Last season, the Gators’ secondary was arguably the least productive unit this program has seen in recent years. Players were constantly out of position and rarely in sync from a communication standpoint.
Florida gave up 235.8 passing yards a game last year, ranking 84th among all FBS programs, according to the NCAA.
The lack of depth didn’t help and made it difficult for the Gators to find continued success in 2022. New defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and assistant coach Corey Raymond look to put an end to the Gators’ struggles after adding six scholarship freshmen and an experienced safety in RJ Moten.
This season Coach Raymond will oversee the entire secondary, not just the cornerbacks. Having Raymond in that position has made the secondary feel more complete as a whole unit.
“Coach Raymond has a resumé as y’all know. So being with Coach Raymond is really just picking his brain. He has a lot of things he tries to instill in us to make the game easier for us,” Jalen Kimber said on communication in the secondary. “So, I try to tune into everything he’s saying because I think he’ll help me become a better football player. Especially with a new staff, a lot of transfers and things like that I feel like we’re jelling more and coming together more as a whole on the back end for real.”
Playing and lining up in press man has been something that many Gator fans have been waiting to see from this secondary for some time. Armstrong feels confident in this team’s ability to play more press man coverage in 2023.
“Yeah, absolutely, cause you know, it’s disruptive, to throw the timing off for the quarterback, things like that,” Kimber said. “Being up in guys’ faces more can really just cause a lot of disruptions for the receivers and for the quarterback as well.”
The addition of an experienced transfer has also helped the safeties in terms of communication and lining up correctly. Simplifying the defense is something RJ Moten does very well.
“Yeah, great communicator,” Kimber said on Moten. “RJ is really smart, like even when I’m on the field RJ is like, it’s like clockwork, it’s not too much wasted motion, not too much wasted communication, everything is pretty sharp and precise with RJ. I feel he’s a great piece to our defense. Having more guys with experience is really the best thing, especially being a transfer and being a senior. I feel like he can just help the younger guys to spread some of his knowledge and things like that.”
Moten sees a defense on the rise and has confidence in multiple young players in the safety room. The competition has only made everyone around him better.
“Every day is just a competition. We all know the final goal and at the end of the day, the coaches have a say in who is going to be on the field and who is not going to be on the field, but I think recently I’ve noticed we don’t even look at it like that,” Moten said on the young players in the room. “I’ll be on the field with Miguel, with Jordan, with Kamari with Bryce at the same time, and we don’t even look at like that. We’re just all out there trying to make each other better.”
Moten continues to see improvements from the young freshmen in the room. I think Austin Armstrong and Corey Raymond will have some decisions to make heading into week 1 when Florida travels to Utah. Multiple young players in this secondary could have an immediate impact on this defense.
“Shoot, like I said earlier, at the end of the day the coaches are going to be the ones who put us on the field, whoever those two people are,” Moten said on the freshman talent. “I think as a room, collectively, we’re stacking days, day after day no matter if it’s the top person or the bottom person like everybody is in there stacking days.”
The secondary still has a long way to go after what we saw on the field from them last season. However, it seems as if this staff and its players have made tremendous strides in year two and have come a long way under Austin Armstrong and Corey Raymond. In just a few more weeks we’ll see just how much this unit has improved under a new staff.