GAINESVILLE, Fla. --
Randy Shannon moves around at practice in a direct and efficient manner. The 51-year-old former head coach at Miami, his alma mater, seems to always be focused on a task at hand.
He coaches much the way he looks. Shannon is trim and fit, bereft of a middle-aged paunch under his usual attire of sweats even on the hottest Florida summer afternoons. Shannon's lean figure can be used as a metaphor for his defensive philosophy.
Shannon enters his first season as Florida's defensive coordinator following the departure of Geoff Collins, who left to become head coach at Temple. His impact is already on display.
"I think the one thing Coach Shannon has done since he's taken over as defensive coordinator is really trying to simplify and let our guys go play,'' Gators head coach
Jim McElwain said. "And when I talk about communication, and you've heard me talk about that since I've been here, it is of a premium."
Shannon took a test drive for the job in the Outback Bowl win over Iowa. The Gators dominated 30-3 and held the Hawkeyes to 226 total yards. Shannon, who served as Miami's defensive coordinator for six seasons prior to being head coach from 2007-10, soon was named defensive coordinator.
He takes over a unit that lost eight starters from a year ago, including seven selected in the NFL Draft in April. In this case, Shannon's task at hand is large. But he has a way of simplifying matters.
"We're looking for big things for us on defense," Shannon said. "We're young, we're very young, but sometimes it's best when people say you're young. We have a lot of guys that played a lot of football."
One of Shannon's first steps was to strip down the playbook and the communication channels so the Gators could speed up on the field. Florida's roster is loaded with players ranked as top recruits coming out of high school and Shannon learned long ago you have to be unburdened on the field to reach your potential.
Shannon was an undersized linebacker who stayed home to play at Miami and won a national championship. He also earned a spot in the NFL for two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. Shannon hasn't ran his own defense since his stint at Miami, a span where the Hurricanes ranked consistently in the top 10 nationally in total defense.
Still, he has a tried-and-true ingredient that has produced results.
"The game has changed a lot,'' he said. "But you have to always have them guys play fast. If guys can play fast without thinking a lot, then you're going to be very successful. That's the whole thing we're doing as a defense staff, trying to find our what we can call so the guys will not have to think, that they can just fly around and have fun and play fast."
Sophomore linebacker
Vosean Joseph has seen a difference in the less-is-more approach of Shannon. The key is matching the results under Collins, who directed the nation's fifth-ranked defense in 2016. Collins took risks and they paid off more often than not. Florida allowed only 45.1 percent completion rate last season (second in FBS) and had a 4.9 percent interception rate (sixth). On the flip side, the Gators allowed 13 yards per completion, which ranked 97th in FBS.
Shannon's system is based more on instincts and quick reaction.
"That helps a lot,'' Joseph said. "We feel comfortable with his calls. We're going out there, having fun, making plays."
Another young defensive player in search of a greater return on investment as a sophomore is defensive end
Antonneous Clayton. When at his best, Clayton said it's all about attitude and freedom of expression. Shannon's approach fits him like a Gators glove.
"I love everything about what Coach Shannon has brought to the table,'' Clayton said. "He makes everything simple, and I'm a simple guy. You tell me to go line up and go get the quarterback, and I'm going to do it. It's that simple. Instead of read this guy, read that guy, you just go and do it. That allows a lot of guys to play even faster."
"He's been in the game for a very long time,'' linebacker
Jeremiah Moon added. "He knows what he's doing. He knows all our strengths and weaknesses. His terminology is a lot simpler. He definitely breaks it down for you to make you understand better."
The Gators have been one of the top defensive teams in college football for the better part of a decade. Each of the coordinators in that time -- Dan Quinn, D.J. Durkin and Collins -- are now head coaches, Quinn with the Atlanta Falcons, Durkin at Maryland and Collins at Temple.
Shannon is the only one among the recent group to have been a head coach prior to UF's defensive coordinator. His plan worked at Miami. The Gators are now ready to implement it.
"The playbook isn't as expansive,'' linebacker
Cristian Garcia said. "He makes the whole defense learn the checks, so it's not only the safeties or just the Mike [middle] linebacker. Everybody knows what they have to do."
