Florida firings

Florida Coach Dan Mullen fired two assistant coaches — defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy — after the Gators dropped to 4-5 with a 40-17 loss at South Carolina.

Grantham was in his fifth season as Mullen’s defensive coordinator, first at Mississippi State, then at Florida. Hevesy was in his 13th season as an assistant for Mullen.

“I’m a pretty loyal person,” Mullen said. “I’m not going to jump to any conclusion. The first sign of trouble, I’m not going to abandon ship on anything. I’m going to look at everything. Honestly, probably a knock sometimes.”

Mullen said he has tremendous respect for Grantham and Hevesy, but that he felt now was the time to make changes on his staff, especially with the early signing period in December.

“Those guys are both friends of mine,” Mullen said. “But my responsibility as the head coach is to do what I feel is best for the Florida Gators, and that comes above it all.

“I think Todd’s an excellent, excellent football coach and there’s times that we’ve played great defense. We just haven’t done it consistently.

“We’re one of the top rushing teams in the country — we just haven’t been consistent with John and the offensive line.”

Linebackers coach Christian Robinson, who played for Grantham at Georgia, never has called plays, but he’ll begin doing that for Saturday’s game against Samford.

Graduate assistant Mike Sollenne will coach the offensive line.

“It’s a great opportunity for Christian Robinson, a really good young coach, to go call a game for the first time,” Mullen said. “Mike Sollenne gets an opportunity. I think he’s a good young coach working with guys. Great opportunity for him on the O-line, and I’m going to spend a lot of time with him and the O-line to make sure we’re getting the work done we need there.”

Mullen previously has hired six defensive coordinators, but he’s replacing an offensive line coach for the first time.

“This is Florida,” he said. “So there’s a long list of people that want any job they can get at the University of Florida in any aspect.”