Ranking Billy Napier and SEC head coaches after spring football season

College football’s spring practice season is now in the rearview mirror while the transfer portal also came to a close. Results on the field will not be seen until August but the fans and media do have a better idea of what their favorite school is fielding heading into the summer session.

With the dust now settled, USA TODAY Sports writer Blake Toppmeyer decided it was time to rank all 16 of the Southeastern Conference’s football head coaches, including Florida’s fourth-year skipper, Billy Napier. Unfortunately, his take on the Gators’ main man was extremely bearish.

“Florida opted for another lap with Napier rather than hitting the reset button. The emergence of quarterback DJ Lagway, and Lagway’s steadfast support for Napier, helped the coach save his job, and Florida finished the season playing better than it ever had previously in his tenure,” Toppmeyer notes.

“Florida was remarkably quiet in the transfer portal, and it still seems as if Napier and the Gators are playing with an old deck of cards. Napier will go as far as Lagway takes him.”

Is this really a fair take?

Are all 14 of the coaches listed ahead of him really that much better? Toppmeyer seems to ignore the fact that Napier and Co. faced one of the toughest schedules in college football last season and are on track to face a similar gauntlet this fall. Not to mention the solid cohort of talent returning to the roster.

If Florida can emerge with another winning record while at least making waves in the College Football Playoff race, Toppmeyer will have a lot of crow to eat next December. The Gator Nation has its collective fingers crossed for this eventuality.

USA TODAY Sports SEC head coach rankings

Kirby Smart (Georgia)Steve Sarkisian (Texas)Brian Kelly (LSU)Kalen DeBoer (Alabama)Lane Kiffin (Mississippi)Josh Heupel (Tennessee)Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri)Shane Beamer (South Carolina)Mike Elko (Texas A&M)Mark Stoops (Kentucky)Brent Venables (Oklahoma)Hugh Freeze (Auburn)Clark Lea (Vanderbilt)Sam Pittman (Arkansas)Billy Napier (Florida)Jeff Lebby (Mississippi State)

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