebody in this process. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago when I had a chance to meet with the media. There were three things we were looking for.
Number one, someone who could identify and recruit the right people for Gator football. And that’s both players and staff.
Someone who could take those individuals and build relationships through personal attention, organization, discipline, hard work, and then bring those people together. Bring that group together to form a productive football program.
And, third, put all those individuals in a position to be successful, obviously on the football field but also beyond that, in life in general.
So those are the three things we wanted — somebody who could bring the people together, can lead them and then can do all the things you have to do to run a successful program.
Billy’s name quickly became someone that was really interesting to me. And one of the reasons we were able to move so quickly is I’ve been following Billy’s career for a few years.
During the three years I was on the CFP Selection Committee, his Ragin’ Cajuns teams were routinely a part of the committee’s deliberations and conversations because of their success.
And in particular, for the 2019 season, Coach RC Slocum and I were appointed point persons for the Sun Belt Conference that season. Every year, if you’re on the committee, you’re assigned a couple of conferences. It’s your responsibility to really pay attention to that conference and bring information about that conference to the other committee members.
And in 2019, Coach Slocum and I were responsible for the Sun Belt Conference. And it was really obvious that year, as I followed that league, that Billy was having a tremendous impact in Lafayette on that university.
So, because of me noticing that success I began to study him more intently, began asking people who knew about him, what their thoughts were of him, began watching YouTube videos and reading articles and everything else I could do to find out a little bit about him.
It was interesting, I kept hearing certain descriptions over and over again, words like “genuine”, “authentic”, organized, “detailed”, “disciplined”, “methodical”, “caring”, “competitive”, “hardworking”, “thoughtful”.
If you think about all those words, for us to reach the high expectations shared by everybody who loves the Gators and we talk about championship experience with integrity, to have consistent and sustained success, those are the traits that are going to be imperative. And somebody who understands that and can lead in that manner were going to be really important.
All those qualities have served Billy well throughout his life in football — a stellar playing career at Furman, several assistant coaching is to stops including some time in SEC where he was a part of winning national championships, and of course this past four years at the University of Louisiana and the success they’ve had there.
So today it is my great pleasure to formally introduce the new head coach of the Florida Gators, Billy Napier. Billy.
[Applause]
COACH NAPIER: Thank you very much for those kind words. I can’t say that with enough emphasis, you know? Thank you. Thank you very much. I can’t tell you how honored and excited I am to be the head football coach at the University of Florida.
The passion and enthusiasm that has been shown to myself and our family since last Sunday has been outstanding. We’ve been — we’re so appreciative. I can’t tell you how humbled I am.
The history, the tradition of the iconic coaches and players that have been a part of this program are unmatched. This is truly one of those special places in college football. I’d like to thank president Kent Fuchs and athletic director Scott Stricklin for extending this leadership opportunity.
I look forward to taking on this challenge. I’ve been fortunate to go through some of these processes in the past.
Scott and his wife, Anne, have been absolute professionals throughout this whole process. I want to commend the administration for their willingness to invest in our vision to create an elite player experience here.
I’d like to take the time here, Scott talked about our family, but my best friend in life, my beautiful wife, Ali. I think we’ll be 14 years this summer. She’s the real MVP here is what I would tell you. She’s the real MVP.
Annie Jo (phonetic) is growing up. She’s 9 now. And Sammy’s 7. Charlie’s 5. I’m very fortunate to have my mom here today, Pam Napier. I certainly wouldn’t be here today without her and all that she’s done for me.
It’s important for everyone to know that we’ve got a goal here to play a brand of football that creates a great sense of pride, pride not only for this institution but for the people in this great community of Gainesville, Florida, and Florida Gators all across the country.
To our fans, our alumni, our investors, any and everybody that loves this university and this football program, this will be a team effort. That’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to take all of us.
No matter what our role is and can be, it must be positive. We’ve got to work together to make an impact as we kind of start this journey together.
We’re going to build the best football team in the SEC conference. We’re going to build the best football program in the SEC conference. We must have a championship approach in everything that we do to accomplish this goal.
Every choice, every decision, every habit that we build along the way, we’re going to begin with the ending in mind, and that is to be a champion.
I’ve seen this done. I’ve experienced it myself. And I can promise you that we will all reap the benefits from this. It’s important that everybody take ownership in their role, whatever that may be. You may be the equipment manager. You might be a cheerleader. You may run a local business.
