GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The question put to Dan Mullen early in his Monday Zoom centered around his (and many, many others') anticipation to run into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this weekend surrounded by a packed house of football fans.
"It'll be very different," was how Mullen began his answer.
His answer, those three words, could be applied to a number of elements of his team heading into the 2021 season.
That's a lot of differents.
"I want us to come out and play at an extremely high level," Mullen said, as he entered his first official game week, 25 days since taking the field for the first preseason workout Aug. 6. "We've had a lot of time to practice, so we should be prepared to execute."
[First depth chart of the season released Monday]
All eyes, of course, will be on Jones, the fourth-year from LaGrange, Ga., who will get the first crack at replacing Heisman Trophy finalist Kyle Trask at the quarterback position.
The 6-foot-2, 211-pound Jones will be nothing like the touch and pocket passer Trask was in throwing for more than 7,000 yards and 68 touchdowns since his battlefield promotion to the starting QB spot early in the 2019 season. While playing understudy and taking situational reps behind Trask the last two years, Jones has been a good soldier as far as patiently waiting his turn, along the way completing 64 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns and one interception. Where he becomes the anti-Trask is his ability to run the ball. Whereas an under-pressure Trask might (as in maybe) escape for four or five yards, Jones can turn those breakdowns into 15- and 20-yard dashes (or more).
Same with redshirt freshman Anthony Richardson, who at 6-4 and 236 pounds very much looks the part both in setting up to throw and taking off to run. Look for Richardson, who made a short cameo appearance in the Cotton Bowl loss to Oklahoma last December, to get shuttled into the game much as Jones was for Trask the last couple seasons.
"I don't know that I've ever had two [QBs] that are similar," Mullen said. "I think they see that we're going to build around their individual strengths and I think there is a comforting factor in knowing that."
The Gators have no less than five individuals who -- were the room not so crowded -- could be considered featured tailbacks. Senior Dameon Pierce (1,232 career yards, 10 TDs) will get the first crack, but both senior Malik Davis and third-year sophomore Nay'Quan Wright have had their moments and both are solid receivers. There is considerable buzz surrounding UF's pair of five-star transfers, Lorenzo Lingard (Miami) and Demarkcus Bowman (Clemson), both of whom flashed highlights in the two preseason scrimmages. That's a lot of backs to choose from and how the game reps are divvied out, Mullen said, will fall to running backs coach Greg Knox.
As much intrigue as there might exist on offense, there is angst on the other side, relative to the Florida fan base. The Gators were as explosive as any team with the ball last season, but got bombed without it on the way to finishing 89th overall while surrendering a school-record 370 points, including more than 50 in each of the last two games.
"Last year's in the past," senior safety Trey Dean III said Monday.
While Florida will have four new starters in the secondary — junior All-America cornerback candidate Kaiir Elam is back to anchor the unit, while redshirt freshman Avery Helm is in line for his first career start against the Owls — the Gators need much better play from the interior of their defensive line to better complement an edge game that helped lead the SEC in both sacks and tackles for loss. The defensive staff welcomed a pair of transfers in linemen Antonio Valentino (6-3/312 pounds from Penn State) and Daquan Newkirk (6-3/308 from Auburn) during the offseason, and on Monday, Mullen confirmed the addition of 6-2, 326-pound Tyrone Truesdell, who was Newkirk's teammate the last four seasons with the Tigers.
As far as specials teams, Chris Howard will replace Evan McPherson, who made 51 of 60 field-goal attempts (85 percent) and all but one of his 150 point-after tries (99.3 percent) over his three seasons. Australian Jeremy Crawshaw will take over punting duties from Jacob Finn, who averaged 46.3 per kick during his one season.
It'll all kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m., against FAU, a member of Conference USA and coached by Willie Taggart, who landed in Boca Raton in 2020 after being fired after two seasons and a 9-12 record at Florida State. Grad-transfer N'Kosi Perry will start at quarterback for the Owls, having passed for just shy of 2,500 yards and 24 touchdowns in 24 appearances (nine starts) over three seasons playing down I-95 at Miami.
The Owls went 5-4 last season, ending the year with a 25-10 loss to Memphis in the Montgomery Bowl. That game was last Dec. 23. There were 2,979 in the house.
Florida's home finale last season drew a COVID-restricted 16,610.
Now, back to that Mullen question.
"It'll be awesome," he said. "The excitement, the energy, even walking into the tunnel, it'll feel very different."
A lot will.
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Gators Enter Game-Week Mode - Florida Gators
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