Becoming Alabama: How the Florida Gators could improve

The Florida Gators 2016 season is 15 practices and an Outback Bowl away from the record books.

Normally, after a game in this spot (on Tuesday mornings, sorry it’s late!) you would see a statistical review of the Gators game the previous week and an update of how the Gators or an individual ranked nationally, or compared to recent past, but not this week. After a tough loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide, I figured (and after looking at analytics of how much you all read the article after a loss), that you probably didn’t want to look at those numbers. In fact, I asked my followers on Twitter (follow me: @DK_Thompson) what I should write about this week and 250 responded to my poll and exactly zero, yes zero, responded the Florida/Alabama game. 28 people responded to “The Gators Year in Review” and 29 people responded to a “Last Season Comparison” and I will do both of those in the next few weeks. But the overwhelming favorite was, “what would you do to help fix things?”

So as I started thinking, and then talked to a few folks, and then started thinking some more. I had to think about the word “fix” and “things” and really look at what is broken, or at least, needs some tinkering.

As many of you know, I am an eternal rationalist. I look at things as clearly as I can and really try to keep a lot of emotion out of my writing. I believe in giving players and coaches chances. I believe in re-building and know what kind of effort that takes. I believe that two years isn’t enough time to judge a coach. But, I also know that there are some areas of improvement in scheme, recruiting, and overall program maintenance and I think Jim McElwain and Scott Stricklin would agree.

So here is a list (because you, the reader, asked) of some areas of opportunity of improvement, in my opinion.

**Now before we go over this list, I am not going to ever advocate for the firing of a coach or encourage transfer of a player because that’s not fair to that person.**

 

Pace of Play

The biggest change that I would make, is an improved pace of play by the Florida Gators offense. As all of you saw, the Gators moved better when they were running scripted plays or when running their two-minute offense. And it wasn’t just your eyes showing you that – the stats proved it. The Gators offense ranked 38th in the country in 1st quarter offensive production and ranked 97th in the last three quarters.

Biggest difference? Scripted plays and a hurry-up offense.
In the first quarter and in the applicable two-minute offense, the Gators ran plays about five seconds faster per play.

The Gators finished the year, 108th in the country in time per second per play and it showed. They struggled with rhythm, fluid play-calling and play relay, and ultimately, it led to more than half-a-dozen delay of games and at least a handful of time-outs.

What I would do is two-fold: script situational offense and decrease pre-snap movement.

Situational offense that is scripted is based on the idea of knowing what you want to accomplish on the drive (usually a touchdown) and relay a series of potential plays on that drive. You can play build those during practice, but it’s simple really – a series of 10 potential plays on that drive and call from the sideline as players are jogging to the line of scrimmage. You don’t need to constantly look at the play call spreadsheet and the quarterback doesn’t need to constantly look at the play call sheet on his wristband. 10 plays per drive is all you need because you can make audibles based on coverage or call them in from the sideline, but at the end of the day, the players know what their role is on that drive and back-up’s know when they will be called on in situational changes.
How many miles did Gators wide receivers run pre-snap this season? More than most of them had in receiving yards. And all we saw was a few sweeps or reverses, and other than that, not much. Florida ran more pre-snap than any of their opponents and it slowed them down and tired out players. Cut the pre-snap runs and allow players to use their speed and energy on routes.

The numbers proved the Gators were more successful on scripted, up-tempo drives. Do more of it.

 

Go After The Best Recruit

This seems obvious, but it’s true – find the best recruits that you can work with and mold your offense to those folks, rather than limiting your pool to those who run pro-style offense. We saw that with Jalen Hurts, even Alabama is willing to make changes on offense – so, too, should Florida. If the best prospects are dual threat, make it work. If speed running backs are a hot commodity, go after them and make it work. The best recruit and best talent should shape the offense, and not doing so limits your ability to attract talent. No top talent should ever be off-limits athletically.

Right now, I am seeing a very particular picture of only certain players being recruited and those folks, if they pan out, could likely run this offense, and run it well. But how many prospects are being missed out on because Florida is stuck in a box of thinking only certain players will work? Look at Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, and Dabo Swinney – many types of prospects with an offense catered to those skillsets.

Limited Redshirts

There should only be a few folks that get redshirts: offensive linemen, quarterbacks, and defensive tackles — for obvious reasons (weight, learning speed of game, weight).

If you are a skill player, you should be prepared to play and recruited to play immediately. If you play as a freshman, you have three more years to make an impact, while also seeing how you play in quality time as a young player. If there is significant skill gap, that is a question on why that player was recruited, or an opportunity to see where a player needs to improve. But, nearly all skill players should have the ability to have some sort of role on the team, whether it be offensive, defense, or special teams.

Four years is more than enough time for most skill guys to either make an impact or get passed on the depth chart. College football for most needs to be looked at as a four year venture, not five years.

If I was coach at least 80% of freshmen running backs, wide receivers, pass-catching tight ends, defensive backs, and linebackers are all getting played. Figure out whom you have on your team, quickly. If they don’t like where they are after a year or two, you can have the tough conversation about processing.

Facilities

I know you expect me to write about facilities, but I’m not. Florida has a new indoor practice facility and academic center and I’ve seen no tangible recruiting benefit, so until this staff proves that money is being spent to better the team and not just add another building, I am holding off on all new plans. Florida has two beautiful new buildings and recruiting has never been more tepid.

 

Support Staff

Instead, I dump that money into increased salaries for support staff. Increased support staff for recruiting and quality control is imperative – not just an increased number of them (which is fine), but increased quality of them.

Alabama currently has Steve Sarkisian (former head coach) and Mike Locksley (former offensive coordinator), among a host of other former coaches and players that simply analyze film – nine total people watching game film. Add that that to a recruiting staff, rumored to be up to 17 people, they are beating Florida 26 to 6 on support staff. That is a massive strategic, nay seismic, strategic advantage if only for the only thing money can’t buy – money. Stats, analysis, play diagrams, and a host of other pure analysis that can be delivered to my head coaching staff. Alabama paid $3,000,000 for their support staff in 2015 – Florida did not even hit 1/2 of that.

And to my previous comment, Sarkisian and Locksley are not without fault as people, but Nick Saban has given them an opportunity to rehabilitate their image and work with a world-class staff and potentially replace a staff member if they move on to a new role and by that point nearly everyone has forgotten their previous shortcomings. å

McElwain has done a fine job of increasing the staff, but it is not enough.

Daniel Thompson
Dan Thompson is a 2010 graduate of the University Florida, graduating with a degree in Economics and a degree in Political Science. During this time at UF, Dan worked three years for the Florida Gator Football team as a recruiting ambassador. Dan dealt daily with prospects, NCAA guidelines, and coaching staff. Dan was also involved in Florida Blue Key, Student Government and Greek Life. Currently, Dan oversees the IT consulting practice of a Tampa-based company. Dan enjoys golfing, country music, bourbon, travel, oysters, and a medium-rare steak. Dan can be found on Twitter at @DK_Thompson.