You might just be a Florida Gator fan in the barber shop. But I think it’s critical that we rally together, support each other as we work to establish a really high standard of excellence for this program both on and off the field.
Our mission here is to make life-changing impact on the players, for them to experience success in life as a result of time in our program. As people first and foremost, we’re going to be values-based here in what we do. Our players are going to understand commitment. They’re going to understand self-discipline. They’re going to understand sacrifice, resiliency.
We will have elite toughness here. We will have elite work ethic here. And we’re going to operate with great class, and we’re going to do things with integrity.
Secondly, we want to promote the education of the student-athletes, not only get a degree, but be engaged and develop great relationships and network with people on campus. And really take advantage of our 415,000-plus alumni throughout the entire country.
In recruiting, I like to tell the young man and his family that academics is plan A. And football is plan B. And we’ll take that approach and we’re going to have a quality support system in place to help our players.
The third thing is we want our players to reach their maximum potential as football players. We’re going to have a year-round plan for development. It will be very specific and detailed with objectives for each phase. And we will master this routine. And this will be our key to onfield success.
These three together — person, student and player — can help launch a young man’s career after football. And we want to use all of our resources as a university to help create better people, people that will represent this university for generations to come.
The type of experience that I’m talking about will be one where a young man wants to come back to visit and eventually he gets in a position and he can give back at some point to the place and the people that helped him reach his goals.
I’m well aware the expectations that we have here. Trust me, no one’s got higher expectations for what we want to do and what we want to accomplish than myself. We’re going to line up and kick this thing off next year in the opener. And everybody is going to want to win. Everybody’s going to be excited.
I think it’s critical that we take that desire and that energy and we channel that towards our daily process, our self-discipline as we get our football team ready to play.
We will do this with a very specific detailed, structured plan and we will execute it phase by phase.
My father was a high school football coach. My mom was an educator. My original intentions were to be what my dad was. I wanted to be a high school football coach. I observed him make a tremendous impact on young people in my community as I grew up.
I observed this in my young life. And I was called and chose this profession. There’s nothing better than seeing the game of football help a young man change his life for the better.
It’s going to be about building trust. It’s going to be about creating strong communication. That’s where we start. They must see that you have authentic care and you have their best interests at heart.
We’ll start with the human element. We’re going to focus on the intangibles.
What type of football team do we want to have here? We’re going to start with the things that we totally control. Our trademark will be our physicality. We’ll be in great condition. We’ll be known for how hard we play. We’ll be disciplined. And we will eliminate careless play — turnovers, penalties, mental errors. We’re going to be sound and we’re going to attack in all three phases.
We will attack by scheme. More importantly, we’ll attack with a relentless mindset. We’re going to be unique. We’re going to be a tough three-day prep for the opponent.
Simply put, we want to be the other team that the other team dreads to play. We’re going to have a very specific plan in recruiting and evaluating. And that will start with a major emphasis in this state. This is a talent-acquisition business. We’re going to work tirelessly in this area.
You know, our first task will be hiring a quality coaching and support staff. I firmly believe that hiring talented people with integrity in an organization decides how far we go.
I’m excited about getting to know all of you more in the coming months.
The second order of business is going to be working and finalizing our recruiting class over the next 60 days. Lastly, our players will return in early January and we will begin execution of our plan.
I’m extremely excited to get to work. I think it’s important that we all understand we’re going to do this one day at a time. And we’re going to do it one person at a time.
You know, before we take a few questions here, I’d like to publicly thank the University of Louisiana, Dr. Savoie and Dr. Maggard; the players; our staff; the entire community of Lafayette, Louisiana, Acadiana for all that they did for myself and our family and for the leadership opportunity. For the belief in myself. Couldn’t be more thankful for what those people did to impact me.
Q. You kind of touched upon it, the tradition here, the history, expectations, all that. What was your kind of view from afar of the Gators, some specific memories maybe? Were you a closet Gator fan up there in Georgia country?
COACH NAPIER: You know, I’ll tell you this. My dad was a high school coach, right? So his games were on Friday night. We’d always wake up on Saturday. If we weren’t going to a game, oftentimes I can still remember growing up watching Florida play, and Coach Spurrier throwing that ball around the park. I could still remember watching Danny Wuerffel, a long list of players when I was a young person.
