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Hurricane Milton is devastating communities on the western Florida coast, and football teams are not immune from the effects. Coach Billy Napier and the Florida Gators have needed to adjust their practice schedules because of the hurricane.
Napier spoke about the changes that needed to be made. He said during an SEC teleconference call on Wednesday.
"Well, our guys don't have school today or tomorrow. You know, I think we've moved the shedule up today to try to get everyone here sheltered before the arrival of the strom. Then tomorrow is a little bit to be determined based on what type of situation we have when we wake up in the morning.
"Overall just moving things up today and then tomorrow I think we anticipate sliding things back slightly."
Fortunately, for the Gators football team, they are on the road this week, so the hurricane doesn't impact them as much as it would have had if they had a home game. However, there's still going to be a big impact on the players.
"Obviously a lot of thoughts and prayers for all invovled with the hurricane. Our team, obviously we have a number of players with families that are going to be right in the middle of the storm. So, certainly thinking about all involved here."
Billy Napier knows that it's understandable for players with families affected by the storm to be distracted this week. However, he spoke about trying to keep his players informed as possible.
"I'd say you try to keep them up to date as you can." A couple times a day providing them with the most up-to-date information. Obviously we have our athletic department, our operations people meeting with the university leadership, so a couple times a day we're able to give them kind of the latest news and information."
Billy Napier and Florida are still focused on its next game
Although the hurricane is an understandable distraction, Billy Napier and Florida are still focused on their game on Saturday against Tennessee. The coach said:
"Our team is excited about the opportunity to play in this historic game. We're right in the middle of the preparation here and it will be slightly different over the next few days, but overall excited about our team and their attitude. I think we've improved. We need to continue to improve. That is what our current focus is."
Florida (3-2) is trying to recover from a 1-2 start and has done well, winning its past two games. However, its biggest test since playing No. 6-ranked Miami in week 1 is this Saturday against No. 8-ranked Tennessee.
