There are a few thousand moving parts on a college football team, many of them behind the scenes, all working to maximize success on and off the field.
Some of those parts are front and center: Coaching, line play, quarterbacking, etc., but many integral cogs of a college football program don’t get the day-to-day recognition. For the Florida Gators, one of those parts is new strength and conditioning coach Tyler Miles.
Could Miles be the secret weapon to get Florida back to national relevance in 2024?
Billy Napier: Tyler Miles Looks “Phenomenal”
Florida limped to a 5-7 record last season, losing its final five games of the season and squandering several late leads in the process. Simply put, the Gators looked run down and struggled to finish games in 2023.
Head coach Billy Napier responded by making several staff changes, including bringing in Miles as the new strength and conditioning coach to — among other things — improve the team’s overall fitness and endurance to withstand tight games.
Napier spoke about the change and the positive impact Miles has made when he spoke at SEC Media Days Wednesday.
“I think it’s going to prove to be one of the biggest storylines of this team,” Napier said. “Tyler Miles has been phenomenal … our team looks different.”
One of the programs Florida has implemented this offseason is splitting the team into two groups: Weight gainers and weight losers.
Everything from conditioning to practice to discipline has surrounded this idea. Either a player is trying to shed body fat or add lean muscle. Apparently the results have been impressive.
Napier shared that as a team, the Gators have both shed over 500 pounds of body fat and gained over 500 pounds of lean muscle. The Gators hope those changes will result in better conditioning and strength on the field and help the team late in games.
They’ll need it this season, as the Gators finish the year with a brutal five-game stretch in October and November. Napier doesn’t want a repeat of 2023 blown leads. He’s hoping that Miles can be the difference.
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