The players in the Gators secondary lack experience, but they are sheer athletes. Head coach Will Muschamp wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I like starting with athleticism,” Muschamp said during Florida’s Media Day.
“I’d rather start with that than experience if I had to take one of the two. I feel good about what we’ve got in the group.”
After losing three defensive back starters — safeties Ahmad Black and Will Hill and cornerback Janoris Jenkins — the Gators are left with an inexperienced corps that touts just one senior, cornerback Moses Jenkins.
That group consists of eight freshmen and just four players who have notched starts in college — Cody Riggs and Josh Evans, who have three career starts apiece, and Jeremy Brown, who has 10.
But the lack of game experience isn’t a concern for a group that has been largely overlooked as the Gators prepare for the 2011 season.
“That’s why we practice, to get experience,” said sophomore Jaylen Watkins.
“We don’t have any in-game experience, so that means we have to treat our practice situations like an in-game experience.
Having the athleticism, we know we could do it and it gives us the confidence going into the game. I think the experience will come along.”
The secondary lost its best shutdown cornerback (Ja. Jenkins) and team leader in tackles and interceptions (Black), but there are several players Muschamp is hoping will make the jump to the next level.
None more than sophomore safety Matt Elam.
According to Rivals.com, Elam came to Florida as the No. 2 safety in the nation, but he had minimal impact in his freshman season despite appearing in all 13 games.
Thus far, Muschamp has been impressed with Elam, who will play both safety and nickelback, and said the safety has really stood out.
“I feel like I’m going to be that leader this year,” Elam said.
“I feel like I wasn’t that guy and I was more of a role player. It was hard for me. I wasn’t as confident as I am now. It was hard because it’s all about confidence when you’re on the field. When you have confidence you play better, when you don’t have confidence you can’t let it all out.”
