Gators, HC Dan Mullen To Abide by 'Horrendously Ridiculous' Pregame Rule
While the on-field action has been a focal point of the past month for the Florida Gators and will continue to be so as they ramp up heading into a week one matchup against Ole Miss on Sept. 26, part of the changes to this season's game-day operations aside from safety protocols appear to have shined bright, focused on Florida.
Earlier this year, the NCAA made several rule adjustments, and one of those rules appears to conflict with what the Gators have done for the past couple of years under head coach Dan Mullen.
Over the past two seasons, prior to the games, Gators players were allowed to not wear jerseys during pre-game warmups. This, in a way, could allow Florida to hold a slight competitive advantage as other teams send graduate assistants and quality control coaches to spectate the opposing team's players prior to the game - no jersey numbers, and helmets on? That makes it awfully difficult to determine who everyone is.
Yesterday, head coach Dan Mullen addressed the rule with members of the media via a Zoom video conference call, calling it the "Dan Mullen rule," noting that the change is "horrendously ridiculous."
"Yeah, the Dan Mullen rule, right? I mean that's because people have like 75 quality control coaches that get all mad - they've got like 30 guys that are trying to take notes," said Mullen when asked about the rule change. "Whenever we're warming up, I don't know, I think it's ridiculous to have to do that, to be perfectly honest with you, it is."
A self-described, "rant," Mullen was perplexed by the rule change. While it holds no difference in the game itself, it appears to be directed towards him and his team, personally. When he asked members of the media, specifically the Associated Press' Mark Long, who they feel turned him in, Long answered with "Georgia," to which Mullen responded, "you said it, not me."
"The Dan Mullen rule, that is horrendously ridiculous. Listen, it's not the game, I mean our guys, we know how we warm-up, our guys like warming up how we warm up. It is what it is."
Ultimately, this rule won't change how the Gators play, it simply doesn't affect their performance nor does it give them much of a competitive advantage against teams - if a program wants to know who a player is, that can be done fairly easily. However, a rule change specifically targetted at a program - or at least perceived to be -, does signal a strange part of college football that changes the way programs operate.
Mullen says the reasoning behind using numberless jerseys or shirts was simple - it allows the team to clear the field earlier, according to Mullen, more time for the band to start. Instead, it appears Mullen and his team will opt to use a "T-shirt" with numbers on them to warm up this season.
"I will abide by the Dan Mullen rule, I try to be a good soldier in the SEC, so I'll abide by the Dan Mullen rule, and we'll put some number somewhere."
