It’s been tiring hearing the various preseason takes, right or wrong, on Georgia from the pundit class over the past few years. But, if Matt Hayes is about to start a trend with this, I could get used to it.
Welcome to the most important offseason in the most important year for Florida coach Dan Mullen.
Despite 29 wins in 3 seasons and turning the fortunes of a stale program, Mullen could easily be staring at a win or walk season.
This is what happens when you embarrass your employer on multiple levels on and off the field, and the only thing that saves you is the capital built from winning. The one thing that changes all that: losing.
Hence, the critical offseason at Florida, where the Gators must, in no uncertain order:
— Find a new quarterback to replace record-breaking Heisman Trophy finalist Kyle Trask.
— Retool a receiving corps that loses 3 players who will be selected in the first two days of the NFL Draft (including 2 in the first round).
— Rebuild a defense (scheme, alignment or play calling; or all three) that has too many playmakers to be one of the worst statistical units in all of college football.
— Finally figure out an offensive line that has been the greatest weakness in Mullen’s 3 seasons, and pave the way to run the ball more than 50% of the time in 2021.
Most important, Mullen must regain the trust of the administration at Florida, which is still upset over Mullen knowingly committing an NCAA violation that gave the program its first probation in three decades, and his postgame behavior in three separate instances – all reckless in their own way.
But understand this: Mullen isn’t thrilled that his contract has been allowed to reach three years remaining without being restructured. That has been friction on his end for months now.
And more than anything, Mullen isn’t going to change who he is.
Gee, Matt, that’s what we’re counting on. But I digress.
If this kind of chatter keeps up, Dan’s gonna be a real treat to hear from at SEC Media Days. How’s he gonna deal with being picked at steadily over the preseason? My guess is somewhere between Jim McElwain’s faux death threats and not well. And you know what? I’m pretty sure I can live with that.
Is “run the damn ball, Mullen” a thing now?
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With Emory Jones barely completing 50% of his passes, you better believe it will be! Hah!
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I expect EJ to run early and often. That doesn’t bode well for his health in this league though.
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FTMF
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Bought a big ol fried tenderloin biscuit with just the right amount of fat on the rim, it stopped raining and now reading that cousin Eddie the portal master has one foot on a banana peel while standing next to a sewage ditch.
It’s gonna be a good day!
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And fuck those motherfuckers.
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And more than anything, Mullen isn’t going to change who he is….Soooo, this means more jackass comments, more stupid facial expressions, more colored wrist bands, more, more, more….#FTMF
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Ah. I was a bit slow on my redundant post. Twisted minds think alike.
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RR, how can you be so fuggin’ funny?!?!?
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Stale program? No, it had won the east 2 of 3 years prior. He didn’t inherit a train wreck, just a train that was a little slow.
Spare me the rebuild narrative handbags.
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Exactly. They were a solid program until Shark Humper imploded in the middle of 2017. Mullen has basically maintained status quo and got lucky that Franks got hurt, and we had QB issues.
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They might not have imploded quite as much if they hadn’t had a chunk of the team go stolen credit-card happy too. (Though I suspect the defensive success they enjoyed was largely the result of Boom recruiting well on that side of the ball.)
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He has turned out to be thin skinned, doesn’t handle the pressure well and has a propensity to blame others, with what appears to be an unmatched ego in the East and maybe in the conference.
The one thing he has going for him is that he is very-very good at taking the players he has and developing an offense around them (which is what he should have said in an interview the other day vrs. talking about how much they put on their QB’S – basically putting more pressure on the QB position from a fan perspective – that didn’t seem possible).
Gators are going to badly miss Trask. He was the perfect QB for the system they were in. Incredible accuracy, quick to get the ball out of his hand (which hid just how mediocre that line is) and he had three really good receivers.
Gilbert was a huge get that at least got you to level of one of the Kyle’s – this team will now have to rely on a QB that can find the corner with a run first – pass second mentality. I think they are going to look a lot more like the MSU teams that Mullen had verses what UF saw the previous two years and with a talent base (especially the line) that isn’t too different than UF.
Lots of theatre coming out of Gainesville this year…
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Agreed, Ran A. Mullen appears to be the type when faced with administrative pressure simply doubles down on the dumbass. It’ll be amusing to watch.
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Hope between Mullen’s antics and the ongoing circus to the north that there’s no popcorn shortage. Better stock up now…
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Doesn’t handle pressure well you say? There’s no a UF coach in the past twenty years who handled the Bull Gators well.
PS: Spurrier quit to take the NFL job when he realized Miami was rolling back on the schedule. Look back at what Miami was made of then and I’d say pressure ran the OBC out of Groinsville.
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SOS is a whiny fuckn quitter.
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Yep, and I’ll always cherish hanging half a hundred on him with Grayson Lambert to make him quit.
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When we’re done beating the Handbags into submission, Dopey is going to be wishing he could have taken one of those NFL jobs this winter. I have a feeling Kirby is going to take out some of his frustration from last year on them.
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I do think there was NFL interest last year. I do not think there was any interest in him after this year. Dude REALLY hurt himself.
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Too all that I would add that Mullen has lost to Georgia two out of three times his FU teams have played the Dawgs and really would have lost last season except for the UGA starting QB (Bennett) getting injured by an uncalled late hit on this throwing arm. If Mullen loses this year it will be three losses in 4 attempts and that won’t sit well with the FU fan base.
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Any post with a header that mentions UF and Shoe, I’m going to read with a smile on my face.
This one didn’t disappoint .
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And he takes criticism so well!
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As we used to say in the military: Mullen is eaten up with a terminal case of the dumb-ass.
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Fuck THAT motherfucker!
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Anyone remember when folks around here wanted to hire Mullen?
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“Folks”? I think you misspelled McGarity.
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And fuck THAT motherfucker, too!!!
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Now, now, Corch!
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I don’t know any rank and file fan who wanted Dopey in Athens unless we wanted someone who was going to do his job from the first tee of The Creek Club at Reynolds.
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