The Gators ended practice on Monday afternoon in the same way they finished the three previously — gassers.
Dan Mullen assembled the team and after speaking to them briefly sent them to the west sideline of the practice field. He followed them and when Nick Savage blew his whistle the team, and its head coach ran from one sideline to the next, over and over and over again.
Mullen had previously given a reason for running gassers after practice.
“That (last Wednesday) was about going to class. I don’t control that, they control that. If you’re late for class, everybody that’s late for a class would run a gasser for it. If they don’t wanna run gassers, then show up on time for class and we don’t run gassers.”
The gassers are a deterrent for behavior that Mullen wants to eradicate, behavior he believes will prevent the culture change he’s implementing that he believes will lead to championship caliber play and new trophies finding a home in Gainesville.
Mullen isn’t the only one either. After gassers were done offensive line coach Jon Hevesy had three players rolling from one end of the field to the other. This was a for “hydration issue” or rather, insufficient hydration.
As the players walk into practice Savage is there yelling, pumping guys up and reminding them to grab a Gatorade. It’s not so much as a reminder as Savage standing there to ensure that every player has a full cup of Gatorade before they walk into the indoor practice facility. The players are tested every day in Savage’s program to ensure their bodies are properly hydrated and if you fail that test you’re rolling after practice.
For those that don’t know the term or what it looks like imagine a player laying on the grass, arms crossed over his chest, rolling (literally) side over side for as long for the prescribed time or distance that satisfies his coach.
From the sideline it looks fun. It isn’t.
“You want to throw up,” running backs coach Greg Knox said. Knox knows because rolling is the punishment for fumbling one of his footballs and he joined in with his players when they have to in order to prove a point.
“We all suffer now. If the ball is laid on the ground, everybody pays a price,” he said. “Turnovers are you not good. You fumble the ball, you have more turnovers than the opposing team, and you’re probably going to lose that game. So turnovers are not good.”
Teams that turn the ball over more than they create turnovers don’t win games and coaches that don’t win games lose jobs. So if you’re not living up to those championship expectations you better get ready to run or roll.