Better or Worse? Previewing Florida's defense in 2019
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series previewing every SEC East team’s defense. Coming Tuesday: Georgia.
While Florida’s offense took a big leap in Year 1 under Dan Mullen, the defense also had a bounce back season following a season of growing pains in 2017.
Todd Grantham took over at defensive coordinator and quickly helped a program with a proud history reclaim its usual status as one of the more reliable, fast and dominant units in college football. The Gators finished in the top 25 nationally in several categories, including sacks (20th), pass efficiency defense (17th), total defense (23rd), S & P+ Defense (17th), QB pressure rate (8th),and success rate defense (21st), which measures the percentage of opponent plays where a “successful” number of yards is gained on a given play.
The Gators also produced 26 turnovers, good for 7th nationally, helping an improving offense immensely by providing them short fields. Florida’s defense keyed the team’s 3 biggest wins of the season — a 13-6 victory at No. 22 Miss State, the 27-19 win over No. 5 LSU capped by Brad Stewart’s pick-6 of Joe Burrow (below), and the 41-15 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl rout of No. 7 Michigan, which featured two Chauncey Gardner-Johnson interceptions of Shea Patterson.
Stewart sends The Swamp into hysteria!
Pick six for @GatorsFB! pic.twitter.com/gpOnYqEFiU— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 6, 2018
Still, there’s room for improvement in 2019.
Florida struggled to fit gaps on run defense against elite opponents, finishing a pedestrian 65th in rushing defense. Limited by recruiting misses and depth issues at the 3-technique position and with only a couple SEC-caliber edge setters, the Gators’ rushing defense issues made them vulnerable on third down and medium to short, which led to Florida finishing a very ordinary 52nd in third-down defense. Finally, Florida’s red zone defense, despite one heroic stand against Georgia, was downright abysmal in 2018, with opponents converting red zone trips to points at a 91% clip, leaving the Gators 115th nationally (and 13th in the SEC!) in red-zone defense.
These were all areas of emphasis for the Gators in the spring, and for the most part, they all trace back to inconsistency fitting run gaps against quality opponents. If Florida is to challenge in the SEC East this season, they’ll need improvement in these vital areas to complement the always elite Gators secondary unit.
Will they get it?
Let’s play better or worse.
Pressuring the QB: Same
Led by the talented trio of Jachai Polite, Jabari Zuniga and Cece Jefferson, the Gators were among the nation’s best defenses at pressuring the quarterback in 2018.Grantham’s mastery at employing exotic blitz schemes also assured that Florida used its speed from the linebacker and secondary positions to affect quarterbacks as well.
Polite, Jefferson and frequent blitzing linebacker Vosean Joseph are all off to the NFL in 2019, but Jabari Zuniga returns and was virtually unblockable all spring. Also back is Adam Shuler, who helped the Gators interior play their best football late in the season., Florida has also added transfer Jonathan Greenard, an All-ACC player at Louisville, to the group and he should slot in nicely at the buck/edge spot that Grantham has used to great success with players like Montez Sweat, Jarvis Jones and Polite.
The Gators haven’t recruited well enough inside, in truth, but one blue-chip they do have is Tedarrell Slaton, who struggled with conditioning as a freshmen but has made strides in the spring and summer. If Florida can get a bigger interior push, they’ll be even more difficult to block on the edges, which should lead to another fierce pass rush in 2019.
Run defense: Better
Given Florida’s very average marks in this area last season, even a mild improvement seems likely.
The big questions remain inside, where Florida needs someone beyond Adam Shuler to be a SEC-caliber tackle.
The good news? Florida has recruited exceptionally well at linebacker, stockpiling the unit with blue-chip talents that can complement All-SEC middle linebacker David Reese, who remains the team’s best run stopper.
In particular, James Houston and Ventrell Miller are good form tacklers at linebacker who are strong and play with excellent leverage. Another David Reese, a highly touted redshirt freshman out of Vero Beach, provides speed and size for run blitzes. Finally, anyone who saw the Gators this spring has raved about blue-chip Amari Burney, who is moving to the “Star” spot from the secondary. Burney is fast, strong and a three-down type player, but he will be a better tackler than Gardner-Johnson, which should give the Gators a run defense boost.
