Transcript: Dan Mullen On His 2-QB System, An Anthony Richardson Hamstring Update and Facing Bama
Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen met with local media on Monday to recap the USF win, preview the upcoming game against the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and tease his two-quarterback system with Anthony Richardson and Emory Jones.
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Opening statement:
“I want to start off with the new college rankings coming out and the University of Florida being a top-five public university academically in America is something that is very special. I don't know that people around the country we get enough credit or understand that or see that enough and then we even publicized that enough. But when you look here and say all the athletic success we've had here sometimes overshadows the fact on the national stage maybe of people looking and looking at Florida on the outside and saying, ‘Boy, you know, a lot of success on the field.’ But to be a top-five public university academically and be one of the absolute elite academic schools in the nation is very, very special and great for the university, great for the Gator Nation everywhere. That's really exciting for us and for all our large student athletes and it shows the credit and the type of student athletes that come here to the University of Florida.
“Excited about this week's game, obviously going to start conference play. So things really start to ramp up with conference play now and going to be back in the Swamp. It’ll be an exciting atmosphere. I think with how the SEC schedule’s set up, you don't get all these crossover games that often. I think the opportunity to have the Florida-Alabama game and to have it here in the Swamp. I don't know the last time they've been here, but I think it's been quite a while. It’s going to be really exciting and should be a great atmosphere so we're excited and going to have a great week of practice and get ready of the go.”
How’s Anthony Richardson:
“I think he’s doing good. Saw him today watching the film. He kind of had some tightness in his hamstring. He'll do treatment and we'll see how, how he'll be this week. We expect him to practice and we'll see how he comes along at practice and deals with it during the week.”
On the opportunity for the program:
“Anytime you get the opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country is a great, great deal. I think it'll be great for this team to see where we're at at this point of the season. Obviously it's a long year. The outcome of this game certainly is not going to define the season on either way. There's a lot of football to still be played throughout the course of the year, but it'll be a good measuring stick to where we're at at this point of the season with this team.”
HAS TEAM PLAYED UP TO YOUR STANDARDS?
"Ah, I mean I have pretty high standards, so I think we can get a lot better. And you look, you look and I don't want to downplay it, you look at that last week's game, we had a bunch of yards, put up a bunch of explosive plays. I think we left a lot on the field, though. There was a lot of opportunities for us to play better fotball as a team all around. You look at 17 of their points came on drives that started on the plus side of the field; two as a result of the offense and one as a result of special teams. You know? So 17 of their points came off of; now the defense has got to go stop them, but the offense/special teams put our defense in a bad situation. We didn't have the ball to start one time on the plus side of the field in that last game. So you look, there's a lot of little things we've got to improve on to play high-level football, not just count on making big play after big play, offensively and defensively."
HOW DO YOU DECIDE THIRD SERIES FOR RICHARDSON, HAS HE EARNED RIGHT TO GO IN SOONER?
"Well we'll see. We kind of go in with a plan depending on the game, and we kind of schedule the plan off of each deal. There are some circumstances maybe that would change that, but I mean everybody is kind of on plan going into the game that, 'Hey, you're going to play the third series.' You know, we have that going in and we know what we're going to do. Now there are circumstances that could affect that, and there were Saturday circumstances that would affect if he went in and when he went in. So that's always up there changing."
HOW DO YOU EXPECT SWAMP TO BE? NOT A LOT OF SELLOUTS HERE IN YOUR TIME. CAN IT BE DIFFERENCE-MAKER?
"Well I think home-field advantage in the SEC, obviously last year nobody had it. We didn't have any sell-outs last year. I think home-field advantage is a huge deal, especially now with fans back in the stadiums. That's one of the things that makes the SEC tough, that you get that extra support from the fanbase and that energy and the fans making it difficult. Like I said, it's fun to play this game. As you mentioned, last time was Auburn, which was the last, you know, non-regular crossover that we kind of played here. So it's something that is really exciting. Hopefully the league with this expansion looks at maybe having a lot more rotating games and get rid of whether it's permanent crossovers or permanent teams that you're playing or however they want to do it to create this excitement for the fanbase because I think it's going to be a great atmosphere on Saturday here in the Swamp. Probably the best environment in college football this Saturday."
