The Florida Gators 2020 offense was one of the best that the school had ever seen putting up prolific numbers on a weekly basis, all while dragging the defense along for the ride.
That may seem harsh but consider that Florida’s defense gave up more points per game than any other team in school history since 1917. It’s fair to say that with just a middle-of-the-road defense the Gators would have had a chance at making the College Football Playoff. Instead, Florida wasted the best offense since Tim Tebow was playing quarterback and finished the season 8-4.
Dan Mullen has stood by defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, replacing two secondary coaches while retaining the guy who runs the show on that side of the ball. Mullen has long admired Grantham’s coaching acumen and doesn’t view the defensive struggles the same way the fanbase does.
“There are times I thought, really played really well defensively. You can go to certain games last year and say ‘hey we played really well defensively in this situation. Not as great and missed some other ones,” he said at SEC Media Days. “So I think there’s some, I don’t know if there’s one little thing you put your finger on and say that’s exactly what it was. I think that’s part of it, the lack of tackling and missing a spring practice and doing a lot of those things early in the year. And then I think maybe the style of how people played us relative to our offense.”
It is true that Florida’s offense scored often and scored quickly, often playing with a lead, which led to Florida’s opponents throwing more but at the end of the day, all excuses aside, the defense wasn’t good enough. It didn’t live up to the Gator Standard and the players who are back in 2021 know that.
“It starts on an everyday basis, just creating that culture, that we got to do what we got to do to get it done,” Zach Carter said at SEC Media Days. “We know last year where we left off is not where we want to be, so we had to raise the bar this whole season, this whole off-season starting in the spring. I think me and Ventrell had done a pretty good job of doing that.”
Carter and Miller have taken on a leadership role. Both seniors stated that the overall performance of the defense left a bad taste in their mouth and it’s created a blue-collar mentality in the offseason.
“I’ve seen guys working harder than ever this year,” Carter said. “So I think it’s a good thing that we have that chip on our shoulder this year. We want people to be surprised this year.”
The Gators had three defensive players named to preseason All-SEC teams after Media Days, something you wouldn’t expect from a defense that finished between 8 and 10 in scoring, total, rushing, and passing defense in the league. There is talent, undoubtedly, they just need to put it together.