At the beginning of Florida’s 2013 season, the expectations were high. The Gators were coming off of an 11-2, Sugar Bowl berth year. They entered the year as one of the favorites to win the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division and were even considered by many as a dark horse national championship pick.
Fast forward just one year and the Gators are coming off of an injury-plagued 4-8 season — the program’s first losing season since 1979.
Still at the helm in Gainesville is Will Muschamp, who heads into the year sitting on one of the hottest seats in the country. Rather than shy away from it, Muschamp embraces the role wholeheartedly.
“To stick your head in the sand and pretend it was all injuries, that’s not right. You will fool yourself if you believe that,” Muschamp said. “We’re getting ready to get started with the 2014 Florida football team.”
It’s been a busy offseason for UF, one that includes the hiring of offensive coordinator Kurt Roper from Duke as well as new offensive line coach Mike Summers.
There was also the resignation of wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Joker Phillips among alleged recruiting violations. Former Gator quarterback Chris Leak took over for Phillips in June.
From a player’s perspective, Muschamp has seen a new sense of buying into what he’s trying to do — something the head coach was praised for throughout the 2012 season. That’s not an easy thing to do when your team won just four games last season.
“From their work ethic, their buy‑in. We always talk in terms of either renting it or owning it,” Muschamp said. “You take ownership in your team. I see a lot of that.”
While there has been a decent amount of news surrounding the program in the last eight months, the good news for Muschamp is that it has been one of the quietest off seasons in terms of disciplinary issues.
One of the only issues to surface was early enrollee cornerback Jalen Tabor being cited with less than 20 grams of marijuana. The situation was dealt with internally and Tabor will not miss any time from fall camp or regular-season games from the incident.
“I think it goes back to recruiting, part of the evaluation process and taking the right guys,” Muschamp said. “They understand to stay within the lines of what we need to do and how they’re going to act and represent the University of Florida.”
It will be an uphill battle for the Gators in 2014. Their schedule features a road trip to Alabama as early as Week 4, facing LSU and Missouri back-to-back at home and finishing off the regular season by traveling to Doak Campbell Stadium to face the defending national champions Florida State.
In the SEC and at the University of Florida, there will be plenty of adversity to get past. Without making excuses, Muschamp puts on his bulletproof vest, ready to take the brunt of it all.
“You either get better or worse every day,” he said. “Embracing adversity, we’ll have adversity this year, when it’ll happen, I don’t know. Be in training camp, during the season at some point. It’s going to happen.”
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Will Muschamp looks on during the Orange & Blue Debut on April 12 in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