CAN YOU EXPLAIN PROCESS OF PICKING QUARTERBACKS? (LENGTHY EXPLANATION OF QUESTION HERE)
"I mean it's so flexible in so many different scenarios and situations that you get into depending on your roster, your team, the makeup, the experience of the players that you have. There's so much that goes into that, of, and it's not just at the quarterback position, it's the team as a whole of who's going to give you the best opportunity to win this game? Are we developing guys? Who's the best decision-maker out there leading the team? There's so many different little things that go into it and each scenario is unique. You know, I've been through it. I've been either a quarterback coach or an offensive coordinator or head coach now for a long time with a lot of different situations and different scenarios that you look at. Some cause you to have one quarterback and another one come in to run a certain package. Other situations cause you to rotate them a little bit more. Some you kind of, like you're set, this is the guy that's going to help us because both guys have experience. I don’t have to roll them in to get them experience, to get them prepared to play. I think there’s so much that goes into that with every situation is very, very unique. I’ve had so many of them. I probably could sit here for two hours if you give me the year and the quarterbacks I could take you through the scenario and situation. But it all gets very unique. It’s all on a very unique basis.”
Thoughts on outside noise about QBs?
“Uhh, yeah, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t listen to many suggestions. If you’re in our staff meeting I’m going to listen to your suggestion. I don’t know, I don’t run down to Shands Hospital and say, ‘Boy, I think you should really do that procedure this way.’ I think those guys probably got that under control, you know? So, they’re the people, they’re the experts who are doing it.”
Megan input?
“I get a lot of suggestions from her, but not many about the scheme or what we’re calling on third down.”
11th time UF host Alabama, and you’re going for first win in 11 tries, what makes a Nick Saban team so difficult to play?
“No. 1, they got a ton of talent. They do a great job recruiting. They have depth. They have talent at every position. I think he does a great job with his program in keeping the guys focused. I think they play at a very high level ... Not just having tremendous talent. He gets the guys and they play at a very high level and execute at a very high level. And then obviously they have a good scheme and have very good football coaches on both sides of the football, running good schemes. They put those guys in good position to make plays. When you combine all those things it makes them an excellent team.”
Conversation with Todd G on stopping Bama attack?
“Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll find out on Saturday. That will be a good matchup for us. We have to play hard, we have to be sound, 11 guys running to the ball as hard as they can and finish and do a great job of being sound and playing great defense.”
Jeremiah Moon at LB, Jadarrius Perkins at STAR roles to be expanded?
“Yeah, I think you see with Moon, that move we played him to play inside ‘backer this year I think coming back and it shows the comfort that he has here, creates some flexibility on the defensive side of the ball. Perk, really pleased. Came in and a guy that came in, transferred in, got here had to pick up the system fast. Started him at corner, now also playing some STAR. He’s done a good job of working his tail off, mentally. Obviously, he has some great physical tools, but mentally to learn the system, learn the defense, get ready to get out there on the field. He’s done a good job making plays.”
Last year in Atlanta main difference was along the OL/DL, how much growth have you seen?
“We’re getting there. We’re getting there. Again, we’ll find out. It’s hard to say sometimes early in the season. I don’t know who they’ve played yet and I don’t know who we’ve played yet. At the end of the year you can come out and say, hey we played two top-25 teams by the end of the season and they’ve played two teams that weren’t very good or could be flipped vice versa. I think it will be a good test for both teams up there. I think we’ve played solid up front defensively. I think our front seven has been solid defensively through the first two games. Offensively I think we’ve been solid and been able to run the ball and protect the quarterback for the most part. It will be interesting to see. It’ll be a good test and a good matchup to see where we’re at and where both teams are at. I’m sure they feel the same way.”
Anthony needs to make right reads?
“They always do. Both our guys do. I thought in the first half both quarterbacks played really well, made good decisions and I thought in the second half we made a couple poor decisions, missed reads, missed checks, you know, things that you gotta do. Taking care of the mental part of the game for both our quarterbacks. I think that’s a big part of it as they continue to grow.”
Is there one read maybe that Anthony didn’t make that you know he would want back? An example?
“An easy one would be if you go back a couple games he drops back, misses a protection check, then misses the hot throw, then misses the primary read, and then scrambles around and runs and everybody thinks, ‘what a spectacular play!’”
