It really feels like Florida has turned a corner the last two games.
They had more defensive issues in the first half against Texas A&M, but they’ve allowed just a single touchdown in the six quarters since. They couldn’t get enough going on offense to slam the door and hang half a hundred on the Gamecocks, but they still ended up a field goal shy of matching their margin of victory over FCS Eastern Washington in a non-Vandy SEC game.
And, as a bonus, Vandy actually beat Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday. Billy Napier can go through the building this week and tell all the players that hey, this next opponent just beat a team that beat you, and they did it in their house. Perfect timing for keeping motivation high, though the sleepy noon game in Nashville is a classic letdown spot regardless of season or what happened before.
Part of turning the corner is a full embrace of the new and letting go of the old. The end of the game felt like that to me.
On Florida’s final drive, Anthony Richardson finally went to the bench for some well earned rest with Jalen Kitna spelling him. It was a time to get a lot of players some real-game snaps since it was the final home game, so third-string walk on Kyle Engel replaced Kitna midway through. They found a way to get catches for Kahleil Jackson, a walk on legacy from a legendary Gator family, and Jordan Pouncey, a lightly used senior who nonetheless has had reviews of being a positive locker room guy.
In other words, it was exactly what you’d expect for the end of a blowout win on Senior Day.
But, several players stood out on the drive: Trent Whittemore, Lorenzo Lingard, and Nay’Quan Wright.
Whittemore is a Gainesville guy who a lot of fans pinned hopes on years back. He had some nice flashes as a freshman. He is a terrific multi-sport athlete, so he had agility and good leaping ability from a tall and lanky frame. He couldn’t stay healthy for long, unfortunately, but he seemed like he could turn into a real player.
This year he was passed up immediately by Ricky Pearsall and hasn’t even played in every game. His younger brother Creed committed to the current staff earlier this year but flipped to Mike Leach’s Mississippi State. It seems likely that Trent will hit the portal after the season.
Lingard was a former 5-star recruit that UF picked up from Miami. It felt like a statement to get him, even though he was recovering from a truly major knee injury at the time. He did eventually get back to full speed, but he apparently has never fully picked up an offense well enough to pass up many players.
He was buried on the depth chart behind Dameon Pierce, Malik Davis, and Wright under the old staff, and Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne passed him up right away upon coming to Gainesville. He has managed to work his way into getting some non-garbage time snaps this season, but not many. Dan Mullen did well in the portal early on but Lingard was from the later crop of finds that on the whole never panned out as well.
Then there’s Wright. He was always a third option under the old staff and their strong preference for seniority, but he was still a fixture. He’s never been one to run through contact, and his low yards per carry rates reflect that: 3.94 per rush in 2020 and 4.29 per carry in 2021. Both of those were below the team’s rushing average as a whole, and that’s even before taking sacks out of the figures. He still found a niche as a pass catching all-purpose back, and he was the starter at the beginning of this season.
Wright fell down the depth chart as Johnson and Etienne outperformed him. They can run through contact, and their yards per carry rates are well above six compared to Wright’s 4.0 at present. The fact the current offense just doesn’t feature much in the way of passes to backs meant there was no place for Wright anymore.
The effect for me was that watching the last drive felt like a funeral for the Mullen era. The depth chart decisions had been made weeks ago, but it still crystalized things a lot. Wright was a notable figure in the old offense, Whittemore was a figure of hope, and Lingard exemplified Mullen’s tendency to need to look for the scratch-and-dent sale to get highly rated talent on the team.
And now, all three are just guys who are running out the clock at the end of a blowout with the third stringers and walk ons. Because they are third stringers themselves.
This happens with coaching changes. When Mullen came in, he and John Hevesy preferred big offensive linemen. It meant that former starter at center T.J. McCoy dropped to third string behind Nick Buchanan and walk on Nick Villano. McCoy was actually listed a bit heavier than those two, but he was also a couple inches shorter.
McCoy wasn’t on track for the All-SEC team or a draft spot, but he was pretty good in Jim McElwain’s offense. Under new management he wasn’t good enough to play ahead of Buchanan, a player who frankly was subpar to the end. So it goes.
We use the term “transitional year” to describe a head coach’s first season for a reason. It’s not like flipping a switch. It’s a transition that takes place over time.
However that last drive really signified for me that it’s truly now the Napier era and it’s Napier’s team. There will be Mullen signees around for years to come, but the transition is nearing completion.