Florida's Defensive Players Defend Grantham: 'He Can Only Do His Part'

Often criticized, Florida Gators defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was well defended on Wednesday night by his defensive players.

The Florida Gators gave up 600+ yards for the third time of the 2020 season in Wednesday night's blowout Cotton Bowl loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.

It was perhaps the worst defensive performance of the season for the Gators, giving more ammo to the criticism levied towards defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, with reason.

RELATED: Gators Clobbered by Oklahoma, Fall 55-20 in Cotton Bowl

That criticism, however, according to the players shouldn't simply be directed towards their defensive coordinator, rather to the players as a whole, too.

"Coach Grantham comes out here every day, just like we come out here every day. During COVID, we still have film on Zoom, stuff like that. He can only do his part," Gators linebacker Khris Bogle stated after the game. "We're the ones that's on the field, and we've just got to take care of what we can take care of."

This would be a running theme of the night for the Gators defenders, the players are put in a position to do what works, if it got done, then no one would be critical of the defense, nor of Grantham. Simply put, Florida's players didn't do enough to look good on Wednesday.

Against the Sooners, Florida surrendered 684 yards of total offense, including a staggering 435 rushing yards, nearly half of a typical running back's season in college and the pros in rushing yards. There were no excuses to be had this time, simply put, the Gators defense stunk, and the players acknowledged that, while defending their defensive coordinator.

"Like Bogle said, Coach Grantham's not the one on the field with us," Florida linebacker Amari Burney reiterated following the game.

"Coach called the play; we all got to know the play. One person out of position, that mess up the whole defense. Everybody's got to hold each other accountable. When we mess up, everyone wants to blame Coach Grantham. It's not his fault. When we watch film, when we look at the plays that Coach Grantham called and everybody executes, then we're going to stop them."

Plenty of players were out of position on Wednesday night, including on the 19 "big plays" as tracked by StatBroadcast. Florida surrendered 516 yards worth of "big plays", passes thrown over 15 yards and runs over 10 yards. The Sooners were able to gain 10.9 yards per play or nearly a yard more than the yardage needed for a first down.

While the defense did make some plays, including two fumble recoveries early in the contest, there was no stopping Oklahoma's offense, allowing 55 total points, the most points scored on the Gators in quite some time.

Florida linebacker Mohamoud Diabate was passionate in talking about his defensive coordinator on Wednesday, rejecting any and all criticisms of Grantham not putting in enough work to get the job done on game days. Diabate mentioned that while it is the coach's responsibility to teach the defense, it is up to the players to make the plays needed on the gridiron. 

"I know Coach Grantham cares because I left something at the facility on game week. I came back at 2:00 a.m., and Coach Grantham's car is still there. Nobody's car is there. I'm not going to listen to somebody say he doesn't care. No. Coach Grantham has had a long, successful career. He's respected in this league. He's respected in the NFL. We respect him," Diabate said.

"In these two years with him, he's taught me a lot about the game, and I know Bogle can say the same thing. We were both in his room. That's how I feel about it. Players got to make plays, period."

This season, the Gators nearly doubled in points allowed per game this year. The team averaged 15.5 points allowed in 2019 while averaging 30.8 this season, a dramatic shift. 

Finally, safety Trey Dean echoed Diabate's comments on coach Grantham, noting that he too has seen the defensive coordinator grinding late at night, giving it his all to make the team successful. Again, at the end of the day, Dean says, the team and the defense as a whole just has to execute, it is the same defense that's been called for years after all.

The future of the direction for the Gators' defense is still up in the air. With the season finally concluded, many have speculated change could, and likely should, come. For the Gators defenders, however, their jobs and attention are on themselves, not making excuses via the coaching staff. 2021 will be vastly different in Gainesville, and the defense might be a dramatic reason why.