Billy Napier identifies team leaders during Florida's offseason workouts

Billy Napier has identified 18 team captains during his first summer as Florida’s head football coach. The Gators are currently in the fifth phase of their offseason program called Regimen, a nine-week training block to get the players ready for fall camp.

Napier called summer workouts “the litmus test” for leadership.

“That’s an area on our team where I think we are evolving,” Napier said this week during his interview with Hays Carlyon of 1010XL. “Each team is a little bit different. To me, every year is independent of itself. I think the summer is kind of the litmus test for leadership. We really challenge our players from an ownership standpoint in the summer. We create a lot of accountability opportunities; we create leadership opportunities throughout the summer.”

The Gators held their inaugural Regimen Draft on June 1 and split the roster into teams for the fifth phase. Billy Napier selected two players as the captains for each of the nine teams, which compete each week in the 2022 Regimen standings.

He discussed the leaders who have stood out during summer workouts.

“So far, so good,” Napier said. “I think offensive line’s got a good group there. Richard Gouraige, Kingsley [Eguakun] have done a nice job. Mike Tarquin is a guy that’s got good presence about him. Nay’Quan Wright, good to get him back healthy. I think that Trent Whittemore is a guy that does a great job, has some maturity, sets an example. Xzavier Henderson is always a steady, consistent person that we can depend on. And then obviously at quarterback, Anthony Richardson, you know, this a big summer for him taking a step in right direction from a maturity and ownership standpoint. So offensively, we’ve got a really good group.

“I think on defense it starts with Ventrell Miller. He’s kind of the heartbeat of that group. I think Amari Burney has played a lot of football around here, and certainly Trey Dean and Rashad Torrence as well. Both those guys have played a lot of ball and proved they can play. You get good presence from Brenton Cox and Gervon Dexter, both those guys in the front seven. We also have a good group of specialists that have played. So overall, we’ve selected 18 guys this summer that are in charge of some of our accountability teams and I think what I’ve seen so far has been really healthy for our team.”

Here’s the full list of 18 captains for the Gators with their Regimen teams.

Represent: Jason Marshall Jr. and Marco Ortiz
It’s Time To Hunt: Nay’Quan Wright and Jeremy Crawshaw
Legendary Finish: Richard Gouragie and Brenton Cox Jr.
Leave No Doubt: Anthony Richardson and Gervon Dexter
Attack Or Be Attacked: Michael Tarquin and Rashad Torrence II
Work The Cut: Xzavier Henderson and Chief Borders
Foxhole Guys: Trent Whittemore and Trey Dean III
Lock The Gates: Kingsley Eguakun and Amari Burney
Show Me My Opponent: Justin Shorter and Ventrell Miller

Billy Napier on Gators’ Regimen phase

The Gators started phase five of their offseason on May 25. At the final speech of his spring speaking tour, Napier discussed what the Regimen workouts entail.

“Regimen is essentially a nine-week training block. It’s a four-week, 28 day workload, one week off,” Napier said. “We have some time between that and training camp. We have a weekly routine Monday to Friday. What that entails is we get eight hours a week with the players. Strength and conditioning, skill development, simulated training. Film review. It’s by the minute. There’s also lots of opportunities here for ownership at the player level and for leadership at the player level as we go into this.”