The Florida Gators finished the 2015 season ranked 100th in the nation in scoring (23.2 points per game). Their rankings in total offense (112th), passing offense (86th) and rushing offense (113th) left much to be desired and don’t exactly lend to confidence. It’s probably why Tennessee and Georgia are largely being picked ahead of the Gators but those numbers don’t deter Jim McElwain from making this demonstrative statement.
“I would challenge us to be dramatically better,” McElwain said at Florida’s media day. “I see it drastically much better in operations and getting it to the open guys, and hopefully controlling, or at least winning half a battle up front.”
Being drastically better may not seem hard given the aforementioned stats, but Florida enters the season with a quarterback that has never started a college game in Luke Del Rio and its only returning, proven, offensive weapon is still waiting to have his status cleared up following a university suspension solidified.
That’s hardly comforting.
Florida did address offensive needs through recruiting. The additions of five new receivers and several offensive linemen should bolster two units that have shined as bright as a busted taillight.
“It goes back to control what you can control,” frontrunner to be the starting quarterback Luke Del Rio said. “I can’t really control how people think we’re going to do.”
“Everybody’s more comfortable in the offense. People say that a lot, but it really does matter. If I taught you something and I expected you to do it perfectly, it’s really tough. But if I talked to you a couple of times and you got to practice and do it and play it and do it again, you’d do much better.”
Florida will need to be better offensively. The defense is replacing six guys who are all collecting checks from NFL teams, but should be stout again in 2016. They will need help though. It starts under center, where Florida’s offense was bipolar with Will Grier and Treon Harris at the helm.
“I like how [the quarterbacks] go about their daily business,” McElwain said Wednesday. “It’s interesting when you ask them to do something and they just go do it; or when you ask them to do something, and they research it and come back with the right way to do it — and then work on top of that [to perfect it].”
McElwain and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier will have to find answers. Florida gets just one tune up game with UMASS for kicking off the SEC schedule by hosting Kentucky. Its’ the second year in the system but most of the players are new. Maybe a crop of new players isn’t a bad thing when you go back and look at how the offense finished the 2015 campaign.
“It’s about putting the players in the best chance to have success,” offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said. “The players play the game. Coaches coach. So how do you put the players in the best position they can to be successful?”
The process of figuring that out begins Thursday and there’s less than a month until the dress rehearsals turn into the real thing.