Watching his basketball counterpart cut down the nets at the Alamodome was a moment of euphoria Billy Napier wouldn’t mind experiencing himself in January.

National championship might not have been on the Napier bingo card on Wednesday at SEC Media Days, but the embattled Florida coach didn’t mind leveling up the vision for the Gators in 2025.

“There’s a little something different in the air right now in Gainesville,” Napier said, referring to his team as a “special group.”

“This group believes in what we do. I think that’s where we really took a big step in the right direction last year is we found a level of confidence that we could go toe to toe with any team in the country any place, anytime.”

Napier said there’s in-house evidence the developmental process is working in overdrive. The Gators will be asked to present evidence he’s right with a gauntlet of a schedule that includes this six-game stretch: Sept. 13, at LSU, Sept. 20 at Miami, Oct. 4 vs. Texas, Oct. 11 at Texas A&M, Oct. 18 vs. Mississippi State and Nov. 1 vs. Georgia.

The Gators are counting on quarterback DJ Lagway to lift the offense after a breakout 2024 season.

“Just the competitor on game day is really unique. I think his ability to block out all the external factors and really get consumed with leading the team, playing winning football, executing,” Napier said of what makes Lagway a winner. “And we’ve built around the guy. There’s no question. Players want to play with DJ. We’ve built his class around that and certainly some of these guys that are in the rookie group were a part of that as well.”

Outside expectations are higher for Florida, but not many are starting their SEC Championship winner projections with Napier’s crew given the proven contender status of some of teams standing in the way. Napier’s coaching life cycle in Gainesville has advanced rapidly, even if not always in the direction he would like.

As Todd Golden and the Gators’ basketball team were starting the 2024-25 regular season in November as fringe contenders, Napier was being spared his job by athletic director Scott Stricklin.

At the time, Gator Nation was champing at the bit to have Stricklin swing the other way and take the reported offer from boosters to buy out Napier’s contract. Florida was 4-4 and still had Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and the Florida State rivalry game to get through.

Napier had reason to celebrate when the Gators finished 8-5 and 4-4 in the SEC, defying expectations for a nosedive or worse. He has a 19-19 record in three seasons in Gainesville.

In the process, Napier has a bit more support and a lot bigger expectations.

“I think the important part is what we expect from each other. I think we’ve learned that, right? I think it’s not only — not only do you need to block out noise, but it’s absolutely necessary that you do it,” Napier said. “So I think we’ve got to have high expectations for each other. We see each other every day. I think this is player to player; it’s coach to player, coach to coach, all parts of our organization.”

–Field Level Media

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order setting national standards to better control the name, image and likeness landscape in college sports, according to multiple reports Wednesday.

Since 2021, and under pressure from states and the courts, the NCAA has allowed student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Student-athletes can now be compensated for merely showing up to play and can earn a profit for spokesperson gigs, clothing and autograph sales and more.

Additionally, a legal ruling on June 6 allowed colleges to directly pay players via revenue sharing for the first time. The settlement of House v. NCAA marked the end of the NCAA’s previous model of amateurism, in which athletes were not allowed to earn money while in school. Schools can now share up to $20.5 million of their revenues with their athletes.

The reports of an upcoming executive order come one day after a House subcommittee advanced a bill along party lines that would establish national standards for student-athlete sponsorships. Called the SCORE Act, the proposed legislation would supersede current state laws regulating NIL.

The White House has not commented on the latest report of an NIL-related executive order, but President Trump has a long history of expressing interest in sports. He has attended many major sporting events, including several prominent college football games like the Army-Navy football game last December.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said Wednesday on “SEC This Morning” that he had no details or further information about an executive order but that he believes the President is generally supportive of college sports.

“It’s not a secret, I had a chance to visit with the President … his interest is real. My takeaway, he wants to be supportive of college athletics, make sure that it’s sustainable, the Olympic program and the Olympic development,” Sankey said.

“The President clearly has an interest in sports, big picture, has an interest in college sports, has been at our games. The notion of an executive order has been mentioned before. There were some reports of a commission or an executive order back to like, April, I think, is when that started to bubble. So we’ll wait and see.”

Reports surfaced in May that Trump had asked his aides to begin researching the idea of an executive order related to NIL after a meeting with former Alabama football coach Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where Trump was the school’s commencement speaker.

