New Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner is from Georgia, but he still has a connection to previous eras of Gator football.
Despite his roots in the Peach State, Faulker said at a press conference this week that he grew up loving the legendary Steve Spurrier, who coached in Gainesville from 1990-2001.
“I grew up and loved Spurrier,” Faulkner said. “Just his attitude, the way he went about it, You know, he would talk trash a little bit along the way. So that was always fun to watch as a kid. He was an outside-the-box thinker. He was ahead of his time, right? He was always adjusting. I thought that was something I take a great deal of pride in is trying to stay ahead of the game.”
Spurrier’s Florida teams often had among the best offenses in the country — a standard Faulkner hopes to bring back to Gainesville.
Faulkner was born in Lilborn, Georgia, and was a player at Valdosta State during the end of Spurrier’s run with the Gators.
Faulkner has his work cut out for him in Year 1 at Florida. The Gators will have a new quarterback this season with DJ Lagway now at Baylor. In 2025, Florida averaged 5.4 yards per play, which ranked 94th nationally. Faulkner’s Georgia Tech program averaged 6.98 yards per play, which was good enough for No. 5 nationally.
Florida fans will get a look at Faulkner’s offense during the Orange & Blue Game on April 11.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
