Buddy Martin Blog: The Defense Can’t Rest. Todd Grantham’s Mission Is To Fix What’s Broken. Can He?

Kaiir Elam is one reason Todd Grantham's defense will be better. (UAA photo)

Lining up correctly in football is not unlike lining up in golf: If you aren’t pointed in the right direction, it’s not likely you’ll hit your target.

Uncle George always said that without a solid defense the Gators would never win a championship. (Stay with me on this.) Success back then was anything above .500 and a bowl game. These were not the halcyon days of Coach Spurrier yet, but when Ray Graves won nine games twice in the sixties and the offense suddenly had a pulse, the alumni base got too big for its britches. They thought they had this. Uncle George was right, though.

Clearly these are not our grandfather’s – or Uncle George’s – Gators. Screw 1960. What have you done for us millennials in the last 30 minutes? They ask. (Again, stay with me.)

What pisses old-timers off is the arrogance of entitlement of those newcomer fans who never suffered the indignance of losing to Georgia 51-0 in the rain. Or never watched the monotony of Doug Dickey’s Fourth-and-Dumb play-calling. Or never struggled through the near-death-penalty days of the NCAA’s investigation of Charlie Pell’s program in the mid-80s. They merely got to see the baby without ever experiencing pains of childbirth and are not grandfathered in by birthright.

Then one day, almost accidentally, or purely by divine intervention, The Prodigal Son came home and blew the doors off SEC defenses with the Fun 'n' Gun. Lordie, who knows where the Gators would have been without Steve Spurrier?

Which brings me back to Uncle George. And Bobby Stoops. It was the hiring of Stoops from Kansas State which finally uncorked the genie, righted the ship and brought Florida its long-awaited gritty defense which led to the 1996 national championship. And then some. Just like Uncle George said.

Now we get to the much-maligned Todd Grantham, whose defense at times last season resembled I-4 rush hour traffic near the Disney World cutoff during Christmas holidays. This season will be his defining moment as a coach. The outcome of the game, as they say in pool-shooting, is still on the table.

So how’s that going? Without the benefit of eyeballs on practice, we’re estimating based on limited intel from zoom pressers and a bit of video evidence when it’s available on Instagram. In other words, it’s an un-educated guess.

First a little context: Todd Grantham is a well-respected DC, but in baseball lexicon, he’s been in a batting slump. And just like a hitter who is 1 for 25, Grantham has to hack his way out of that slump by working on fundamentals.

Let’s start with lining up correctly. Watching Florida on defense last season often looked like a bunch of sixth graders being herded into the lunch line. I’m not cutting anybody slack due to the pandemic, but it could be that the complexity of Grantham’s scheme, with so many moving parts, lent itself to chaos. After all, isn’t that defensive genre nicknamed “Havoc” for the infliction intended to opposing quarterbacks?

(A recent story on “Havoc” coordinators referred to Grantham as one of the Top 16 thusly: His 2017 Mississippi State defense ranked 18th in Havoc, and his Florida defenses ranked inside the top 25 in 2018 and 2019. The Gators’ 2020 defense tanked his ranking, though, as it came in at 80th.)

There’s that ugly number 80 again.

Todd Grantham needs to fix a communication problem -- and he can. (UAA Photo)

I have a theory for the reason they couldn’t seem to line up correctly:

Surprise attack is one of the staples of a “Havoc” coach. That means situational football according to down, distance and time left in the game. It also means group personnel packages which can quickly be deployed. In my opinion, poor communication between the press box coaches, Grantham’s boots on the ground people and the players often broke down. And that needs fixing.

Why did it always seem like there was a big defender lumbering off the field tardily, impersonating an oversized Usain Bolt? And another defender out of position, looking like he was searching for that non-existent seat in a game of musical chairs?

Lining up correctly in football is not unlike lining up in golf: If you aren’t pointed in the right direction, it’s not likely you’ll hit your target.

Last season there wasn’t a stout push from the upfront seven, nor were there athletic plays made by ballhawkers in the secondary. In fact, the now infamous “Shoe Game” loss to LSU in The Swamp was one of the most ignominious plays in Gator history. Out of respect for the player whose bad judgment contributed mightily to the defeat – and probably stained his otherwise excellent legacy – I will respectfully decline to use his name.

Did I mention how poorly the tackling was?

I don’t find it necessary to demonize Grantham and turn him into a piñata for message board pundits. He’s a smart guy who knows in his head what to do, but sometimes fails to get it transmitted and executed. Which is why he and Dan Mullen had that little dust-up in the 2020 Kentucky game.

As the line from Cool Hand Luke goes, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

To his credit, Mullen has called Grantham one of the best – if not THE best – DCs in the game. He almost lost Grantham to the NFL a few years ago and was able to convince his bosses that he was worth $1.8 million, fourth highest in the country. Was he worth it? I say yes, but it must be proven out.

Here’s what we think we know. Mullen’s offense, featuring the “Mobile Pocket Passer” Emory Jones and five excellent running backs, is bound to eat more clock and preserve the defense’s energy. Perhaps the two units will mesh better. Which is good news for Grantham.

It is generally thought that the play in the back end of the secondary will be improved. Partly because of their diligence and determination to be better, partly because of better talent that is better coached and partly because pressure brought by the front seven.

It all starts with the Man in the Middle, Ventrell Miller, who has become a strong leader and a more impassioned player since being anointed as one of the future Gator greats by Brandon Siler, who looked at Miller one day and challenged him to step up his game if he wanted a legacy at UF. Miller, Jeremiah Moon, Brenton Cox and Mohamoud Diabate are among the top returning playmakers.

We’re hearing things about defensive personnel, including the promising group of young corners and the leadership of pre-season all-conference returner Kaiir Elam.

Trey Dean is a welcome returnee to the back end.

On the edge there’s Zach Carter and upfront new transfers Daquan Newkirk (Auburn) and Tony Valentino (Penn State), plus second-year wunderkind Gervon Dexter.

Let me stop there before I sound like a dilletante way over the tips of his skis, which I already do, because – again – these are gut feelings based on uneducated guesses.

Mostly I’m betting on smart, capable football coaches who are skilled at development of talent, which seems to have been well handpicked and are all on a mission to prove that last year’s three-game swan dive at season’s end was an anomaly. I can’t prove that, but I think so, too. Let‘s just say that voices from the past, like Uncle George, told me so. (And thanks for staying with me.)