UNLV Rebels Head Coach Dan Mullen: "I Think Our Players Bought In Quickly"

UNLV Rebels head football coach Dan Mullen was back in his old stomping grounds in Florida on Monday to be presented with his Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award. While he was there, he was asked plenty of questions about his current and former jobs.

He spoke about the new Florida Gators head coach, Jon Sumrall, whom Mullen watched coach at Tulane while working in the studio at ESPN prior to returning to coaching and accepting the UNLV job. Mullen says he was impressed by what Sumrall was able to do during his time at Tulane.

Mullen also reflected on his return to coaching college football last offseason. He spoke about what it's like trying to build a roster with the new college football landscape.

UNLV Rebels Head Coach Dan Mullen On New Florida Gators Head Coach Jon Sumrall

"I got to call some Tulane games," Mullen said. "Didn't know him really well before doing that, got to know him, I think really impressed with what he did at Tulane, impressed with him as a person ...

Sharp, tough, you watch how his teams play, physicality, play good defense, run the football. You gotta make sure Coach Spurrier comes down and draws a couple of pass plays, make sure he lights up that scoreboard, those Florida fans they like some points down here too, can't just be defense and ball control."

Mullen On Sumarall's Strength And Conditioning And Special Teams

"He will bring the physicality, a great physicality within the team, and they've had lot of explosive offenses."

Mullen On Building His Roster And Coaching Staff When He Took Over At UNLV

"When I walked in, I had a new focus, maybe a new approach to how I was going to build a roster. When I got there, there were maybe like two coaches and 15 players but you kind of came in expecting that instead of being the 'woah what's going on.' That's the new norm.

You came in with that approach, find guys who want to be part of the program find guys who believe in what you believe you, put a coaching staff together the same way, you find guys that really want to be developed, coaches and love to play football we got those guys and I think our players bought in quickly to what we were trying to do."

More UNLV Rebels On SI News