The Florida Gator football team heads into 2023 ready to put the disappointing end of the 2022 season behind them and poised to build on the program growth that occurred in 2022. Ideally, that growth might have translated into a couple more wins and a few less erratic performances in 2022. Instead, Florida battled throughout, but caved in late. The primary factors were roster/depth challenges and a very difficult schedule. Florida played nine games against teams that spent some portion of the season in the AP Top 20. Of those nine teams, six reached rankings as high as #7. The Vanderbilt loss was the only truly confusing outcome.

Turning to the things that matter most in the big picture, the Gators made strides forward in terms of roster/player development and program culture this season. Many of the players who arrived with or who were recruited by Billy Napier and his staff were strong contributors this year. O’Cyrus Torrence was an All-American. Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne made up one of the best running back tandems in the SEC. Ricky Pearsall led the Gators in receiving. Austin Barber was a frequent starter as a true freshman. Kamryn Waites and Caleb Douglas also contributed on the offense. Defensively, Kamari Wilson, Shemar James, Chris McClellan, Devon Moore, Miguel Mitchell were all important contributors even as true freshmen. At least four other true freshmen played and gained valuable experience this season. These things are important to note and understand as this coaching staff works towards having enough of the right personnel to run their systems. The 2023 class of recruits is even more impressive and is already ranked in the top ten despite having room for three more additions. This 2023 class includes an elite quarterback and much needed help on defense. The Florida staff has added five players in positions of need from the transfer portal and will likely add three or four more in the next several weeks.

The importance of a coach having adequate time to recruit and build their roster goes far beyond website rankings and measures of athletic ability. Roster composition is critical in terms of each players’ fit into the systems being deployed by the current staff. Asking a coach to run their systems with someone else’s personnel is like asking a chef to cook their specialty with only the ingredients they find in another chef’s kitchen. It will be 2024 before Billy Napier has all the ingredients needed for sustainable success.

The other critical area of growth in the Gator football program was culture. The 2022 team was more disciplined than the 2020 and 2021 teams. In most games, there were less penalties resulting from a lack of focus (illegal formation, offsides, etc). In all games, there were less penalties due to selfishness (unsportsmanlike conduct, late hits, etc). Overall, less yaking, taunting, and posing. More getting ready for the next play. The culture pieces are less obvious from the stands because much that matters reflected in player behavior at practice, in the weight room, in class, on campus, and in the community. Programs with players displaying a team first attitude are more successful and more sustainable. Florida is moving steadily in this direction.

Changing team culture isn’t easy. Talk is cheap and the culture isn’t changed until a new attitude is reflected consistently in behavior. Many people will say they want change, but then balk when that change creates any need for personal sacrifice or discomfort. Not everyone is built for these realities. For some, it’s easier to just accept the status quo or to quit.

One of the best and quickest ways to bring about change in any organization (especially sports teams) is to flip the roster. The players who aren’t “onboard” simply move on (or are moved on) and are replaced by individuals who are a better fit for the new organization. This is occurring in Florida football. Of Florida’s 85 player roster, there are 33 players (22 in the portal) who have departed since this point in time last year. In many instances the change will benefit both the player and the program. Some players will find new teams that fit them better. Others won’t and their careers will be over. For the program, the benefit is more roster space to recruit new players who buy in to the new culture and fit the program better.

As a society, we’ve grown accustomed to immediate gratification. One challenge for teams in the midst of program and culture change is navigating the realities of a sometimes impatient fanbase. Programs like Florida have the benefit of large numbers of passionate and vocal fans. The downside, unfortunately, is instances where some of the more impatient fans take to social media to vent their frustration. Social media carries substantial unfiltered power that can be harnessed for good or for bad. There is very little accountability within these platforms for inaccuracy or rationality. Anyone can have an account and can push out “information” not only to the people willing to “follow” them, but also to the followers of their followers. This is creates what is truly an information virus. In a more perfect circumstance, the credible influencers would unfollow, mute, or block irrationally negative people instead of being a secondary conduit for their negative posts. Sadly, because social media "success" is measured by quantity (volume) of influence rather than quality of influence, users tend to tolerate irrational negativity if it pushes additional interaction (posts). This dynamic is counter productive to building positivity and a winning culture for an intercollegiate athletics program. The cultural change for Florida football will progress even more quickly and true Gator fans will be happier once the program can get this corner turned and some of the "noise in the system" is reduced.