The Florida Gators’ defensive backfield is under new management in 2021, and Wesley McGriff spoke to the media on Thursday night for the first time since arriving in Gainesville two months ago.
McGriff and Dan Mullen crossed paths numerous times over their 25-plus-year careers. Mullen even tried to hire McGriff at one point, but the timing just didn’t work out.
In January, the stars finally aligned, and Mullen got his secondary coach. With Gus Malzahn out the door at Auburn and Florida in the midst of defensive coaching changes, McGriff jumped at his chance.
“If you’re coaching and you have an opportunity to coach at Florida, right away you try and get in touch with Coach Mullen or somebody that knows him,” McGriff said. “When the opportunity came up, we were able to make the right connection.”
On top of the opportunity to coach with Mullen, McGriff said it was unbelievable to get to work in the same room with Todd Grantham.
Though Florida’s defensive coordinator has taken some heat in recent years, he is highly respected around the world of college football. McGriff seems to fit in perfectly with his coaching style.
“The thing I love about him is that he is highly demanding,” McGriff said. “He demands a lot out of you. And that’s me. I want to be exactly told what to do, I want to be coached up on what to do and I want to have high expectations and high demands put on me, and that’s what Coach Grantham does. It’s a joy to work for a guy like that.”
As much as McGriff respects Grantham’s abilities, it is undeniable that the Gators had serious defensive issues a season ago, especially in the secondary.
McGriff sees those problems, but his first order of business was to build on Florida’s strengths this spring. He is attacking the weaknesses as well, but in a manner that the Gators won’t be down on themselves before a new season even arrives.
He thinks confidence is key during this time.
“I don’t harp on their past,” he said. “I wasn’t here their previous years, so I want to focus on the individual, focus on the future and focus on what they’re putting on tape right now and improve that. Then let’s take the next step.”
In reality, much of Florida’s secondary does not have a past to harp on. Outside of a few veterans, McGriff has a relatively clean slate to work with.
Rather than coming in and trying to get through to a bunch of guys who think they know it all, McGriff sees a group of players who are eager to listen. He said some players even ask him to set film up before he leaves at night so that they can come by and watch it in the early hours of the morning when they can’t meet.
Reviving a once dominant Florida defensive backfield is no small task, but McGriff came in ready to take it head-on.
“The challenge, it’s beautiful,” McGriff said. “When you have an opportunity and the cup is empty, now you have an opportunity to come in now when they’re young and make sure that you teach them good habits and make sure that you develop technique and fundamentals … These guys may be young, but they have strong football IQs, unbelievable work ethic, and they come in every day looking at us as a coaching staff, ‘Coach, get me better.’ And that’s really exciting as a coach, really exciting.”