Funny story, my dad actually became the head coach and he changed the uniforms of the team. And we went, our uniform was exactly like the Florida Gators. So my dad was a big fan for sure.
Q. You haven’t been, as a head coach, at a place where like the real expectation was to land like the five stars, the high four-star guys. Now it is the expectation. What is your plan there to be able to position Florida to compete with guys like Kirby and Nick Saban, who you know well?
COACH NAPIER: I think we’ve got to sign around 25 players a year. And I think that there’s enough out there. I think the important part here is that we don’t get consumed with the stars, four-star, five-star. I think it’s going to be more about evaluation. We’re going to go through a very thorough evaluation process.
We’re going to hire an army of people here. We’re going to create an infrastructure not only in the personnel department but also from an on campus recruiting, creative media, name, image and likeness. We’re going to create — we’ve got a great vision for the organization that we’re going to create here.
So we’re the University of Florida. We’ve got a lot to sell here. And I think the timing is right. I think that the administration’s willingness to invest in our vision and this organization that we’re going to create, if you combine that with the resources that they’re providing to hire an exceptional staff, I think that the new facility is going to give us an advantage that maybe we haven’t had before here.
And I think that our proximity to player is a direct advantage. So our ability to get these young men and their families on our campus. And then we do our job. If we can’t sign 25 good players at the University of Florida, then you’ll be looking for a new coach.
So we’ve got a plan and we’re going to go execute our plan.
Q. Did you take this job sight unseen, like had never been to the University of Florida?
COACH NAPIER: We came here when I was at the University of Alabama in 2011. That’s the one time I’ve been in the swamp. But, yeah, outside of that, yes, sir.
Q. How much did you know? You talked about your dad changing uniforms. How much did you know about Florida from afar and how much did you learn today in a whirlwind tour?
COACH NAPIER: You’re going to figure out I’m a football junkie. I’m well aware of the history and the tradition here. This is one of the few places in the country — you’re talking about a championship culture. We’re talking about it’s been done multiple times. I think one of the interesting things here is the success all the other teams in the athletic department have had. It’s unprecedented and unmatched.
So lots of our teams have been able to have success. Our football program has had success. We’re very capable. Now we’ve just got to go do the work.
Q. You’ve had other people call you in the past. What was it specifically about this job that made you want to go?
COACH NAPIER: First of all, those are very difficult decisions. The last few years this time of year have been hectic. But I would say this: I didn’t feel like we had done our job yet at the University of Louisiana. We were able to win the Western Division, get in the championship game. Came up short a few times.
The third year we’re in position to compete for the championship. We’re playing Coastal Carolina and the rug gets pulled out from underneath us right there at the end.
So this year I felt like we were in position to do the job. We were literally one week away from the championship game, I think, when we came to an agreement. So I think felt like you’d done your part, right? The people hire you to do a job. You’ve got a contract. You want to fulfill your contract. You want to follow through in your word. And then you combine that with what I would say is a very unique timing situation at the University of Florida.
I really believe — there’s a lot of prayer that goes into these decisions, right? I can’t help but think that the theme for our chapel this year, which we went through the Book of Joshua, you know, Joshua 1:9, be strong and courageous, and obviously you’ve got to do your research here, but if you go through the Book of Joshua, can’t help but think that that happened for a reason.
You know, so it’s the right place at the right time, with the right people and the right leadership. And I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity.
Q. You said a couple different times that Florida has showed a willingness to invest. Can you elaborate on that and why it was important for you and what specifically you needed to see?
COACH NAPIER: It’s absolutely the most important part for me. I think in today’s era, in this college football dynamic that we compete in, it’s truly an organization. We’re talking about a very specific plan and all these different areas that affect your ability to compete.
And in this league, you know, the proof’s in the pudding. I think the two that played for the championship game last night, there’s evidence relative to the way that they’ve created their organization.
So we’re going to increase the manpower, if that makes sense. We’re going to create very specific plans in personnel, recruiting, development, nutrition, strength and conditioning, sports science, the training room, name imagine and likeness, our journey program which we’re going to create from the ground up.
We’ve got a very specific plan here. Their willingness to create those resources and put the finances that need to be in place to do that. So that combined with the salary pool, they were willing to do what we wanted to do. Can’t compliment them enough for that.