Do you coach differently in the world of the transfer portal than maybe you used to?
“No. I’ve never thought about it, to be honest with you. You’re probably thinking about it at transfer portal times, at the end of a season and just helping guys and helping guys guide through their careers. I’ve always been somebody that plays a lot of players. You look at our responsibility is to develop guys within the program and develop them to get better we end up playing a lot of players that way. I’ve never done it for any other reason than player development. I think that’s why we do what we do. That’s why we roll guys through a lot of times. Maybe statistically it doesn’t always look the best for us at the end of a game where hey boy we rolled a lot of guys through to get people experience and to get guys developed but in the big picture of the program it helps us.”
Ventrell Miller hurt, Jean Delance and Elijah Blades?
“Yeah, we’ll see. We gotta check with them. I’ll find out more with Ventrell today. The other two, uh, Blades had a sore hamstring and just didn’t feel like he could go on it to play at the level he needed, wanted to play at. Jean was just a bruise. We expect him to be back out there today or tomorrow practicing.”
Jadarrius Perkins being a unicorn, when’d you see that as a possibility?
“Well I think it's one of those where we’re trying to find guys that create the depth at different positions, you know, and you look at that spot as somebody that we got to do some different things with, and, you know, so you try guys out, and I thought you know, I mean, he picked it up pretty quickly, and did a good job with it and they, you know, and Tre’Vez Johnson does a great job with it, too. But those guys bring a little something different, and create more flexibility within the defense and creates more depth within the defense.”
Does rotation shrink in SEC play?
“Well, I mean everything shrinks. You can't dress as many guys. We had a lot more guys dressed the first two games, we can't even dress that many and, within the conference rules for the games. You know, so they'll be, you know a lot more guys put jersey on the sidelines a lot less guys available within the course of the game for us to roll through and to play, you know, and you probably do, you're probably gonna, you know, the guys that we were trying to roll equal reps, get a lot of guys experience, some of the more veteran guys are probably getting more reps in this game than they have in the previous games.”
Thoughts on D-line after 2 games?
“Oh yeah, they're getting there, for sure. Obviously, we had a bunch of injuries at that position in training camp. Hopefully get some of those guys back this week, but the, you know, so I think that set us back a little bit, but I like the mindset. I like where we're at. The older guys that are coming in that are transferred in – obviously Trues(dell) is still trying to pick it up, he got here late – but the other two guys, the transfers, I think have picked it up. I believe have bought in and understand now what we're trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish, and you got to have that depth to be able to roll through, to play a full conference schedule. So, you know, we worked last week rotating a bunch of those guys in, getting a lot of guys reps and trying to create that depth with the older veteran guys mixed in with the, with, you know some of the younger guys experience getting ready to play.”
Obviously these are two different teams now, but how much do you sort of look back at that SEC title game in terms of your preparation this week, and what have you guys as coaches, sort of can glean from that game?
“Um, you know, I think that you know, it just, it was a one score game and it came right down to the wire, I imagine this game should probably play out differently. They have a bunch of new faces, we have a bunch of new faces out there, and you know they're a very good coaching staff and so they're probably similar to us – they're gonna do what their guys can do well, you know, and they'll have a little bit different personnel and do some different things on offense that suits the personnel that they have, the same that we do, you know. And then the same thing defensively of trying to, you know, to make sure they're putting their personnel in, and get the, get the schemes, like we have to adjust our defense to what their offense is going to be this year, we have to adjust our offense to what their defense is going to be, and vice versa, you know how to go play those and match it up with, you know the slight changes that you've made schematically, with the personnel with this year compared to last year.”
A lot of flexibility with your personnel…how much of this year’s offense have we still not seen?
“A lot. We’ve kept it pretty simple the first two weeks. I think as you go, the different personnel and utilizing different personnel in different ways is something we’ll look at throughout the course of the year that we get into.”
2008 – loss to UGA was a motivation in offseason. Was this Bama matchup a similar motivating factor in offseason? Talk about six points?
