Out with his wife and daughter last month at a South Beach mall, longtime receivers coach Billy Gonzales was not job-shopping.
But when a phone call came in from Billy Napier, Gonzales had a feeling he’d be buying what Florida’s head coach was selling.
“My phone rang and it was Coach … I lit up,” Gonzales recalled following Saturday’s practice. “I was so excited about it.”
Napier needed to quickly find someone to replace Keary Colbert, who bolted for the Denver Broncos after one season with UF.
If anyone knew the lay of the land and expectations in Gainesville, along with nuances of the receiver position, it was Gonzales. He did not hesitate to accept the challenge to smoke-jump into spring practices and guide the Gators’ wideouts.
Wife Julie and 17-year-old daughter Caylynn didn’t have to wait long for Gonzales to rejoin them with a new job in hand.
“It was extremely fast,” he said of his decision. “I was really ecstatic about the opportunity to come back and very humbled but very honored to have the opportunity. It’s a prestigious university.”
However, the football program with championship pedigree has taken a step back.
Gonzales was there in 2021 when the wheels came off during Dan Mullen’s fourth and final season, following 29 wins during the previous three. The 51-year-old assistant also was a key cog during UF’s successful run under Urban Meyer, including the 2006 and 2008 national titles.
Along the way, Gonzales coached a cadre of big-time receivers, ranging from All-Americans Percy Harvin (2008) and Kadarius Toney (2020) a dozen years apart.
Current Gators are well aware of their new coach’s resumé. Reminders of his past players’ accomplishments hang throughout the Heavener Football Center.
“They see it up there every day,” Gonzales said. “I really don’t have to tell them. It’d be different if they weren’t working. My guys are working.
“It’d be different if they weren’t working hard.”
Gonzales, a former receiver at Colorado State where Meyer was his position coach, also demands nothing less than maximum effort.
“He’s gonna be on his Ps and Qs,” sophomore Caleb Douglas said. “So when you out there at practice, make sure you’re going 1000%.”
Douglas welcomes Gonzales’ detail-oriented approach. The 6-foot-3, 203-pound receiver learned quickly in 2022, Douglas’ first college season, that playing receiver goes beyond running routes and catching passes.
Gonzales said during a previous stint at UF, if his receivers don’t block, they won’t play.
“If I look back to here, I think twice we had receivers that had 13 catches in the game — and that’s a lot,” he said. “It you’re gonna have 50 to 60 other plays where you better be turning it and peeling for your teammates. We go over that constantly.”
This past week, Gonzales recalled, Douglas quickly found a defender to block after a teammate caught a pass.
“He likes things to a T,” Douglas said. “So we’re out there blocking. You want to go get the backside? Then you gotta go get the backside. Ain’t no lolly-gagging, none of that.”
While Douglas is still getting to know Gonzales, his return was a reunion for others.
“When coach Nape came and told me, I was pretty excited — not going to lie,” said Xzavier Henderson, who enters his fourth season. “That’s the coach who recruited me. He was here when I first got here and he’s been the coach that taught me the most I know about playing receiver.”
Henderson was the nation’s 12th-rated receiver in the 2020 class, per 247Sports but has 5 touchdowns and has averaged 11.4 yards on 73 catches in three seasons.
With Gonzales back less than a month, the 6-foot-3, 198-pound Miami native dominated Thursday’s scrimmages with 3 touchdowns and more than 100 yards. Whether the performance is a coincidence or a harbinger, Henderson is clearly comfortable with Gonzales.
“He’s the same Billy G,” Henderson said. “He still brings that same energy. He’s going to coach you.
“That’s a real coach.”
Besides Harvin and Toney, Gonzales trained many top-flight Florida receivers who went on to the NFL, including Louis Murphy, Riley Cooper, Andre Caldwell, Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain and Josh Hammond.
With Henderson, Douglas, Ricky Pearsall and Ja’Quavion Fraziars, along with a talented freshman trio, Gonzales is enjoying his third act with the Gators.
“They’ve got great work ethic,” he said. “There’s length, there’s quickness, there’s size. I’m fired up to have the opportunity to coach them.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @osgators.
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