Two of the biggest points of emphasis for the Gators’ secondary this offseason were to play more press coverage and to be more physical at the line of scrimmage. The coaches talked about that throughout the offseason, and they were seen on Instagram Live getting onto their players for not lining up close enough to the line of scrimmage.
Last year, it seemed like they played their cornerbacks seven yards off the ball on third-and-4 just about every time. The corners couldn’t make up the ground quickly enough, and opponents took advantage by completing simple curl and slant routes to pick up first downs.
That type of defensive strategy makes since when you’re going against a team like Alabama that can shred you with the deep ball because of how fast their wide receivers are. But playing passive doesn’t make much sense when going up against offenses that you’re more talented than, such as Missouri and South Carolina.
In UF’s season opener against Florida Atlantic, they pressed some on third downs, but they still gave up a few first downs because they lined up farther away than the line to gain.
Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham insists that playing press coverage has been and will continue to be a priority in the secondary.
“We’re going to play press pretty much majority of the time,” Grantham said. “Now, sometimes, based on splits and things like that, you may not press, and you’ve got to be able to handle that. So, that’s why it’s important that you have, we always say, ‘tools in your toolbox’ relative to alignments and formations that you can play tight coverage. Because, at the end of the day, with quarterbacks [having] the ability to be accurate, you want to play tight coverage to make guys more accurate with the ball, so that’s something we’ll continue to do.”
Grantham thinks the cornerbacks executed their assignments well against FAU, as they limited the Owls to just 4.3 passing yards per attempt and a 50 percent completion percentage through three quarters.
“They were fine,” he said. “The calls were honestly the same as they’ve been in the past. The guys did a good job with the press, and we mixed in some other things. We’re going to be a press team.”
While their goal is to play as much press coverage as possible, Grantham acknowledged that pressing isn’t always the best option based on how the opponent stacks its receivers.
If the offense lines up two receivers close to each other and both of UF’s cornerbacks are lined up on the line of scrimmage, the offense will often run rub routes – or pick routes, depending on who you ask – to get one of the receivers wide open. So, Grantham sometimes plays one cornerback off of the ball to eliminate that possibility.
“You’ve got to have tools within your defense to be able to handle those mesh routes and those rubs, as they like to call them, to be able to play tight coverage,” he said.
“If you go and look, sometimes, when they get in those stacks and things, you have to be able to pass things off. There were a couple we could have jumped a little bit quicker, a little bit cleaner and made the play.”
So, while the Gators might not play press coverage on every snap, you can take solace in knowing that Grantham puts a ton of thought into every play that he calls.
Grantham wants to play press coverage, but, sometimes, the offense takes that away from him.