Notebook: Dan Mullen On Florida Gators Spring Practice Conclusion, Quarterbacks, Defense and More
Florida Gators’ Head Coach Dan Mullen met with local media on Saturday to recap the Gators final scrimmage of spring practice and what comes next for the 2021 offseason.
A few things of note stood out. We have highlighted those below. Farther down, we are happy to offer the full transcript of Mullen’s press conference to our valued GatorBait Magazine subscribers.
Notes:
Injuries
The Gators made it out of spring with few injuries according to Mullen. He did literally knock on wood as he revealed that however, just to be safe. However, spring practice can be rough on a body, so the upcoming week off will be crucial according to the coach.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys banged up right now. I don’t think we have any serious injuries coming out of spring, but a lot of guys were banged up today, so we were kind of really down on numbers. I think we finished with like 10 total offensive linemen today, so you have to kind of mix and match and do some different things.”
Details To Improve
Mullen more than once complimented both side of the ball for making plays, especially in this Saturday’s scrimmage. Still spring is for fixing the issues, and the staff has seen both progress in that area…as well as the gaps that still need to be addressed.
“The biggest thing for me was that guys made plays. We made a bunch of plays out there on the field. But a lot of it is going to continue to be our consistency of performance, eliminating false starts and offsides penalties, eliminating things that we can control out there on the field, mastering specifics of things that we can control on the field. I think there were more plays made in today’s scrimmage than maybe in the other scrimmages on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, which is what you want to see, because as spring goes on, you want to see guys understanding the system, and then making plays within what we ask them to do.”
Defense
It’s no secret that the defense was a weak spot during the 2020 season, so it can really only go up. That’s been the case according to Mullen, who says the defense has dominated spring practice and scrimmages.
“I look at every little detail, what was bad and what was good on the defensive side of the football. I thought our defense had a really good spring. You’d say the defense won pretty much all the scrimmages that we had. So I think overall the defense had a very good spring. But we got to continue to take those steps and create that depth. There was some negative things about the defense last year, but also I look at are we making adjustments and improvements to change those things in certain areas.”
Full Transcript
Watching March Madness?
"I was waiting for, I was watching, saw the game the other day, we were waiting, where they were playing I thought Jimmy Chitwood would come running out there. Right? With 19 fateful seconds on the clock, get the ball to jimmy at the top of the key right there, he'll make it.
"I will say it should be the best sports movie of all time. Is it not? Hoosiers?"
WOULD YOU SAY EMORY IS STARTING QB IN OFFSEASON?
"You know what, it's so hard for me because I don't even think in those terms right now, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean you would have to say yes, but I mean I'll give you an honest answer... so I would say yes, but I don't think of it in terms like that because I'm so much in; I mean you've got to prepare at least two quarterbacks ready to go if that makes sense. So my thought process is, 'How are we getting two starters ready and then we have the two young guys, so what's the backup plan after we have two starters?' Does that make sense? I don't know if I'm explaining it in the right way, but in my mind that makes sense, you know what I mean? Instead of, 'Hey, Emory's the starter, you're the backup' we need two starters and then I've got to figure out the backup situation we've got."
WHAT DOES EMORY NEED TO DO IN TERMS OF GROWTH AS A LEADER? PHYSICALLY IS HE WHERE HE NEEDS TO BE?
"I think if you've watched him, you want to get guys the size; if you watch him, he plays physical and strong at his size. He plays physical and he plays strong at his size out there, so it's about when I get on the quarterbacks, it's about having the stability. The body stability in physical physique, it's that body stability that means you're physical and you're able to stay healthy when you run the ball and when you take hits in the pocket. Do you have the size and the core strength and the body makeup that prevents injury more than getting a specific weight or size or strength. It is that core body makeup for you. Then the other things, we're constantly on him: consistency and the consistency within his performance. He has great talent to go make plays, but getting the timing down. You know, we have some younger receivers, getting all the timing down with them. Him taking that role, both really he and Anthony. I talked to the guys today and—yesterday really it was about it— about, you know quarterbacks and receivers right now, you have, April, May, June and July, you have four months where you guys can get out there, you get your timing down, you get that exactness down, you get comfortable with each other and where you're going to be and how you're going to make the throws, and you get the communications down, beyond the coaching where you guys have that kind of feel of how guys are, where they're going to be on field. I think that's a huge part for those guys moving forward.”
