Transcript: Dan Mullen Talks No. 13 Florida Gators vs. USF, 9/11 Memories and the Two-QB System
Head Coach Dan Mullen met with local media this week to preview the No. 13 Florida Gators week 2 matchup against the USF Bulls, reflect on 9/11 memories with the 20th anniversary upcoming, and break down the two-quarterback system.
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Opening:
“Obviously excited this week, an exciting week here in Florida, exciting week, really, think of the Tampa area this week, right. You get the Bucs opening up the defense of their Super Bowl against the Cowboys Thursday night and Florida-USF Saturday. Kind of exciting week for the people in the Tampa area. Going to be a big game obviously for us. A fun game, guys are going to know each other, a lot of Florida players on the roster. The opportunity when you get to play those in-state games, that’s what happens. Obviously going to be going into a tough, hostile environment down in Tampa with the USF fans. I’ve already seen their players come out saying this game’s been circled for them for years. It will be a big game for us in a big-game environment. We’ve got to have a great week of practice and take some big steps forward.”
Timetable where trust a QB knows the offense?
“Anthony knows the offense. It’s just getting the reps and the experience of the decision-making and making all the reads and checks within the offense. You go watch the film, he made spectacular but missed some very, very simple checks within the game plan. It’s just that comfort, and then that comfort of being able to execute it within a game, so obviously you can make that time work however you need to make it work sometimes. But it’s the best when you can let guys learn it the right way and build a really solid foundation.”
TALKED IN OCTOBER 2019 ABOUT TEBOW/LEAK DYNAMIC... CAN YOU ENVISION PLAYING THEM OFF EACH OTHER (JONES/RICHARDSON)?
“Well sure. I mean we'll see how this week's game plays out.”
YOU UNDERSTAND THE ENTHUSIASM FOR RICHARDSON, RIGHT?
“There's always enthusiasm for everybody, you know? When they come in... and he made some great plays. Hey, I was here in '06 and there was enthusiasm, huge enthusiasm for Tim Tebow and he played about six, seven plays a game. But those six, seven plays are a lot of enthusiasm. So yeah, I've seen it before and understand it."
O-LINE, 400 YARDS, NO SACKS... TIGHT ENDS AS WELL NO CATCHES BUT BLOCKED WELL ON BIG RUNS
“Yeah, I thought the offensive line did a solid job. I think one of the things, there's some experience with those guys right there. So you see a little probably less Game 1 jitters and being back out there. To them it's not, 'Hey, I'm out on the field, wow, this is a crazy experience.' Their adjustment is, 'We're back out on the field.' So they're kind of adjusting to game mode, game speed, game dynamics more than just the experience of playing. But I thought those guys handled it pretty well. You see some really good things they did and they missed a couple things here and there that we'll get corrected."
Rick Wells and Malik Davis, guys that have been on periphery lately had a big game, speak to the program?
“I think the deal is that guys grow and gain that experience You see a lot of guys that transfer out and wherever they go they grow and they learn and they eventually end up having good careers. So I think it’s more about your development and your overall development from the beginning to the end of your career. Those guys took very different paths. Malik’s career obviously has hit speed bumps due to injuries and that’s kind of slowed him down through the course of his career and Rick, his was a lot more development based. For either of them to never be discouraged along the way but to put their head down and grind and keep working, it’s always great to see people that do that, do things the right way to have success.”
Where do you want to see offensive line improve?
“Well a lot of different ways, missed a couple of blocks here and there. In the scheme they missed a couple of decisions within our scheme and what we were doing. I mean that way would be a big way to get those guys to continue, not all of them graded out. You know just more consistency of play would be important.”
What’d you think of Avery Helm’s performance and the other CBs?
“Yeah, they you know, I mean, good experience both really Avery and Jason, getting in there a bunch. You know, and then Blades coming in too, that's their first action plan in The Swamp for those guys. So, you know, I think overall they held up, you know, and I think now they're going to be able to take a bigger step forward right there, you know, now that, kind of like, ‘Hey I've been on the field, I played in the game, I've played in front of 90,000 people’, or what, however many were here, and you know, ‘Now I know what that's all about. Now I just get back to playing football’.”
When people talk about two quarterback system and being able to run it, they refer back to Leak and Tebow being one of the best examples of it. You saw it up close better than anybody, so what’s the difference rotating a quarterback in for a series here and there versus a true two quarterback system, and if so what made it work, how could you possibly replicate it now?
“I mean the real two quarterback system, you probably got to go ask the coach Spurrier, you know, and he was rolling them through by play in there. That to me is more of a two quarterback system. You know, the other way we did it with, with Chris and Tim, we kind of had, Tim had his package of plays that, you know, he did really well and it was kind of this group, like it wasn't like he was going in to run the same offense. He was going to run a special package of plays when he was a freshman, you know, and so, you know, or when he was young and doing that with Chris. So it is kind of different in different fields. I guess there's a lot of different ways you can go about it. You can do the Coach Spurrier play where you rotate them by play. That I guess would be a real true two quarterback system. You know what we did on Saturday which is, you know, development of the two quarterback system which is— you know, I mean Anthony's never really played much in games so to get him out there to get him experience, kind of like we used to do with Emory, throw him in—and then the last year you had kind of more of the other one, where you'd have Emory would have maybe a couple of packages of plays that we put in for him for a game so there's different ways you can do it.”
You're playing Saturday, on September, 11, the 20th anniversary of course of September 11. Especially for yourself being from that area, what do you kind of remember about that day and how do you relay its importance to a team of guys that were some of them weren't even born when it happened?
