GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In his 12th season as a head coach,
Dan Mullen has conducted dozens of preseason scrimmages over the years. The Gators' first one this camp, much like the camp itself, was a unique experience.
At least the hours leading up to the scrimmage Friday night.
"It turned into a really late night,'' Mullen said. "I got home about 1:30 or 2 o'clock in the morning."
In an impromptu detour, most of the Gators joined a Black Lives Matter march that headlined UF men's basketball player
Scottie Lewis as one of the featured speakers. The peaceful demonstration started at the corner of West University Avenue and 13th Street, and then proceeded toward downtown Gainesville where Lewis spoke to the crowd.
Mullen decided to join his players and other UF student-athletes in a show of solidarity in his attempt to continue to educate himself about the challenges many of the African-American players on the Gators' roster have experienced.
Mullen said Saturday that some of the issues he has heard about are incomprehensible.
"I can't put myself in their shoes,'' Mullen said. "When I went out and got in a car when I was 19 years old and went out with my friends at night, I wasn't worried about being pulled over unless I was doing something incredibly wrong. And I'm not going to say I always did everything right. But I wasn't worried, and if I was pulled over, I was worried about maybe what sort of discipline structure I might get."
To illustrate his point further, Mullen used his daily 6 a.m. jog as an example. He said when out running, he is concerned about the typical fears that come with running in the dark in remote places, but not about being stopped and racially profiled or questioned why he might be jogging in a particular neighborhood.
"I can't even fathom what that feels like,'' he said. "You have to put some of yourself aside. You have to get out of the extreme-isms. And that's what that experience [of marching] was for. I'm trying to be around our guys. I'm trying to listen. I'm trying to see where they're coming from."
Following his most personal public comments related to the social unrest that has engulfed America this summer, Mullen released a statement on Twitter later Saturday afternoon:
MARCHING FORWARD
The Florida football team's video staff attended the protest and posted this video on Saturday as well:
SCRIMMAGE EVALUATION
Once the Gators returned from downtown and put the pads on Friday night, Mullen got a glimpse of what he suspected might be the case considering the loss of spring camp due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Gators are rusty with four weeks remaining before they travel to face Ole Miss in the season opener on Sept. 26.
"We have a ways to go,'' Mullen said. "Not a ways to go with our attitude, not a ways to go with understanding the scheme. We haven't played football in a while."
Missed tackles and too many fumbles were some of the key areas the Gators must improve in the coming weeks according to Mullen.
Overall, he said the team's veterans showed good awareness in phases such as down and distance and that before they scrimmage again on Sept. 7, he expects progress to be made now that the installation period is mostly complete.
"We get a lot more situational,'' he said. "On game day, you're not making a correction. Game day is a test. We're not teaching, we're not developing on game day. It's real. And we've got to get into that adjustment.
QUOTE OF NOTE I
"I'm a huge player safety guy. We're sitting there making sure we're keeping everybody safe. I can't sit there right now and say we've missed a lot of this physicality, so we're just going to go smash everybody every single day. That's not what we're looking for with the health of the players." – Mullen on managing the physical part of the sport with the realities of the time missed
QUOTE OF NOTE II
"
Malik Davis to me looked like the
Malik Davis I saw when I got here before I became the head coach. I haven't seen that in a couple of years. I'm thinking, 'Boy, he's really back to where he wants to be.' " – Mullen on the fourth-year junior running back who has battled injuries
EXTRA POINTS
Freshman athlete
Fenley Graham of Lakeland suffered a fracture in his forearm and is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks according to Mullen. Graham was a dangerous kick returner in high school … Junior tight end
Kyle Pitts did not take any reps in Friday's scrimmage. "I know what he can do,'' Mullen said … Mullen said fifth-year senior quarterback
Kyle Trask got a couple of series and "looked really sharp" … Freshman defensive back
Kamar Wilcoxson, originally a 2021 recruit, has enrolled. "We'll get him out there, we'll start him practicing, we'll see what he does, how fast he can pick up things" … Transfer running back
Lorenzo Lingard, who arrived from Miami at the start of the spring semester, continues to climb into the rotation at running back. "He's running the ball hard. Good job catching the ball out of the backfield," Mullen said. "I think for him, you're looking at some guys that have been in the offense for a while, so just picking up the little things. He's probably behind those guys in doing it."