Passing defense: Better
A top 20 finish in pass efficiency defense is good, but the Gators can be even better in 2019.
Beyond his ability to tackle, a big reason Burney upgrades the Florida linebacker corps immediately is he provides Florida a sideline to sideline coverage linebacker they haven’t had since Jarrad Davis graduated and moved to the NFL. Joseph, Jeremiah Moon and even David Reese were all limited in their ability to cover running backs and tight ends, as Florida fans found out painfully last year in Jacksonville where they were torched by Isaac Nauta. Burney should help alleviate those issues, as will talented newcomer Mohamoud Diabate, the most complete of Florida’s quartet of blue-chip linebacker signees.
As for the secondary, well … DBU going to DBU.
C.J. Henderson (cover photo, above) is arguably the nation’s best cover corner. According to Pro Football Focus. Henderson did not allow a single touchdown in 2018 and led all returning SEC corners with a 44 passer rating against throws into his coverage last year. His 12 forced incompletions also led the SEC.
Marco Wilson returns from an ACL injury and looked terrific all spring. An All-SEC corner as a freshman, Wilson gives the Gators the SEC’s top pair of starting corners. Trey Dean, an All-SEC freshmen team performer, will try to fill Gardner-Johnson’s big shoes at nickel, but has the talent to do so. The loss of Florida’s top-ranked 2019 signee, Chris Steele, hurts from a depth standpoint, but the staff is outwardly confident that another blue-chip corner, Jaydon Hill, who was on campus in the spring, can contribute this fall. Another blue-chipper, corner Kair Elam, arrived on campus this summer and should also add immediate depth.
Florida’s safeties were inconsistent last season compared to the lofty program standard set by NFL regulars Keanu Neal, Reggie Nelson and Marcus Maye, but per Pro Football Focus, Stewart forced more incompletions than any returning SEC safety other than Grant Delpit in 2018, which is a testament to his upside. Another blue-chip player, John Huggins, was a force for Florida’s special teams as a freshman, had a big spring and should make a leap and help the safety unit be a more stable group for Grantham this fall.
Overall: Better
After finishing outside the top 50 in total defense for the first time in a decade in 2017, the Gators returned to being a consistent unit in 2018 under Grantham. More important, they brought back the explosive, game-changing turnovers that have been a staple of Florida’s defenses this century.
A top 20 defense is good, but Florida fans are used to their defense being even better, having fielded 7 units in the top 12 this decade alone. In fact, only Alabama (9!) has fielded more top 10 defenses this decade in the SEC than the Gators (6). This Florida unit has a chance to meet that lofty standard.
Well if this and the offense article are accurate Florida should be pretty good this season and with their schedule another 10 win season or maybe better seems likely. The UGA football coaches and team better not take the game as lightly as corch and wardawggie are.
Chances of dawgs taking the gators lightly were much better before Dandy Dan Mullet let out his inner Spurrier wannabee and ignited the flames of disgust and discontent. I’m pretty sure the lizards will have our full attention November 2nd.
I’m more worried about that October 5th meeting in Knoxville than I am about a Grantham led defense. Todd has always had a great first half game plan but is horrible at making 2nd half adjustments.
Uh well we are a little more worried than you will be but you never know. Hope we can prove you right to be worried.
For what it’s worth I thought Pruitt was a grat hire, time will tell.
More worried about a team that finished 5-7 and was ran out of the building by Vandy.