“Yeah, I haven't thought about that within our team, yet as much, you know. You’re kind of right now getting into the game part of it all, you know, getting the first game under our belt and getting ready for the second game. You know I kind of get all that the pre-game and all that stuff ready a little bit later in the week. Right now you're kind of working on the plan, a little bit more. But it is—I remember a lot about that day, you know that whole situation. I was coaching at Bowling Green and, you know, we're sitting in there and like someone said' hey you know a plane crashed in the World Trade Center.’ We’re game planning, supposed to play South Carolina that week. And you know, you're like being from, living in New York for four years, you're like, 'something must have gone horribly wrong right there at LaGuardia airport or something for that to happen.' And, you know, then you realize what was really going on and it's kind of a very, very scary day and, you know, kind of canceled football for that week, had a huge impact on that season for us, in football aspect of things, but obviously, you know, bigger impact on on life. You know, and it's, I think as everybody remembers it's changed a lot about the world, you know, in those 20 years, it's changed an awful lot about the world and how we carry ourselves on a daily basis.”
How did QBs grade out compared to each other?
“I don’t have all the specifics. They were both OK. I kinda look at, we go down in the room —we have the meeting with them to maybe go through some of the reads. If you go, like, how we do our grades, Anthony probably graded a little higher because he had explosive plays, and you get extra points for having the big, explosive plays. But if I went pure without giving the bonus points in, probably very similar.”
State opponents like USF, FAU. Why are those important to you?
“I think for one, it’s a pretty neat game for people in the state of Florida. Again, this might not have national implications right now. I don’t know that, besides the Gator Club of Seattle, everybody in Seattle can’t wait to see. I’m sure there’s, like, high school players that are excited to watch the Gators play all over the country. But the general fan in Seattle’s probably not all, can’t wait for this game to happen. But I think here in the state of Florida, this game’s a big game. The fans. You’re going down to the Tampa area, for their fans to be able to come see that, for players – both teams, the highest percentage of players are going to be from the state of Florida, their families can come see this game. Guys know each other from growing up and seeing the two teams play, so I think that’s what always makes it fun on these kind of – when you can create little in-state rivalry games like this, I think it’s good for the state.”
Worried about losing matchups like USF with SEC possibly going to a nine- or 10-game slate?
“Yeah, I don’t know. That’s just … that’s like a talk radio discussion right there. You can have me get on talk radio and discuss for hours what everybody should do in the future of college football.”
Thought process behind using Richardson on the Hail Mary?
“Well, I think one of those … Last year that was Kyle Pitts’ position, you know. Where you kind of have a point guy that can go up and get a rebound. You’re just throwing the ball on a hail mary into the end zone. And so when you look, if we want out on the basketball court and he’s going to be our best power forward, that’s the guy you kind of want to put at that spot right there to go try to jump up and make the play. So, it’s something we came up with in training camp, put him in that position. And again, it’s just one of those things, how are you utilizing the personnel on our team as much as possible?”
Andrew Chatfield still with the team? Practicing?
“Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he played in the game on Saturday.”
You guys hoping to keep him here?
“That would be up to him, I guess, more than us. I mean, there’s nowhere to go right now. So, he’s still here with the team.”
Injury update, did you exit the game clean?
“Yeah, we did. We don't have any injuries coming out of the game, which is very fortunate. Hoping to get, you know, Lamar Goods back this week on the defensive line. Jalen Lee is going to be questionable, we're not sure, he'll be right there on the edge of being ready for this game on the defensive line. So you know, having four interior D-linemen out, that was tricky in game one so hopefully we get two of them back this week. Jaelin Humphries and Chris Thomas will both be another week or two, so, that way. Who else you got? Kamar Wilcoxson is going to miss the year, he had a knee surgery so he's going to miss the rest of the season. Am I missing people? Anybody else you want to know about or, like I mean, I didn't bring my sheet up with me."
What did you think about Steve Spurrier alternating QBs when you were a WR coach at Columbia, did you think it was insane?
“I'll be honest with you, I didn't. I mean, I have so much respect for Coach Spurrier, I just, I would never think anything that he did would be insane. As a young coach, you're sitting there saying, 'I wonder what's behind it all.' And it's a really unique deal. I mean, there's a lot you can get out of it. Now, it can affect the rhythm of your team and it can affect the rhythm of the players, but as long as the players, one of the most important things is that the guys know what the plan is, you know? There's not a shock or a surprise, you know? I mean coming into this game on Saturday, 'Hey, we're gonna get Anthony in the third series of the game unless something weird happened,' you know, and we did that. And then, you know, I didn't have the set, 'Okay, he's going in the fifth series,' then it was we want to get him a couple more series in the course of the game, which I think we did. He got, I think he had three series. I think it was, maybe four at the end, we had an extra one. And, you know, so I think our guys kind of knew the plan going in. So I think that helps. And if you do do like an alternating thing, I think, you know, it's somewhat useful deal to be able to talk to the quarterback. You know, and say, 'Hey, you know, hey, we're gonna run this play, this is what I think they're going to do, go do it.' And you know, you get, it's kind of like the NFL, they have that little earpiece thing that you can talk to them on. That's a way you can talk to the quarterback between the plays, if you're going to rotate it by play.”
Playing an opponent that got blown out last week, is that a tough sell or do you talk about opportunity to your team?
“Well, you talk about it all. Now, they played a very, very good team in NC State. You know, a team that's, you know, might be one of the best teams in their conference last week, so I mean, I think you got to see that. But, obviously, and then you read the stuff in the paper, this is like the biggest game they've had there and their players have been circling it for years. And so, you know, I mean you look at that of it's gonna be a different type of team that we see this week maybe than we saw from them last week."
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