Florida football: Let's take a minute to appreciate what Dan Mullen is doing at Florida
Florida improved to 8-2 after throttling Vanderbilt 56-0 Saturday in The Swamp.
The feel-good win didn’t erase the heartbreak of Florida’s Cocktail Party loss to Georgia, but it certainly showed the program’s youthful promise and strong foundation for the future.
Florida hasn’t been the prettiest football team this season, but they’ve shown character and toughness. That’s a reflection of coaching, and while Ed Orgeron will rightly win SEC Coach of the Year Honors, I know what coach has by some distance done the second-best coaching job in the league this season. That would be Florida’s Dan Mullen.
Columns like this have headlines, which certainly gives away the lede, but seriously — we aren’t talking enough about the job Mullen is doing in Year 2 in Gainesville.
Think about it for a moment.
Mullen lost his starting quarterback, the MVP of a New Year’s 6 bowl game and a guy who put up better numbers than Joe Burrow in 2018 — in the 3rd quarter of Florida’s first SEC football game. No matter. He turned his backup, who hadn’t started a football game since high school freshman football in Manvel, Texas, into a Florida folk legend and the third-highest rated passer in the SEC, behind only Burrow and Tua, two guys who, you might have seen Saturday, are pretty good at football.
By the way, Mullen has done that with almost zero running game, thanks to a skittish offensive line that last week, started 2 freshmen because the skeletal unit left behind from the Jim McElwain era can’t get any push up front. Lamical Perine, Mullen’s preseason All-SEC running back, has contributed only modestly (504 yards in 10 games) as a result.
Florida’s offensive line issues are further compounded by a lack of depth: the recent departure of erstwhile starter Chris Bleich due to family reasons leaves the Gators with just 6 offensive linemen whom offensive line coach John Hevesy has trusted to play more than 1 game in SEC play (Richard Gouriage, Brett Heggie, Ethan White, Jean Delance, Stone Forsythe and Nick Buchanan). That’s not the number of bodies you want to have in the grind of SEC play, and a big reason Florida’s line hasn’t worn defenses out like it did a season ago.
Without a competent run game, Mullen’s offense has played 7 of their 8 SEC football games, as well as a salty Miami Hurricanes defense, with one hand tied behind their back and yet they still rank 38th in scoring offense (Florida’s 2nd-best mark this decade!) and 36th nationally in yards per play (3rd-best).
Injuries and depth concerns have limited Florida defensively as well.
Florida hasn’t played a full SEC game with both of their All-American candidate defensive ends, Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga, on the field for 4 quarters. Zuniga has had a leg injury since the first series against Kentucky, rendering him almost unplayable for much of league play. Greenard suffered a high ankle sprain late in Florida’s win over No. 7 Auburn, and played only 1 play against LSU before returning, albeit not at full strength, to face Georgia. He only began to look like himself again last weekend against Vanderbilt. Zuniga and Greenard’s best backup — Jeremiah Moon — is out until the bowl game, further limiting what early in the season was a dominant Gators pass rush.
Florida’s linebacker corps has likewise been ravaged by injuries: starters James Houston IV and Amari Burney have missed time due to injury and key backup, Ventrell Miller, has as well.
The Gators’ depth on defense is a bit better than what Mullen’s had to work with on offense, but the reality is the Gators 2-deep is just that: only 24 Gators have played more than 4 games on defense — compared to 30 at LSU and 31 at Alabama and Georgia.
One SEC coach told me last week that given the fact schools are allocated 85 scholarships, you hope to have anywhere from 50 to as many as 60 who can contribute in any given season. Florida has played about 45 in more than 4 games, with, as demonstrated above, significant depth issues on both lines of scrimmage and a backup quarterback.
Of course, some of this is expected when you are in the midst of a rebuild. Florida is on its 4th head coach this decade (6th if you count interim head coaches DJ Durkin and Randy Shannon) and it is no secret a huge challenge in Mullen’s rebuild is replenishing the roster with blue-chip talent after a decade wandering the college football wilderness. Jim McElwain’s well-earned reputation as a lightweight recruiter only made the challenge more daunting, as has Kirby Smart’s recruiting machine at Georgia.
Mullen’s had some foul-ups along the way with his recruiting operation as well, some of which may have impacted the Gators this season. The Gators didn’t enroll enough members of this past season’s top 10 recruiting class, and Mullen’s decision to overhaul recruiting support staff, while necessary, came almost a year after his arrival in Gainesville, a bit too late for some program insiders.
