In 2020, Dan Mullen was riding high as the coach of the Florida Gators. He solved the Kirby Smart puzzle, finally beating the Georgia Bulldogs and winning the SEC East Division championship. That was a central goal for Mullen and Florida, because they knew they had to get past Georgia to achieve national relevance and compete for both SEC and national championships. The 2020 Florida offense was a ferocious attack, maximized by the play-calling of Mullen, one of college football\u2019s great schematic minds. Florida scored 46 points against Nick Saban and Alabama in the 2020 SEC Championship Game. They lost, because Alabama scored 52, but they put up a fight and made another New Year\u2019s Six bowl game, Mullen\u2019s third as Florida\u2019s head coach. There was a lot going in Mullen\u2019s favor entering 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the 2021 season spun out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida lost to Kentucky early in the season. Then the defense got shredded by LSU, giving up 49 points. Georgia delivered a predicted blowout of the Gators, but with a soft November schedule ahead, Mullen still wasn\u2019t in major trouble. Then came a game at South Carolina, a team expected to finish near the bottom of the SEC East. The Gators sleepwalked through a 40-17 defeat. That put Mullen on the hot seat. When Florida wasn\u2019t able to rebound the next few weeks, allowing 52 points to Samford and then losing to Missouri, the program had hit rock bottom. In one month, Mullen went from being secure to being out of a job, and it was hard to ignore the idea that the program had fallen apart. Now, new coach Billy Napier tries to revive the Gators and bring them back to where the fan base expects the program to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Personnel Lost<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The loss of Dan Mullen means the loss of a gifted play caller. Florida\u2019s new coaching staff will need to demonstrate brilliance in offensive play design and play selection. Napier might be a coaching upgrade from Mullen on a broader, overall level, especially in terms of recruiting, which was Mullen\u2019s core weakness. However, play calling acumen is a real question mark with the new staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gators also lose cornerback Kaiir Elam, a top-25 NFL draft pick. They had a few other players get drafted, and that doesn\u2019t even count undrafted free agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important Incoming Freshmen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shemar James is a premier linebacker recruit. In three high-school seasons, he collected 114 tackles, 13 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, and two interceptions. Chris McClellan is a defensive lineman who will try to give the Gators upside on defense after a 2021 season in which the defensive front didn\u2019t do its job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Position Battles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Florida\u2019s offensive and defensive lines both got outplayed far too many times last season. Whether it was one of the two lines or both, Florida didn\u2019t display the toughness needed to field an elite team. Even with good skill players, the lack of good line play held this team back. Napier and the new staff have to see who is willing to be hungry enough to become great. Florida was mediocre last year in the trenches. That must change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biggest Offseason Goal(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan Mullen did not recruit well. That\u2019s where Billy Napier has to begin to turn things around in Gainesville. Using the transfer portal is something he can continue to do before the season begins. Upgrading talent is his most direct path to a successful run as Florida\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2020, Dan Mullen was riding high as the coach of the Florida Gators. He solved the Kirby Smart puzzle,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22666,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22656\/revisions\/22666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}