Transcript: Dan Mullen Previews the Florida Gators Season Opener
Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen met with local media on Monday to preview the Gators 2021 season opener. The No. 13 Gators kickoff Saturday evening against the FAU Owls in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
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INTRO "Hey, we're excited getting into game week right now. Obviously been a transition from training camp into game week for our guys. It's a big transition now. You've got school going, it kind of resets the schedule for everything that we're doing and how we're preparing, how we get ready. Going to be exciting we get to play against another team. We've gone our offense against our defense for quite a while, so it's good to get going against another team. Obviously going to be an exciting weekend here on campus. I know our fans did a great job last year, but to go get fans back in the Swamp and create that atmosphere, create that home-field advantage, the energy, the excitement, whether you're going through the Gator Walk to running out in front of 90,000 fans in the Swamp, to hearing that energy and excitment they create for the players. I know the school is excited to honor Leonard George and Willie Jackson this weekend, so there's a lot of special things happening here in the Swamp and can't wait to have everyone come be involved in it." WHAT ARE YOU MOST EAGER FROM THE TEAM? "I don't know, I mean we've been practicing for so long, I mean you go from an offseason, conditioning, to spring ball and then training camp practice against each other and do that for so long... I'm excited to see these guys go out. All the hard work they've put in, to get to see them go play and go play in front of a packed stadium and go play in front of fans, just can't wait because I know these guys are excited to get out there to go." 13TH OPENER AS HEAD COACH, HOW HAVE YOU LEARNED OVER YEARS TO BALANCE EVERYTHING IN OPENER... HIGH EXPECTATIONS, SHOWING TOO MUCH, GETTING GUYS COMFORTABLE PLAYING, ETC? "Yeah, I think one of the biggest ones is to focus on winning the game this week. Obviously everything now goes from, 'Hey, it's practice. We're installing this or we're installing that, we're going against each other here and there,' to the focus of, 'How do we use our offense, defense and special teams? How are we applying it to this opponent? How are we preparing in this short window to go play a game?' That's obviously a huge transition for us, to make sure we prepare the right way for it. Then you try to always leave a little bit of extra time in the schedule this week just to get yourself into the routine. I'm always going through my checklist. We have a long checklist of things to make sure that you've crossed every T and dotted every I, that we're completely prepared in every single way, especially in Game 1. As the season goes you get very much into a routine and even for the coaches right now it's a different routine. So making sure we're getting back to the routine and we're getting handled everything that we need to get handled." BALANCE FOR YOU WITH HIGH EXPECTATIONS AND PERFECTIONISM, THOUGH? WITH THINGS GETTING MESSY AT TIMES IN AN OPENER? "Yeah, I don't like being messy. I don't care when we're playing. I want us to come out and play at an extremely high level. That's kind of our expectations. We've had a lot of time to practice, so we should be prepared to go execute." HOW MUCH EXTRA JUICE DO YOU EXPECT COACHES AND PLAYERS TO GET FROM SEMI-PACKED OR PACKED STADIUM? HOW DID YOU GENERATE SOME OF THAT LAST YEAR YOURSELVES? "Well last year I mean just very, very unique in guys having to motivate themselves to play the game. Which, I mean, our guys love to play the game. We love to coach the game. We love everything the game stands for. So the motivating factor’s there, but it is that extra energy. You do. You feel the crowd. You don’t just hear it, but you feel it. And I think that’s something that can really draw out things inside of you that you don’t get through last year, when your self-motivation and desire to go play. When you can feel the energy of a crowd, it lifts you up even more.”