But none of that detracts from what’s happening on the field — and in fact, the roster limitations only speak to the impressive coaching job Mullen and his staff have done.
The Gators have a quality win over a top 10 Auburn team, 5 SEC victories and a win over in-state rival Miami. The Gators stood toe-to-toe with No. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge last month for most of 4 quarters and were a play or two away from upending No. 5 Georgia as well. Two losses by a combined 21 points and in truth, about 4 or 5 plays. That’s all that separates Florida from being a 10-0 team instead of the 8-2 unit that will close SEC play at Missouri this coming Saturday.
Mullen appears poised to take this tough, ragamuffin group to a second consecutive New Year’s 6 bowl, and, barring a fiasco, will finish the season with an unbeaten record in The Swamp and another victory over Florida State. With Manny Diaz’s Miami rebuild only just beginning and FSU a shell of its past glories, the window is open for Mullen to seize control of the Sunshine State for years to come.
The truth is, a 1o or 11 win season — with the only 2 losses to Playoff contenders — would be quite impressive, especially given the adversity Florida has faced this season.
In most years, we’d be talking about that more, about how Mullen walked into a 4-win, toxic hellscape of a culture at Florida and won 20 games his first 2 seasons anyway, despite devastating injuries and a dearth of high-end talent.
Put that way, maybe we should be talking about it more than we are. Maybe it’s only the beginning for Dan Mullen at Florida.
This further confirms Muschump is not a good head coach.
Mullen’s problem is all the bulletin board material he provides Georiga in the months leading up to our game. I suspect the bulletin board is bare again now that our game has passed. When will he learn that others hear his words and words matter???
*Georgia
Everything this article mentioned, and bulletin board material is your comment… real talk from the bottom of my sack, reading is fundamental… FOH dork
UGA says thank you.
I certainly appreciate everything Mullet is doing at Florida.
Not to disagree with any article written here but Trask is a much better QB than Franks. Much better.
Great article Neal. It’s pretty amazing to think how far we’ve come since the 4-7 final year of McElwain’s tenure. Most importantly, it’s actually fun to watch the games again. Our offense was so terrible during the Muschamp and Mac years that the games were rarely entertaining.
I think this is fair and deserved praise for Dan Mullen. I’m late to the Mullen train, having only really known about him since Mississippi State, but I now consider him one of the elite coaches …Which is really unfortunate, cause I would rather see Florida drug through the mud every year. Really, Florida has no excuse for not being a top program every year. With Mullen and Smart leading the biggest programs in the east, we should have some consistently entertaining cocktail parties.
Good post.
The East should continue to rise, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the West with Mullen and Smart leading the way. If the Vols can get on their feet again, that’d be great to have as well.
Lev while beating UGA or should I say beating each other up is fun for the year the west has owned the SEC for some time. Would be nice to see the east take over with even UT and So. Car. being good teams. Would be great if the road to the NC went through the SEC East year in and year out even better if the Gators are on top. Even have UK, Vandy and Mizzou once in awhile.
Actually. The east beat the west head to head in 2018.
And actually the east won the conference the year before…
Yes we did but I’d like to see the east the dominant division year over year. Would be good to see NC go through the east. Of course even better with the Gators on top.
“I know what coach has by some distance done the second-best coaching job in the league this season. That would be Florida’s Dan Mullen.”
I know an SEC coach who will be watching the SECCG from his couch.
There will be 12 SEC coaches on their couches for the SECCG, I’m pretty sure…unless they score a ticket…
Yes, and I know an SEC coach who’ll watch his squad get torched by LSU in the SECCG.
And who won’t even be there after running his mouth the last two offseason only to get smacked down by the BETTER COACH?
Ya boy, Sideshow Dan the Clown.
Thats funny actually…
Geotgia is the better program at the moment but you really should be worried that Smart barely won this year…considering all of the injuries the Gators have sustained and all the great recruiting classes Georgia has had over last few years.
With that big of a hole, Mullen still was a touchdown away from knocking off Georgia. That should send a chill down your spine rather than lead you to chest thumping. Mullen clearly did more with less than what Kirby did in that game. As noted by others, LSU will be lighting Georgia up.
This^^
That’s why they’re all hooked on Florida articles. They know the inevitable next decade of dominance by Florida is coming. And it makes them crazy.
