Florida is now a little more than two weeks away from its season opener versus FAU in the Swamp. With Sept. 4 inching closer and closer, head coach Dan Mullen offered his thoughts on the Gators’ first scrimmage of fall camp Monday.
Mullen met with the media Monday evening to recap the first couple of weeks of fall camp and the scrimmage, which took place Sunday. He said the game like practice went well and the team escaped the night without any significant injuries.
The fourth-year Florida coach added that the scrimmage concluded the installation period where the coaching staff focused on the team mastering all the plays. This week, the Gators will move into more situational football, where they’ll focus on how to execute on third down and short, for example.
Mullen said he isn’t concerned about whether the offense or defense won the scrimmage because he cares more about whether they worked on skills they wanted to focus on.
However, he said redshirt freshman Anthony Richardson offered a great performance.
“He had a huge night last night, did really well,” Mullen said. “Made a lot of great decisions, very accurate and threw three touchdown passes. Obviously is a dynamic runner as well as making good decisions, so I mean I feel very comfortable with both guys, which is a good thing.”
The second guy mentioned would be redshirt junior and presumed starting quarterback Emory Jones. Mullen said he noticed the work Jones has put in this offseason with his current skill players on offense, but he believed one area the new signal-caller can improve in is his consistency.
One of Jones’ receivers, redshirt junior Jacob Copeland, received most of the attention this offseason when he was awarded the No. 1 jersey, but his teammate, redshirt junior Justin Shorter, has flown under the radar in 2021.
He recorded 23 catches for 246 yards and three touchdowns in 2020, and Mullen offered nothing to suggest he might slow down this year.
“I think one of the things that I’ve seen from him and if you ask most of the people on our team and even the coaching staff is his work ethic, you know, how he comes to work every day,” Mullen said. “I mean, from the minute at the start of practice till the end, he is grinding and giving you everything that he has.”
The coach noticed Shorter’s effort paid dividends and thinks the receiver is playing at a higher level than in 2020.
Despite the losses of Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Kyle Trask, the highest-drafted tight end in NFL history Kyle Pitts and first-round pick Kadarius Toney, most of the concern about the Gators’ 2021 offense revolves around the offensive line.
Mullen said he’s comfortable with giving six or seven offensive linemen snaps, but he wants to get to 10 in order to have a backup for every position. He added the offensive front has been playing pretty well, but trying to develop the consistency from the older players and getting the younger ones to take that next step forward where they can go out and play.
Contact Zachary Huber at zhuber@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @zacharyahuber.
