Optimism was abounded at UF football media day on Thursday.
Coach Dan Mullen’s excitement about the state of his team was matched by the 35 players who were available to interview at the annual pre-training camp event. Here are some of the biggest takeaways:
The Gators are “for sure” a playoff team
When alligatorSports asked running back Lamical Perine if Florida was a College Football Playoff team, he didn’t hesitate.
“Oh yes, for sure. But you got to work hard for it, so we’re going to come out every day trying to work for that goal.”
Perine, who ran for 826 yards and seven touchdowns last year, was not alone in setting high expectations for this year’s Gators team.
“We want to win a national championship,” Malik Davis, another running back, said. “At the end of the day, that’s what we want.”
In order to be in that conversation, Florida will have to improve on last year’s 10-3 record – no easy feat with both Georgia and a trip to LSU on the schedule. Quarterback Feleipe Franks believes he knows how Florida can do it.
“Confidence is what makes us think we can go from 10 to 11 (wins),” he said. “That’s something that we just don’t lack. I think that’s something that you need when you want to win those extra games.”
Florida is a healthy team
Outside of redshirt freshman linebacker David Reese, who will most likely miss the entire season with a torn Achilles (Mullen wouldn’t rule out a return for a bowl game), Florida is not dealing with any major injuries as training camp gets underway.
“Everybody else we feel (is) ready to go,” Mullen said.
That includes defensive back Marco Wilson, who was named to the Coaches’ Preseason All-SEC Third Team last year before tearing his ACL in Week 2 and missing the rest of the season.
“I’m ready for it all,” Wilson said. “I’m not worried about anything.”
Davis is another player coming back from injury. The redshirt sophomore, who has rushed for 587 yards in 13 career games, broke his foot in Week 3 last year and missed the rest of the season.
“I’ve been rehabbing, and then going through a whole offseason just working hard to get back out there,” Davis said. “I’m very excited to finally be able to get back out there and play.”
A chip on their shoulder
Despite the fact that his team is coming off a 10-win season and a New Year’s Six bowl victory, Mullen doesn’t expect a change in attitude this season.
“I certainly hope we still play with a chip on our shoulder,” Mullen said. “(I hope) that we have a chip on our shoulder about those three games (UF lost).”
Wilson echoed Mullen’s sentiment.
“We just want to win. We take it each game at a time, we just want to win that game,” he said. “We’re going to go as hard as we can every play, every game.”
Follow Sam Campisano on Twitter @samcampisano. Contact him at scampisano@alligator.org.
Florida running back Lamical Perine said that the Gators are “for sure” a College Football Playoff team at UF’s media day on Thursday. Perine rushed for 826 yards and seven touchdowns last season as UF won 10 games and a New Year’s Six bowl.