Hey Shadow,
You do realize that the game was in Georgia’s control throughout, right?
Kirby played prevent D on purpose in the fourth quarter to trade long drives for time. That last drive of yours took almost 8 minutes off the clock.
We didn’t “barely win.” We beat y’all. We made y’all one dimensional because Sideshow Dan is a terrible recruiter and your o-line sucks. He’s also an overrated game day coach, as Georgia has proven the last 3 years.
Barely won. LOL. Gators are so delusional.
While yall get whooped on worse then then we did in BR. Have fun. Remember getting there just the lose. Not exactly fun
Mullen can’t even get his offense lined up right….. 21 yds rushing. Yeah, I appreciate that!
I just want to buy one of those wrist bands
good luck beating LSU..its been since WW2, Mr. War loser.
21 yards of rushing includes Trask’s -22 in sacks and scrambles. Take those away, and you have 43 yards on 11 attempts by our running backs. And we definitely averaged more yards than you on the ground.
Meanwhile, Swift was run into the ground with 25 attempts for a mere 85 yards (which all came in 2-3 plays in second half). Add other run plays (non-Fromm), and GA had 34 attempts to FL’s 11.
The stats reflect that Georgia was on the field much longer, which was why you won the game. It really wore out defense down. We should have run the ball more and chipped away better to give our defense a breather. But stopping the run was hardly something you should be touring if you understand the variables.
Good luck against Auburn, their defensive line is going to crush you guys. Better hope Fromm does as great of a job as he did on 3rd and long against us. I don’t think he’s going to have the time he did in Jax.
*touting
Go Gators
If Florida’s OL held up against Auburn, then I’m not sure how you conclude that Auburn’s DL is going to crush Georgia.
Boxster, Florida’s OL did not hold up against Auburn. Trask was sacked and pressured repeatedly and turned the ball over a few times. The OL did just enough to win with some key schemed plays.
Fortunately, Bo Nix made several mistakes too and the Gators capitalized. The Swamp crowd was a major factor.
Your game is at Auburn and Nix has gotten a good deal more experience under his belt.
I have no feel for who wins, but I like Auburn’s chances.
Nash, that’s a fair correction. Auburn’s DL will no doubt be the toughest UGA faces and Auburn can absolutely win next Saturday. I just don’t agree with the idea that Auburn’s DL is going to crush UGA’s OL. Fromm will likely be terrorized much more than usual, but I expect UGA’s OL to ultimately hold their own.
Meh… Kirby will choke again in the SECCG. Its what he does afterall…
He won’t have to choke. LSU will beat them outright, assuming Georgia beats Auburn and TAMU.
He happens to be 1-1 in SECCGs. If that’s choking, I’m good with it…
LSU had best hope Uga is 11-1 coming into that game. If we’re 10-2 with no CFP aspiration we’ll curb stomp them. That game will be our season.
Respectfully, mon Leghumper, nobody is curb stomping LSU this year as long as Burrow is healthy. Next year, perhaps. But this year they are in a magical place. And I am not an LSU fan.
Burrow is what Fromm would be if he could throw 30 passes with several being under pressure and still perform at an elite level. He has every bit as much football IQ as Fromm but is better under pass rush pressure.
He hasn’t faced the leghumper defense yet…Florida’s elite receivers were going to torch us too. Trask was going to run rampant. Say Hello to my little friend Mr Davis…LSU’s defense is no where near as good as yours. We got this…lol
LSU is a lot faster on the outside than we are. I hope y’all get to burrow but he’s better than Trask at avoiding pressure. Hopefully Smart has an answer.
We got to Hurts in 17, we got to Tua in 18…hmmmm, I wonder who Burrows backup is? That’s our only concern, lol
I’m super happy with Mullen through this point in year 2, but this “couple plays away” fallacy is getting out of hand. Sure we were a handful of plays away in the LSU and Georgia games, but also a couple plays away from losing to UK and Miami.
Can’t only look at it in one direction. Yes we’re not terribly far from 10-0, but we’re also not that far from 6-4 either.
^^^What he said.
Yep. But to be fair, college football takes some luck. Hard to name a team that’s one a natty without some of it in big games.
Very good point McElwain… just like last year y’all were just as close to 8-5 as 10-3. That being said I guess that’s actually a positive for your coach, his ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat more often than not.
