Mailbag: Answering Your Questions About Florida's Week 1 Victory
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Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: Alex Shepherd
The college football landscape is still buzzing about the Florida Gators' upset victory over No. 7 Utah on Saturday night.
While Florida has moved onto Week 2 and begun to prepare to host the Kentucky Wildcats, our readers, Gators' fans as a whole and outsiders remain curious as to how UF pulled off the feat and what could lie in store for the program as Billy Napier's first season as head coach continues on.
This is why we've compiled double-digit questions from our readers, via Twitter, and answered them in our first All Gators' mailbag of the season. We've yet to determine if this will be a regular feature, but we'd like to be able to answer any questions fans have about the team's performance and this is a great way to do it.
Due to some repeat or similar questions asked, we've compiled a couple of submissions into singular question-and-answers that are outlined below.
From River Wells: Anthony Richardson had a stellar game, but are there any areas of play you’d like him to improve on/show more of?
If I'm being nitpicky, sure. There were some minor but noticeable, technical errors earlier in the game that Richardson can correct.
He and Nay'Quan Wright collided on a handoff that Wright turned into a four-yard gain at one point in the first quarter, one play after bailing on an open Xzavier Henderson running an underneath crossing route, tucking and running to convert a 3rd and 4. I'm sure Napier was pleased to see him slide at the end of the run.
Little mistakes like these are fixable and likely should have been expected in Richardson and the offense's first game in a new system. I tend to believe those circumstances led to penalties like Kingsley Eguakun's illegal snap and Michael Tarquin's false start, too.
His overthrow that was nearly intercepted was obviously a near-costly mistake, but from a passing perspective otherwise, Richardson didn't seem to have any accuracy issues throughout the night.
So all in all, Richardson can work on cleaning up the little things in order to improve based on this sample size, nothing drastic. It'll be nice to see him throw for some scores, but no one can complain about an efficient 17-of-24 for 168 yards without turnovers stat line.
I'm also excited to see if Napier is going to expand on the passing concepts within Florida's offense and how that will affect Richardson's passing. The biggest plays tended to come on play-action deep crossers and by attacking the seams, while short-field situations led to some smash and shallow crossers. The play calls seemed a bit limited, which perhaps should have been expected in Week 1.
From Michael Cheatham: Ricky Pearsall was 4-4 with a 16.8 average. Why not more targets for the kid? He makes plays.
Florida's official stats say Pearsall caught four of his five targets, and the latter stat ranked second on the team only behind Xzavier Henderson's six. A 20.8 percent target share for a receiver who joined the program over the summer and is recently removed from a foot injury that sidelined him for half of training camp is pretty substantial, in my opinion.
Considering these factors, though, I do expect Pearsall to become more involved as the season goes along. He clearly offers the route-running abilities and vertical threat that the Gators' wide receiver room currently lacks otherwise, which is something Richardson values.
“He definitely makes it easier for me," Richardson said about Pearsall on Saturday. "He knows how to get open and knows how to run good routes. I’m glad he can catch the ball. The way he does things is going to get other guys open. I’m glad Ricky was able to do what he did today. I’m looking forward to more games with him.”
From Joshua: What are your thoughts on the amount of pre-snap motion by the Gators' offense?
I love it. It's more popular at the NFL level than college but pre-snap motions as a whole are becoming extremely important to the modern offense and I'm a big fan of Napier utilizing them frequently.
In the passing game, motions can diagnose whether a defense is in zone or man coverage, which Richardson was able to read prior to the snap and certainly influenced his decisions in throwing the ball. The result was an efficient performance through the air.
Shifts and motions can also lead to numbers advantages in the run game. The 3rd and 5, first-down conversion rush by Montrell Johnson (1Q, 3:50) was a perfect example and a pretty fantastic play call — even if you aren't a fan of third-and-not-short runs. The pre-snap movement forced Utah to shift its defense dramatically, reducing the number of defenders on the play-side of the rush from seven to five before the ball was ever snapped.
Of course, pre-snap movement requires great discipline and that is something Florida severely lacked a season ago. Discipline has been a point of emphasis this offseason and there was noticeable improvement on Saturday night across the board, but Eguakun and Tarquin's penalties point to the product not being finished yet as it pertains to the pre-snap offense.
Christopher, Cam and Med each asked about the Gators' defensive line rotation and scheme, so here are my overall thoughts.
Shoutout to @TheZlatandiego for compiling the defensive line snap counts (including the JACK edge rushers).
- Gervon Dexter: 68
- Brenton Cox Jr.: 58
- Princely Umanmielen: 36
- Tyreak Sapp: 31
- Desmond Watson: 28
- Jalen Lee: 27
- Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr.: 25
- Justus Boone: 14
- David Reese: 14
Florida clearly realizes that Dexter and Cox are two of its best players up front and their snap counts reflect that. Umanmielen and Sapp rotated pretty frequently at defensive end opposite of Dexter's base position and I expect that to remain the case, with Boone rotating as well on later downs. He flashed as a pass rusher with some pressure created against Utah.
Watson outplaying Lee, the starting nose, was interesting. Despite the fact that he's added to his frame instead of subtracted from it, up to 439 pounds from 415, the Gators still value his ability as an early-down run stopper and he seemed to hold up decently. We projected a 25-30 snap range for Watson before he gained weight this offseason, for what it's worth.
The reality is Florida is going to be forced to rotate a lot across the defensive front this season and develop players on the fly in order to do so adequately. There will be growing pains as a result. Dexter is going to wear down as the season lingers on if he continues to push 70 snaps a game, but at the same time, the Gators don't have anyone on their defensive line as gifted as he is.
