On Wednesday, the Florida Gator football team reported to fall camp, which means football season is here. Things began with head coach Jim McElwain addressing the media, with player interviews following shortly afterwards.
Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was the first assistant to answer questions at the podium this afternoon. Nussmeier is preparing to begin his second season as the play caller for the Gators, with hopes of becoming a more polished team on offense.
Here is a quick notebook of what he had to say at the podium.
Quarterbacks
• Del Rio ended spring practice with the leg up in the quarterback competition.
• Nussmeier said there isn’t a timetable on when decision will be made.
• Mentioned he liked the depth and excited about the competition at the position.
• Nuss said “When you look at Luke, he’s so well adjusted all across the board.”
• It’s an advantage’ to grow up around NFL coaches” when talking about Del Rio.
Running Backs
• Nuss said in this league you need more than one guy at this position. Excited about the potential this group has.
• Added two backs this past class to add depth and increase competition.
• Mark Herndon wasn’t able to contribute like he would have wanted last year due to injury but performed well on special teams. Developed well this spring.
• Kelvin Taylor did a great job last year according to Nussmeier, adding depth this year will help with the workload.
Wide Receivers
• Brandon Powell brings a totally different element to the offense.
• C.J. Worton has had a great off-season and is someone to look for this fall, “Really good offseason. He’s maturing as a young man.”
• Ahmad Fulwood’s lack of physicality was brought up again, but Nussmeier said he is an extremely hard work and has great size. Also, needs to find his aggressiveness on down to down basis.
Offensive Line
• Nuss said this group works really hard and he’s excited to see the growth and development of these kids after a year under their belts.
• Nuss mentioned you didn’t see many other programs start 3 freshman OL in a bowl game.
• He did see guys competing and no one pointed fingers when the offense struggled down the stretch. He said those are championship qualities.
• Number of sacks allowed last year were alarming, but not entirely the offensive lines fault.
• Have the ability to split practices due to the offensive line depth.
General Offensive Notes
• “Situationally good offense” is the expectation for this offense under Nuss.
• Nuss says they need to become better at executing in the red zone and on third downs.
• “How would you not?” Nuss responded when asked if he’d use Spurrier as a resource.
• With many formations on offense the Gators aren’t a team focused on pace of play.
• When asked about offensive coordinators being creative in their choices of plays, but Nuss declined being ‘creative’. “I was very bad in art class.”