Yuck, I feel so dirty giving Mullet a compliment, makes me want to leghump sumpin, lol…
Yep agreed. We still have a talent gap to close, but Mullen has done a good job getting the team to give consistent solid effort from week to week, which was not always the case under Muschamp or the sharkhumper.
And the reward is that we’ve beaten the teams we’re supposed to beat and competed in the games against good teams, with a few good wins to show for it. Hopefully we can keep things rolling in the right direction
Very, very good point. There is no greater waste of thought than “a couple of plays” this way or that. One team wins and the other one loses and that’s that.
Mullen talks a lot of crap that he can’t back up. A good coach would make sure his players had the right arm bands on.
That’s a ridiculous thing to say. Every head coach, Nick Saban included, has snafus in his program. The better ones have fewer, but nobody has none.
True. But Gotta admit, first time I ever heard the wristband snafu.
Same here. But honestly, sounds like a farkup by some grad assistant or something like that. But it’s gonna be good for memes for quite a while, I betcha.
If Dan Mullen wanted my advice (and I know he doesn’t), I think he needs to wait until post games to make his grievances against officiating. Halftime complaints look bad even when they truly are bad calls hurting your team. Otherwise, I think he’s doing a wonderful job and getting Florida back to where it needs to be.
Mullet is such a great coach
the NCAA has relocated the transfer portal to Gainesville
Lizard lickers – you should really stick it to us inbred, hayseed rednecks and sign mullet to a 10-year contract. You really want to throw some salt into the wound – include Grantham.
#3StarRecruitingMachine
Yeah, all that talent has did Georgia so much good, can’t stop winning championships.. Lmao
Florida state champions 3 years in a row by gosh!
WarDawg is a just a Bulldog hanger-on. Doesn’t really have any tie to UGA except as a wannabe. And a vulgar pig to boot!
2017 – Dawgs 35
2018 – Dawgs 19
2019 – Dawgs 7
Looks like y’all are gonna be dominant by next year with that awesome QB you all will have….who’s that again?
2020 – Dawgs by 3 works for me (:
Fromm’s coming back, haven’t you heard?
I hope not! I was happy to see Drew Locke leave for the NFL, just like I will Fromm.
Fromm has to cash it in with the NoFunLeague now, that O-Line isn’t forever, y’know.
Why? Lol he regressed so much under Coley pretty sure he coming back too haha
There’s more Georgia fans on these Florida posts than Florida fans. These chumps really love to talk about Florida lol. Talk about some real scrubs.
Just trying to class up the joint…
Just remember you’re the visiting team here, mind your manners, keep a leash on your mutt-fans, and if they poop on the floor then Y’ALL gotta pick it up!
You got it! Lol
People whining, and then insulting, over who is or is not commenting on posts are clearly superior to the rest of the scrubs discussing a topic about which they are very interested and engaged.
Class Currently has 12 4* committed with prob 4 or 5 on the way
Also getting another big infusion of talent on D an area Mcelwain completely failed to recruit esp the DL all our guys are transfers except Zuniga and a few others
It’s funny that the Georgia posters can’t stay away from the Florida articles, yet most Florida fans couldn’t care less about most Georgia articles.
Bringing up the wrist band issue is what’s known as creating a distraction. Sort of like if I was to bring up Kirby’s various failed fake punts in a discussion about his overall effectiveness at Georgia.
Taking a big picture view, things are shaping well overall for the Gators. Mullen’s recruiting is already objectively better than Muschamp’s and McElwain’s. We have a good pipeline of incoming quarterbacks. And it looks like we’ve got the big defensive tackle we’ve needed to shore up the middle.
Miami and FSU are dumpster fires, with FSU virtually guaranteed to either hire the wrong coach or a good coach who hasn’t recruited the state of Florida.
Burrow, Delpit and Lawrence will be gone at LSU (and possibly Joe Brady too), and Alabama is drifting back to earth. Georgia is beatable with or without Fromm, as long as our offensive line improves and we get a good defensive tackle.
With Big 10 attrition, we should finish in the top 10 again and get to a second consecutive New Year’s Six bowl. Here are the two big things we need to become a dynasty under Mullen in the 2020s:
1. We need to get that new football operations center built.
2. We need to get to the CFP, or at minimum get to AND be very competitive in the SEC Championship game. The most elite Florida high school kids need to believe they can get to the CFP at Florida. While we will likely beat up on Miami and FSU for the next few years, our bigger issue is Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson coming into Florida and taking the cream of the crop. Jerry Jeudy, Amari Cooper, Derrick Henry, Alex Leatherwood, C.J. Spiller, the Bosa brothers… all from Florida.