How different will it be running into full Swamp? “It’ll be very different. It’ll be great. It’ll be awesome. The excitement, the energy, even walking into the tunnel, it’ll feel very different.” Wilcoxson put stuff on social media about setback. What’s up? “He has a slight knee issue, so he’ll be doubtful this week. We’ll see how that plays out, though, moving forward.” Unofficial depth chart…Avery Helm as a starting CB. What see from him? “Yeah, well, I guess that’s today’s depth chart. It changes every day. Show up on Saturday, you get to see who starts. But I thought he’s done a really good job of putting himself in a position. Whether he starts or not, I don’t know. You gotta come out on Saturday, or plays the first play of the game. We’re going to play a bunch of guys on the back end. We’re going to rotate a bunch of guys through. I think Avery’s done a really good job of maturing. I think that was a big deal for him. I know he came in, when he got here, he was coming off a pretty significant injury, so that set him back with his rehab. But to grow and mature through that and then put himself in a position – obviously he has tremendous physical talents. But it’s the maturity of learning how to play within the scheme, play within what we’re doing and do what’s expected of him beyond just his physical talents. And he’s worked hard to go learn that, having missed all the time from an injury when he got here.” You’ve had a lot of different styles of QBs. Did you feel like you had to take their strengths and evolve from that, as opposed to trying to force a certain style on them? “I think you look at what makes quarterbacks successful and a lot of the intangibles that come with that. So a lot of our focus is on the intangibles at the quarterback position. Obviously we go out, and we teach the techniques. We teach the fundamentals of the position. We teach the offensive scheme and make sure that they understand what they’re supposed to do. We set up a lot of our practice is set up around quarterback development. But then it is really important to look and find what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses, and highlight their strengths or promote their strengths within the scheme that we do and protect against their weaknesses. Always put them in a position to be successful. And that’s really what we’ve done, and I guess we’ve been really good at identifying the strengths and then have the flexibility within our offense to highlight their strengths and to ask them to do what they do well, I think, is – I mean that’s kind of the secret, I guess.”
Does it provide Emory comfort that you have a track record of being successful with so many different styles? "Yeah, I do. I think all our quarterbacks know because they sit in the room and they sit there and know how we prepare and put the packages together and we put the plan together and they see that it’s, I don’t know that I’ve ever had two that are similar. I think they see that, hey, we’re gonna build around their individual strengths and I think there is a comforting factor in knowing that.” Tyrone Truesdale transfer, did injuries play into that decision? “I think you’re looking at your depth and that was a position really, to me, it was a little bit of a recruiting gap in the middle that we’ve had from my first and second year here. Then you have some injuries and some guys not able to perform. It was somebody that we looked at immediately at the start of training camp and it’s just something that you look at the depth chart, where you’re at, the needs, and you got a guy that started a lot of games in this league, the opportunity for him to come in — I know it’s kind of a late start but being a veteran guy that’s started in the league I think he’s going to adapt really quick.” Injury status for Newkirk and Lee? “Jalen (Lee) will be questionable. (Daquan) Newkirk is good to go today.” Is this the longest you’ve had a QB before you started them? “Dak Prescott? Wasn’t the similar to that? I think redshirt junior year was his first year as the full-time starter.” I thought he was earlier? “He came in because guys were injured his sophomore year but coming into the season he took over as the full-time starter that year. I don’t know. I’d have to really dive into it to go figure all that out. I’m sure there’s a couple guys. Early on in my career I wasn’t around, we were kind of two years in and out at a couple stops.” Benefit for him to have that much time to develop in the system “I think he understands it, you know what I mean? You look at his playing time and experience throughout the years. I guess as everybody says this will be his first time playing the first play of the game but to say he hasn’t played in a lot of big moments in a lot of different games, big difference.” Potential scooter accident this morning with Yousef Mugharbil, have you heard? “Yep, we do. We know. I don’t have every detail but he’s ok.”
Another QB thing, how long have you been wanting to use 2 QBs? Where does that come from? “Well, you know, a lot of it is based on experience. Every situation is very different and unique. Obviously you look at a situation, if your quarterbacks have very different skill sets, there’s a value in using different ones on the field. And then the second value comes into experience. We don’t have preseason games, we don’t have that, so guys are one snap away from being the guy. And we put a lot on our quarterback, we’re a very quarterback-based offense, so if, you sit there and look at somebody and say, ‘Hey I know you’ve never stepped foot on the field before, but in the fourth quarter of the game we expect you to go win the game for us’, that’s a hard situation to put people into. But if they’ve been on the field, if they’ve had experience, if they’ve played, then it is a little bit easier for that situation to put them into. And so, you know, there’s a lot a different reasons why we do what we do, but those are some of the main ones, is utilizing their talent of putting guys in position to do things that they do well, number one, and number two is having guys gain experience and so they are ready when their time and opportunity comes.” FAU, when you gameplan for them, how much do you look at former matchups with Willie Taggart, or is that not too valuable? “Well, I mean you look at that on that side of the ball, you know he’s an offensive guy so you’re looking at that on that side of the ball and what they did, and they have some guys back offensively. Defensively, obviously they have a very veteran coaching staff. New coordinator, so you’re kinda trying to put bits and pieces together, but they have a lot of veteran players back defensively, so you know I think you’re going to be taking little things from everywhere. You’re looking at the Oklahoma stuff, and you’re looking maybe at some Alabama stuff, and you’re looking at stuff that they did last year, so you’re kinda taking bits and pieces– seems like every year we seem to be playing a new coaching staff in game one or new parts of a new coaching staff or new coordinators in game one, where you kinda have no idea really what they’re going to do, so you’re watching other people trying to prepare for everything.” N’Kosi Perry, containing him? “I think you go back and you look, I think he’s got some athletic ability and obviously he has some great size, but a really good passer on top of it. So you’ve got to look, they’re going to put him in position to do different things, so you have to respect his arm talent and his size as a pocket guy to be able to see and have that height and that length, but you also have to be aware of his athletic ability and his ability to create outside the play.” To clarify Dak Prescott was full-time starter as redshirt junior according to Wikipedia? “There you go. That sounds about right. Yeah that year, the year of his redshirt sophomore year, we started three different quarterbacks because of injuries. That was a tricky year right there. So, we started Tyler Russell, then he got hurt. We started Dak, then he got hurt. I think we went, Tyler Russell was healthy at that point so he came back in, then he got hurt again, then I think we started Damien Williams, and then Dak came back for the bowl game, he was healthy for the bowl game to start that one for us.” Hope that doesn’t happen again “It’s a challenge.”