Puppies are in denial and think that by mindlessly repeating that Mullen is a bad coach and that UF is the worst program in the East it will magically come true
They are in for a rude awakening
In denial or just plain stupid. Probably a little of both
I was going to sit here and actually speak good about the Gators for one. My Grandfather was a UF alumni before he passed and my daughter almost chose to go to school in Gainesville instead got a full ride to Clemson and my son was thinking about it until Florida State she started showing him a lot of interest. Both are wonderful schools but now let’s talk football. Florida Gator fans seemed to have the biggest mouth can any other SEC School that I’ve known and I’m from Florida. I love to talk about Georgia Bulldogs in which alone Florida for how long now and a week Tennessee team that is now getting better but the thing is if you play her to keep the prophets in their pants and quit robbing people and assaulting women maybe your team might be even better than they are now but that’s not the case is it. At least my team the University of Tennessee is working hard to get better the right way and even though we’re probably going to lose to you guys in Gainesville because of swamp is hard to play in I will take my Tennessee team and our coaching staff over Florida any day! My hat goes off to Georgia because they’ve come a long ways some of my Georgia friends do a little talking dumb Alabama friends hardly do any talking and that’s because their team plays the game the right way and they’re on top and that’s who my Tennessee team hopes to get to one day. Back when we had really bad record I believe it was 5 and 7 then as well you Gators had the same record mainly because Callaway among three other stars of yours where are suspended for the season for cheating on their exams. Truth is no matter how good you might be this year you have no room to talk.
Keep worrying about that game in Knoxville more than the Gators PLEASE. You just better hope the Gator defense comes in missing half their starters again.
hahaha half their defense?!?! good lawd gator fans will make any delusion rather than facing the reality that they arent on uga’s level – missing a corner or two doesnt account for losing by 3 tds – that victory over a mediocre mich team with more than half the defense out gave you all wayyy to much confidence – the irony of a uf fan saying uga is in for a rude awakening is classic – come november you all will fully understand the irony
If the Gators wiped or even beat Georgia this year it will have to be because the the gator boosters paid the refs even more because that’s the only chance they got it beating the Georgia Bulldogs. You plan on beating them then you better hope you don’t have any more suspended players. How many do you have to spend the night now three four maybe even 5. I’ll wait for them with some of your top recruits from last year that decides to transfer schools or something like that. You guys are just like my UT team in the way that you have no right to talk until you actually do something. Good luck because Georgia is more than likely going to Whoop you again because unlike you guys they’re actually a good team and they don’t have to pay the referees. Also I know for a fact Florida used to hand out money to referees because my grandfather which is an alumni let me in on that little secret many many many years ago. So if you like cheating Florida’s the team for you.
Todd Grantham is the weak link in Florida’s defense. I never did like him when he was with UGA. He had one good year and that was due to the level of talent he inherited. UGA has been whipping his a$$ ever since. I think Florida can do better.
Third and grantham, right?
Just like with the overly-positive Blackmon piece about the offense where he admits the o-line will be worse, but then comes out and says the passing and running games will be better, which is impossible if the o-line will be worse, Blackmon is once again WRONG here.
Floriduh has top-flight starters at many spots on their defense. Backing them up? Not so much. Floriduh has NO DEPTH. Especially in the secondary at at linebacker.
Secondary was supposed to be y’all’s strength last season, and Fromm and Locke threw all over y’all like they were practicing against air. And now, those same guys are there, but they don’t have any quality of depth behind them?
This is where Sideshow Dan and his staff’s negligent recruiting and roster management will really hurt y’all.
Georgia. Loss.
LSU. Loss.
Auburn. Loss.
Pick one from Mizzou and Kentucky. Loss.
You’re looking at an 8-4 season as y’all take a step back on offense AND defense and 2020 ain’t looking that much better with the lack of elite talent in that recruiting class, too.
Blackmon is a cheerleader. No real analysis here.
Check your facts, Corch.
Wilson was lost for the season with an ACL in the UK game. And Henderson went out mid-way through the WLOCP.
If they’re healthy, don’t count on routes-on-air again.
We’ll see. Your lack of depth on defense is going to kill you against every good team you play. It’s gonna be like our 2013 season.
8-4. Book it.
