Before practice on Tuesday the Florida Gators coaching staff had a number for their defense.
78.
That’s the number of missed tackles the coaches counted from the Gators last two meetings with Tennessee. Before the Gators matchup in 2016 Jim McElwain said the Gators had missed 30 tackles the previous season, so you can do the math. Missed tackles were a huge factor in the Gators second half collapse allowing the Vols to score 38-unanswered points.
“You would think 78 tackles would be missed in more than just two games,” senior cornerback Duke Dawson said. “We have to really be hard on ourselves about tackling this game – any game, really, but just knowing that we missed 78 tackles in two games. That’s not good.”
The biggest factors into that astronomically high missed tackle number were Josh Dobbs and Jalen Hurd. Dobbs, at 6-3 and 215 pounds, was an elusive runner but also a load to bring down. Hurd was even bigger at 6-4, 240. Both players are gone, Dobbs playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Hurd sitting out this season after transferring to Baylor, where he will play receiver.
This season the Gators will need to focus in on tackling running back John Kelly. At 5-9 and 205 pounds he does have a low center of gravity, runs with good pad level and keeps his feet moving.
“He’s from my hometown,” sophomore linebacker David Reese said of Kelly. “He’s a physical back. He got an opportunity to get a little bit of carries. He was behind two great backs before at Tennessee, but he’s a great back, too. He runs hard. His first game, he had four touchdowns.”
Another reason or cause for the missed tackles against Tennessee is the emotion that surrounds this game. There is no love lost between the fan bases and those feelings extend down to the field. Florida-Tennessee is a storied rivalry in the SEC; one that almost every season has huge SEC East implications. Trash is talked, it’s always a nationally broadcast game and emotions run high. That leads to players going in for big hits, getting away from their fundamentals.
Emotions are gonna be high,” sophomore safety Chauncey Gardner said. “You now, rivalry game. Lost last year. Everybody’s going ‘oh get em back, get em back’ but the more we’re focused on getting them back, the more missed tackles gonna occur. You just gotta go out there and just play ball. And treat it as another game”
Florida hasn’t started 0-2 in a season in 46 years. This isn’t a make or break game for Florida, it won’t keep them from Atlanta, but starting 0-2 and 0-1 in the SEC won’t appease a fan base that starting to question the coaching staff after the first loss to Michigan and it would put Florida behind the eight ball. It’s not a must win, but it sort of feels that way. You can’t miss tackles and miss an opportunity to start the conference schedule off on the right foot.
“78 is a big number. That’s the breaking point of winning the game or losing the game,” Reese said. “In two games, that’s a lot, but we had 15 NFL players on those two teams. It doesn’t go out to the players. We’ve just gotta come to play. It’s a statement.”