How much do you throw on Emory’s plate this first week? “Yeah, we put it all in on him. You know what I mean? It’s not like he's a freshman or hasn't been around. That’s part of the experience. He’s played meaningful snaps in each of the last couple seasons. He’s a guy that I feel pretty comfortable (with). We’ll just throw the whole thing out of him and let him go.” How much leeway does he have to make his own calls? “He has a lot. We'll have a bunch of different things. We’ll have some package plays that are checked together. We’ll have some automatics that he can kill to. I think he knows he has the ability (to audible) if he sees something that he likes or that's different that we weren't planning for. A lot of times you get into a game, especially one that you don't have much film to go watch, you know you have to be very flexible during the course of the game. He’s a guy that I have the confidence in that, if he sees something, he can check to it and go take what he sees.” Your first game in the Swamp as an assistant coach? “Who did we play? No idea. 2005 or whatever. “Oh, first game back in 2005.” Yeah, your first game “I thought you were talking a couple of years ago, even. … Wasn’t that like against Wyoming or somebody like that?” That sounds right. … Yeah, Wyoming. You won 32-14. “Against who?” Wyoming “I do remember it because that was one of our last games at Utah and then it ended up being like the first game here, which is kind of a funny deal.” What were your first impressions of the Swamp? “Hmm. I thought it was pretty cool. I think early on, if you go back to it, I remember it being that that Tennessee game that year was at home my first year in the Swamp. And that was the first time you really got to feel how electric and loud it could be. The first game was awesome, it was really cool, but I just remember that Tennessee game it was really rocking. I think we called a reverse for a touchdown. And it was kind of cool because I was on the field. After that game I think I went up to the box, or right around that time, sometime around then. So I was on the field early on, and so it was kind of cool to be down there on the field. When you're up in the box, it's kind of like a video game or watching on TV sometimes, you know. You don't have that feel of what's going on. You’re kind of seeing it from – what do they say? -- like a 10,000-foot-view or something like that. But you really are. You're up so high looking down on the field. But I do remember feeling the noise of how crazy it was that first year at the Tennessee game.” How does the Swamp compare to the other SEC venues? “Well, I think it's always hard to judge because I've only been in the Swamp one time when I was on the opposing sideline. Almost all of my experience here is being on the good guy sideline. So your experience about it is very different when you're on that sideline. I had a good experience on the opposing sideline one day, the one time I was here. But when you're on the home sideline, it is a different feeling than when you're on that away sideline for sure. So you know, I’ve had coaches come and say it’s the loudest place they’ve ever been and the hardest place they’ve every played, some opposing coaches. So that’s something that is pretty unique and what makes it a very, very special place. When you’re on the home sideline it’s awesome because they’re always cheering for you. You know, when you go on the road, it’s like, hey you go, there’s 90,000 people that want us to win and want the other team to lose when they come in the Swamp and it’s kinda the same when we go to other places. Right there, there’s 90,000 people that wanna see you fail.”
