It was a first for Jim McElwain. The first year coach at Florida took in all the sights and sounds of SEC Media Days in Hoover, AL with the same big grin he’s had on his face since taking the job.
“I just want to say what an honor it is to be back in the SEC and how humbling it is to be the head ball coach with the University of Florida,” McElwain said.
“It’s something you dream of as you go through this profession, and I can’t tell you how honored and excited I am to have this opportunity.”
The Pressure is on for the Florida Gators Defense
The former Alabama offensive coordinator has the opportunity of getting Florida back to the top of the SEC where its fans expect to be year in and year out. Under Will Muschamp, the Florida offense could never get out of its own way and embarrassed itself year after year. McElwain is in charge of fixing an offense that hasn’t been the same since Tim Tebow was behind center in 2009.
McElwain’s grin fades a bit when asked about the offensive side of the ball as things don’t look to get better for the Gators offense any time soon. There are many issues as McElwain prepares for his first fall camp in Gainesville. There is still no clue which quarterback, Will Grier or Treon Harris, will lead the team in the huddle on the season’s first play. There are only two offensive lineman with any experience and still no proven playmakers besides wide-receiver Demarcus Robinson.
In trying to figure out how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on offense, Jim McElwain will turn to the other side of the ball to carry the team.
“I think one of the things is we’ve got some really talented guys, and those guys just have to keep stepping up their performance and give us a little time to get this offense going a little bit,” McElwain said on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
That’s nothing new for the Gators defense as that’s what they’ve had to do the entire Will Muschamp era. If Florida won a game, it was mostly due to great defense. Plain and simple, if Florida is going to win games in McElwain’s first season, it’s going to be the defense carrying the torch once again. That puts the pressure of making McElwain’s first season a success on defensive coordinator, Geoff Collins.
Collins comes over from Mississippi State, and also a previous stint at Alabama, previously with Jim McElwain. His defenses in Starkville were known for steadily getting better before bursting onto the scene last year helping the Bulldogs reach the number one ranking.
It may come as a surprise that the defense ended the season only being the 82nd ranked defense in the country. Teams were able to move the ball up and down the field, mainly due to a poor secondary, but the Bulldogs would gather themselves in the red zone.
Collins would dial up plays to get his team off the field on third downs, ranked 13th nationally, and hold opponents to scoring on only 24 of 40 trips inside the 20.
The secondary at Florida is one of the nation’s best and Collin’s needs to take full advantage. He is going to have to save the Florida offense until McElwain can it going. Collins can’t even afford to have teams get into the red zone as much as he did last season at Mississippi State. There is no Dak Prescott on the other side of the field to get in shoot out type situations.
This might be nit-picking but the Gators offense makes this scenario a dangerous one. There is so little room for error that Collins may have to adjust his bend but don’t break philosophy. That’s why the pressure is so high for Collins. He has the defense to completely shut down most teams on the schedule.
Can Collins take advantage of one of the best secondaries in America and fix the pass defense issues he had at Mississippi State?
Can the UF offense take a little bit of the pressure off the defense from having to win every game?
Collins has all the toys to make this one of the best defenses in the country. Will the pressure be too much or will he take all the pieces and keep the Florida defense rolling?
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