In what felt as strange as seeing Steve Spurrier in a South Carolina shirt for the first time, the Gators wrapped up spring practice on Saturday afternoon with no fanfare.
There was no Orange and Blue game, no television cameras, no fans and no tailgating outside of the stadium as fans eagerly awaited their first look at the 2021 squad.
Instead, the Gators held a closed scrimmage inside the Swamp. Many of the specific details from the scrimmage will likely remain a mystery, but Dan Mullen liked what he saw.
“I think there were more plays made in today’s scrimmage than maybe in the other scrimmages on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, which is what you want to see, because as spring goes on, you want to see guys understanding the system and then making plays within what we ask them to do,” Mullen said.
Mullen spent some time after the scrimmage to conduct a postgame press conference of sorts. He was surprisingly candid. He likes the talent they have across the board but believes developing depth at certain positions will be key. He doesn’t know if they’ll have the star power that they had last year in Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Kyle Trask, so they’ll need to make up for that production with a team effort.
“We have the opportunity to have a great deal of depth and players and experience of guys that we can roll through out there and play as a team, so we’ve got to keep that attitude,” he said. “But if you are that type of team, you know what, you’ve got to play with great attention to detail in every aspect because you never know when your number is going to be called, and when you’re out there on the field, you better play with that attention to detail.”
He mentioned the running backs and the linebackers as two of the positions that he feels most comfortable with the depth at. It’s not a surprise to hear him say that about the running backs given that they have five quality options, including two former five-star prospects.
However, his comfort level with the linebackers certainly raised some eyebrows. Other than Ventrell Miller, linebacker was a position of weakness last season, filled with poor angles, missed tackles and blown coverages.
Mullen said he feels comfortable with some of the offensive linemen, but they still need to identify their starting five and their three rotational pieces.
He liked what he saw from the tight ends when taking into account that none of them are likely going to a once-in-a-generation player like Pitts.
He thinks the receivers are “coming along,” and he singled out Ja’Markis Weston as someone who took “huge steps this spring.”
He also liked what he saw from the new-look defensive line.
“The two new guys, Daquan Newkirk and [Antonio Shelton], I thought those guys embrace the role,” Mullen said. “They stepped in and just took over right from day one. We expect Zach [Carter] to be where he is. I thought [Gervon] Dexter took some good steps forward this spring. Coming off the edge, with [Jeremiah] Moon coming back, I think that’s going to add some solid depth to us with edge guys as well. I thought we were able to create some depth there.”
He feels good with 4-5 players in the secondary, but he wants to get that number up to seven or eight before the season starts.
Perhaps the most encouraging news of the spring is that the defense looked drastically improved. In fact, Mullen said they outplayed the offense in all three scrimmages.
Part of that can probably be attributed to the quarterbacks and receivers still trying to get their timing down and the offensive line’s continued struggles. Still, this defense would’ve struggled against an FCS team last season, so it’s reassuring to hear that progress is being made.
“I think overall the defense had a very good spring, but we got to continue to take those steps and create that depth,” he said. “There were some negative things about the defense last year, but also I look at ‘Are we making adjustments and improvements to change those things in certain areas. Where were they? What were they?’ It’s easy to look statistically at certain things, but then statistics can tell you maybe what. But why are the statistics that way? What made them that way, and are we addressing those factors?”
With spring practice in the rearview mirror, Mullen wants all of the players to take next week off to refresh mentally and physically. The grueling offseason program led by Nick Savage will kick into high gear in May.
Mullen said it’s important for every player to recognize where they’re at in their development and what they need to work on. A fifth-year senior probably doesn’t need to do the same things as a true freshman.
“We’re not around them all the time,” Mullen said. “There’s so much personal development going on, but if you don’t know how to do it, if you’re not in there watching film and you don’t know how to watch the film and what you’re specifically looking for, you’re not really developing. Like I told our guys, you might as well be watching ‘SpongeBob Squarepants’ or watching ‘The Replacements.’ I don’t know if you’re getting much out of it.”
With the season less than six months away, Mullen seems upbeat about the direction the program is heading, but he knows that there’s still work to be done.