With Florida’s 2026 season set to begin in just a few days, Gator Country is giving subscribers a chance to submit questions in our Florida Football Mailbag. Here’s part two.
tmanjax: What position are you most concerned about when it comes to depth? The team had a healthy spring and summer, losing a player or two from “this” position group may derail the whole season?
NM: I’ll start by saying I don’t think losing a single player at any position would derail the whole season. With that said, I think there’s a significant drop-off between Florida’s first- and second-team safety units. I don’t want to see Bryce Thornton or DJ Coleman get injured.
I feel pretty good about Florida’s interior defensive line, but an injury or two would certainly stretch them thin.
Slocala: This is an oddball question: Last year, the player interviews post game and preparation week seemed very scripted. It was almost like the BN Army gave them prep sessions on what and how to answer questions. That seems gone. The player interviews seem more genuine. Just curious from a reporter vantage point, do you see and feel the players are under a different communication standard?
NM: Well, they do give them prep sessions on what kind of questions they may get and how to answer them. The coaches go through media training, too. That’s part of the reason every team has a communications staff. They are getting the same training, too. This is an athletic department thing, not specific to any particular coach.
I don’t notice a difference at all.
Keefer: Nick, it seems that leading into every season we’re told how much stronger, faster and better shape the team is in. Yet, on the hoof, the very first game of the season, you just don’t see it. Then, during the game, it doesn’t play out. Our OL & DL have looked heavy, soft and slow, with a few exceptions. Have you noticed a discernable difference with this team?
NM: Every team makes big progress over the summer. The reason is you go months without any organized team activity after the season ends, then all of a sudden you have spring camp, followed by summer workouts, and soon enough you’re at peak form, with what appears to be significant improvement.
The key is always how well you can maintain those improvements throughout the season. That’s arguably more important than the actual gains themselves.
I think Florida looks more physically fit, especially along the offensive line. You can just take a look at some of the heights and weights, and it looks a lot better. Bryce Lovett looks like a monster. He didn’t last year. LJ McCray looks way more explosive. I can give other individual examples, but ultimately, we won’t know until Florida takes the field against an opponent of a similar level. I’m also on record saying I don’t think the S&C department was a one-year fix.
Is Florida going to be the most physical, strongest or fastest team out there? No. Even Rusty Whitt says there’s a bunch of other teams that have similar numbers to them. But it should make them competitive in that aspect if they are able to maintain that progress made.
jjgator55: What’s your score prediction for this Saturday?
NM: 48-17 UF
Gatorwells: The trend right now in the NFL is to hire head coaches who were former offensive coordinators. One of the reasons being it’s easier to retain defensive coordinators as they tend to stick around longer. Do you see the same trend occurring in college football? Does it concern you that we might also lose our own OC in Faulkner in a year or two?
NM: I do. Faulkner is not going to be the offensive coordinator at Florida forever. The good news is he turned down mid-major head coaching jobs to take the OC position at Florida, meaning he’s likely looking for a P4 opportunity. If he were to get that in a year or two, that probably means Florida was pretty dang good. Win-win. Part of being a very successful head coach is having to replace your coordinators all the time. So I’m not concerned about that part at all.
tmanjax: Traditionally, the defense starts the Spring and Fall ahead of the offense. Do you think the D will have a better game than the O on Saturday, or will they struggle against the ultra fast paced Owls offense in game one?
NM: I’m predicting 51-17, so I guess that’s about even relative to the competition? FAU’s defense was horrendous last year, but its offense was good and it’s a challenging one to cover given the intense speed at which they play. I’ll say the offense has the better day, as Florida’s defense may be caught off guard a time or two. Florida’s offense should be able to score at will.
rajingator: Seems we feel better about the front end more than the back end of the defense, although there seems to be some confidence there too. Where in the secondary are there potential weaknesses?
NM: Florida has plenty of skill in the secondary. DJ Coleman and Bryce Thornton should form a formidable safety duo, but the depth behind them is the question. At cornerback, the staff has four guys it feels good about. Two of them are rising sophomores in Ben Hanks III and J’Vari Flowers, both of whom have limited in-game experience. Another is Cormani McClain, who has been hit or miss throughout his career, but his highs have been very good. The other is Dijon Johnson, who has been limited a bit this offseason but is probably Florida’s most consistent corner.
If Florida stays healthy, I believe the defense takes a big step forward this year, but I do think there are some depth concerns on defense.
Belloit: There was a lot of talk about our current strength program and how people were gaining muscle and losing fat along with their gains in strength. I have never heard a strength coach give out the fitness statistics like they did this year. Was the reporting of the statistics always done or was it just not reported before. Also, with the body transformation of the players that were here last year and their improvement of fitness statistics, it would seem that our strength program was probably not near as good. It that a proper conclusion or was our program last year focusing on a different aspect of conditioning to fit Napier’s scheme?
NM: Those numbers are reported every year, at least since I’ve been covering UF. I found an article I wrote from two years ago, and it’s actually very similar to the one I wrote this year.
Tyler Miles talks strength and conditioning numbers | GatorCountry.com
Whitt did go into more detail about specific players than I’ve seen in the past, but the baseline information is the same.
As I mentioned to Keefer earlier in this article, you have to take the offseason gains with a grain of salt because every team and every program makes significant strides during the offseason. The gains can be dramatic because you’re going from months without organized team activity straight into spring camp and then summer workouts.
Every staff has a different way of doing things and different lifts they prefer, but the goal is always the same: get bigger, stronger and faster. I can tell you that Florida’s current staff was not happy with the physical state of the team when they arrived.