Kyle Trask and A Cast of Supporting Roles Lead No. 7 Florida Gators In Cotton Bowl Vs. Oklahoma
In a way, however this game ends tonight—the Goodyear Cotton Bowl matchup between No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners and No. 7 Florida Gators—will be perfectly in-line with this abnormal, unusual frankly exhausting year. Either Florida will succumb to opt outs and COVID absences, getting underneath what is still one of the best offenses in the nation in Oklahoma. Or young guys and unknowns will step up in the interim, shocking us all and bursting on to the empty stage and making their own name known.
Both would be on brand for 2020. Both are possible. As is the fact that Florida is going to end this year at best at 9-3 but possibly even at 8-4 and neither record is indicative of what this team—this roster—has actually accomplished during this unprecedented season.
To recap the changes; tight end Kyle Pitts and receivers Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes elected to opt out of tonight’s game and prepare for the NFL Draft. With the historically short turnaround between the SEC Championship game and the bowl game, there was little time to recover, especially for three guys who played the hardest game of their lives in Atlanta.
Pitts is a near guaranteed first round pick with his 770 yards and 12 touchdowns, the latter of which is third in the country amongst all receivers, much less tight ends. After having to miss three games this season already with injury, his decision to sit out after earning his pay-day versus Alabama wasn’t a surprise.
Toney and Grimes were always a good possibility. Both have a year of incredible tape, making their decision to come back for a senior year pay off. Toney was 16 yards shy of a century mark, finishing with 984 yards receiving. He did however top the threshold with 1,451 all-purpose yards: 984 receiving, 161 rushing, 12 passing, 139 punt return yardage and 155 in kickoff returns, along with 12 touchdowns
Grimes rounded out the nation’s leading trio with 589 yards and nine touchdowns of his own. He was one of Trask’s best deep field threats with six receptions of 25 plus yards and 17 of 15 plus yards, with a knack for picking up yards after the catch in a bruising fashion.
According to Matt Zenitz of al.com corner Marco Wilson has also opted out of the bowl game.
All of the opt outs means over the last 24 hours, the line has shifted from Florida -3 to Oklahoma -3.
Head Coach Dan Mullen has always been adamant guys should only opt out if they’re guaranteed to be a first or second round pick and have already established their draft stock. While Pitts is arguably the only guaranteed top pick amongst the group, Toney and Grimes both have an opportunity to work this offseason into a second day selection.
And in what is a strange season, rules must be bent according to Mullen.
“I think it's a pretty unique year, and I think everybody has to understand that, the stress that these guys have been under from week in and week out,” explained Mullen of opt outs on Tuesday.
“This is our third straight New Year's Six bowl game. In the previous two, we had a grand total of one opt-out between those two games. So I think this year is just such a unique deal.
And the stresses and pressures that these guys have been under this year, I think it's led everybody to be under a little bit of a different mental state of where they're at.
“You look to the build-up of the bowl game, it's cut way down. The opportunity to be here and spend the experience—the entire bowl experience has been cut down. So I think this could be just a unique year.”
Opt outs or not, even getting to this point will be seen as a success for Oklahoma Head Coach Lincoln Riley. No matter who walks out of AT&T Stadium with the win or the loss on Wednesday night, this season will be one every team should be proud of according to Riley.
“The rest of my career, I think, will always look back at this season and be proud of what this team accomplished, be proud of what college football was able to accomplish. You've seen some of the other sports be able to finish the season successfully, but this one is tougher.
“We have the worst possible setup to make it during a pandemic with a lot of times community living, just the way our programs are set up. Guys still having to go to school. It's not the ideal sport to survive during a pandemic, and we've found a way to do it.”
That was made clear yet again this week when multiple positive COVID tests meant Trask’s fourth receiver Jacob Copeland was unable to make the trip.
With his entire first string of the receiving corps gone, it would not have been shocking for Trask to sit out Wednesday night as well. But the opportunity to play back in his home state and actually leave with a win this time was one part of a compelling argument to play. He’ll have around 20 family members and friends make the trip up from Manvel—which is just south of Houston—to Arlington for the game.
But there was also the opportunity to write one more chapter in what has become the best story in college football.
“It's a huge opportunity. Every time you get a chance to get on the football field, you've got to make the most of it. And I think we have a lot of up-and-coming weapons that a lot of fans are going to get to know before they really break out in this bowl game,” said Trask last week.
“I mean, nobody expected us to have the kind of year that we had this year when we had all those NFL receivers leave. But this is what we do here at Florida. As soon as we have big-time guys leave and move on, we have more big-time guys step in and continue that winning tradition.”
And with so many of his top receivers out, it will fall on younger guys to write their name into this story tonight as well. Trask sees opportunity for several, naming Xzavier Henderson, Justin Shorter and Ja’Quavion Fraziars among others.
“You're going to see a lot of these guys coming up and making plays and filling these big shoes.”
While the narrative typically exists—especially among teams that are playing in non-playoff bowl games—that these postseason games simply become exhibitions for younger talent, Mullen also sees it as an opportunity for those who will return next year to learn from the man leading them.
