As he patrols Florida practice, Will Muschamp personifies intensity.
His presence constantly felt, Muschamp’s cries of “Lock in!” and “Pay attention!” — two of his favorites — reverberate through the field.
During ESPN’s All-Access look into the program, the Gators’ new head man stalks through a half-line drill in the first week of fall camp.
The black whistle draped from his neck stands in sharp contrast to his white, long-sleeve T-shirt, and Muschamp puts it to good use. In reality, he hardly needs it.
He wears cargo shorts, white sneakers and a blue Florida visor, a workmanlike combination — nothing flashy. The power and command in his screams are the only attention-grabbers he needs.
As he shouts “Secure the football!” and “Scrape the C gap!” he demands recognition at all times, even as he moves between dueling groups of linemen, linebackers and running backs.
His style, although formulated under many influences during four years as a player and 15 more as an assistant, is all his own.
That’s just the man Will Muschamp is.
“I’m going to be me,” he said. “I’m going to be Will Muschamp. I’m going to be involved with the players.
“The players are a reflection of their coach, and I hope they feed off the intensity.”
The sidelines of the practice field don’t bound Muschamp’s fiery nature.
When John Brantley is in meetings or hanging around the team facility, he can usually tell where his coach is.
“I’ve heard him through the doors,” Brantley said. “It’s awesome. It keeps everyone awake and in tune. Everyone is listening to him.”
Muschamp isn’t shy about making noise in a meeting room. Whether it’s the safeties, cornerbacks, linemen or linebackers, he’s always animated when he’s working on the defensive side of the ball.
“The enjoyment I get out of coaching is sitting in the defensive staff room preparing our football team,” he said.
That’s plain to see from his résumé alone. After serving as a graduate assistant at Auburn, he coached defensive backs at West Georgia for one year, then did the same at Eastern Kentucky for another. From there he began a stretch of defensive coordinator jobs: one year at Valdosta State, three at LSU, one with the Miami Dolphins, two with Auburn and three with Texas.
As he bounced from place to place, he picked up new ideas and fresh insights on what it means to be a coach.
“Be a sponge,” Muschamp said. “Take it all in, and understand there’s different ways of doing it.”
He’s learned from some of the best minds in the game. Bill Oliver taught him how to combine coverages. Nick Saban taught him total program management. Mack Brown, Wayne Hall and Roy Kidd added their own ideals to the mix, and close friendships with new rivals Jimbo Fisher and Derek Dooley helped drive it all home.
Muschamp soaked up every bit of knowledge he could and let it marinate. The result was a defense guided to a top-10 statistical finish in six of his last eight college seasons.
As his football acumen developed and changed, Muschamp remained himself. Whether he was screaming praise and encouragement from the sidelines at Auburn or chest-bumping defensive end Brian Orakpo at Texas, Muschamp always maintained his excitable demeanor.
And even Saturday, his first game day as a head coach, there’s little reason to expect a change.
“He won’t be calm, and he never has been,” Dooley said. “I don’t think Will’s going to change. What you see is what you get, and that’s why Will has been so successful everywhere he’s been.”
Naturally, Florida’s new defensive playbook bears his signature.
The binder labeled “2011 Fall Camp Defensive Installation” is a monstrosity. A black, three-ring, 3-inch tome filled with 20 years of defenses. Three-down looks, four-down looks, nickel, dime — it’s all there.
The spine bears the owner’s name and a single word: “Grind.” The solitary expression has become a team motto this fall, present in white, capital letters on the orange wristbands worn by every player.
The cover holds another simple message. “Lead the nation in: effort, toughness, turnover margin.”
If a player doesn’t learn and adhere to these principles, Muschamp isn’t afraid to get on him.
And Muschamp’s forceful, commanding personality isn’t just directed at players.
“Even the trainers,” senior Chris Rainey said. “We just saw him yelling at a trainer across the field, and everybody looked at each other like, ‘Wow. He’s the real deal.’”
But Rainey also noted Muschamp’s lighter side, going so far as to jokingly call him bipolar.
The same coach who is doling out punishment on one play can be laughing along with his players the next.
“He’s laid-back, but at the same time if you mess up, he’s going to let you know you messed up,” senior Jaye Howard said.
Muschamp’s passion reminds some of his players of their former coach, Urban Meyer.
Both Muschamp and Meyer are excitable, in-your-face types whose love for football borders on obsession.
In his introductory press conference, Muschamp said his inherent drive forces him to work longer and prepare harder than almost anybody. This same characteristic forced Meyer into retirement.
But there’s one significant way they differ: Meyer was an offense and special teams guru, Muschamp has always been defense first.
“I love him, man,” Howard said. “He’s a motivator. He’s a defensive guy, and we’ve never had that here.”
Said junior Omar Hunter: “He’s in the fire with you. He’s jumping up and down with the defense and he’s talking about how bad he wants to beat the offense. It’s definitely better playing for coach Muschamp as far as offense and defense goes.”
Even as a child, Muschamp’s aspirations were always a bit different.
In football games outside their home at 1122 NW 22nd St., Muschamp’s brothers Mike and Pat dreamed of being Florida quarterback Wayne Peace or wide receiver Tyrone Young. But Will had other ideas.
Will Muschamp wanted to be safety Tony Lilly, who played at UF from 1980 to 1983.
Although he was born in Rome, Ga., and eventually returned to finish high school, Muschamp spent most of his formative years in Gainesville and developed a love for Florida.
His family had UF football season tickets in the north end zone of what was then just Florida Field, where Muschamp saw greats like Cris Collinsworth and Wilber Marshall play under coach Charley Pell.
“I remember watching the games growing up and dreaming of being a Gator,” Muschamp said.
By all accounts, Muschamp was a stellar high school football player. But a compound leg fracture during his junior season diminished his chances of earning a scholarship right away, and he was forced to walk on at Georgia, giving up on his Florida dreams partly for economic reasons.
After recovering from an unrelated injury that forced him to take a medical redshirt as a freshman, he needed just one year to earn a scholarship. By his senior season, he was the captain of the defense.
Given his playing history, it’s not shocking that Muschamp now does much of his hands-on work in the secondary.
Senior cornerback Moses Jenkins said Muschamp might push the defensive backs harder than any other group, and sophomore safety Matt Elam lauded his coach for his interactive nature.
Said junior linebacker Jon Bostic: “He’s a players’ coach.”
With the pads on, Muschamp was a hardworking overachiever. As a coach, he wants his team to inherit those values.
“That’s what I want us to be,” he said. “We are a blue-collar unit, and that’s what our identity should be.”
He wants his team to share his character, and he’s always been real about who he is. He’s joked that he was never very good at English. He admitted that as a Southerner, he’d never live west of Texas or north of Tennessee. He talked about how his first job out of school was at West Georgia, where he washed pants and lined the fields.
He’s been honest about who he is, where he came from, and how hard he had to work to get here. And his players love him for it.
“I am who I am,” Muschamp said. “I don’t really change for anybody.”
Gators coach Will Muschamp was born in Rome, Ga., but he grew up in Gainesville admiring the Florida program. His family had season tickets in the north end zone, and a younger Muschamp used to sell sodas outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
