Florida coach Dan Mullen wasted little time identifying problem areas after his team’s worst defensive season in more than a hundred years.
According to a person who knows the situation, Mullen has fired secondary coaches Ron English and Torrian Gray. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Friday about the condition of anonymity because the moves were not disclosed. 247Sports first reported the shots.
The 10th position of Gators (8-4) allowed 30.8 points per game in 2020, which is the most since they gave up 41.2 over six games in 1917, and the secondary role was a major part of the problem .
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English has coached in Florida’s safety coaching for the past three seasons, and Gray has selected the last two seasons.
Florida surrendered 52 and 55 points, respectively, in consecutive losses against Alabama and Oklahoma, no. 8, to end the year. The Sooners scored a whopping 684 yards on Wednesday night – the most any team has ever scored against Florida – in the Cotton Bowl. Florida’s previous high was 629 meters in a 62-24 defeat to Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.
It was the third time this season that Florida’s porous defense surrendered more than 600 yards. The unit admitted 613 in the opening jump at Ole Miss and 605 to the Crimson Tide in the Southeastern Conference Championships.
Mullen made two of their apologies, first pointing to his team’s lack of tackle in the preseason camp before facing the rebels.
Yet in the half of his twelve games, the defense has yielded 35 or more points, twice as much as during the first two seasons of defense coordinator Todd Grantham in Gainesville. The unit ended with successive 50-point outings, the first time Florida has done so in rugby games since 1917.
The Gators played without three defensive starters in the Cotton Bowl. Defensive tackle Kyree Campbell, linebacker Ventrell Miller and cornerback Marco Wilson have not made the final decision to prepare themselves for potential NFL careers. They were also without safety Shawn Davis and past rusher Jeremiah Moon. Davis has missed the last four games due to injury and Moon has suspended the last seven games for unknown reasons.
Even with the giving guys, Florida’s defense was mostly a debacle. Interruptions, inflated assignments, opportunities and mistakes at critical times were constant in 2020.
Mullen clearly had to make changes.