First Glance: Florida

With three nonconference games in and out of the way, it’s time for the real season to begin.

Southeastern Conference rival Florida is coming off a two-point loss at home to No. 1 Alabama – nearly shocking the college football world. The Gators are led by offensive-minded fourth-year head coach Dan Mullen, and despite losing two first round picks, a Heisman finalist and two key defensive starters, Mullen has Florida oozing with confidence heading into the contest.

“They are well coached in all three phases of the game. They make you beat them,” Josh Heupel said in Monday’s press conference. “Obviously, there ability to run the football on offense is a huge part. They are top-five in the country in rush offense.

“Defensively, I think they are physical and tied in at all three levels. Defensive line is very disruptive. Special teams do a really good job as well. So, they make you beat them and from watching the game the other day, [Florida] had an opportunity to tie it up there at the end. It’s a really good football team and our guys are excited about that challenge.”

While the Gators gave Alabama everything it could handle, Tennessee worked on itself against FCS opponent Tennessee Tech. The Vols cruised to the 56-0 shutout victory, cut down on the penalties and generated four turnovers – the first defensive takeaways on the year.

Questions remain on who the Volunteers will have down in the Swamp on Saturday, and better yet, who will be quarterbacking this Tennessee club. Joe Milton has missed the last 6.5 quarters with an injury while Hendon Hooker tied a career-high with four total touchdowns on Saturday.

“I never speak in hypotheticals,” Heupel answered when asked if Milton was healthy and would start. “He got a little bit of work last week. We will find out where he is in particular Tuesday or Wednesday here and see where we are at that point in terms of whether he’ll be able to play or not.”

Regardless of who is ‘under center’ (not really, but you know what I mean), they’ll have their work cut out for them as Florida’s defense is on quite a run.

The 2-1 Gators cruised to easy victories over Florida Atlantic and South Florida to begin the season before falling down 21-3 in the first quarter to The Tide over the weekend. From there, Todd Grantham’s 3-4 defense stifled, holding Alabama in check for only 10 points in the final three quarters of play.

Maybe the most impressive stat of the day was how the Gators held the Crimson Tide to only 92 rushing yards. That’s only the third time since 2014 Alabama has been kept under the century mark on the ground.

“They’re big, long and athletic. They are violent and disrupt the line of scrimmage,” Heupel said on Florida’s front-seven. “Structurally, their second and third levels fit in very well. They have tackled well for the most part. You do those things and it’s tough to run the football.”

Linebackers Mohamoud Diabate and Amari Burney return to the middle of the Grantham defense in 2021 while Zachary Carter and Brenton Cox Jr. patrol the edges. Mohamoud leads the club in tackles thus far and ranked second behind injured Ventrill Miller in 2020. Carter and Cox were critical in Florida’s pass rush a season ago – one that led the SEC with 33 sacks.

Corner Kaiir Elam registers the lone interception for the Gators on the season. He’s also the only returning starter in the secondary since Jayden Hill’s injury in fall camp. Instead, Florida is working to break in a pair of safeties, Rashad Torrence II and Trey Dean II, as well as corner Avery Helm.

But offensively is where Mullen and the Gators have shined of late and despite it being a bit unconventional this season, the results haven’t wavered just yet.

Veteran Emory Jones is finally getting his crack of things, rather than being viewed as only the ‘gimmick’ guy. He’s struggled throwing the football – two touchdowns to five interceptions – and is completing passes at a 63 percent clip. Jones is dangerous in the run game, however, with 275 yards and two touchdowns on a team-high 42 attempts.

“The quarterback is a huge part of their run-game, too,” Heupel said of Jones. “The threat of it and also when the ball is in his hands. He runs like a runner. He’s able to make the first guy miss or run through a tackle.”

True freshman Anthony Richardson is believed to be the guy sooner or later, but like Jones, he’s struggled to throw the football in only two career games. The former five-star is 6-of-11 passing on the season for 192 yards. Richardson is dangerous in the run game with 275 yards on only 11 attempts.

The athletic signal-caller is a bit banged up and was held out of Florida’s loss to Alabama on Saturday, but it’s worth monitoring over the week as he’s the more dangerous option for Florida when healthy.

Senior Malik Davis has received the bulk of the carries out of the backfield for Florida – totaling 221 yards with a pair of touchdowns on 31 carries. Fellow senior Dameon Pierce has five touchdowns on 18 carries as the bigger back is used on short yardage situations. Former Clemson five-star tailback Demarkus Bowman has also seen the field for Florida in the early portion of the season.

The Gators – who said goodbye to Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts – also don’t have the luxury of first round pick Kadarius Tony at wide receiver anymore. But Jacob Copeland returns for what feels like his seventh year in the program, as does highly-used tight end Keon Zipperer.

Through three games, Mullen’s unit has averaged 35 points with 552 yards of total offense an outing. An incredible 335 yards have come on average via the ground game. The offensive line, that returns three starters, has only given up two sacks to date.

“One thing we work on every week is tackling,” Vols cornerback Alontae Taylor said Monday. “We understand Florida likes to run the football. They have really good backs – strong backs – and a good offensive line. The quarterbacks like to run as well. We just have to make sure we can make tackles.

“Game planning, scheme and things like that – just attacking the week the right way.”

Defensively, the Gators have collected 11 sacks, 20 tackles for loss with three takeaways.

The competition certainly takes a step up on the field this week. Tennessee has had no such luck with Florida of late – losing 15 of the last 16 against its rival. The last Volunteer win in The Swamp came from Casey Clausen and the 2003 Tennessee squad.

It’s also worth noting the limited experience at quarterback for Tennessee against the Gators as none of Tennessee’s current stable of signal-callers have played in Gainesville.

Harrison Bailey, who isn’t believed to be a factor in this matchup, has the most experience – throwing for 111 yards with a touchdown in last year’s loss in Knoxville. Joe Milton completed one pass for 13 yards and rushed once for 11 yards in Michigan’s loss to Florida in Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl back in 2018. Hendon Hooker has never faced the Gators.

“We are down there to play a game. It’s fun [travelling] as far as flying if you haven’t and not having to go through a big check in,” Taylor said of away games. “That’s part of it. It’s fun the Friday of travelling and going to the hotel. But making sure we keep the main thing the main thing and know we are down there to handle business.”