ORLANDO — It’s not easy to stand in front of a fanbase that just witnessed a 4-8 season and tell them everything is going to get better.
But that’s what head coach Will Muschamp has faced while speaking to Gator Clubs across the state of Florida for the last month.
The Central Florida Gator Club got it’s chance to ask the fourth-year head coach questions about the upcoming season on Tuesday night. After one of the worst years the Gators have experienced in recent memory, Muschamp said some of the questions are expected to be tough.
“I just think more than anything, ‘Where are we as a program?’ I think that’s tough — probably fair is a better word,” Muschamp said. “The concern of where things are headed and I certainly think that’s fair after you go through what we went through last fall.”
A true measuring stick for any football problem is how many of the team’s players wind up on NFL rosters following the draft. Four former Gators were taken in this year’s draft including defensive tackle Dominique Easley, who was taken by the New England Patriots in the first round. Seven more signed free agent deals.
Most notably, cornerbacks Loucheiz Purifoy and Marcus Roberson, who were both projected to be drafted in the early rounds of the NFL Draft, were undrafted after seven rounds. Purifoy signed a free agent deal with the Indianapolis Colts. Roberson signed with the St. Louis Rams. Muschamp addressed how difficult it is for players to decide whether or not to forgo their senior seasons and declare for the NFL.
“Well the league minimum is like 400-something-thousand now,” Muschamp said. “That’s $400,000 a lot more than what they’ve ever been exposed to. So it’s all relative to what you think. My job is to get them all the information—that’s a family decision.”
The Gators are moving to a spread offensive scheme for 2014 — an offense that has been labeled as one that doesn’t translate to the NFL. But Muschamp said it shouldn’t be a concern whether the change offensively will affect draft stocks.
“Out of the offensive players taken in the last two drafts — there’s been 12 offensive players taken in the top ten — ten of them come in spread offenses. So it’s not bothering those guys investing in millions and millions of dollars the fact of what offenses they come from.”
He went on to say that the spread has crept into the NFL more than people realize, specifically at the quarterback position — one of the most scrutinized jobs in the league.
“In the NFL right now last year [for] every snap, 59.6 percent of the snaps were from the shotgun,” Muschamp said. “So you’re talking about six out of every 10 snaps are from the shotgun. Most NFL teams are in upwards of 70 percent of their snaps being from shotgun.”
There are only 108 days until Florida welcomes Idaho to begin the 2014 season, which leaves plenty of time to sort through the issues the team suffered last year.
“This is a real critical summer for us,” Muschamp said. “It always is, its every year but a new offense, our guys need to do a really good job of working each other and continuing to broaden everything what we’re doing offensively. Same on defense — we’ve got some young faces at corner and some young faces backing up on the defensive front situation at safety so this is a critical, critical summer for us.”
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
UF head coach Will Muschamp, celebrates after their 37-20 victory against Tennessee on Sept. 15, 2012 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.