Corch doesn’t know what a fact is, he is a delusional troll
If your actually betting on your losses to UM, Kentucky, and UGA that’s said. If you guys had death it’s your positions and you wouldn’t have anything to complain about. I would say good try Mayweather good try, lmao! You might over look my UT team and still have a chance, but I can’t hardly wait to hear your excuses when UGA where to buy several touchdowns again. You Gator fans or to give respect where it’s due because it might bite you in the long run.
LOL now side show corch is a prognosticator, picking Gator games as if anyone cared
I care
LOL two of a kind
(That means Laughing Out Loud)
I know if you have to spell out hashtag you need a translation. Happy to help educate you old man
Oh that’s what LOL means. Thx CO Jones. I was thinking it meant Losing Our Lizards as in Kirby out recruiting Mullet in Florida. I’m old but I’m catching on. Thx for your patience. Thx is short for thanks I believe. Hashtag Solomon Kindley Riley Ridley Isaac Nauta Divaad Wilson James Cook Tyson Campbell Lawrence Cager Brett Seither Kenny McIntosh Rian Davis Tyrique Stevenson and Nolan Smith from Georgia via IMG. Hashtag ouch.
You guys are really good at compiling a list of 5 star players on your roster and bragging how ole Kirb is out recruiting Mullen but that only makes you look foolish. I know it’s hard for you pups to face reality but think about the disconnect. Here you are out recruiting everyone and what do you have to show for it? How is it possible you out recruit Florida and Florida ends the season ranked higher than you? That is what doing less with more means, and that doesn’t bode well for ole Kirb and his staff. You out recruited Texas and yet they beat you like a drum. So be careful about bragging so much about recruiting when you are still waiting since 1980. Georgia always recruits well, and yet….1980. Do you get it? Recruiting well does not equate winning NCs, at least not for Georgia.
Hey Butt Puppet, all this about Georgia killing this “weak” Florida defense would be great if Fromm had someone to pass the ball to. You are an idiot and I swear that your mom should have ate you.
Yeah, all those green receivers going against the likes of Wilson, Henderson, and Dean. It’s going to be fun to watch. I really hope these loser Dawg fans keep doubting the Gators as much as they are. It’s going to make the game that much more frustrating for them.
After the Florida/Georgia games are over with each your “LOL” is all the Georgia fans need to type, while the Florida fans are crying and coming up with different ways to figure out how they got wronged or cheated, instead of just realizing that they just naturally got their a**es kicked because their not good enough.
What hole did you crawl out of? Most of these “UF” comments are responses to UGA trolls on a Gator page. No one is saying they aren’t a really good team …but it’s not like we suck. And if we did win I’ll bet you half my retirement that there won’t be nearly as many Gator fans talking Shizz on their board afterward.
Grantham has a history of taking over a D and improving it statistically. We saw that a UGA. He will absolutely smother lesser teams if he has the hosses. What we also saw was his units melting down in big games and letting it get to the point that a decent offensive effort couldn’t win it. Mike Bobo caught a lot of UGA fans’ ire for L’s that were really the fault of Grantham’s unit – and with a roster of many Sunday players. He went to Louisville and managed the same thing. His Florida tenure looks familiar so far.
Statistically, Grantham will improve the unit’s numbers and rankings. It’s those gotta-have games that seem too big for him. My take, anyway.
Like MSU and LSU last year
Like mizzou and kentuckyblue and leghumperu
Look, we have ANOTHER troll pretending to be a fan.
That’s one more than even Bama has on this site. :-)
You two are probably the same person…
Corch calling leghumper a troll
Priceless
Very well said. I get this vibe also.
Mountain Dog it’s funny how Dawg fans act like Grantham sucks cause his defense gradually declined at UGA, even though he’s been pretty successful at turning around defense’s everywhere he’s been. He actually hasn’t been at any other program long enough to make a comparison to what happened at UGA. Logic would tell you it was the result of a loss of a lot of talent that resulted in the decline. His defense needs to have the right talent in order to be successful as evidenced by what happened when half the defense was out against you guys last season. What’s funny is Hurricane fans feel the same way about James Coley. They think he’s one of the most predictable and worst OC’s they’ve ever had, and actually wanted him fired before Golden, which says a lot considering how much they hated him. But now that he’s at UGA, he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread and the best offensive coordinator in the country. Funny how that works.