And yet there y’all sit at number 6 in SEC again this year, recruiting barely ahead of SC and UT, and with more commitments on the board than both of them. Very very soon Dandy Dan will be out of legacy recruits, so I’ll reserve judgment until then. Of course with the transfer portal system now fully entrenched it’s a little more difficult to determine how critical initial recruiting is I suppose, thankfully for Dan he has more options instead of simply counting on the mediocre recruiting he’s continued to exhibit in 11 years of coaching.
You forgot LSU on your list nash, I see another highly ranked 4star from the state of Florida chose LSU the other day…but Dan did get a commitment from a zero star from Georgia for his class of 22, so take that Kirby!
Dan needs to hire and always keep an elite recruiter on staff.
Kirby already has a job, lol…
LOL
Think he might be open to moonlighting?
Nashville Gator its preemptive, it tells you the UGA fans are fairly worried about going into Jordan Hare Saturday.
Absolutely worried…5th bye team of the season on the road, several injuries this past weekend and going to a place we got the dogcrap beat out of us last time… I still believe our defense will keep us in it and I see the game a toss up. Fewer Turnovers wins it…good luck in Mizzou, we tenderized them up pretty good for y’all…
I hope so
Mullet Better hurry and lock down the borders Nash, another elite 4star Florida boy just committed to aTm…your bigger issue now is TrunksnorterU, BucknutU, ClemgooberU, BogKatU and AggricultureCollieU coming into Florida for more cream.
He committed to an ATM machine?
I thought they were called “bagmen” but things change so fast nowadays….
LOL. You can always count on Neil for a good laugh when he writes about the Myth of Sideshow Dan the Clown.
Agreed. His coaching definitely was not exceptional when we played them.
Can you imagine being an ex-girlfriend / ex-boyfriend of Corch’s? I mean, the sheer amount of vitriol and hurt pride over trash talk during talking season. Can’t imagine being on the receiving end of this over real stuff.
To all the dogs talking smack, Mullen didn’t lose to an unranked team at home in a game that good coaching could have won. I also believe UF has no 5 star recruits playing, so good coaching has elevated our game. Conversely, Kirby has a much more talented roster. So yes, when it comes to coaching, Dan IS the Man.
Got any leftover wristbands from Jacksonville? I hear they are big dollar collectors items in Athens…
Just imagine how mad he was when UGA turned down his application.
I seriously doubt he applied to or attended any institution of higher learning.
I for one certainly appreciate what Dandy Dan is doing, Neil…I appreciate that in 11 years of head coaching he hasn’t learned that the QB and WRs might want armbands with the same plays on them. And I especially appreciate him talking smack against Georgia before he even settled into his new job, assuring Georgia will have his full attention whenever they meet up in the future.
That being said as a fan of college football it’s nice to see GatorbaitorU becoming relevant again. The SEC and especially the SEC East needs it.
You know what else is rare as hen’s teeth in Athens? Nattys, pups. And I’ll bet y’all won’t be seeing any in a long time.
I hear they are as rare as a matching set of wristbands in Gainesville
Yeah. There was the wristband issue. But no shortage of Heisman statues or national championship trophies. Three of each.
Touche. BTW We’ve decided to claim co-Championship with UCF in 2017 since none of your Nattys included two rounds of playoffs. I hope your okay with that, lol.
I’m OK with the fact that our 2006 and 2008 national championships included BCS national championship games. Georgia’s 1980 and Florida’s 1996 were determined by poll votes.
Our 2017 obe did too. Who did y’all beat in the second round?
Leghumper, you’re really confusing me today. Georgia received the Order of the British Empire in 2017?
Who did y’all beat in the second round humper?
We didn’t…I was flashbacking to the good old days of 2006/2008 when we would have been champs after WINNING the SEC Championship and winning against a single BCS challenger and Alabama wouldn’t as losers of the west to Auburn wouldn’t have even qualified. But then someone rudely woke me up…shouting 2nd and 26!!! lol
Just got the OBE … 2017 ONE. Lol
Auburn over GA this weekend. Take it to the bank.
With hopes of a championship gone, Georgia turns in a Texas-style effort the following week, completing the crash-and-burn of the decade.
