During the offseason, Florida gave assistant coach Corey Raymond control over the entire secondary after working with just the cornerbacks in 2022.
The decision surfaced after Patrick Toney’s departure to the NFL, but handing the keys to Raymond was the plan all along.
“I think we’re sticking with kind of just our overall plan relative to improving the defense from an efficiency standpoint,” Billy Napier said. “I would say the attention prior to Patrick’s departure was to make Corey (Raymond) the secondary coach.”
Florida’s defensive backs seem to be pleased with this transition.
“Just his knowledge, you know. He can spread his knowledge to everybody,” Junior cornerback Jason Marshall said. “Not only myself, Devin or in the cornerbacks’ room, but the safeties as well. You know, we’re all going to be on the field together, so why not have one coach to put in the knowledge and we all learn from him?”
Veteran defensive back Jaydon Hill says the consistency with the having one coach is an added benefit.
“Yeah, like you said, so, with him being over working with all of us, it’s like everybody is hearing the same message, you know what I’m saying, so it’s like, there’s no gray area,” Hill said.
One of the first changes Raymond made was moving Jaydon Hill to the STAR position.
“It’s been pretty good, you know, I look forward to it, the challenge,” Hill said. “I feel like you can get after it right there. With Tre’Vez {Johnson} having left, like, I look to fill his spot for him here.”
Newly hired defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong has spent plenty of time with the Gators’ safeties at spring practice.
“I feel like in this concept we’re playing, most of the DBs, like, the defense is basically, it’s a universal defense,” Hill said. “Like, how you call it and little tweaks like adjustments, so it’s not really much different than what we already know, you know what I’m saying, it’s like different terminology to an extent, some of it just different terminology.”
Corey Raymond takes over a secondary that lost starters Trey Dean, Rashad Torrence, and Trevez Johnson during the offseason, as well as a handful of reserve defensive backs. Raymond may have to rely on inexperienced players for significant reps during the 2023 season.