Florida's secondary went into the season opener against Hawaii hoping to prove it was better than the unit that finished No. 98 in the nation in pass defense last year. It's still too early to tell how good the group is, but outscoring the Warriors and quarterback Tim Tebow isn't a bad start.
The Gators held Hawaii to just 71 yards passing through three quarters, and safeties Major Wright and Ahmad Black each returned interceptions for touchdowns in the 56-10 rout, trumping Tebow's lone touchdown and the UH's total output.
Florida coach Urban Meyer wasn't ready to anoint the secondary as up to par yet, but he admitted the performance left him excited.
"It's so early, but I get kind of like you guys where I feel like I'm part of the Florida nonsense right now," Meyer said. "I'm jacked. I'll go run in (the locker room) and hug them all up right now, and then go back to beating them to death on Monday."
The Gators (1-0) played nickel coverage for most of the game, with Joe Haden, Wondy Pierre-Louis and Pahokee High graduate Janoris Jenkins the corners in front of Wright and Black.
Haden played the nickel position, roughing up the Warriors' slot receivers and blitzing, while the safeties made plays behind him.
After a slow start, the Gators scored their first touchdown with 11:39 left in the second quarter, and Wright wasted little time in bringing the crowd in The Swamp to its feet again.
He jumped a pass from Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander and sprinted 32 yards across open field for what he said was his first-ever defensive touchdown, even going back to his time at Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.
"My eyes got really big, probably as big as a clock," Wright said. My main focus was to catch the ball first and then run with it."
Black, whose Lakeland High squad topped Wright's team in the 2006 state title game in Dolphin Stadium, followed that up with an 80-yard interception return late in the third quarter.
He also stopped Hawaii (0-1) on its second drive of the game with a diving pick in the end zone, a solid day for a player deemed one of the Gators' biggest question marks after expected starter Dorian Munroe was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
"It felt real good to know that I can trust Ahmad and our whole defense out there on the field," Wright said. "Basically, on our defense, everyone has to trust each other, and that's the kind of chemistry we have going on."
The defense also provided a breath of fresh air for Tebow, as their touchdowns left the offense on the sidelines for long periods of time.
"It was a lot of rest time on the bench that I'm not used to, but it's great," Tebow said. "They were beating us in points for a while, and I don't know if we ever caught up with them because of all the special teams and defensive touchdowns."