And then you woke up
…just in time to see Big Game Kirby lose again.
BTW, this was for those dogs who are talking smack. For the reasonable, decent Dawgs, you have a solid team and Fromm is a Dude.
Same with ypur GatorbaitorS, but hey, a little banter is fun once in a while, ESPECIALLY since all the Bama trolls left…nothing personal taken mudragon. Good luck against Mizzou. Y’all owe them.
Actually, UGA losses to both Auburn and TAMU are entirely possible, especially if Cager can’t play.
Not likely, but certainly possible.
A loss to Auburn at Auburn is very possible. As Leghumper knows all too well, Gus has had two weeks to get ready.
Lol, UGA could lose all their remaining games by 1000 to 0 and it won’t change the fact we best y’all’s aass in Jacksonville, again.
23-17 Chumps
You may have taken your screen name from Shakespeare, but you should have considered grabbing some grammar too.
3 Heismans
3 National Championships
Chump
So I guess you DON’T think UGA will beat Auburn this weekend..
Clearly it doesn’t matter if they do or don’t beat Auburn. The Florida game is obviously their national championship and the only game that matters to them. Probably why they haven’t won a real one in almost 40 years. It’s hilarious, all they do is talk about how terrible Florida and Mullen is, yet every single chance they get they talk about the Gators or that game as if it’s some huge accomplishment. Quite the contradiction if you ask me. Not sure why you’d spend everyday of your life running your mouths about a team if you truly believe they’re that terrible. So carry on trolls, you constantly being here is all the proof we need to know how you truly feel about the program despite the stupidity you post on a daily basis.
Can’t argue with you there, Joe. Beating Mullet again was special…
You know Joe, you’ve got a pretty good point there.
Muschump>Smart 2019
Ouch.
You wanna talk about ouch?
Smart > Sideshow Dan.
Ouch, dummy. 24-17. Love it!
Oregron > mullet 2019
wait, I don’t have hide behind another coach/team
Smart > mullet 2019
Smart > mullet 2018
Smart > mullet 2017
.
.
24-17 Chumps
Actually the score was
UGA 20 (if you would have made the field goal)
UF 17
Refs 4
Every Pop Warner player knows that “catch” wasn’t a catch.
You still beat us, but barely
Oh, we’re doing ref counts?
UGA 20, UF 13. That pushoff “TD” wasn’t a TD.
Yeah, but when Smart > Sideshow Dan the Clown, that’s the only thing that matters, dummy.
Mullen is an elite coach. He still has weaknesses. He still trash talks. Smart is an elite coach. He still has weaknessses.
From all the crap Florida fans put on Kirby, you’d think he was in his 8th year of head coaching with less than half of those as double digit win seasons despite signing the no. 1 class every year. Neither has happened. He’s young, and the talent level at some positions still isn’t where it needs to be, but he’s met/exceeded the expectations set when he was hired. He won coach of the year in his 2nd season for a reason.
Mullen isn’t a totally inpet guy either. He mixed up some solid football at a mediocre ag school in the middle of nowhere for a long time, and took a 4 win program to a NY6 Bowl. It’s not like he took over a team that was at 2007 Florida levels and then nosedived to the Belk Bowl.
Florida fans would probably rather have Mullen, and UGA fans would probably rather have Smart.
Would?
I’d love KS recruiting combined with DM QB coaching and play calling. Best of both worlds.
I was thinking UGA’s 2019 defense + LSU’s 2019 offense = the greatest college team ever.
We’ll gladly take a good WR coach if you have one to spare
The way Mullen was yelling at Our WR coach Gonzalez in the UGa game, Gonzalez could be available.
Just kidding!
Let me guess – you have a bunch of participation trophies and that-a-good-job medals?
Go grow a set and quit pandering to these jackanapes.
Nobody likes a wimp – except for co jones, marks, nashville, mtn, atlgator, 2bits, gatorsdontplay, swamp, investi ….
No one gives a crap about your keyboard fighting either. You’ll probably never see anyone here face to face in your entire life. Let Florida do the talking, and as for me, I’m going to sit back and watch our Dawgs talk with their helmets.
Conflict Pup, don’t talk to anyone about growing a set when you’re hiding behind a screen name and a keyboard.
If you want to publish your real name, then you can spew testosterone. Otherwise, stick to football comments.
