Mullen expects Gators’ defense to be versatile
GAINESVILLE — Since Florida announced the hiring of defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who followed new coach Dan Mullen from Mississippi State, many have wondered or worried how the Gators’ personnel would fit Grantham’s preferred 3-4 scheme.
The most significant concern is the perception Florida doesn’t have the outside linebackers necessary to maximize that alignment.
For that reason, one of the more intriguing recruits in the Gators’ early signing class looked to be David Reese, a four-star outside linebacker from Fort Pierce. The 247Sports composite ranked Reese as the 20th-best OLB in the Class of 2018.
And yet , Florida’s official signing day list denoted Reese as a defensive back, prompting a question for clarification to Mullen.
“Yeah, or corner. ... He’s a dude, now. I mean, he is — he can go,” Mullen said. “I said, ‘David, here’s the interesting thing, I’m going to have the first team meeting, I’m going to say break up into your position groups, where are you going to go?’ He said, ‘Wherever you tell me to go, Coach.’”
“I said, ‘I’m not going to tell you to do anything. I’m just going to tell you to go to your position meeting. Where are you going to go?’ He’s like, ‘I might even go to D-line, because I really want to hit the quarterback and go rush the passer or something.’ I said, ‘All right, well, then go to the D-line.’ I mean, physically there’s a lot of things he can do.”
Listening to Mullen discuss his early signing class, two points resonated as the most interesting and insightful into his approach to roster building.
First, Mullen values versatility. He emphasized this a few times, but Reese was perhaps the best example. It seems most likely that Reese ends up at outside linebacker, where the Gators have the greatest need, but Mullen will wait to evaluate all of his pieces before putting the puzzle together.
“I do see him being somebody that can fit, whether it is as a nickel, whether it’s as a linebacker, playing potentially the money backer for us, even in a passing situation, playing an outside backer coming off the edge. I think he has the ability to do a lot of different things for us,” Mullen said. “Obviously, outside linebacker within the 3-4 is a key spot to that, so we’ve got to make sure we get the right guys to be able to play that position. But I’ll say this about Todd: we’re going to be flexible.”
And that was the other point Mullen made. Not only does he want his players to have versatility, he wants that to also be a trait of his coaching staff and game planning.
While high-profile quarterback signee Emory Jones was the biggest signing, Mullen rattled off how every quarterback he’s coached has had nuanced strengths around which he’s sought to tailor his offenses.
As for the defense, Mullen addressed the presumed switch to the 3-4 (for a team with personnel best fit for a 4-3) by saying the Gators would adjust to their talent on that side of the ball.
“You’ll see us be in the 3-4, you’ll see us be in the 4-3. We’re not going to sit in one defense. We’re going to move in and out of defenses and use different personnel groupings,” Mullen said. “Very similar to what we are offensively, is Todd is going to have the flexibility to build the defense around the personnel that we have now — and as we continue to build and recruit and get guys that fit the specific needs of what we want, that defense will transition long-term into what we want to be.”
So while the Gators will eventually morph into the 3-4 defense Grantham has run throughout his career, that doesn’t mean Florida will immediately try to force a square peg into a round hole.
It will be interesting this s p r i n g t o o b s e r v e wh a t Grantham does with Florida’s existing personnel and whether some players might see their roles tweaked a bit — particularly the Gators’ traditional 4-3 pass-rushing defensive ends.
As for the other early signees, meanwhile, Mullen mentioned four-star safety Amari Burney as a guy at 6 feet 1, 220 pounds who can run like a defensive back while also having the size to play linebacker; four-star defensive back Trey Dean as a potential corner, safety or nickel; and three-star recruit John Huggins as a potential corner or safety.
“Recruiting is an inexact science,” Mullen said. “Until we get them on the field and put them through doing what we want them to do, we’re not going to know what position maybe is best for them. But when they have flexibility to be able to do multiple things, usually you’re going to find one that fits best.”