Florida coach Billy Napier "impressed" after Gators' win against Mississippi State: "Feels good to win a game"

Amid uncertainties regarding his job, Billy Napier led Florida to a crucial win against Mississippi State on Saturday. The Week 4 SEC encounter ended 45-28, taking the Gators to a 2-2 record. The result brought some calm to Gainesville amid intense calls to fire the coach.

Billy Napier shared his thoughts about the road win in his postgame press conference on Saturday. The coach was relieved to seal a win against the Bulldogs following the loss to Texas A&M last week.

“Man, it feels good to win a game,” Napier said. “I think we did enough to win today. I was really impressed, I thought offensively we had some tempo about us, thought we played well around the quarterback.

"And I thought the quarterbacks did a really good job kind of being the point guard of the offense and distributing the ball. We had some balance. Outside of the thing we had a three and out early, and then we fumbled. I thought we did a lot of good."

Billy Napier addresses quarterback rotation

Both Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway took snaps in the game against Mississippi State on Saturday. Billy Napier has been rotating the two quarterbacks since Lagway took the field in the opener against Miami following an injury to the program's starter Mertz.

Napier answered a question on the Gators quarterback rotation scheme following the game in Starkville on Saturday. The coach made some clarification on the program’s quarterback situation as both Mertz and Lagway continue to feature in the backfield.

“I think you’re just evaluating how the week went, just in terms of Graham being back healthy. Really was impressive this week in practice, I thought he had a great week – just really sharp,” Napier said.

“The ball was jumping out of his hand. And then DJ obviously got some great experience last week, and then we just kind of went with our gut there, kind of what we felt like was best for the team. We’re still committed to playing DJ.”

Billy Napier started DJ Lagway in Florida's Week 2 game against Samford as Graham Mertz was unavailable due to injury. The former five-star recruit made his talent evident in the 45-7 win against the Bulldogs, completing 18 of 25 passes for 456 yards and three touchdowns.

Graham Mertz remains the starting option for the Gators this season. However, with DJ Lagway's performance so far, he's earned himself a regular rotational role as a freshman.