Billy Napier says Florida Gators are a "work in progress" at SEC media days

Before he even took the stage on day three of the SEC media days, Florida head coach Billy Napier said his team is on schedule.

"Change doesn’t happen overnight. Timing is everything," Napier said.

Once on stage, Napier started talking about how he believes in his team and has faith in his team.

"It's not the size of the gator in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the gator," he said.

Florida is coming off a season filled with close losses and is heading toward a season with one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

"We have 35 new players," Napier said. "We certainly are not the same team we had last year. College football has become one year at a time."

Napier has focused on recruiting, the transfer portal, and rebuilding the Gators since he took over the program in 2022.

At the start of the day, ESPN's Peter Burns and Chris Doering said that Napier isn't the type of coach who goes out and wins press conferences but instead is the type of coach to put in the work quietly.

While Florida's seasons under Napier haven't panned out quite as well as fans and the program had hoped, there are large expectations looming overhead as they prepare for 2024.

"Every logo in this league matters, we've got sixteen of them now," Napier said on the conference expansion.

On November 9, Napier and the Gators have to visit their new conference foes the Texas Longhorns in Austin for one of their projected tougher games of the season.

Not to mention, the Gators kickoff their season against their non-conference, in-state rivals the Miami Hurricanes.

Napier touched on how important college football is to the entire state of Florida and how special it is for his team to get to play against the Canes at the start of the year.

"we're close and we're working to get in position to prove ourselves and this schedule gives us the perfect opportunity to do that," Napier said.

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