Florida faces tough Week 1 test at Utah as Gators seek to exceed expectations under Billy Napier

rewrite this content material with complete duration and stay HTML tags Florida has one eyewitness to relay what the Gators are coming into as their season opener at No. 14 Utah approaches Thursday.Two years in the past, vast receiver Ricky Pearsall was once with Arizona State rolling into the human chainsaw identified as Rice-Eccles Stadium for the primary time. “We were up 21-7 at halftime,” Pearsall recalled. “I don’t know what happened. They had a different energy.”That’s a technique to put it. Here’s every other: The Utes scored 28 unanswered issues in the second one part to dispatch the Sun Devils, 35-21. That must marvel nobody. Utah hosts Florida on Thursday evening in a rematch dripping with revenge throughout the residing, respiring entity that’s the Utes’ house. Utah has transform (what-used-to-be) the Pac-12’s dominant program enjoying in 4 of the final 5 Pac-12 Championship Games, profitable the final two and advancing to consecutive Rose Bowls. An enormous homefield advance has one thing to do with that. The Utes have gained 14 instantly at house — the fourth-longest lively streak nationally — and 25 of the final 26. Rice-Eccles is an underrated, overloud pit that wishes a correct SEC advent. No SEC crew has ever performed there. Florida hasn’t been this some distance West for a regular-season recreation since 1983. “You can be taught everything and still can’t replicate that setting,” Gators cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. stated. “It has been discussed. I have never been there, so I don’t know what it’s like, how I need to prepare. Down in Florida, there is nothing like that.”Florida-Utah is likely one of the highlights of a middling Week 1 time table as a result of this can be a rematch. The Gators have been in a position to rally past due final yr in The Swamp to win 29-26. In that recreation, Anthony Richardson scored the game-winning landing with 85 seconds left. Utah quarterback Cameron Rising threw an interception within the Florida finish zone with 17 seconds left.Billy Napier changed into the primary Florida trainer to beat a ranked opponent in his debut recreation. In some ways, issues have been by no means the similar for both program in the course of the finish of 2022. Utah rebounded to win the Pac-12. Florida slumped to its 3rd sub-.500 season since 2017.That’s a snapshot of a faculty on the point of turning into a perennial energy towards a standard SEC energy in quest of to rejoin the nationwide dialog. We’re at this second as a result of Napier debuted with that disappointing 6-7 season. Since then, he has misplaced a No. 4 total draft selection at quarterback (Richardson), 3 assistants inside of a 48-hour duration in February and a bevy of transfers with two notable surprises departing alongside the offensive line. “Not to mention just the basic things about, ‘Hey, we got a place that needs to be torn down and built back up,'” Napier stated. Florida isn’t used to rebuilds. It stays to be observed whether or not fanatics will tolerate one for a longer time frame, however the 2023 season goes to be a hard one with the Gators in that mode whilst dealing with some of the country’s hardest schedules. Napier has no longer stagnated, despite the fact that. His 2024 recruiting elegance is recently ranked No. 3 nationally, consistent with 247Sports.Napier labored temporarily to change the ones coaches. In a dizzying blur, defensive coordinator Patrick Toney and tight ends trainer William Peagler each left for the Arizona Cardinals. The subsequent day, vast receivers trainer Keary Colbert went to the Denver Broncos. All 3 have been obtrusive promotions. Napier went for a well-recognized face in getting 30-year-old Austin Armstrong as his new defensive coordinator. Armstrong have been with Napier at Louisiana as a graduate assistant starting in 2017. He have been employed as Alabama’s linebackers trainer only a month prior to Florida referred to as, this after maintaining the coordinator process for 2 years at Southern Miss. The mythical — at least at Florida — Billy Gonzales rejoined this system as WR trainer, and Russ Callaway was once promoted from inside of as TE trainer.”Obviously, some guys were confused as to why it was happening,” stated heart Kingsley Eguakun, who’s questionable for the Utah recreation with a lower-body damage. “There was a little bit of an unknown to it. … The vibe was a little weird. Everybody was like, ‘Dang, why are all these coaches leaving?’ It didn’t change the mindset. It didn’t change the work at the end of the day.”Those coaches can not win video games for us. The gamers at the crew have to win video games.” Florida will have to run the ball and play defense to thrive. New QB Graham Mertz (Wisconsin transfer) is no Richardson. His results have been mixed as a drop back signal caller who was sacked 23 times last season and has thrown 26 interceptions in his career. That out of a Wisconsin offense that ran the ball almost 60% of the time.Plenty will be asked of running backs junior Montrell Johnson Jr. and sophomore Trevor Etienne, one of the nation’s most underrated duos who combined for 1,560 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns in 2022. This season, the Gators are attempting to find them in the passing game, too.”This is like obtaining a loose agent with more than one years [experience] as a starter,” Napier said of Mertz. “I believe you virtually get a renewed hire on existence. You’re skilled. You’ve were given a chip for your shoulder.(*1*)Those [transfers] coming in are coming from other stories,” Pearsall said. “They’re all very motivated. We can feed off that. We want them as unhealthy as they want us.” require.config({“baseUrl”:”https://sportsfly.cbsistatic.com/fly-0539/bundles/sportsmediajs/js-build”,”config”:{“model”:{“fly/parts/accordion”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/alert”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/base”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/carousel”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/dropdown”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/fixate”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/form-validate”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/image-gallery”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/iframe-messenger”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/load-more”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/load-more-article”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/load-more-scroll”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/loading”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/modal”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/modal-iframe”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/network-bar”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/ballot”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/search-player”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/social-button”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/social-counts”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/social-links”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/tabs”:”1.0″,”fly/parts/video”:”1.0″,”fly/libs/easy-xdm”:”2.4.17.