In his Monday press conference, Dan Mullen stressed over and over the importance of spring for his team’s development. Now is the critical time to make schematic changes and collect as much film as possible to learn from over the next five months.
With just two weeks remaining, installation is mostly complete and the Florida Gators are ready to translate it to more game-type situations.
That started with the first scrimmage of the spring over the weekend. For now, especially without a spring game and fans in the stands, scrimmages in The Swamp are as close as Florida can get to see what guys do when the lights are on.
“There are game situations to teach off of, but you’re not going to get similar to a game feel,” Mullen said. “It’s hard when you look because there’s good and bad to everybody. But in a game, you’re going to have guys that play 70 plays and guys that play 15. In the scrimmage, everybody’s playing 40-50 plays on the entire roster, so it’s a little bit different that way.”
Mullen would not go into much detail on any standout individual or position group performances, but he did like what he saw from an effort and chemistry standpoint. He has been pleased with that since the Gators returned to the field in February.
“I am really pleased with the attitude of our guys and the effort in which they play with,” he said. “And really, the effort of everybody as a team. I kind of like our approach and how we’ve been coming as a team more than just individuals jumping up and down.”
He named off just about every position group, saying he was pleased with what he saw from the offensive line, wide receivers, tight ends, running backs and defensive front.
While he didn’t divulge too much, he did note a few struggles for the quarterbacks. That is to be expected in the first scrimmage for a team transitioning to a new offense and a new leader.
Mullen found it even less concerning considering the scrimmage setting played against the skill sets of dual-threat quarterbacks like Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson.
“Quarterbacks did some things,” Mullen said. “We limit what they’re allowed to do in the scrimmage, so we really eliminate a lot of the quarterback runs and some of that stuff. We take away some of their strengths. When you take that away, they were solid.”
Looking ahead to the second scrimmage this weekend, Mullen wants to see the Gators continue to stay healthy. That is always one of his biggest concerns when the pads come on, but Florida managed to come out relatively unscathed.
On top of that, he would like to be a little more hands-off this time around to let the scrimmage flow more like it would in a real game.
“We need to continue play with some good tempo out there, I think at times,” he said. “But I mean, that happens in a scrimmage because you’re coaching, you’re stopping, you’re teaching, you know, more than a game. To make it more game-like. Defense, you know, same way. But to me, it’s all about the individual, of watching the individual growth from scrimmage one to scrimmage two, of how they’re applying the installs into game situations.”
Two more weeks. Two more scrimmages.
But the Gators still have a long list of things they want to accomplish in a short time.
“You’re going to start cutting down on installation and really letting the guys go play,” Mullen said. “And we’ve got to do a great job of evaluating what guys do well, what we want to keep, what we want to get rid of and what direction we’re continuing to move forward and getting into fall camp.”