Q. How did those conversations with Scott go? Did you tell him, hey, here’s what I need? Did he say here’s what we would like you to do and what we would like — because that’s been a kind of hot button topic around here for 15 years now?
COACH NAPIER: It was very simple. I think Scott, obviously, he’s been here. He’s been observing what’s going on. I think he’s well aware of what’s happening out there and what the University of Florida needed to do to be competitive. And it was a little bit a part of his plan to some degree.
So, you know, the negotiations were very simple. So having been through these things a few times before, you know, to be honest with you, having been a part of it in the past, right, being on the inside, knowing what it looks like.
So they didn’t flinch. And certainly I think when it all is said and done, we’re going to put together a truly elite group of people here that will impact the players.
Q. After things ended at Clemson you were kind of one of the first people to go through what we now know as that Alabama machine. What did you learn, specifically that year before you went off, went to Colorado State?
COACH NAPIER: I think, first of all, it was a unique time in my career. Certainly I was in a very humbled place, I think anytime that happens to you. But I’m thankful for Coach Saban for giving me that opportunity. There’s no question. I’d been in college football for 10 years at that point.
And in that one year I think I learned more than I learned in the previous 10, if that makes sense. And it was unique in that I didn’t have a ton of responsibility. So I was able to observe all the different areas of that organization and how they worked. And then having been a part of going to Colorado State, coming back to Alabama. I think my experiences at Arizona State was beneficial.
And then really the most impactful thing was going to the University of Louisiana and trying to do that on a little bit of a smaller scale with less resources and putting your name on it, your spin on it, your brand on it.
And I would say this, I think we’ve refined that process. Each year we’ve gotten a little bit better at it. So I’m excited about applying those things we learned here.
Q. You mentioned your dad a lot today already. I talked to somebody who knew him he said of all the people who shaped you into the man and coach you are, nobody has been more influential than you. You talked about him inspiring you to coach. What outside of the football field has he shaped you into where you are today?
COACH NAPIER: You’re going to get me right here. (Laughter).
I think that — my dad died from ALS. So I think that his ability to handle and manage that with impeccable character — he didn’t flinch. And the impressive thing was that his foundation was his faith. So the example that he set, for not only me — heck, he inspired a lot of people, I think that experience changed my approach, if that makes sense.
I think it made me a better husband. It made me a better father. Certainly made me a better coach. And I think that that kind of changed my perspective a little bit. I think I really became player focused from that point on, if that makes sense.
He taught me life’s about people. And sometimes, I think, we play a great game. Football is a great game and it’s a game of people and about people.
So you almost got me just a bit. (Laughter).
Q. Obviously you coached at the highest level, Power Five. But you come from humble beginnings with your dad at the high school level, been in the group of five. I don’t know if a stop that gets talked about enough is South Carolina State. What was that opportunity like for you? How did that come about? And what was it to be a play caller at an HBCU school?
COACH NAPIER: That story is twofold. Buddy Pough is a coach and man that I have tremendous respect for. He’s a legendary high school coach. He had an opportunity to work for Brad Scott and Lou Holtz, a man that was well revered in the state of South Carolina, coaching at his alma mater. He gave me the first opportunity as a college coach. I can’t think him enough for that.
But my bride here was about a 50-minute drive living down in Charleston at that time. And I was still trying to chase her down at that point.
But Buddy was unbelievable. The players there, my experience in Orangeburg was unbelievable.
And I think each one of your stops along the way, you learn something. It makes you better. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve worked for some incredible people. I’ve worked alongside a lot of incredible people.
I think we’re all products of the experiences that we’ve had and the people that we’ve been around. And certainly working for Buddy was a special one.
Q. You divide the season up into eight categories. I was wondering if you could share that with us briefly. I’m sure it would take too long here.
COACH NAPIER: So our football plan is broken into eight phases. I’ll give you the quick version here — foundation, identity, spring practice, discretionary period, summer regimen, training camp, in season and postseason.
Really what we try to do is create some intensity and urgency for small periods of time. We have very specific goals and objectives for each one of those. And everybody in the building’s got things that they’re in charge of and that we’re trying to accomplish.
So we also break our recruiting calendar into six stages. And that’s all well-defined for everybody in the building. And I do think we’ve gotten better at each one of these things each one over the last four years.