Ah isn’t that special, the little twinkie had put me in my place
That’s a cute insult, coward.
I appreciate what Mullen has done and continues to do. We need to run the table and when we do we will once again finish with a better record and higher ranking that the flea infested leg humpers.
One step at a time, so far so good in his second year
I’ll take the W every year in Jxvlle as our consolation prize
College head football coaches have many demands and responsibilities beyond the Xs and Os. It’s amazing how effective they can be as a process and quality-control managers. That’s where Coach Mullen seems to shine.
Mullen was a proven SEC head coach when hired at Florida. He competed in the SEC West while at MSU. Fans like that he embraces the higher expectations to win that come with the resources of UF.
Recruiting is another arena of competition. We will need a few more years and classes to fairly judge how well Dan Mullen recruits for UF.
Give him an extension.
– Coach Smart
I hope they do.
Smart is a good defensive coordinator. But he’s Richt 2.0 with better recruiting. So far.
He’s did two really good things when he got the Georgia job:
1. He borrowed Alabama’s recruiting relationships and evaluations (which is one reason Bama is down half a notch: There are only so many elite players to go around within 300 miles of Tuscaloosa).
2. He hired Sam Pittman, one of the best offensive line coaches in the country and, as a result, one of the best recruiters.
He has a two-year head start on Mullen, and he was left a deeper initial roster by Richt. But Mullen has all the resources necessary to catch up and surpass him.
NashvilleTwinkie
So Kirby isn’t a great HC
yet he was able to immediately implement an elite recruiting system
and hire the best O-line coach in college football.
Without even getting into all the other markers of success Kirby has achieved – you are a dumbaass just based on your bass ackwards logic.
Child.
He also developed a 3 star into the Jim Thorpe winner, a 2 star transfer into an All SEC safety, produced a Butkus Award winner and a Butkus Finalist (who was a former 3 star running back), produced the best draft class for UGA in decades (and that wasn’t the result of Richt’s eLiTe recruiting), and won the SEC Championship, won the Rose Bowl, and won the division the next year. He didn’t “borrow” Bama’s relationships–any of those players are already well into their college careers.
You act like he’s already starting to crash and burn or slip into annual 6-10 ranked classes. This year’s defense is the best yet, it’s his deepest o-line he’s ever had, and two of his starting CBs and his starting nickelback for next year are from where? Florida. His All-SEC OG? Florida.
I know others have, but I don’t think I’ve ever suggested in seriousness that Smart is not a very good coach. I joke from time to time on this site, especially with Leghumper, but more often than not I offer my honest opinion. His SEC Championship is a meaningful accomplishment. What I have said, or at least implied, is that Smart won’t surpass Richt if he doesn’t win an NC. Sure, he got close in the CFP, but this isn’t horseshoes. No points for almost.
And in this regard, his great recruiting — which is indeed better than Richt’s — actually works against him if he can’t win an NC. So I’m holding off on “great” until he can realize the full potential of his roster salesmanship and win a national championship.
While I admit that Smart is now no longer able to benefit directly from his time at Alabama, that clearly jumpstarted his recruiting and to deny that is just ridiculous. Anybody who is honest and serious knows that recruiting is a positive feedback loop where getting some good players makes other good players sign on as well. So yes, having relationships he started at Alabama with his first couple recruiting classes at Georgia is still helping him indirectly.
Not sure what the relevance of some of his players being from Florida is. Florida has 20 million people, is located in the sunbelt where football is king, borders the state of Georgia and sends elite players all over the country. No single school is ever going to corner the market on elite Florida high school players, of which there are about 45 each year (4- and 5-star), not including IMG Academy kids who are actually from out of state (like Nolan Smith, who attended IMG in Florida but is from Atlanta).
I think Nolan is from Savannah, but I see your point about the Florida recruiting and Kirby’s task to surpass Richt. And TBH, I’m frustrated with how little Kirby has recruited in-state over the past couple of years. I still think the “Bama recruiting loop” has ended at this point, though.
He’s lost to the #1 and #4 team in the polls
And both games were competitive. Trask and the passing game are on fire. I couldn’t be too much happier with his progress so far. Mac absolutely sucked at recruiting LBs and DLs in 2 classes Mullen has put him to shame. Cant wait to have guys like Wingo, Diabate, and Hopper at LB
Dexter, Brown, Powell Bogle, the 5* transfer Brenton Cox etc at DL