“On Kyle, you know, I think he's done an unbelievable job of leading our program since the day he stepped on the field about a year and a half—a little over a year and a half ago. I think he's a great role model for all young players in the game of football but I think a great role model for people in life about how to prepare, how to work, how to put yourself in a position to be successful. And when your opportunity comes, you're ready for it and don't look for the easiest road or the shortest road or the quickest road.
“The path to success is to sit there and work and put your time in and prepare. And when your moment's called, you're ready for it. And I think he's a guy that you look and you look for the opportunity for him to come into this game. I know he's excited to get -- to go play, to go play. He's such a competitor and the opportunity to go play against a great Oklahoma team. I know he is.
“So when you say "perfect guy," he's a guy you want leading. Whether you're out there playing Oklahoma in football or whether you're going into a corporate sales meeting, he's the type of guy you want leading your organization.”
There will have to be ample supporting roles step into the limelight. Mullen says the Gators have “about 60 scholarship players” suiting up Wednesday night.
“There are guys that have kind of been in maybe that supporting actor role now that are going into the lead role in the show tomorrow night. And so I think those guys are excited for that opportunity to get out there and go make plays.”
Florida’s offense is putting up an averaging of 508.8 yards per game—ninth in FBS—and still leads the nation in passing offense, putting an average of 388.4 yards per game into the air. The Sooners defense—much maligned as a typical Big 12 defense—is much improved this season, giving up 333.6 yards per game, good for 19th in total defense in the FBS.
“They're very active defensively,” explained Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson last week of the Sooners.
“I think, on the front end, they do a great job of pursuing the football and shedding blocks, not staying blocked long, and making plays in the backfield. And in the secondary, I think particularly at corner, they have great ball skills. They play with great patience. They have great footwork and they make plays on the ball when it's in the air. So definitely a huge challenge for us. You know, our guys are excited for the opportunity to go out there and compete on the big stage.”
Of note though is the fact that Trask won’t be throwing to brand new faces. There have been 13 different receivers catch a pass this season, with none of them catching fewer than six. From freshmen to seniors, receivers to tight ends, Florida and Trask haven’t been afraid to spread the ball around. And after all three losses coming one arguably one play a piece, Mullen knows each of those that get their chance in Arlington will have to make the most of the moment.
“We've got to prepare for each one of those and be prepared for that moment to go make the play. And that's the great challenge that football presents, and it presents it as a team. Because it's not one individual that's going to do it, it's the entire team that has to be ready for those moments.”
Defensively, coordinator Todd Grantham is having to prepare for yet another in what has become a long line of dynamic Oklahoma quarterbacks under Head Coach Lincoln Riley.
Said Grantham of the freshman Spencer Rattler, “he was a highly recruited guy out of high school. A lot of people wanted him. And if you look at his Game 1 continuity all the way up till now, he's a guy that you can tell is getting more comfortable in the system, understanding more about where to throw the ball, where to go with it relative to the formations and what the defense is giving you.
“And then he has the ability to make plays with his feet. He can pull it in the run game. He can extend plays in the pass game to get guys open. I think the one thing that we'll have to be conscious of is the word "plaster" this week, meaning that even when you're playing zone, as he continues to scramble, you're going to have to basically match the guy in your area and cover him man-to-man because he really can extend plays for guys to get open, which creates explosives. And he's doing a nice job with their offense.”
The Gators defense has been a sore subject with fans, players and coaches all season, something that has become the third rail to the point of being ignored in game previews. In addition to Wilson opting out, a recent report from Pete Thamel stated due to injuries and opt outs, the Gators would also be without linebacker and leading tackler Ventrell Miller and well as defensive lineman Kyree Campbell.
But Riley isn’t letting his team roll into AT&T Stadium with the mindset they’ll just need to win a shootout.
"It's a very talented group,” said Riley on Tuesday of the Florida defense.
“Got a lot of respect for Todd Grantham and the job he's done throughout the years. Got a lot of very talented and outstanding players to work with, a lot of guys that really flash on tape, and have the ability and have made a lot of big plays throughout the season. So it's a talented group.
"You've got to play very well, very sharp football to have the chance to move the ball and score points against them. What you would expect out of a Florida defense, active, well-coached. Be a fun match-up.”
Some of that could be dependent on Brad Stewart. The senior who was moved to nickel will be one of the few older faces, along with defensive end Zach Carter, and coming off arguably his best game of the season against Alabama, Stewart can set up the secondary for success.
"He's a guy that has continued to progress," Grantham said of Stewart.
"Even though it was a new position for him, he's a football player. He understood leverage. He understood blocks. He understood running to the ball, doing those kind of things. He understood how to cover guys as a safety. So it just kind of fit naturally. And, again, it allowed us to get our best players on the field and put him there to give us some flexibility with some other guys."
No matter what happens on Wednesday night under the big Texas sky though, both coaches will be walking out of that stadium proud of what it took to even get there in the first place. For the Gators especially, coming off arguably what is always the toughest loss in the game—a loss in the SEC Championship Game—the 2020 Cotton Bowl is about a win but more so about getting to the finish line. Proving they have the mindset to bounce back and the heart to fight, cementing their legacy; and the talent to show yet again they can reload and be a perennial contender in college football.
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