Dan, you’re ending your for your third, fourth, excuse me fourth spring. You didn't have one last year.
“So I'm actually ending my third spring but..."
Okay, fourth spring drill. Is the program where you feel like it should be, you want it to be I mean, obviously I know, you always want to win every game, but are you happy with where the program's at and heading into year four?
"I think this, I think, you know I mean for me, you guys know me, I've never satisfied with what we are and how we're trying to improve, But you know I mean I think to build, to become a great program you have to win and you win on a consistent basis, you know, and do—we've gone to three straight New Year’s Six bowl games; last year got the opportunity to go compete for the SEC championship. You know it is that consistency—you know winning on a consistent basis—is where we want to be as a program. I think we've been able to do that, and you know and need to continue to do that in the future.”
First of all, the greatest sports movie of all time is the Replacements and I'll die on this hill.
"Is that like, is that Keanu Reeves?"
Yes, in his Pinnacle role.
"I mean that's coming from a Keanu Reeves fan right there and I'm a Keanu Reeves fan, trust me, Point Break man, awesome…to say he was better in replacements than Point Break, come on."
What is the message to the players after spring?
“I want the next week for everybody to take a break. I want everybody to take a break, everybody to physically and mentally take a week off to try to refresh your motor, refresh everything. Everybody then has to understand their very different levels of where they’re at. We’re going to have a great offseason of May, June, physically getting bigger, faster, stronger, and a huge offseason. But everybody’s at different levels, and one of the most critical things is learning how to develop. You can have guys say, ‘Hey Coach, I’m going to come in and watch film every day.’ Great. Well, what are you watching? Are you able to watch film and realize when you made a mistake and how to correct that mistake? Do you know what to see? Or am I just kind of watching it to watch it? It’s so critical for each individual to learn how to develop, where they’re at in their career, and what are the big things they need to go work on. I mean, you’ve got a guy that’s going into a fifth-year senior, so I mean, you take Zach Carter, like, what he’s working on might be very different than what Gervon Dexter is working on. Even though there are some similarities and they’re working on the same things, they’re also working on some different things. Maybe I’ve got to work on some of the specifics and I’m working on some more general things that Zach already has kind of mastered. That’s jut an example. It’s so specific with each person, but it’s understanding where you’re at and what you need to do and how you need to learn to develop, because we’re not around them all the time. There’s so much personal development going on, but if you don’t know how to do it, if you’re not in there watching film and you don’t know how to watch the film and what you’re specifically looking for, you’re not really developing. Like I told our guys, you might as well be watching SpongeBob Squarepants or watching The Replacements. I don’t know if you’re getting much out of it.”
Any notes from scrimmage?
“No. We treat it like a scrimmage. We did a slightly different format, but it’s still a scrimmage. We didn’t split the team in half or any of that stuff. It was still a scrimmage deal for us. I think the biggest things coming out of spring, the top things are, I think we have a great attitude as a team. I think we have guys that go hard. I think we have guys that really like football. I think you can see that by steps and improvements guys have made throughout spring. Their commitment and the energy level they bring every day. We’ve got a bunch of guys banged up right now. I don’t think we have any serious injuries coming out of spring, but a lot of guys were banged up today, so we were kind of really down on numbers. I think we finished with like 10 total offensive linemen today, so you have to kind of mix and match and do some different things. But the biggest thing for me was that guys made plays. We made a bunch of plays out there on the field. But a lot of it is going to continue to be our consistency of performance, eliminating false starts and offsides penalties, eliminating things that we can control out there on the field, mastering specifics of things that we can control on the field. I think there were more plays made in today’s scrimmage than maybe in the other scrimmages on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, which is what you want to see, because as spring goes on, you want to see guys understanding the system, and then making plays within what we ask them to do. And I think we saw a lot more of that today all over the field, both offensively and defensively.”
