One of the very few bright spots on defense in week one was linebacker Grayson “Pup” Howard, who graded out as Florida’s best defender against Miami, according to Pro Football Focus.
The sophomore made the most of his 30 snaps on Saturday, displaying great play recognition, coverage, and sideline to sideline speed against the Hurricanes. Howard credits his standout performance to his coaching staff and teammates.
“Coach Ron (Roberts), Coach (Austin) Armstrong and Coach (Cannon) Gibbs,” Howard said. “They do a great job at making sure that the linebackers are very prepared, and I have a great room as well. I mean, practicing with Shemar (James), (Derek) Wingo, RJ (Moten) and some of the younger guys as well. Like, we all get each other ready, and we have a great support system around us.”
Tackling is an area that Howard has exceled at dating back to his freshman year at South Carolina in 2023, where the 6’4, 238-pound linebacker graded as the Gamecocks’ best tackler and made all 18 of his tackle attempts.
We saw that on display in week one as Howard made all four of his tackle attempts, including a beautifully timed tackle on a slip screen to save a touchdown.
“As a linebacker, you got to tackle,” Howard said. “It’s part of the game so I try to make sure that I always get a chance to correct my form and everything like that. And the linebackers we always do extra work here and there, tackling is one of the things that we do.”
Howard was praised for his coverage skills throughout the offseason, a quality Florida linebackers’ have seemingly been missing over the years. Howard allowed three catches for just 11 yards in week one. As a team, Florida’s linebackers allowed just four catches for 16 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
“We did good in coverage, there’s some things that we definitely need to correct, but I think overall we did a good job,” Howard said. “Like I said, Coach Ron and Coach Armstrong, they will break it down to the littlest detail, so they make sure that we know exactly what we’re supposed to do, who we’re supposed to get, where our eyes are supposed to be, everything like that.”
While Pup Howard put together a complete game and proved himself as an every down linebacker, his team didn’t prove anything.
“We let it be known that it was embarrassing, and we can’t games like that happen again,” Howard said on UF’s week one loss. “We’ve all hit it hard, hit the field hard, hit the film room hard, hit everything hard. And we’re definitely trying to make a change.”
Howard and the Gators’ defense will look to bounce back against a Samford offense that totaled 476 yards of offense in week one.