Q. Talking about recruiting, how do you approach signing day so quickly or at least early signing day so quickly? And the integrity that you’re showing, not taking everybody from UL — you have kind of a smaller staff here. How do you go about just getting ready for early signing day?
COACH NAPIER: So that’s a great question. And I think that’s what we’re in the middle of doing right now. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into that, thought into that. I think our approach here, we’re going to be very patient. I think I know everybody wants to pedal to the metal here and go a hundred miles an hour.
But I think it’s the most important thing that we do. I think the people we get into the building, the staff, the players. So we’re going to evaluate the situation a little bit this week over the next 10 days or so. But you can expect us to be very conservative, very patient, trying to position ourselves for post-signing day to evaluate all the players that are left over, all the players in the transfer portal.
And then when we do have our entire staff and organization put together, position ourselves for some really strong weekends in January, and then try to close strong in February.
But reality is you’re getting in the game and there’s like three minutes left in the fourth quarter. And I think the last thing we need to do here is make some mistakes. So we’ll probably — I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t sign many at all, to be honest with you. But there may be a few out there that are willing to jump in here in the last minute.
But let me say this about that. I think that for me, I think it’s important in recruiting that both sides understand each other and have had time to build relationships, to have conversations, to know who is going to coach you, to fully understand what the plan is.
So I think it goes both ways in that regard. I think it’s an injustice to them and it’s an injustice to us to all of a sudden just hurry up and elope right here at the last second.
We’re going to be very patient and I think we’ll position ourselves for after this signing day’s over, we’ll go see what’s left out there and do the very best job we can do.
Q. For coaches that have come here that have had different philosophies about rivalry games, some of them saying it’s just another game, some of them putting the other team’s logo (indiscernible). I know you’re just coming off another game that’s played a role?
COACH NAPIER: The reality is I haven’t even thought about that question, to be honest with you. So we’ve got a lot of other things to do before we get to the game. And you’re going to find that’s just how it’s going to be.
Today it was a team meeting and the press conference. Tomorrow we’ll hit the road recruiting. We’ve got a lot of decisions to make about the staff. And then we’ll start this journey.
We’ll work hard on implementing our systems and our process. We’ll get to the games, we’ll get to the games. But right now that’s the least of my concerns.
Q. How would you characterize the message to the team? It’s always weird sort of meet and greet when you stand in front of 85 guys. What was your message to them, and what are the expectations?
COACH NAPIER: I think the important thing here is that they understand — I know they went through a tough time, that there’s uncertainty, that they’ve been through a very difficult experience. There’s nothing easy about this. They’re young people. That makes it even more difficult.
I just wanted them to know that we’re going to work hard for them and that I wanted them to know a little bit about me. I told them that I think that football is a game of people, strategy and competition. And the most important part of the game is the people. That starts with the players.
Everything that we do is going to be about helping them, serving them, trying to help them improve as people, prioritizing their education. And helping them develop as football players. Chase their dreams and accomplish the things as individual players and certainly as a team.
You can’t win over the team in a 30-minute meeting. You’re going to have to do it with consistency. You’ve got to be fair. You’re going to earn their trust and respect over time. And that’s what we plan on do.
Q. Couple people I talked to said you have a buttoned-up philosophy about pregame and structure and all that goes into that. Could you walk us through that sort of shared identity and team-first approach?
COACH NAPIER: I think that this game is a game that can teach young people a lot of things. And I think that our job is to create a structure and a place where we equip them for life after football. And one of the things that we really believe in is having a disciplined team.
We create routine for them. We challenge them to have self-discipline, be on time, learn how to shake a hand, introduce yourself, dress the correct way, how to handle yourself off the field, compete as a student.
I just think it’s our job. I mean, that’s why I got into coaching. We’re going to do those things for the players. I think if you don’t, you’re doing them a disservice.
So there will be a lot of days they don’t like me. But that’s part of the job. I also told them, the best testimony, the best witness I have is the players that I just left.
I challenged them to reach out to our players at the University of Louisiana. Ask them what it’s going to be like because I don’t think there’s any better example than that. So there will be some good days and some bad days, but it’s part of it.
Q. Have you decided you’re going to call plays or not? How does that affect your offensive staff?
COACH NAPIER: I’ll be calling the plays here. I think it gives us an advantage, in my opinion. We’re one of the only teams in the entire country to have two offensive line coaches. We’ll have an offensive line coach and an assistant offensive line coach.