What are the biggest improvements you saw Emory make over the spring?
"Well, I think one thing he did, he really went from a guy that understands the offense to a guy that's making his reads and working on his technique, fundamentals at the quarterback position, you know? At the backend of spring, if you watch his balance in the pocket throwing the football, instead of just trying to make plays, him focusing on being on balance with his accuracy, you know what I mean? Which is going to improve the accuracy, you know, of making the different types of throws and changing your arm angle to make the different types of throws to be on balance. You know, and I think a lot, because he's getting a lot of the one reps, so now it's on him and I think, you know, with that comes the responsibility. Also comes that he's comfortable within the offense, so to sit there and say 'Okay, hey, here's the read,' he knows the read, so let's get through on every aspect of being detailed and exact with making the throw."
What are some things you learned for reinforced this spring about the team as a whole?
"Well one, we've got to make sure we keep a great attitude as a team, you know what I mean? Our attitude, our energy, our effort is critical. Second, we're going to be a great team because we're going to have some depth on the team, right? I mean we're going to be, we have the opportunity to win. We might not have, you know, the household name players like Kyle Pitts that we had last year, you know what I mean? Where, you know, you have this. But, we have the opportunity to have a great deal of depth and players and experience of guys that we can roll through out there and play as a team, so we've got to keep that attitude. But if you are that type of team, you know what, you've got to play with great attention to detail in every aspect because you never know when your number is going to be called, and when you're out there on the field, you better play with that attention to detail."
Is there any area of the team that you don't feel comfortable with, or feel great about, coming out of spring?
"Hmm. Thought, um, feel pretty good with our running backs. I feel really good with our running backs and linebackers, you know, I think there's some solid depth right in there. I'm comfortable with some of the O-line, you know what I mean? Of where we're at with some guys, and, but also creating the depth on that, of solidifying who the five are and the next three are, we're still getting there. Um, you know, the quarterback position as you say, I mean, we're trying to create the two starters and then get the young guys caught up to be the backup, to give it by position. The tight ends, I thought those guys played pretty good. I'm comfortable with those guys. They're going to be hard to compare. You can't really compare them to last year because they have very different skill sets, too. But I thought they had a pretty good understanding. Receivers are coming along. Like one guy to me, Ja'Markis Weston, I thought took huge steps this spring. Was a guy that probably played the least (last year). You know the guys that played last year as we roll the guys out there. Tyree and Van Jefferson were out here at the scrimmage today and those guys had great NFL years last year. Next year you'll be sitting there and saying KT and Grimes had great NFL years and we kind of keep rolling those guys through. Some of the guys have played, but I thought he took a big step forward. Defensive line wise, you look at the guys you expect to be great. But I do think we're creating that depth. The two new guys, Daquan Newkirk and Valentino (Antonio Shelton), I thought those guys embrace the role. They stepped in and just took over right from Day 1. I mean, we expect Zach to be where he is. Gervon I thought, Dexter took some good steps forward this spring. Coming off the edge, with Moon coming back I think that's gonna add some solid depth to us with edge guys as well. I thought we were able to create some depth there. Secondary I feel good. We gotta get the depth. I think we'll feel good with putting four to five guys out there on the field, but you want to get to six, seven, eight in a hurry. I think we feel comfortable with a couple of those guys, but we need a bunch of those guys to really grow moving forward."
How have Montinar and McGriff helped the secondary?
"It's a very young group. So for those guys, they have all new guys. A lot of new guys playing. I thought they bring high energy and attention to detail in every little thing that they're doing. They've built a bond and you see those guys, kind of the leadership within the group and those guys playing closer together. And the communication. I think we're much cleaner in our communication on the back end."
Who would be on your basketball team?
"If I went into the locker room right now, you have about 80 guys that think they would be in the starting five. Usually in the spring, we've done it in the past, we might wait here at the end of April, we might do a basketball tournament with the team, and we'll see how they shape up and how they do. Maybe that's something we invite you guys to and you get a little feel.. invite you to the basketball tournament and you can make the judgement and you guys can call out who was good and who was not. We can bring some reality to the situation."
