First practice focused on executing fundamentals

He’s made the walk more than a hundred times before so he couldn’t help but have déjà vu making the walk from the south end zone locker room over to the football practice fields.

“Yeah, walking out to practice, walking over here. It does kind of bring it back a little bit, of being out here,” Mullen said before pointing out the changes in the practice facility in the nine years he’s been gone. “Obviously here, it’s a little different. That used to be turf, and that used to be grass, and all the fans used to be on a hill over there.”

The walk was the same, the scenery was different and his title was different. As a first year head coach nine years ago Mullen admitted he was a little higher strung and maybe even paranoid when he led his first practice at Mississippi State. With nine years of experience and hundreds of practices under his belt he’s relaxed. It was different, according to him, to be in Orange and Blue and back in a place where he has so many fond memories.

After the way last season unfolded, with distractions on and off the field, Mullen was a sight for sore eyes for the hundreds of fans in attendance, who applauded when he arrived and cheered for every big play executed throughout a three-hour practice.

“We open up practice, we don’t know what to expect. To see all these people showing up here today – that’s why we do it, for them. They do so much supporting us, that’s why we’re doing it again tomorrow so they can come out, maybe have some fun and watch the team.”

Nine years of head coaching experience has given Mullen perspective. He knows that the guys he has on the field are still swimming through a new playbook and that the first day wasn’t going to be perfect. He wasn’t a drill sergeant, jumping down the throats of players for mistakes. He was all over the place, running a marathon —seemingly — to get from station to station to watch the guys go through their first practice.

What he and his coaching staff did was let the players know the level of intensity they expected and that the first day would be dedicated to fundamentals. That much was evident when the team spent five minutes simply working on running on and off the field before they split up into individual drills.

“I think having at least done it before, I wasn’t completely out of my mind. I was confident knowing what I wanted to see, what I wanted to expect, and of that experience,” Mullen said. “Making sure, we’re not going to be perfect today. (We’re not) worried about everything. We’re worried about, are we getting the tempo? Are we getting the little things? Is there an understanding of how we want to practice? That they’re learning how to do that, that those things are getting done.”

His voice hoarse from three hours of talking and yelling Mullen said he and his staff would go back to the office and start breaking down the tape from practice. He made sure to tell his players to get in the cold tub, see the trainers and get ready for Saturday’s scrimmage at noon. It’s a quick turnaround considering the intensity of practice.

He was happy with how his first practice at Florida went but knew that there would be things to correct after watching film. That’s what Saturday will be about and despite having run around the field almost as much as his team did on Friday, Mullen sounded like he wished they could jump back into another practice right away.

“I’m just happy to be out here. I love football. I love the excitement. I love being a Gator. This is what it’s all about for me,” he said. “I’ll watch the film and I’m sure when I watch the film tomorrow morning I’ll be changing a lot of what I saw and making a lot of corrections and teaching. I love that.”

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.