Much was made in the offseason about Dan Mullen’s perceived trash talking of Georgia and Kirby Smart, most notably with the spring game attendance figure.
But Mullen clarified his feelings for Smart this week on the SEC media teleconference.
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s any trash talk,” Mullen said. “I’ve been here a long time, seen a bunch of coaches come and go in there. Everyone has great pride, trying to do good for the SEC. We are the best league in college football and we try to do that and I know the commissioner does that.”
Mullen also explained how the coaches get along.
“I’ve seen him in the summertime,” he said, “we have a lake house in the same lake, we’ve played golf… I’ve not hung around him much, but it’s always cordial.”
Here’s what else Mullen said on the call:
- On UF’s receivers: Yeah, they bought in, Coach Gonzalez has done a great job. If you want to be a great wide receiver, you come to the University of Florida.
- On having everyone back on defense: We still have a few that we lost for the year, that we lost early on… the next guy has always been stepping up, I’ve been pleased with that, shows mental toughness… It’s exciting to think about how we can be with everyone.
- On Zuniga and Greenard back: They have been good… good to have them out there. We limited their reps early, we expect them to be ready to play.
- On Kyle Trask’s makeup: I think through the years we put different guys through different things but he is always ready to work… he has been very consistent in his performance and what he’s been able to do. He has been unflappable… we have never asked him to do anything that he wasn’t prepared to do. He has done a really good job but he is prepared for his. in our development, we want guys to be starters, that’s how we develop guys… when his number was called, he was ready for his opportunity.
- On D’Andre Swift: He was a great recruit out of high school, he plays with speed, plays with power and quickness to make you miss. Extremely talented guy… if you have one guy there, you can run him over, make him miss.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
