The 2020 season will forever be remembered as a season of “what ifs” in the minds of Gators fans.
What if Malik Davis hadn’t fumbled late against Texas A&M? What if Marco Wilson had intercepted a pass against the Aggies instead of letting it go through his hands for a touchdown?
What if Wilson hadn’t thrown the shoe and Kyle Trask hadn’t thrown two interceptions against LSU?
What if Trey Dean hadn’t fumbled after getting blasted during an interception return against Alabama? What if the referees had assessed a targeting penalty for the hit?
What if the defense didn’t waste a historically great season on offense by turning in a historically awful year?
If even one or two of those things had panned out differently, the Gators might’ve made the playoff and competed for a national championship.
There was a feeling of deflation within the fan base after the three-game losing streak to end the season. After nearly a decade of being largely irrelevant on the national stage, the Gators finally assembled a championship-caliber roster. And yet, they came away with nothing to show for it except for an SEC East title that they can put on the wall in the Swamp.
With almost every key member of the offense from last year gone, the 2021 season has the feeling of a reloading year. Florida will still be good, but there’s no way you can go even further than you did last year after suffering an exodus of NFL talent, right?
As expected, the 2021 Gators don’t view things that way at all. In their eyes, this team has as good a shot as any to make the school’s first College Football Playoff appearance. That’s the mission, and it begins on Saturday against Florida Atlantic.
“I believe we can make a run to the playoff, but first we’ve got to handle FAU,” running back Nay’Quan Wright said. “They’re the first on the schedule, but we have to handle them and then handle the rest of the opponents. But [I] think we can make [the SEC Championship Game], though. I think we can make it and even go further than that. But we just have to take it one week at a time.”
It might sound weird at first, but the ending to last season might’ve been exactly what the 2021 team needed. They gained confidence by playing Alabama tight, they got to see how the small details can make a huge difference in a championship game and they got to use the possibility of redemption as a motivator all offseason.
“We saw we could play with Alabama,” cornerback Kaiir Elam said. “I feel like we probably did the best out of any other school that played them last year, but I feel like that’s still not an excuse. I’m a competitor; I just want to win. When push comes to shove, I’m going to do whatever to win, and I feel like our team feels the same way.
“I feel like losing is never acceptable, whether it’s by one point or by six points; that’s still a loss in the column. So, I feel like that’s just motivation that we can get back there, and we could win. We’ve seen it first-hand. So, this year, I feel like our goal is way beyond the SEC Championship.”
Linebacker Mohamoud Diabate feels partially responsible for them losing that game. He was part of a defense that allowed Alabama running back Najee Harris to gain a combined 245 rushing and receiving yards and score five touchdowns.
“I think about Najee Harris crossing my face,” Diabate said. “I think about that all the time. So, every time you need extra motivation for a rep, you can think about that. That’s something that we’re never going to forget, and we’re going to keep remembering.”
Of course, every team in America has visions of grandeur this time of year. Even Vanderbilt expects to go to a bowl game at the moment.
How can the Gators overcome the heavy personnel losses and make it back to Atlanta? Receiver Justin Shorter said it comes down to everybody doing their jobs. If every individual executes his assignment on every play, the overall product will be nearly impossible to beat.
“I would say just executing very, very well,” Shorter said. “I feel like every play, we have to execute and play like it’s our last play. Everyone needs to go all-out and do their job. When everyone on the team does their job, that results in a win, and that’s the biggest thing for us.”
Shorter likes the commitment the team has made to cleaning up every seemingly insignificant detail in practice.
“I feel like we’ve been doing a lot of reps in practice over and over again, fixing stuff, correcting stuff, going back, doing stuff over again that we did on the first day of camp,” he said. “I think this year, we’re going to go out there and, every single play, we’re going to execute.”
Wright also thinks that the talent level might be higher than you think, especially at a couple of key positions.
While high-octane passing attacks sell tickets, make highlight reels and generate the most buzz on social media, the trenches will always be one of the most important facets of the game, if not the most important.
While the offensive line is still a mystery, the Gators have shored up the interior of their defensive line. They added Antonio Valentino from Penn State and Daquan Newkirk and Tyrone Truesdell from Auburn.
Those three, along with gigantic sophomore Gervon Dexter, should make the Gators one of the best run defenses in the SEC. That will put opposing offenses in more predictable passing situations, which will help out the secondary.
“I think we have the best D-Line and edge-rushers in college football today,” Wright said. “Honestly, I don’t think we’re going to see a D-Line like the D-Line we have. They just get us better and get us better on pass-blocking or run-fitting and however you want to put it. Those guys give us good looks, so they’re going to help us in the future.
“You really have to have great technique, you really have to get low and you really have to fit because, if you don’t, those guys [are] going to get the win,” he said. “They’re veterans, so they’ve played a lot of college football.”
And while there might not be an All-American at the skill positions on offense this year, Wright said the cupboard is far from bare. They’ve got a bunch of talented guys who just haven’t gotten as many opportunities as they will this year.
“We have a lot of weapons on the outside,” Wright said. “Those guys who we have now, they’re just able to step up and understand that their role is much higher than it was the previous year. They [were] sitting behind some veteran guys that [were] very talented, and, as you’ve seen, they flashed their talent. So, now [it’s] time for those guys to put it together, and let’s put on a show this year.”
The offensive depth chart might look very different, but these Gators have some unfinished business to take care of.