Luke Del Rio has never been coached by someone who hasn’t screamed in his face after a good game.
At least, that’s what he made it sound like.
“They’re going to tell you the way it is,” De Rio said. “They expect you to make every play.”
On Saturday, it seemed like Florida’s quarterback did. He threw for 320 yards and four touchdowns, both career highs.
He completed a 78-yard pass — 55 yards of which were in the air — to receiver Antonio Callaway.
He connected on 19 of his 32 passes in his first-ever Southeastern Conference start.
But 30 minutes after Florida’s 45-7 blowout of Kentucky, one of the first things coach Jim McElwain talked about was Del Rio’s lone interception.
“That’s unacceptable,” McElwain said. “That’s something we’ve got to work on.”
On Monday, McElwain said Del Rio must work on setting his feet in the pocket, which caused him to overthrow freshman Freddie Swain in the third quarter.
“Just ridiculous,” McElwain said.
He also lamented a throw to Brandon Powell in the red zone that Del Rio missed. He threw it too late.
“That bothers me,” McElwain said.
McElwain mostly focused on Del Rio’s negatives after his best game as a quarterback. There was almost no mention of any of his four scoring plays, his seemingly perfect fit in McElwain’s offense or his ability to score points for an offense that ranked 100th in scoring last season.
“Yeah, he gets after me pretty good,” Del Rio said. “I expect it though. I came here to play for him. I knew what kind of coach he was and is. I never really want to play for a coach that’s like ‘ah, it’s OK, get the next one,’ you know?”
Good thing for Del Rio, that’s McElwain’s M.O. After Florida’s first two games, the coach analyzed each of Del Rio’s throws to let the quarterback know which ones he liked and which ones he didn’t.
After UF’s win against Massachusetts, McElwain said there were six unacceptable passes. After Kentucky, the coach said there were a “couple.”
He wants to get down to zero.
“You actually have to fail to learn,” McElwain said. “All the great ones failed more than they won. It’s because they’re willing to go out there and do it, right? Learning from failure is the key, and that’s for every position.”
And there were signs of Del Rio learning against Kentucky. The quarterback said there were throws that he missed during UF’s opener on Sept. 3 — like a short sideline pass to freshman receiver Josh Hammond — that he made against Kentucky.
He also said his throwing mechanics improved after meeting with McElwain, who’s teaching him to set his feet properly each time he throws deep.
“That’s the good thing about it. It’s important to him, and he likes to be coached. He’s kind of a sponge when it comes to that stuff,” McElwain said.
“I think that’s part of growing up in it a little bit. He’s seen guys being coached and he knows it. I’ll be interested to see how he does this week.”
Injury notes:
Receiver Antonio Callaway did not practice with the team on Monday after injuring his quadriceps against Kentucky on Saturday, and McElwain said he isn’t sure if Callaway will practice this week. If Callaway doesn’t practice by Wednesday, McElwain said he will be ruled out for Saturday’s game against North Texas.
Freshman receiver Tyrie Cleveland was ruled out for Saturday’s game after re-injuring the same hamstring that he hurt before the season began. The former four-star recruit has yet to appear in a game for the Gators.
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Luke Del Rio (center) huddles with Florida's offensive line during UF's 45-7 over Kentucky on Sept. 10, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
