Mike Peterson: An emphasis on tackling this spring

Graphic Credit UAA

Back in the day when he was an All-American linebacker for the Gators, Mike Peterson could be counted on to hit hard and put opponents on the ground. He was one of the surest tacklers on some of the stingiest defenses of the Steve Spurrier era at the University of Florida. He parlayed those skills into a 13-year career in the National Football League playing for the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons.

Perhaps it was because he was such an efficient tackler both in college and the pros that watching the Florida defense the last two years has been agonizing. Missed tackles have had a lot to do with the issues the Gators have had defensively, something that Peterson, Florida’s outside linebackers coach, and the rest of the defensive staff are emphasizing all spring this year.

“It's been really painful, to be brief and not get into it too much, but that’s something we’ve also been working on, you know, tackling,” Peterson said after the Gators finished practice Tuesday afternoon. “When you're able to stop a team on first down and second down, you're able to get up to the quarterback a little bit more on third down. You put yourself in situations where it's third in long, you can kind of pin your ears and go get the quarterback. So tackling has been one of the key points that we've been talking about all spring and I think we're getting better at it?”

Tackling is a learned skill. Peterson was a high school quarterback at Santa Fe. He converted to linebacker as a freshman at Florida, played on two SEC championship teams and the 1996 national championship team. In 1998 when he made first team All-America, Peterson was voted Most Valuable Player by teammates.

Now he’s trying to teach what he learned to a group of kids who are all too aware the Gators have posted three consecutive losing seasons, the last two since Billy Napier became the head coach. In the last two seasons the Gators have scored enough points to win most of the games they’ve played, but blown assignments and missed tackles on defense have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory far too often.

This spring, the defense has undergone a near total makeover. Peterson and co-defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong are the only holdovers from a year ago. They’re joined by defensive line coach Gerald Chatman, secondary coach Will Harris and co-defensive coordinator Ron Roberts, who will coach the inside linebackers.

The Gators have run the creeper defense the past two years, but by bringing in Ron Roberts from Auburn, they now have the originator of the scheme working with Armstrong, who was his protégé when the two worked for Billy Napier at Louisiana. Roberts isn’t necessarily a my way or the highway type. Peterson says he’s a listener, someone who will listen to new ideas to incorporate them into the scheme to make it better.

“I think the thing about it is, the staff, we all from different places,” Peterson said. “We've all kind of learned different cultures. When you bring that together, it's a beautiful thing, because we can bounce ideas off of each other. And he's not one of those guys where, you know, 'We've got to do it this way.' You know? It's, 'Mike, how have you done it? Gerald, how have you done it? Will, how have you done it? Austin,' you know, everybody way down the line. So, we can all put that in together and get the best product out there on the field."

Napier has spoken in glowing terms of how the revamped defensive staff has parked egos at the door to bring a new measure of energy to the field each day. Peterson sees it, too.

“You know, a couple of those guys have been coordinators, so they got a lot of knowledge,” Peterson said. “Everybody in the room has seen a lot of football, so you know, our job is to come together and do what's best for the team. You know, look at what we have, what we've done in the past, and how does that fit in together?”

New coaches, new faces, some new looks to a creeper system that has been copied and modified all over college football. There is a sense of urgency. Two years of being a bottom feeder among Southeastern Conference defenses has to end if the Gators are to be a better football team in the fall. There is no time to waste. The time to improve is now.

Peterson came to Florida in 1995 as a freshman with a chip on his shoulder. He wasn’t one of the more highly recruited players and he was destined to change positions immediately. That chip on his shoulder remained throughout his collegiate career and all the years in the pros.

He says the chip is still there and it’s his intention to pass that chip along to every player on the defensive side of the ball.

"I got a chip on my shoulder, you can't tell?” he said with a grin. “I've always had one, but yeah, you know, you can see it in practice, man. You know, we getting after it. Offense, you know, we getting after it. You go watch our inside run, you watch team run, man, you'd think it's game day.

“But the thing about it, and it gets chippy, but then after practice, you see the guys hugging each other and laughing and having a good time. That's when you know you're building a team, and building a team man, you know, it's a lot of things that go into it. It's a process. It's like building a house. You don't just say, 'Hey, we got a house here.' You got to build it. Sometimes it takes a little time, you know what I mean? And building a team is the same way. But when you start building that team, it starts to look good. Like that same house when the house starts to go up, you ride by and just start smiling. I'm smiling now."  

UF BASEBALL: FSU hammers Gators 14-3

The highlight of Florida’s 14-3 loss to Florida State came in the bottom of the first inning Tuesday night in Jacksonville. With Colby Shelton on via a walk and Ty Evans on base with a single, Jac Caglianone launched an opposite-field home run to left to tie the game at 3-3. From that point on, it was all Florida State as the 17th-ranked Seminoles (20-3) scored the next 11 runs to secure the yearly 3-game series. The two teams will meet again one more time in Tallahassee on April 9.

The story Tuesday night wasn’t all that much different than midweek all season. Kevin O’Sullivan paraded freshman pitchers to the mound all night and they got pounded. It’s enough that O’Sullivan is thinking over how the 6th-ranked Gators (14-10) prepare for the midweek games.