Saban has been critical of the NIL funding in the past, largely because he was concerned about the effect on college football. The NIL era also has brought a rise to the transfer portal era, with thousands of students across all sports seeking to move schools — some of them for bigger paydays.

“Each year, it’s gotten a little worse,” Saban said last December on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN. “The first year we had name, image and likeness four, five years ago, we had a $3 million (roster), and everybody was happy. Then the next year it was $7 million, then the next year it’s $10 million. Then this year it’s $13 million. Now they’re looking at $20 million. I mean, where does it end?”

Per a report by The Wall Street Journal in May, Saban told the president that he wasn’t trying to put an end to NIL funding for players but instead wanted to see the creation of a more level playing field between the schools with deep pockets and those that didn’t have as much money available.

Saban has previously said the current model is unsustainable for college sports, and Trump apparently agreed.

–Field Level Media

Kalen DeBoer begins his second season at Alabama with a tone-setting theme common from the end of the 2024 season until the Crimson Tide kick off fall camp in two weeks: Let’s get physical.

“When it comes to just overall as a program, physicality is the name of the game when it comes to playing football. You wear pads for a reason, right? Physicality comes through the work to build your body, but that also comes through toughness mentally as well,” DeBoer said Wednesday morning in Atlanta, the site of SEC Media Days.

“I love, again, the work that we’re focused on right now is the main thing, keeping it that. I love the mindset. Doesn’t guarantee anything but gives you a great chance.”

Talent gives the Crimson Tide a great chance, too.

And while Alabama subtracted three prominent underclassmen to the draft — quarterback Jalen Milroe (Seattle Seahawks), guard Tyler Booker (Dallas Cowboys) and linebacker Jihaad Campbell (Philadelphia Eagles) — and several seniors from DeBoer’s first season on the job in Tuscaloosa, he has a few players ready to pick up the hammer as tone-setters this season.

“The offensive line is where it really starts,” DeBoer said. “Really six guys that are strongly in the rotation with a lot of others that are up-and-coming, developing quickly, that I can see competing for spots as the season goes along as well.”

The featured talent on the line is Kadyn Proctor, an offensive tackle who can block out the sun, who is also on pace to earn his degree in December. NFL draft experts view Proctor as a likely first-round talent in the 2026 draft if he opts to leave. DeBoer said he loves everything about the 6-foot-7, 360-pounder.

“You look at the guy and he’s massive. Man, just does everything on a high level when it comes to his training,” said DeBoer.

Replacing Milroe is a clear focus in fall camp. DeBoer said Ty Simpson “would be the guy that would take the first snaps and be our starter” if Alabama was lining up to play a game right now.

But he kept the door open for Austin Mack, a 6-6, 235-pound redshirt freshman who followed DeBoer from Washington, and true freshman Keelon Russell to shift the depth chart in the next six weeks before Alabama begins the season at Florida State. DeBoer — who also brought in his former offensive coordinator with the Huskies, Ryan Grubb — said Mack and Russell are capable of “big jumps” in fall camp because of the high repetition count.

“But they have the tools. Ty throws a catchable ball. He’s smart. He’s been in college football now going into year four,” DeBoer said. “He’s seen the ups and downs. He’s got great relationships with the team. He’s a leader that way. He’s really owned things on another level.”

There might be even more talent and tenacity on DeBoer’s defense in 2025.

Two fifth-year starters, linebacker Deontae Lawson and defensive tackle Tim Keenan, are geared up to boost the targeting takeaway total from 2024 when Alabama ranked fifth in the nation with 2.1 takeaways per game.

DeBoer expects to take the field with a total of 17 seniors on the roster — up from eight last season — but underscored their importance in maintaining continuity after a year of mass introductions in 2024.

He presented Lawson, returning from a season-ending knee injury in November, as the case in point.

“Probably thought a year ago at this time he’d be wearing an NFL jersey. Circumstances as they may be, just coming back from an injury, seeing him attack it, seeing him and his mindset … understanding the circumstances he can’t control and what he can,” DeBoer said. “Man, it’s just amazing seeing him take over not just the defense but be a leader on our football team.

“I walked into a meeting looking for a coach actually. I walked in. It was (Lawson) holding a meeting with the linebackers. Listened for about 30 seconds. I knew that meeting was in a good position. Coaching it like a coach. When you have guys on the field that are like him — understand the depth, the details — you know you’re headed in the right direction and have a chance.”

–Field Level Media