As football season approaches, the various preseason preview pieces come out, some carrying more weight than others. Two of the more-trusted outlets are Athlon Sports and Lindy’s, both of which feature a scouting section with quotes from opposing coaches in their summer preview issues.
The Florida Gators ended 2024 as one of the hottest teams in college football, but there are different schools of thought when it comes to whether or not Billy Napier and DJ Lagway are going to turn the program around. The SEC assistant who spoke with Athlon offered a fairly positive perspective on the Gators.
“If Lagway continues to develop and stays healthy, they’re going to continue to improve.” he said. “They don’t have a killer at receiver, but they’re solid at running back. Defensively, they’re young, but they’ve finally got some guys in there that look elite.”
The same coach goes on to imply that Florida would have moved from Napier if it weren’t for “the changing politics of the game” and a large buyout, all to say that 2025 is the decisive year for the Gators’ head man.
“Lagway and that offensive line are legit enough to bring back a true ‘Florida offense.’ If they can be in the hunt for a playoff bid and start scoring points like those old Gator programs, I think (Napier) will be off the hot seat for a while.”
Lindy’s received a much different report from an opposing coach, albeit one that allows for Lagway to prove otherwise.
“It’s a shame what happened to this program,” the coach said. “I know Billy got it turned around in the second half after another slow start, but he makes (Dan) Mullen look good. … I’ll take a wait-and-see approach on Lagway. He makes a bunch of mistakes and is already banged up coming into the year, or at least he was in the spring.”
If Lagway stays healthy and succeeds, this coach has an…
Source link : https://gatorswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/gators/football/2025/06/30/florida-football-scouting-report-sec-coaches-talk-to-athlon-lindys/84407685007/
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Publish date : 2025-06-30 23:20:00
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