“We are not asking guys to go out there and get nine, 10, 12 outs,” O’Sullivan said. “Just four outs and hand it off to the next guy. Like I said, I've seen enough of these games on Tuesdays and we are going to have to make some adjustments."

One of the adjustments O’Sullivan suggested is a change in the way the Gators practice.

“We're going to have to look at this thing,” O’Sullivan said. “We're probably going to get to a point where we're going to have to practice on Mondays and then take off on Wednesday moving forward to make sure our guys are ready to play on Tuesdays, because we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again."

Game notes: Caglianone’s home run was his 12th of the season. He has homered in three consecutive games. He also hit a double and raised his batting average to .402 … The Gators will be home this weekend to face Mississippi State (18-8, 3-3 SEC), a 3-game series that begins Friday night.

UF SOFTBALL: Wallace, Williams honored by SEC

Skylar Wallace, who hit .545 last week while hitting a grand slam and driving in seven runs, was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week. Mia Williams, who hit .714 and homered in consecutive games against Kentucky, was selected SEC Freshman of the Week. Wallace had six hits, four walks, eight runs scored and three stolen bases as the Gators had a 4-0 week. Williams had a 5-7 week at the plate with a double, seven runs scored and two stolen bases.

The 9th-ranked Gators (29-4) will be in Starkville beginning Thursday for a 3-game series with 17th-ranked Mississippi State.

Softball America top 25: 1. Oklahoma 31-1; 2. Texas 28-3; 3. Georgia 27-4; 4. Duke 26-3; 5. Stanford 25-5; 6. Tennessee 25-4; 7. Oklahoma State 26-5; 8. Washington 22-5; 9. FLORIDA 29-4; 10. Virginia Tech 25-5-1; 11. Texas A&M 28-4; 12. Missouri 25-7; 13. LSU 25-4; 14. Alabama 25-6; 15. Mississippi State 24-7; 16. UCLA 18-8; 17. Texas State 26-7; 18. Kansas 22-8-1; 19. California 24-8; 20. Arkansas 24-8; 21. Clemson 22-9; 22. Penn State 23-6; 24. Northwestern 16-7; 25. Florida Atlantic 27-7

ESPN/USA Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 31-1; 2. Texas 28-3; 3. Georgia 27-4; 4. Tennessee 25-4; 5. Duke 26-3; 6. Stanford 25-5; 7. LSU 25-4; 8. Washington 22-5; 9. FLORIDA 29-4; 10. Oklahoma State 26-5; 11. Virginia Tech 25-5-1; 12. Texas A&M 28-4; 13. Missouri 25-7; 14. Alabama 25-6; 15. UCLA 18-8; 16. Clemson 22-9; 17. Mississippi State 24-7; 18. Florida State 21-9; 19. California 24-8; 20. Arkansas 24-8; 21. (TIE) Baylor 17-11 and Oregon 19-10; 23. Texas State 26-7; 24. Kansas 22-8-1; 25. Louisiana 21-13

USA Today/NFCA Coaches top 25: 1. Oklahoma 31-1; 2. Texas 28-3; 3. Georgia 27-4; 4. Tennessee 25-4; 5. Duke 26-3; 6. LSU 25-4; 7. Stanford 25-5; 8. Oklahoma State 26-5; 9. Washington 22-5; 10. FLORIDA 29-4; 11. Texas A&M 28-4; 12. Missouri 25-7; 13. Alabama 25-6; 14. UCLA 18-8; 15. Virginia Tech 25-5-1; 16. Clemson 22-9; 17. Mississippi State 24-7; 18. California 24-8; 19. Florida State 21-9; 20. Arkansas 24-8; 21. Arizona 21-9-1; 22. South Carolina 22-9; 23. Baylor 17-11; 24. Oregon 19-10; 25. Boston University 25-3

UF MEN’S SWIMMING: No. 2 Gators begin quest for NCAA title

The 2nd-ranked Florida men’s swimming team will send 14 Gators into the pool starting tonight as the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships begin in Indianapolis. The 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay will be held tonight, perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come between now and Saturday as the top two teams in both relays are No. 1 Arizona State and No. 2 Florida.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Rather than a pro day at its individual schools, the Big 12 will hold a 4-day league-wide pro day in Frisco, Texas beginning Wednesday. Scouts from the NFL, UFL and CFL will all be there as 137 players from 12 Big 12 schools participate.   

This is a first of the kind showcase that represents the kind of forward thinking college football so desperately needs these days. The Big 12 is making this a big event, an NFL Network televised showcase that will be held at the Dallas Cowboys facilities in Frisco. In so many ways it will replicate the NFL Draft Combine that is held in February in Indianapolis, but this format will give a Combine-like experience for the many players who weren’t invited to Indy.

While the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten might be slow to embrace a conference-wide combine event, Group of Five leagues and Division II should seriously consider doing it.

This is just one more example of how Brett Yormark continues to run rings around Little Jimmy Phillips and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Yormark has outflanked the ACC at every turn. While he was adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to ensure the Big 12 will be the premier basketball conference in the future and getting a media deal with ESPN and Fox that will be worth nearly as much as the ACC deal, Little Jimmy Phillips added Stanford, California and SMU to the ACC, but only after the Big 12 made its moves.