In the first game, it became clear that the lack of depth and perhaps a lack of chemistry across the rotating unit was a problem. UF started hot on run defense by allowing just 59 first-half yards, but 171 rushing yards allowed in the second half is never going to cut it.
That's why UF has four 2023 defensive line commits (five if you count TJ Searcy, although we currently view him as a JACK) and continues to pursue more. The depth in the trenches badly needs an influx of talent, but for now, the Gators will rely on players getting comfortable within their rotational roles.
The scheme was pretty standard throughout the game, typically a three-man front with the JACK standing as a 5-to-7 technique. The defensive ends often aligned at the 4 and 5-techniques while the nose was usually in a 0-1 tech alignment.
What stood out, however, was Dexter and occasionally Sapp lining up well removed from the line of scrimmage. The entire unit did this on rare occasions, but Dexter was a good one-to-two yards off on almost every snap. It appeared to specifically be Dexter's defensive end spot that did this, which Sapp rotated into.
Why? I'm not sure and plan to ask in future press conferences. My first thought was to create stunts, which ended up being the case a couple of times but not nearly enough to be the clear reason for this alignment. Another idea would be to give Dexter an extra step to generate power, although that didn't seem to benefit him much as Dexter didn't create much pass-rush pressure.
From Anna Huffstutler: The defense is much improved. I know we don’t have much depth, though. What will be the key to keeping this young core healthy & able to keep pounding going into SEC play?
The defense certainly seems to have improved in some areas, in my opinion, but isn't a finished product whatsoever. The topic of your question is a big part of why that is, Anna.
As laid out above regarding the defensive front, the Gators are in a position where they have to rotate players on defense in order to keep the unit fresh. That will ultimately keep the unit healthier than if starters are maxed out on reps every week, even though their replacements may not be as polished or developed for extended playing time quite yet.
Even though the unit's performance (particularly against the run) was up and down in Week 1, Utah's physical brand of football should have prepared the Gators' defense for what is to come in SEC play.
Therefore, the most important area of development to monitor moving forward is the comfort level of rotational players in the overall scheme and within their packages. They're going to play a crucial part in Florida's defensive success, or lack thereof, simply because they have to play.
From Jamie Salas: How many missed tackles did the Gators have, and what do you believe is the reason they still show up, even with a new staff that emphasizes the fundamentals?
I couldn't give you an exact number but missed tackles did show up occasionally in the first half only to happen more often in the second. Again, this could be blamed in part on the lack of depth as players were wearing down, and I'm sure the humidity paired with a physical test in the first game in a new scheme didn't help in that respect.
At the very least, I thought tackling form looked better from the Gators' secondary, where it seemed like most of Florida's missed tackles came from over the last few years. The defensive backs, for the most part, weren't diving for ankle tackles and instead hit with power closer to the ball carrier's waistline. They just have to follow through and finish against more physical players.
The new staff absolutely emphasizes tackling fundamentals and it could be seen in practice. Linebackers coach Jay Bateman is notably stringent about technique, and even though I distinctly recall a bad missed tackle by linebacker Amari Burney, I get the feeling Bateman's unit will cut down on misses dramatically as the year goes along, especially compared to past seasons.
From Cody: Should go in-depth with the RB rotation, Etienne is gonna be RB1 by season's end.
Sure thing. If you've read All Gators' fall camp notebooks and depth chart previews over the last month, you'd know I'm extremely high on true freshman Trevor Etienne. There were multiple times, even in the brief media viewing periods of fall practice, where he looked far and away like the most polished member of Florida's running back room. He was a big play machine behind closed doors, too.
UF fans began to see what I've been seeing on Saturday when Etienne took the field. He paced the rushing attack in yards per carry at 12.8 on average across his five carries, memorably with rushes of 21 and 19 yards that included several forced missed tackles.
Wright and Johnson have earned the right to play and I do think that Johnson will be viewed as the "bell cow" of the unit as we march down UF's schedule — aside from his early fumble, Johnson had a great game on Saturday. But the staff knows Etienne is capable of making an impact and won't shy away from allowing him to contribute.
Including Richardson's non-designed scrambles, UF operated at a 62-to-38 percent run/pass ratio against Utah. Johnson and Wright both earned double-digit carries while Etienne had five. I could certainly see that split balancing out as Etienne gains more comfort, and perhaps his additional attempts to come could result in Richardson rushing slightly less by design.
From Stephen Bradford: After the big Utah win, What is the Gators' ceiling this year?
I think the ceiling is still to be determined.
Utah is a good team and Florida pulled off an impressive win in Week 1, don't be fooled by anyone who says otherwise, but we have yet to see what this squad is capable of against SEC talent and teams that are accustomed to playing in the heat and humidity of the southeast. I'll have a better answer after the Tennessee game in Week 4.
Drew asked I think Florida will beat Kentucky this week. I've viewed that as a winnable game for Florida for a little bit now and feel more confident in that prediction at this point. Kentucky plays a similar brand of football to Utah yet its rushing game was non-existent in Week 1 against an inferior opponent without its star back Chris Rodriguez Jr. available. He won't play in Week 2, either.
But sorry, @DontAskMeYo, I'm not ready to say Florida is an 11-1-caliber team yet. It's way too early to say that.
From Jake Sillick: Anthony Richardson Heisman. Yes or no?
Like my answer above, check back with me in a few weeks after some SEC play and Florida's first road game.
Stay tuned to All Gators for continuous coverage of Florida Gators football, basketball and recruiting. Follow along on social media at @SI_AllGators on Twitter and All Gators on FanNation-Sports Illustrated on Facebook.
