It’s the second quarter of the 2021 season opener and FAU has the ball on their own 36-yard line, second down, and one. The Owls have four receivers split wide and all four Gator cornerbacks are five yards off the ball, well behind the first down marker.
N’Kosi Perry took the snap, faked a hand off, and dumped the ball off to a receiver who sat down in his route just past the first down marker.
It’s been a point of contention for Gator fans ever since Todd Grantham has been calling defensive plays in Gainesville and has probably ended in a few curse words as drives are extended.
Third and Grantham, they’ll say.
Dan Mullen trusts Todd Grantham, who had more than 30 years of experience. To Grantham’s credit the Gators two new defensive backs coaches have said they worked on pressing more in the spring and fall and Grantham echoed that statement Monday night.
“We’re going to play press pretty much the majority of the time. Now sometimes based on splits and things like that you may not press, and you’ve got to be able to handle that, so that’s why it’s important that you have, we always say ‘tools in your toolbox’ relative to alignments and formations that you can play tight coverage,” he said.” Because at the end of the day with quarterbacks being, the ability to be accurate, you want to play tight coverage to make guys more accurate with the ball, so that’s something we’ll continue to do.”
Now that play, in particular, wasn’t a third down and the FAU receivers weren’t stacked but that is something that you need to look for when you’re calling plays. Offenses are always looking for ways to run routes in a way to rub defenders in an attempt to create space for the intended pass catcher. If you ask Grantham or any other defensive coach they’ll tell you it’s an illegal pick.
To Grantham’s credit, Florida did press last Saturday against FAU. The very next play Kaiir Elam and Avery Helm were in press on first and 10, Helm was beaten off the line and an arrant pass prevented what would have been a touchdown. Later in the same drive, Helm was back in press coverage on third and four, while the Gators played off on the other side of the field, where the Owls had two receivers. FAU, again, got the ball out quickly and found a receiver who got to the first down marker and sat in his route.
“You’re going to press, but it’s all based on splits and calls. If you go and look sometimes when they get in those stacks and things, you have to be able to pass things off. There were a couple we could have jumped a little bit quicker, a little bit cleaner and made the play,” Grantham said. “You know, when you get up and press a guy it’s going to be based upon splits and things like that so that you don’t get rubbed. If you tell a guy to go play man and there’s a guy within close proximity, offensive guys like to use the word rub but in reality, they’re going to pick you. So you gotta have tools within your defense to be able to handle those mesh routes and those rubs, as they like to call them, to be able to play tight coverage.”
The Gators made adjustments at halftime and played much cleaner in the second half before pulling most of their starters. FAU mustered up just 39 yards of offense in the second quarter and went 0-3 on third downs.
In the first game of a season, playing against a new quarterback that doesn’t have a lot of film defenses have to play more in the moment. The Gators’ defense was stout, for the most part, Saturday when the starters were in the game. There will be more challenging offenses, and more dynamic players in the future and Florida’s defense will need to continue building off of their week one performance.