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.cookie”:”1.2″,”fly/libs/jquery.throttle-debounce”:”1.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.widget”:”1.9.2″,”fly/libs/omniture.s-code”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/jquery-mobile-init”:”1.0″,”fly/libs/jquery.cellular”:”1.3.2″,”fly/libs/spine”:”1.0.0″,”fly/libs/underscore”:”1.5.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.easing”:”1.3″,”fly/managers/advert”:”2.0″,”fly/managers/parts”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/cookie”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/debug”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/geo”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/gpt”:”4.3″,”fly/managers/historical past”:”2.0″,”fly/managers/madison”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/social-authentication”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/data-prefix”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/data-selector”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/function-natives”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/guid”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/log”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/object-helper”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/string-helper”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/string-vars”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/url-helper”:”1.0″,”libs/jshashtable”:”2.1″,”libs/select2″:”3.5.1″,”libs/jsonp”:”2.4.0″,”libs/jquery/cellular”:”1.4.5″,”libs/modernizr.customized”:”2.6.2″,”libs/speed”:”1.2.2″,”libs/dataTables”:”1.10.6″,”libs/dataTables.fixedColumns”:”3.0.4″,”libs/dataTables.mountedHeader”:”2.1.2″,”libs/dateformat”:”1.0.3″,”libs/waypoints/endless”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/inview”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/jquery.waypoints”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/sticky”:”3.1.1″,”libs/jquery/dotdotdot”:”1.6.1″,”libs/jquery/flexslider”:”2.1″,”libs/jquery/lazyload”:”1.9.3″,”libs/jquery/maskedinput”:”1.3.1″,”libs/jquery/marquee”:”1.3.1″,”libs/jquery/numberformatter”:”1.2.3″,”libs/jquery/placeholder”:”0.2.4″,”libs/jquery/scrollbar”:”0.1.6″,”libs/jquery/tablesorter”:”2.0.5″,”libs/jquery/touchswipe”:”1.6.18″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.core”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.draggable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.mouse”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.place”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.slider”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.sortable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.touch-punch”:”0.2.3″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.autocomplete”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.accordion”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tabs”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.menu”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.conversation”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.resizable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.button”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.results”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.datepicker”:”1.11.4″}},”shim”:{“liveconnection/managers/connection”:{“deps”:[“liveconnection/libs/sockjs-0.3.4″]},”liveconnection/libs/sockjs-0.3.4”:{“exports”:”SockJS”},”libs/setValueFromArray”:{“exports”:”set”},”libs/getValueFromArray”:{“exports”:”get”},”fly/libs/jquery.mobile-1.3.2″:[“version!fly/utils/jquery-mobile-init”],”libs/spine.marionette”:{“deps”:[“jquery”,”version!fly/libs/underscore”,”version!fly/libs/backbone”],”exports”:”Marionette”},”fly/libs/underscore-1.5.1″:{“exports”:”_”},”fly/libs/backbone-1.0.0″:{“deps”:[“version!fly/libs/underscore”,”jquery”],”exports”:”Backbone”},”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tabs-1.11.4″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.core”,”version!fly/libs/jquery.widget”],”libs/jquery/flexslider-2.1″:[“jquery”],”libs/dataTables.fixedColumns-3.0.4″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/dataTables”],”libs/dataTables.mountedHeader-2.1.2″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/dataTables”],”https://sports activities.cbsimg.web/js/CBSi/app/VideoPlayer/AdobePass-min.js”:[“https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/util/Utils-min.js”]},”map”:{“*”:{“adobe-pass”:”https://sports activities.cbsimg.web/js/CBSi/app/VideoPlayer/AdobePass-min.js”,”fb”:”https://attach.fb.web/en_US/sdk.js”,”facebook-debug”:”https://attach.fb.web/en_US/all/debug.js”,”google”:”https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”,”google-csa”:”https://www.google.com/adsense/seek/async-ads.js”,”google-javascript-api”:”https://www.google.com/jsapi”,”google-client-api”:”https://accounts.google.com/gsi/Jstomer”,”gpt”:”https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.web/tag/js/gpt.js”,”hlsjs”:”https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/hls.js/1.0.7/hls.js”,”recaptcha”:”https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?onload=loadRecaptcha&render=particular”,”recaptcha_ajax”:”https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/js/recaptcha_ajax.js”,”supreme-golf”:”https://sgapps-staging.supremegolf.com/seek/belongings/js/package deal.js”,”taboola”:”https://cdn.taboola.com/libtrc/cbsinteractive-cbssports/loader.js”,”twitter”:”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”,”video-avia”:”https://vidtech.cbsinteractive.com/avia-js/2.12.0/participant/avia.min.js”,”video-avia-ui”:”https://vidtech.cbsinteractive.com/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/ui/avia.ui.min.js”,”video-avia-gam”:”https://vidtech.cbsinteractive.com/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/gam/avia.gam.min.js”,”video-avia-hls”:”https://vidtech.cbsinteractive.com/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/hls/avia.hls.min.js”,”video-avia-playlist”:”https://vidtech.cbsinteractive.com/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/playlist/avia.playlist.min.js”,”video-ima3″:”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js”,”video-ima3-dai”:”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3_dai.js”,”video-utils”:”https://sports activities.cbsimg.web/js/CBSi/util/Utils-min.js”,”video-vast-tracking”:”https://vidtech.cbsinteractive.com/sb55/vast-js/vtg-vast-client.js”}},”waitSeconds”:300});