Things I never thought I'd say edition 159 (since 2010)

[tapsgator]

Napier should hire Doug Nussmeier as his QB coach. Should probably give him the OC title as well. He flipped Franks from LSU, found Trask, recruited Florida well when he was here, has NFL ties and experience (he's Chargers QB coach right now), and his kid is buried behind a Heisman candidate, still only a sophomore next year (even though he's older than Anthony Richardson), can sling it, and would be the starter at UF today if he entered the portal. Also Nussy coached at LSU and Garrett was born in Louisiana so while he may lack Sunbelt experience, he does have the requisite ties to the gulf coast.

[g8rfan]

Damn dude. This is a lot to think about.

[Mojave Gator]

Apr 20, 2023 8:32:02 GMT -5 tapsgator said:

Napier should hire Doug Nussmeier as his QB coach. Should probably give him the OC title as well. He flipped Franks from LSU, found Trask, recruited Florida well when he was here, has NFL ties and experience (he's Chargers QB coach right now), and his kid is buried behind a Heisman candidate, still only a sophomore next year (even though he's older than Anthony Richardson), can sling it, and would be the starter at UF today if he entered the portal. Also Nussy coached at LSU and Garrett was born in Louisiana so while he may lack Sunbelt experience, he does have the requisite ties to the gulf coast.

Isn't this the same Doug Nussmeier who we were having fits to get rid of because the offense sucked?

[Rock Gator]

Yeah, same guy. But "suck" has been proven to be a relative term. One thing's for sure, if we were to hire him (which is unlikely because he has so Sun Belt experience), we wouldn't have to worry about him hanging around too long.

BC Lions (2001)
Quarterbacks coach
Ottawa Renegades (2002)
Quarterbacks coach
Michigan State (2003–2005)
Quarterbacks coach
St. Louis Rams (2006–2007)
Quarterbacks coach
Fresno State (2008)
Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach
Washington (2009–2011)
Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach
Alabama (2012–2013)
Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach
Michigan (2014)
Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach
Florida (2015–2017)
Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach
Dallas Cowboys (2018–2019)
Tight ends coach
Dallas Cowboys (2020–2022)
Quarterbacks coach
Los Angeles Chargers (2023–present)
Quarterbacks coach

12 jobs in 23 years, that's a guy who rents, not owns.

RG

[tapsgator]

Yeah, for sure RMG, that the only reason I think Billy would ever consider making the hire, he's no threat. I feel like he's trying not to hire his replacement because I refuse to believe he's a good enough con-man/snake oil salesman to come across as intelligent and still refuse to hire an OC and/or a DC that has more than 3 years experience in the Sunbelt as well as lining his staff with exactly nobody who has significant Power 5 head coaching or even successful coordinator experience of any kind at the University of Florida when he has been given one of the top, if not the top, staff budgets in the country. There's no way he actually thinks that's a path to success, particularly if he wants to emulate Saban who specializes in rehab projects. Not expecting him to hire Dan Mullen or even Charlie Strong (although that would have been nice in a perfect world), but he should be doing better than the Austin Armstrongs (unproven commodity and basically a straight experiment as a Power 5 coordinator) and Billy Gonzales (retread who has never stuck in a coordinator position) of the world.

[tapsgator]

Here's 160, we came in a strong 11th in post-Spring power rankings. Fucking 11tth:

gatorswire.usatoday.com/lists/florida-football-rankings-usa-today-sports-sec-spring-practice/


"11
Florida Gators

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun

Can Billy Napier repeat his second-year success?

The good vibes can be hard to find heading into coach Billy Napier’s second year after a disappointing 6-7 debut and an offseason fraught with recruiting drama, namely in the addition and then quick transfer of five-star quarterback Jaden Rashada amid an NIL dispute. Looking for a reason for optimism? Maybe new defensive coordinator Scott Armstrong can rally the Gators after doing great work last season at Southern Mississippi. There’s also the turnaround Napier pulled off at Louisiana-Lafayette, which went 7-7 in his first season and a combined 33-5 over the next three years."


1) This isn't Louisiana-Lafayette, so that gives me little to no hope
2) What's crazier, that Austin Armstrong has this job or that an SEC writer and editor confused his name with a former B list professional wrestler? Third option is that I understand why you'd think of Scott Armstrong rather than Austin.

This shit is wild.

[Mojave Gator]

Rule #1 when writing an article that includes the name of someone you're new at dealing with: Check the name. Both spelling and accuracy.

[tapsgator]

You know what speaks more to the state of the program than anything in my opinion? The fanbase has been beaten into apathy. We just had our projected #2 WR and starting DE enter the portal after Spring practice and even this board which comprises itself on informed and passionate fans hasn't even started a thread about it. I'm way too into this stuff and even I'm having trouble being fired up about a pretty shitty turn of events especially given our lack of depth. It's just more of the same. Gator Country is running articles like this:

www.gatorcountry.com/feature/five-positions-florida-could-look-to-improve-through-the-transfer-portal/

From the biggest sunshine pumpers out there, and that's not 5 (or 7 if you count honorable mention) of 22 positions. It is literally 18 of the 22. You know what else? It should be 20 because our DTs haven't done anything yet and they're still planning on Watson being an effective football player when to date he's been a novelty act. CB is the only position on the field where we should feel good, and even there we've got 1 and then a bunch of hopefullys. We're so sick of bad news and starved for good news that "he must have been intimidated by the Freshman" works for Henderson when 2 weeks earlier Napier was talking about him as dominating the Spring scrimmages. After a 10-7 Spring game we go with "typical Spring Game" and "that Defense must be hard to score on." Lies, bald faced lies, but I am really approaching a point where I don't care, and that's scary because if a rabid fan in the heart of Bulldog country who has to listen to their crap doesn't care, nobody does

[g8rfan]

I can’t help but think our QB situation had much to do with Henderson leaving. I really don’t think it matters what we do at other positions, you don’t win in the SEC without a QB. Anyone thinking we’re going to be better than .500 this season is going to have a bad time.

[wahhappen]

Apr 28, 2023 7:48:06 GMT -5 g8rfan said:

I can’t help but think our QB situation had much to do with Henderson leaving. I really don’t think it matters what we do at other positions, you don’t win in the SEC without a QB. Anyone thinking we’re going to be better than .500 this season is going to have a bad time.

Graham Mertz? More like Graham Dertz!