Fresh off the Florida Gators’ 41-17 defeat to the Miami Hurricanes in Week 1, Gators coach Billy Napier drew further scrutiny Saturday afternoon when he mentioned “rural central Florida” in his postgame news conference. Now, one of Florida’s in-state rivals is taking advantage of the gaffe.
On Tuesday morning, UCF’s The Kingdom collective released a t-shirt with the words “RURAL CENTRAL FLORIDA” printed across the front. Launched in 2022, The Kingdom is the official NIL collective of UCF athletics. It will sell the shirts for $25 each with a portion of the proceeds going directly to the program’s NIL fund.
We like the rural part of Central Florida🤷 https://t.co/dqD3hNi9sH https://t.co/MXUuDA1vbU pic.twitter.com/xcgnxpXA5x
— The Kingdom NIL (@KingdomNIL) September 3, 2024
The apparel arrives as a direct dig at Napier’s postgame comments following Saturday’s loss.
With Napier under pressure in his third season at Florida, the Gators opened with a dismal Week 1 performance, fading after halftime and gaining just 261 yards of total offense in the 24-point defeat to the in-state rival Hurricanes. Speaking to reporters afterward, Napier made a pointed regional reference as part of a longer answer focused on the importance of ignoring outside noise and flushing the emotions of the season-opening beat down.
“One thing I can say is that we have a group that’s working hard,” Napier said. “I do think that we have character. We have to go to work on the football part. And I think we have to become a more consistent team, and we have to execute better.
“If we can focus on those things and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in rural Central Florida on social media, then we got a chance to get better.”
Napier’s comments — and the t-shirts they prompted — are sure to return to the surface again next month when UCF visits Florida on Oct. 5. In the meantime, Florida hosts the Samford Bulldogs at 7 p.m. ET in Week 2, while UCF gets a visit from the Sam Houston State Bearkats Saturday evening (6:30 p.m. ET).