(inaudible follow up)
"That would be a huge argument as to who is who and who would do that. I am trying to think, there are probably a few guys that would surprise you and they would retty legit out there."
Yeah you got some hoopers
"I just can't.. I'm not reeling off who they are."
Who lean on for leadership during offseason?
“It’s so much by position group in a lot of ways. So you’re looking at, hey Zach Carter, the guys up front, the whole defensive front, you gotta take control of that. You’re look at Kaiir in the secondary, you have to make sure those guys are communicating and getting the work in donig what they’re supposed to do. Ventrell Miller at linebacker. You’re looking at guys like Big Stew and Ethan White, Richard Gouraige on the offensive line of making sure they’re getting the work in they need to get in. Emory obviously a lot. You look at certain positions, the running back position has so many veterans, those guys kind of there’s not one guys teaching the young guys how to do it because you have so many veteran guys that know what to do, does that make sense.. Emory and Anthony have to get the tight ends and receivers and all that, they got to work on the same page. So it’s kind of the veteran guy at their position group pulling ajl the other guys along, saying, this is the work we need to do. When I was talking about how to prepare, how to learn, how to develop, it’s the older guys saying, this is how you do it. Kyle Trask last year getting everybody on the same page to do it. Emory watched how he did it, so now it’s his turn for him to go show those guys how to do it, and then Anthony learns and then shows them how to do it. It’s kinda that effect that goes all the way through the groups. It’s not really a specific guy or two it’s guy within their position and are to get it done.”
What work ethic of the team?
“I think they have a great work ethic. Our guys show up every day with a great attitude, excitedto work , excited to get after it, whether we’re lifting weights … it’s learning how to do it on your own, does that make sense. If I went in the locker room real quick and said, ‘Hey, let’s go out scrimmage tomorrow. OK, let’s go coach. What do you want us to do?’ But now I’m not here, it’s on you. How are you taking the onus on yourself to do it. That’s the critical part of the improvement.”
Defense improve during spring, a lot of noise last season?
“I think you have to look, I look at every little detail, what was bad and what was good on the defensive side of the football. I thought our defense had a really good spring. You’d say the defense won pretty much all the scrimmages that we had. So I think overall the defense had a very good spring. But we got to continue to take those steps and create that depth. There was some negative things about the defense last year, but also I look at are we making adjustments and improvements to change those things in certain areas. Where were they, what were they? It’s easy to look at statistically at certain things, but then statistics can tell you maybe what, but why are the statistics that way, what made them that way and are we addressing those factors. I think we have some good coaches. I think Todd is an excellent football coach. That he’s able when you look, this is the problem, how do you go fix the problem, and how are we making adjustments to make sure we’re going that.”
Anything you learned about this team this spring?
"Just having a spring certainly helps. I think we're going to come back now as a coaching staff, that we weren't able to do last year, and really put together offensive and defensive things that ..we are able to put guys in position to do what they do well. I think we will eliminate some things on both sides of the ball, and we might emphasize some things a little bit more. We put a lot in and we are going to trim all the fat and go, 'this is what we did well, here is what we... here are things we don't do well.' So whether it's in certain situations, we're not.. how do we adjust these situations that we're not great in or avoid those situations.. and then here's play by play on things that the guys do well, we don't do well, we execute well, we don't execute well. These are the type of plays this player can make; these are the type of plays they don't make as well, so let's scheme around those. I think we do have a much better..pretty good feel. Certainly watching us, I certainly think more through an offensive mind just generally who I am, hey I have a good idea of, this is the type of emphasis of the offense going to be moving forward. But I also look at guys and say, these guys made a lot of plays defensively, make sure these guys are in the rotation. In key moments of the game, I don't want a guy next to me on the sidelines that has made a lot of plays for us. Make sure whatever we need to do to tweak to get those guys on the field, they are on the field. We didn't have any of that last spring."
Comments