How big a factor is the heat and crowd on top of you? “Well, I think one big thing is how close everybody is to the sideline, how small our sidelines are and how close all the fans are to the field that makes it extremely intimidating.” Who decides the RB rotation? “He usually rolls them through, you know. I’m pretty comfortable with those guys being in the game. We’ll have certain packages that we want certain guys in for. But beyond that, he kind of rolls them through. There will be certain things at times or situations where we want a certain guy in. But for the most part, he’s just rolling them through.” Important to get Bowman and Lingard game experience? “Well, it would be great to get them that experience. We’ll see how the game plays out.” Speaking to Jalen Lee’s family about Hurricane Ida? “Yeah, not about that specifically. But most of the guys we’ve talked to in recruiting, they were going to be OK.” How do you manage stuff like that during game week? “Well, that’s just part of being a head coach. That stuff, there’s probably a lot of those things that come up on a daily basis that most people don’t even know about. So, there’s always little personal issues for everybody on the team that keep popping up all during the course of the season and all during the course of the year. And so you’re kind of dealing with those on an everyday basis.” Will both kickers play against FAU or have one guy? “Well, it’s Monday. So I have till Saturday at 7:30 to figure that out.” No Fenley Graham at kick returner or punt returner? “Yeah, he’s doing a good job. He’s doing a good job. I mean, he’s gotten some reps at that, so we’ll see.”
You all sort of reshuffled your offensive line this year, obviously you have a new starter at center. A couple other guys at tackle and guard. Just how comfortable do you feel with that as a right now and how important is that O-line gonna be this season for you guys?
"Well it's, I mean it's pretty it's pretty big, you know, I mean one of the things you want to do is put guys in position to be successful and so you know we feel like the combinations we're putting out there is putting guys in a position where they're at their best. You know and it gives us the opportunity to put the best five guys on the field, you know, and then you know as you keep going you mix and match some different combinations to always make sure you have your best five guys on the field at all times in positions where they can do things they do well. It's not just, these are the five most talented guys; it's what they do well. You know, is this, is this the best combination for us to be on the field?"
Considering you guys are probably going to be running the football a little bit more this year, how important is it for that offensive line to establish the line of scrimmage, early on?
“Well it's huge, they gotta, you know, whatever we do, they got to do a good job. You know, um, we'll see how it goes; if we run the ball, throw the ball more. I like us, I’d love us to be 50/50 balanced. That's our goal going into every year and some years we're heavy run and some years we're heavier pass and there's a lot of circumstances that go into that of which one you're going to be. But obviously you need your, either, it doesn't matter if we run it or throw it, we need our offensive line to be be pretty solid."
Back to Emory for a minute, how much some of the real good moments that he had—whether it was that Auburn field goal series, some of the LSU plays were real big that game. Do you go back and show him those? How do you go back to those cause there’s some times where he played like one play in some games?
"Yeah he’s, I think he's ready to go. I think he just, he understands that. I mean there were times during, that we would put him in for one to two plays and he would do well and we just leave him on the field, you know. I feel bad, maybe it hurt like Trask’s statistics sometimes last year but, you know, if Emory went in and we put him in to run a play or maybe two plays and all of a sudden we hit those two plays, we just leave him out there and just keep calling the offense. So I think he's pretty comfortable with it. I mean if you go back to his freshman year, you know, I mean, playing the playing against Georgia, you know, playing against Michigan, and he's been on the field in those games. So I think if you go back a couple years, I think he's ready for that moment, to be out there on the field and go make plays. And, you know, and he knows that we've left him out—not just a—you know we've put him out there to run specific plays but there's times we've just left him out there to keep running the plays, and, you know, so that's why I think he's going to be comfortable with what we have going on."
You mentioned in camp that he's a little, maybe going to be a little more—I don't want to miss characterize— hit or miss than Kyle Trask, let's say. How's his consistency improved during camp?
“Pretty good. I think, you know the biggest one is he has so many different ways that he can make explosive plays that you know, you're going to live with certain things. You know I mean there's certain things where, you know, Kyle was probably pretty, really efficient throwing the ball, manage the offense pretty well. There’ll be some times Emory will probably take, will take some shots. You know whether it's trying to extend the play scrambling or try to do that, you know, you're okay with because he can make something dynamic happen out there on the field and you just got to be patient with that as a coach instead of just say 'hey just, you know, take three steps, just check it down right now and let's play the next play, get the next read and keep moving.’ He needs to do some of that. But there's other times you're saying 'okay, hey, let it develop and see what you can create on your own, to allow explosive plays to happen.' And it's just kind of got to be a belief in what you do and how you manage the game.”
"Thank you guys. Have a great week. It’ll be exciting, game day, game week in the Swamp. Packed crowd, it’ll be fun."
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