Billy Napier’s first year coaching the Florida Gators came to a conclusion after the 45-38 loss to Florida State Friday night. Napier’s squad finished 6-6 on the season, including 3-5 in SEC play.

Following the loss, Napier spoke to the media, and below is his press conference transcription.

Opening statement…

“Heck of a football game, it obviously came down to the last possession. You know, a lot of good out there. I think the thing I’m most proud of is how hard the players played in the game. They put it on the line, I think, across the board. It wasn’t always pretty but you’re talking about a group that — I’m on the sideline. I watched it with two eyes. They played the game of football the right way. I’ve got nothing but respect and admiration for our players. The effort and physicality, the mental toughness, this is a group that’s made a ton of progress as people relative to making up a team, having a team, having a group that cares for each other. There’s a legitimate brotherhood. Like I would do anything for a teammate in that locker room and I think that showed up tonight. There’s going to be 20 to 25 to 30 plays and if you get a handful of those 20-30 and you probably win the game. But we came up a little short. The football wasn’t good enough tonight. There was a lot of good ball out there but there were things we could do better. I’m proud of the intangibles that our team showed. That locker room right now, there’s a lot of guys that are — it’s tough. It’s tough. When you do it the right way and you come up short, it’s tough. I think it creates opportunities. There’s no question that we need to remember every part of that experience. This game can teach you a lot about life. I think there’s going to be a lot of things we can learn from tonight. We came up a score short and there’s no question we can do a lot of things better but I’m extremely proud. The staff had them ready to compete and they showed up and put it on the line. Tough one to swallow but we’re going to get better. We’re going to improve. We’re going to use that experience.”

On offensive play calls to start the second half…

“Yeah I think, first and second down in particular, bang bang on the plays, on some of those, but there’s no question I can do some things better there, across the board.”

On QB Anthony Richardson’s performance…

“Well I think you need to evaluate each one of those plays independently. I saw a guy that competed, that’s what I saw. I saw a guy that made some unbelievable plays as a runner. Made some elite throws at times, so, there’s, when you play a game like that, there’s gonna be things that you can do better, there’s no question, so, even if you win the game, that’s the thing we got to understand, right, even if you win the game, those same things you can learn from, they happen. So, regardless, there’s opportunity. You know sometimes problems are opportunities in disguise, and I’m proud of Anthony the way he competed in the game. Yeah we’ve got to help them, we’ve got to help the players as coaches. There’s no question about it.”

On the impact of having 5 wide receivers out due to injury…

“I think we’ll know a little bit more when we get down to it, but yes, there was a handful of plays where we got our hands on the ball. There was a handful of plays where the coverage was tight, whatever the case may be, right. But you know, we felt like the match-up in the slot was good, and we went there, and it ended up paying off. And then we had some opportunities to make some plays and I felt like we could rush the ball, we rushed the ball, but you know offensively, I don’t know we had 460 yards.. a lot of good, just came up a little bit short. There are some of the things we knew coming into the game that we knew were going to be a challenge. The quarterback is a challenge, right, his legs were the difference in the game, anybody who watched that game would say, yeah, the quarterback, the legs of the quarterback at Florida was the difference in the game.”

On wide receiver Ricky Pearsall’s performance…

“He passed the final test on (Thursday). He was moving through protocol during the week, he felt fine. Obviously we’re going to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts much like we would do with any player. But you know he was able to play, certainly made an impact in the game, there’s no question. He’s a great competitor and certainly a guy that’s made our team better.”

On safety Rashad Torrence missing the game…

“I think Rashad had an elbow he was questionable, wasn’t able to do a ton during the week, it was a short week and then just didn’t feel, it was almost a pain tolerance deal, didn’t quite make enough progress late in the week and didn’t feel good about putting him out there. Those guys that played took the majority of reps throughout the week. You’ve got some guys out there that really played their first significant time. Kamari is obviously out there competing his tail off, Donovan and those guys, they stepped up and competed in the game.”

On Florida’s second-half performance…

“I think it just speaks to the progress that we’ve made. Been a lot of times in this season where they could have just laid down and started pointing fingers and making excuses. That’s probably what I’m most proud of is the toughness that this group has shown, the resiliency as competitors. And this game requires you to stick together when it gets thick, OK? And this is a cutthroat game. And that’s one of the things I think I’m most proud of with this group. Just who they are, the progress they made as a team, the sincere care that they have for each other. They’ve worked hard on that, OK. And I know that we didn’t win as many games, but I think there’s something to be said for the progress that they made as people, their character of the group and certainly the type of team that they were. So, we got fantastic leadership from several players and certainly the staff’s done a fantastic job. So, I would hope that those are trademarks of Gator football going forward. And hopefully we come out on the other end a little bit more in the future.”

On the rivalry between Florida and Florida State…

“It’s awesome. It’s awesome. It’s humbling to be a part of, right? When you think about the players and the coaches that have played in that game. Every generation. When I grew up, that was the game. And humbling to be standing on that sideline and proud of the way those kids competed in the game.”

You can watch Napier’s full press conference below: