Five Things To Know As Florida Gators Begin Spring Practice
The Florida Gators are back on the green grass and practicing under the big blue Florida sky—except for every other day when it rains—as they kick off spring practice for the 2021 offseason.
The month of 15 practices will be different this year; all are technically closed to the media and fans as precautions are still being taken with the pandemic COVID-19. However, there are still ways to watch, tune in and keep up with the development of the Gators. As you do, here are five things to keep in mind as Florida works their way through spring practice.
Find the full and updated Gators football roster here.
How To Watch
The most important thing to watch for in spring practice this year…is spring practice itself! Usually a quarter of the practices or so are open to the public so fans can see drills in person. As mentioned though, COVID-19 has limited the ability to hold large gatherings in small places.
In an effort to mitigate a lack of access, the Gators are streaming portions of practice on Instagram. The official Gators football account (@GatorsFB) and the account for Head Coach Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) will both go live periodically throughout practice.
While we dream of the day of being back on the field and close enough to smell the sweat, the inside access isn’t a bad alternative. Watching the Instagram live streams means viewers can feel like they are inside a drill. It allows you to hear the coaches up close and see what practice looks like from a players perspective.
Former players, current players and coaches all make appearances on the streams, popping in for 20-30 seconds at a time—and sometimes up to five minutes or so—to say hello and offer their thoughts on the 2021 Florida Gators. Relevant clips are typically shared to Twitter and we will have them here in stories as well.
Gators Will Set a Foundation For An Identity, But Not Adapt One Yet
Spring Practice is always a great opportunity to learn who your team is and will be as fall approaches. Former running back Lamical Perine use to say he could tell in March what the record would be in November.
But with so few on this current roster ever having even gone through a spring practice, Dan Mullen isn’t ready to commit to an identity just yet. He definitely wants to set a foundation though.
"I don't think we're going to define the identity after these 15 practices,” Mullen said earlier this week.
“I think we're going to do a lot of evaluation on guys in these next 15 practices, but I think if you know us, I've always been that... we're going to adapt to the strengths of our players.”
With so much still to learn about this team—both by the coaches and players— Mullen wants to let the guys shape the team, not the other way around. Significant starters and contributors on both offense and defense are off to the NFL, meaning there are holes to fill. Who steps up will determine the attitude of the new team.
“We’re going to adapt to our guys and what they do well and put the guys in position to do well. I think everybody looks last year, and when you go back, and you watch our cutups and review our cutups, you say, boy we threw the ball everywhere, we didn’t really run the ball very well. Well, when you look back efficiently we did run the ball fairly well, we just decided not to do that. We just decided to throw it offensively. What we’ll do is evaluate some of the strengths, go find what our guys do well.”
Running the ball more is more of an example and metaphor from Mullen than anything…but spring practice this year does remind us of the possibilities Florida will have in that area come fall. Dameon Pierce, Nayquen Wright and Malik Davis all return, and will be joined by former five-stars Lorenzo Lingard and Demarcus Bowman** in the backfield. All being quarterbacked by the mobile Emory Jones. Florida could theoretically run upwards of 35-40 times a game. Will they?
That’s to be determined.
Says Mullen, “You know we have the flexibility to go throw for 400-yards a game last year. We have the flexibility to go back and be 50-50 balanced. We can be a run ball control team and control the clock. We can be up-tempo or slow tempo, whatever is going to fit the program or team as a whole within the framework of our offense.
“And then we just kind of like evaluate this spring, throw a bunch of stuff, there will be some varied, some things that we did last year we won’t do as much this year and some things that we didn’t do last year that will be thrown into the offense for what we think off of the strengths of our players right now. We’ll continue to tweak that through spring, through summer, through training camp and usually, it ends up through the first couple of games you’re still tweaking.”
**Mullen on Bowman's eligibility status after transferring from Clemson, still in question by the NCAA: "I think there’s a lot of questions...I haven’t heard anything completely, in writing I don’t think from the NCAA."
They Want To Put 2020 Behind Them
It’s no secret, the 2020 season left a bitter taste in the mouths of Gator players, coaches and fans. An 8-4 season record—albeit in an all-SEC schedule—was soothed somewhat by a near win in the SEC Championship. But a win that just slipped out of the fingers and turned into a loss at Texas A&M along with head scratching wrecks against LSU and Oklahoma all put a negative spin on a season in which the Gators were fighting for a championship.
The team has spent the past month acknowledging what went wrong and more importantly, how to fix their mistakes. Now, with spring practice starting a month early, the Gators are able to move on that much quicker. They’re putting 2020 behind them, with hindsight gleamed and turning their focus forward.
“That was last year and this is a completely different year, a completely new year,” said receiver Justin Shorter.
“I feel like ever since the offseason started everyone’s just committed themselves 100% and everyone’s been going hard during workouts, like literally everyone is pushing their workouts, all of our tough drills, all of the tough workouts that we do, and even in practices you see everyone’s effort is just there because everyone just wants it so bad.
"From that last game [the Cotton Bowl loss versus Oklahoma], obviously, it was a disappointment. Obviously, we never want to play that way or lose that way. But sometimes it happens and you just really have to look at it and learn from it and grow, which I feel like we’re taking steps in the right direction.”
It’s little secret one of the biggest issues in 2020 was the defense. An abysmal showing drug down a record breaking offense. One of the few bright spots was the play of defensive end Zachary Carter. He shocked most everyone in Gator Nation by foregoing the NFL for another year and returning for his final year of eligibility. He wants to finish his degree, but more importantly, leave a mark by helping a young front seven most past their mistakes and turn them into a success.
“The main thing is trying to find something to improve on every day,” starts Carter.
“I’m really excited for this defense. We got a great, we got a great group of guys. I think, I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people, you know. But the biggest thing is just coming to work every day and trying our best, going hard, all the little things, and I think the rest of it'll take care of itself. But we work hard every day to get better and we continue to do so."
Watch the Transfers
No one has taken better advantage of the transfer portal than Dan Mullen. And no unit has benefitted more than the defensive line. From Jonathan Greenard to Brenton Cox, the edge rushers that have dominated for the Gators the past couple of years have all come through the portal.
This fall, the defensive line will see another boost from transfers. Daquan Newkirk (an Auburn guy) and Antonio Shelton (a Penn State transfer) will line up in the trenches this fall for position coach David Turner. The depth they bring means Carter can line up exclusively on the outside again, where he’s best suited. He moved inside at times last season when Kyree Campbell was out.
Says Carter of the transfers, “I’m also really excited about those guys. Big Red (Daquan Newkirk) and and Tone (Antonio Shelton), they’re new, it’s different coming as a fifth-year senior coming from a whole different school, transferring in, trying to fit in with the guys. I think they’re both done a really good job. I think they’ll have a pretty promising future here. I think we’re in good hands.”
The Monster
While the elder transfers have a greater opportunity to make an impact right away, there’s little question freshman Desmond Watson makes an impact wherever he goes. Florida’s roster lists the Tampa native at 6-5 and 432 lbs. Even that might be underselling the lineman.
Asked if he’s ever seen a freshman that big, Carter’s eyes rounded in shock at the reminder.
“Man Desmond is impressive man, he pretty impressive for his size and I know he'll continue to, you know, he’ll continue to trim up and stuff but he has a lot of potential…he gonna look like a monster. Man I’m telling you.” ”
Watson will be put in the care of Nick Savage, the Director of Strength and Conditioning, to trim him up some. But his size is also his strength. Early looks into practice show a lineman that knows how to swing his weight to his advantage, exploding off the block as opposed to stuttering there.
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