Did I say he sucks? No. I said his unit’s just seem to face plant too often in big games. The record bears it out.
Joe Marks’ reading comprehension isn’t the strongest.
Uga fans are seriously worried and its showing. Glad it’s not just the UF fan base starting to notice.
I’ve never been a big fan of Grantham. Some of his decisions last year were questionable. That Nauta situation and the Mizzou game were big red flags. That beung said, I like the agressiveness he brings, we haven’t seen that since Coach Boom. Also, he seems to do well under Mullen, this year he has to show improvement or year 3 will be a hot seat year. We have the talent, TJ needs to step it up. Strangely, we have solid depth at DT with Shuler, Campbell, Conclife (?) and of course, Slatton. The DL will suprise people this year.
I don’t think anyone needs to really worry about the defense as long as they stay healthy. The secondary will make up for a lot of potential deficiencies in the d-line. The linebackers I feel will be better than last season as well. The only real question mark on this team is the o-line.
I won’t be surprised at all. Florida’s first team can go toe to toe with any team in the country. It’s the drop off in 2nd and 3rd team depth that will ultimately hurt, and of course the bulletin board material dandy dan mullet has provided ain’t gonna help matters.
The folks who are claiming that Florida is so talent poor:
#8 class in 2019
#17 class in 2018 (small class due to coaching change)
#9 class in 2017
#14 class in 2016
UGA fans should recognize that … it is pretty much Mark Richt’s recruiting track record. If Richt could win 10 games a year, and do it back when Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Missouri, Auburn and South Carolina were generally pretty good, then Mullen will have no problem winning 10 games this year against a much weaker SEC East plus rebuilding FSU and Miami.
Tennessee had to wait through Heath Schuler’s time at Quarterback for UT to start their comeback. Then as good as Payton Manning was he couldn’t get past Danny Wuerffel, Steve Spurrier, and the Florida Gators. Then it took Tee Martin and that wonderful 1998 team to finally get past not only Florida but Charlie Ward and work done and the Florida State Seminoles in the championship game that year. After Derrick lassic, Antonio Langham and the Alabama Crimson Tide beat out the Miami Hurricanes for one of their national championships they went a little downhill and had to rebuild until they hired arguably the best college football coach of all time in Nick Saban. The Georgia Bulldogs had to wait their turn for Mark Richt to finally leave and Kirby Smart to get their team going in the right direction and he’s only on his 3rd or 4th year and look at what he’s done. Dan Mullen inherited a pretty good football team when he was hired by the Florida Gator program and now he’s going to hopefully do great things for Florida if he can recruit his own team instead of the one he inherited. Jeremy Pruitt inherited a rather terrible Tennessee football team from Butch Jones and even though his record was 5-7 including but whooping from both Missouri and Vanderbilt at the end of last season, but he still managed to do something Nick Saban took a couple years to do himself and that is beat a highly ranked Kentucky Wildcats football team and a very good ranked Auburn Tigers team in Auburn so he did more with Butch Jones’s team then Butch Jones could even do, so I really like our coach at Tennessee. He still has a ton to both learn and prove but bringing in Jim Chaney, Tee Martin, along with ex Florida State Heisman Trophy winner as his quarterbacks coach and coach Niedermeyer which won the recruiter of the Year award last year, along with the other fantastic coaching staff that should be able to produce these players instead of just recruiting them like Butch Jones did. He may not be wonderful this year because it’s only his 2nd year ever being a head coach but on the other hand he might do great. My point is all the great teams, especially the Great SCC programs have to pay their dues to get things right again. Both Alabama and Georgia have definitely paid their dues and are finally reaping the rewards for their patients hopefully Tennessee time will come sooner than later but I believe they’re on the right track to.
This vol fan is off his rocker. Dude is making zero sense.