Dan Mullen discusses his thoughts following Florida’s first spring scrimmage
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Monday was Dan Mullen’s first opportunity to speak with the media following the first Gator scrimmage of his Florida head coaching career and, to no surprise, the first few questions had to do with the performance of the team’s quarterbacks.
If you missed the news coming out of the first scrimmage, Feleipe Franks struggled while Kyle Trask appeared to separate himself from the most experienced quarterback early in spring camp. While it’s easy to overreact to spring numbers, Mullen isn’t willing to do that — at least not publically.
Here are the highlights from Mullen’s Monday afternoon media session:
- Thoughts on the QBs following the first scrimmage? They were okay. We put a lot on their plates. They need to learn how to act. They are too worried about making a big play, making up for the last play. No one cares what the last play was, they are going to be judged on the next play.
- Any thought about making QBs live in a scrimmage? Maybe at some point, like in the red zone… It’s not always them that you worry about, it’s the friendly fire and the bystanders around, guys whipping around others’ legs, etc.
- Can you offer up some additional comments on the QBs following their first scrimmage? Their decision making needs work. If you don’t make a good decision, you can’t force it on the next down to make up for the previous down.
- How was Franks’ attitude after a tough outing? He was great, he was in there today. He is very, very hungry to learn everything about the QB position. We need to get him smiling more. It is what it is. He’s the guy, he’s got to learn the situation. No matter how good things are going, how good they are, you are a day from going away… He’s very hungry to learn every aspect of the QB position.
- Have you ever had a QB with Kyle Trask’s background? I don’t know if I’ve had that. I’ve had guys that didn’t start until their senior seasons in high school. It’s about what you are learning when you are here. It’s our job to coach him as hard as we can and it’s his job to perform as hard as he can.
- Any defensive standouts from the scrimmage? There were a couple, I don’t know individually anyone that jumped out at me. There were guys that made plays but those same guys missed plays. It’s about consistency for me.
- How well did Kyle Trask manage the game? I thought he did a good job. He had a turnover that was tough… I was checking plays behind the line of scrimmage that we will go back over today and should help (the QBs) moving forward.
- Thoughts on the team’s pass rush in the scrimmage? I thought we looked athletic in the pass rush. If you can do it with just the defensive line without rushing others, that helps. We need some depth on the backend but if our DL pressers, that’s a big help.
- Do you have an update on Tyrie Cleveland? We hope he’s back this week. He’s had a hamstring issue in the past so we won’t force that one at all.
- Can you touch on why California recruiting has picked up for the program? I don’t know if it’s (just) there, it’s everywhere for us. Obviously, the state of Florida is our priority but we brand ourselves nationally… I think it says a lot about our program… that kids fly in from all over the country to see us.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
