Had a little spare time at the office today and decided to familiarize myself with the Gaytah and find out why so many people are so high on them this season.
I decided to take a look at their condensed game film of their wins from LSU onward. I'm not a film guru and won't be getting too complicated with the X's and O's. Just wanted to share my basic observations from watching the film.
So let's start with the vaunted Mullet offense
- The most successful plays for the mullet offense are inside hand offs from the gun, designed QB draws and dives, cute little sprint out pitch options where Franks rarely if ever keeps it, WR bubbles, motion reverses and sweeps to Toney, some wildcat stuff, and a trick play once or twice a game
- Franks consistently hits the slant and bubbles, rarely throws over the middle or to a TE. Most deep shots were completed on busted coverage
- Perine is a slightly slower Joe Yearby. Good feet and vision. Doesn't hit the hole exceptionally hard. Had two big runs against LSU and FSU. Scarlett was a more explosive and talented back. He represented a change of pace, don't know if they will have someone like that this season if Davis isn't right. Dameon Pearce is a poor man's Perine
- Perine does not have the speed to make it to the edge, they have to throw it out to him for him to get there. He runs north and south picking his way through the defense on most plays
- Florida's offensive line was pretty good but far from dominant, rarely gave up a TFL or neg yardage run play. When that happens their drive is essentially dead
- Florida needed chunk yardage plays to score a lot of their TDs
- Franks will put it on the ground when pressured. Mostly good ball security when running.
- Grimes broke out against FSU but doesn't have much wiggle dangerous in open space where he can use his speed, not likely to make too many dudes miss
- Toney makes plays but he's pretty small and not particularly physical, doesn't really get much yards after contact
- UF WR group catches pretty well and has wheels but Toney is the only real threat with the ball in his hands
- UF can not drive the ball consistently if they can not run the football with Perine and Franks
- What TE's?
Not much of this is earth shattering news. My take away from the film is that Franks is limited by accuracy and Mullet calls plays to protect Franks from this flaw. If the offensive line struggles they will be mediocre on offense. Franks can not carry this team to victory they must carry him.
On defense I had a lot more fun because I actually learned somethin about the Gators I didn't know
-My number one take away from film. Florida's best and most important line up last year was when CeCe Jefferson and Polite were on the edge with Zuniga kicked inside. When they lined up this way they all feasted. Zuniga was far less dangerous when lined up at end, a lot of his biggest plays last season came when lined up inside against guards. The play of Polite and Jefferson on the outside can not be understated, they were huge for Florida. Their replacements Johnathan Greenard and Jeremiah Moon will have to be very good or Zuniga will be easier to neutralize. I think one of the reasons you are seeing the o line built inside out coming into UF is this reason specifically. We want Donaldson and Scaife taking on Zuniga in these alignments.
- After noticing this I watched Moon very closely and to be honest the kid didn't show much, huge downgrade from Polite or Jefferson last season when he got on the field. He didn't play very many meaningful snaps. So then I picked up some Greenard highlights to see what he can do in this system. He played in a defense that got him free a lot more he didn't have to man up on a tackle as frequently he benefited from a lot of twists/stunts and used speed to make plays. He doesn't demonstarte the skillset that Polite or Jefferson showed on tape. And guess what? He and Moon play the same spot essentially. They both are best suited to the Buck position in the UF defense, so that means another minimal contributor in Zach Carter may be on deck to contribute in Florida's most disruptive defensive alignment. I foresee a definite regression in performance with the loss of both Polite and Jefferson. Zuniga is gonna feel it and so will the secondary. There wasn't much time to throw last season with those guys coming off the edge and Zuniga pushing through the middle
- Second thing. CJ Henderson doesn't like contact. I don't care how well he covers. He probably wouldn't even get on the field here seeing that we don't tolerate players who aren't phsyical. Watch a complete game tape and tell me if you seriously think other wise. The gators give up huge plays to the edge because none of their CBs will mash a grape. We'll see if Wilson is an upgrade in this regard
- UF was able to roll their safeties last season they had four solid safeties, they always looked fresh and made up for the lack of physicality on the edge.
- Vosean Joseph was more active than David Reese
- The interior DL played like space eaters, rarely made any individual plays but did their jobs.
Final takeaway Florida is likely to take a big step backward along both lines and have paper thin depth at RB and DB. The teams strength is offensive skill positions and overall exp. They lost some major pieces that contributed to their success last season and are replacing them with less heralded, mostly unproven players. Could be a recipe for a total disaster.