We will construct our staff on both sides of the ball and put a premium on the line of scrimmage — the offensive line, the defensive line. The edge players will be very important.
And certainly when you’re coaching offensive line, you’ve got to coach five players. Nobody’s got one coach coaching five-DBs. I don’t know why you wouldn’t have two guys coaching the offensive line. I’ll coach the quarterbacks with the help from an offensive analyst and call the plays. And we’ll have the advantage of having two offensive line coaches.
Q. You’re obviously close to Jim McElwain. He used to coach here. Is that somebody you reached out to get to know Florida just a little bit better?
COACH NAPIER: Mac was great to me. And I would say even to this day a lot of the things that we teach the quarterback — I thought Mac was an incredible teacher. His ability to make things simple.
So even to this day some of the verbiage that we use for the quarterbacks, he could walk around in our meeting and understand what’s going on.
But Mac was great to me. He didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat. I walked in the door at Alabama. He allowed me to observe him, learn from him. He took me to Colorado State with him.
And certainly I wouldn’t be standing here today without his wisdom, his guidance and certainly the opportunity that he gave me.
So there’s no question that there will be some things that we can learn from Coach Mac in terms of his experience here. And we definitely will use him as a resource.
Q. I think I read a story when you first got the job at Lafayette, they asked you about your style of play. You said we’re going to run the ball and we’re going to stop throwing or we’re not going to be here very long. Is that the baseline from which you’re going to operate here?
COACH NAPIER: Well, let’s not give everybody our entire plan.
No, I think we’re going to play team football. We’re going to play complementary football. I think our entire plan is built around working together as a team to position ourselves to win the game.
And certainly we all understand that in this league, and certainly to be a national championship contender, you’ve got to be really strong on the line of scrimmage. I would like to think that rushing the ball and stopping the run has a significant effect on winning the game. I think our championship game was a great example of that, if that makes sense.
So there’s no question that will be a part of our identity. But I do think there’s days where part of your team is going to struggle. You’re not going to have a great day on offense and you’re going to have to need to play really well on defense. Special teams fits in that category as well.
So our team will be built to play complementary football. And certainly rushing the ball and stopping the run will be a big part of our formula.
Q. I’m not trying to get you, like exact quotes, but you mentioned your dad switched uniform colors. What would he say today? You’re the University of Florida coach, what would he say?
COACH NAPIER: He’d say — heck, he’s here. That’s what I would tell you. He’s here. So, he’s smiling, I’ll tell you that much.
Q. You have very well behaved children.
COACH NAPIER: This is an exception to the rule here, just so you know. (Laughter).
Q. Watching you yesterday, the last 30 seconds of that game, I thought, how is he holding it together about right now. Where was your mind? What were you thinking? And then take me through the next 12 hours as best you can.
COACH NAPIER: Sure. I think you’re happy for the players, right? I think that we work hard. I mean, you’re happy for the players. You’re happy for the staff. That was a culmination of a lot of work. That was four years of work. Didn’t just happened last night. We built that from the ground up.
And so you ask the players to buy into what you’re selling. You ask them to have discipline, to pay attention to detail, to buy into a team concept, to work extremely hard.
College football players, in this day, the amount of time and effort and work that goes into what you guys get to observe on game day, that is a very small percentage of what they do to get ready.
So to see them finish the job, I mean it was an incredible journey. But I think the most important part is that they got the result and the reward for all of that work.
And it changes the entire dynamic for the next 12 hours, right? I was telling one of my good friends that earlier; it’s one thing to get on a plane and fly to Florida after a championship game. It’s another to get on the plane as a champion.
So there’s no doubt — I’m drinking water through a firehose right now. But it’s part of it. And we’re going to make the best of the situation one day at a time, one person at a time. That’s the approach we’ll take.
You guys are probably going to get frustrated with me. We’re going to be very patient, and calculated about everything that we do. And eventually we’ll have the full group together and we’ll go to work.
Q. You mentioned Coach Spurrier, I know you know the background and of course he was at South Carolina after you. I wanted to ask you about the trip down to the statutes. Have you been there?
COACH NAPIER: Haven’t been there yet. But I’m looking forward to it.
Q. And the one common denominator of all them, their fathers were all either pastors or whatever, all three statues. Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
