Dan Mullen has been around national championship teams at Florida, and coached Mississippi State to be a No. 1-ranked team. So as the Gators prepare for their first scrimmage this week, the Florida coach was asked how this team measures up as a championship contender.

“I think we have the potential to go compete for a championship and be a championship team, obviously a lot of things go into that,” Mullen said on a Zoom meeting reporters. “But I think we have that potential, which is really good and really exciting. That assumes a lot of things have to happen for it to play out that way, for it to end up being a championship team … A lot of things have to happen for it to play out that way, but we certainly have the potential.”

Florida has received some interest from media outlets and college football analysts to win the SEC East, but the division largely comes down to the game against Georgia. The Gators pulled Ole Miss, Arkansas and LSU from the SEC West.

The coach also noted one roster change as Dante Lang moved from tight end to defensive end.

As for the scrimmage, Mullen said he simply wanted to come out healthy.

“What’s interesting, we haven’t played football in a really long time,” Mullen said. “We’re going to go out there and tackle and ball-security…to see where we’re at.”