“I don’t think we used that. I think it was motivating in that what is – hey, we had the opportunity to win an SEC championship and fell six points short. We’re right there. We want to get the opportunity to get to go win that this year, put ourselves back in that situation. I think once your guys have a little taste of that success, they want to get that back. So it wasn’t purely that. I don’t know it’s just the loss to Alabama. It was the loss in the championship game more than just the opponent, if that makes sense. And the drive to want to get back there and go compete and win a championship.”
Where does this game rank for you in how big it is, implications, etc? What tell the guys about it?
“You know, I tell you one thing: You don’t need a lot of motivation. If you need me to motivate you to play in this game, you’re a little messed up. This is a big game. This is why you come to Florida, to play in big games and play in these top matchups. Motivationally wise, that’s what it is. I think early in the year, things are a little different. We’ve had some big ones against them, and big ones later in the year. Obviously last year’s probably had more implications than this game does this year. I’m sure – whatever the result of the game is, I’m sure both teams are viewing it as hope we have another opportunity (trails off) both teams want to play this team again at some point. I think it’s probably a little bit different that way than maybe in some of the other years.”
Bama reloads, so it’s more schemes than players…what are those schemes? What is different?
“They do a really good job of mixing things up. I think they’ve grown offensively throughout the years of spreading people out, throwing the ball, being a little bit more spread-based offense from your old, traditional, they used to play more i-formation that they used to do. Then defensively, they do a good job mixing it up, mixing up all their coverages, mixing up some of the pressures, playing multiple fronts. They’re going to play you in multiple fronts and not give you a lot of the same look over and over again. I think they’re very multiple that way. When you’re multiple of showing all the different looks, but then when you combine that with great players, like you said, they have depth at every position, and they’re very veteran group. Someone asked about the transfer portal earlier. They have guys that are older guys on the roster that are backups that don’t play a ton. They get limited opportunities, but they’re still there, and it creates great depth for them on their roster. They do a good job of that, too.”
Jimbo got a little offended earlier this offseason when Saban signed his new contract and the narrative was everybody's got to wait until Saban retired to win championships and SEC championships. Ss that offensive to you when you hear that narrative?
"Um, I don't know, I mean I don't put, I never even thought about it or thought about it in that way, to be perfectly honest with you. I think he's done a good job with his program. They do a really good job. I mean he hasn't won all the national championships so that's obviously not the case. And a bunch of other people that won them over the last couple of years so never really thought of it in that terms."
Emory Jones, I don't know if you heard his comments about Anthony after the game the other day. He talked about, first off, how much he's enjoying—he's like 'I'm like y'all I'm waiting to see what this kid does next.' And then he talked about just the relationship they built with all the time and support and the late nights and what does that say to you about just those two guys and how they're going to handle this?
"Oh I think it shows you know, I mean the perception maybe of—the difference in perception and reality and everybody's perception on the outside. And the reality of what's going on on the inside. You know, you have two young guys that are both trying to get better, both trying to learn; they learn and help each other, they appreciate each other and they help each other. You know, and they're good friends and you want to see people, people succeed that way. And you know when you have good friends that way. And, you know, I think that's one of the things that makes college football pretty unique is the reality of what goes on inside the building. Maybe compared to everybody what everybody—a lot of the perception on the outside, I mean I, meeting with Emory yesterday, just going through things and he's like 'yeah, I mean hey, it's amazing, I mean I'm so happy, I see him do all these great things and, and it's exciting. I love watching him out there on the field, that's exciting you know.' But Emory's, you know, but Emory's focus is 'how do I get better and how do I help Anthony get better?' And Anthony's the same, gotta be, their the same way, you know. I think that's, that's so important and that's the reality of what goes on inside of how are they improving."
It's not Aaron Rodgers Brett Farve, for sure, But you might be buddies with Nick but it's a little different this week. How exciting is this challenge for you personally just a play caller going against such a great defensive mind. And given that you've been in this league a long time now?
"It's always fun, it's always, you know, I mean you always want to challenge yourself against the best and and you know, I mean this is a great opportunity for us to go challenge against the number one team in the country, and see where we're at right now as a team this year. And you know that I love these. These games are fun for me. You know, I mean, you get the opportunity to go out there, you know, and go play in an unbelievable environment against an unbelievable team, the crowd going crazy. I mean this is what it's all about. This is why we do this."
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