Florida coach Will Muschamp called last year’s team soft. With new offensive coordinator Brent Pease, the tone is changing.
Pease will try to rescue the Gators from offensive futility. Nationally, Florida finished 105th in total offense, 89th in passing offense and only had a rusher eclipse the century mark in yardage six times all season.
Pease replaced former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis after Weis left for the Kansas head-coaching job.
Pease brought with him from Boise State an up-tempo offense with a knack for creativity, Muschamp said.
“A little bit more imagination with formations, shifts, motion to create issues for the defense,” Muschamp said. “We are getting ready for something we don’t see a lot in our league.”
Pease’s offense at Boise State ranked in the Top 10 nationally with 44.2 points and 481.3 yards per game last season in the Mountain West Conference. Florida surpassed 40 points and gained more than 450 total yards in just three games.
Junior wide receiver Andre Debose compared the new system with the scheme run by Weis in 2011.
“It’s like night and day,” Debose said. “With Pease, there is more design and confusing the defense. Weis is pretty much they know what we are doing and they have to stop it. I feel like we have an edge each game on the defense.”
Junior cornerback Jaylen Watkins has no doubt defenses will struggle against Florida. He said the defense has dealt with the constant motion in practice.
“We have never seen anything like it. It definitely prepares us for the season,” Watkins said.
“You have a lot of people moving. I don’t think we will see anything like it. It’s nerve-racking when you don’t know your checks, but it helps when you go back to your basics.”
The Florida offense spent the spring and summer learning the playbook. Pease mentioned redshirt senior wide receiver Frankie Hammond, Jr. as a quick learner of the offense.
“We had the whole six months, over the spring and the summer, to work on it,” Hammond said. “Every now and then, everybody has their brain fart, but for the most part, everybody is being on point.”
What makes this offense click is consistent quarterback play, Pease said. He turned Kellen Moore into a two-time All-American at Boise State.
Moore completed 70 percent of his passes and notched at least 12 wins per season during his collegiate career.
Pease made sure his two quarterbacks in Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel got the message.
“That’s one of the big things in our offense,” Driskel said. “Coach Pease said that today in our first meeting [Aug. 2]. You got to have great quarterback play to win games.”
Florida won seven games last season. Despite going through their worst season since 1987, the Gators have increased optimism with a new offense in 2012.
“The sky is the limit right now,” Hammond said. “It makes things look a lot different. It makes the defense think a lot more.”
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
