2020 Preview: UF offense returns Pitts-Trask tandem, staff familiarity
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Seven of the 10 SEC teams on Florida’s 2020 schedule have a new head coach or offensive coordinator this season, including Georgia and LSU.
Those teams also have a change at quarterback, while the Gators’ returning signal caller is their first preseason first-team All-SEC selection since Tim Tebow and was named to six national award watch lists.
Kyle Trask and his top go-to target, preseason first-team All-SEC tight end Kyle Pitts, have prognosticators picking UF to win the East over three-time defending division champ Georgia.
Trask’s position coach, Brian Johnson, said he has taken his leadership to the next level and been “firing on all cylinders” in practice.
"I think Kyle's a great leader,” Pitts said of Trask. “Him just being the leader of this team, everyone looks up to him. It gives him more confidence knowing that everybody around him is trusting him, knowing that he runs the offense, he’s a great leader. He’ll probably be a captain.”
Johnson, who was promoted to offensive coordinator this offseason, will continue to use a two-quarterback system with Emory Jones, crediting him for improving his consistency and knowledge of the offense. Despite Trask operating at a “graduate level” per Gators coach Dan Mullen, Jones still carved out a role for himself during fall training camp.
“He gets a lot of reps at practice within the system,” Mullen said of Jones. “He’s comfortable in our system and what we do. It’s something that makes him confident. He knows he’s going to get on the field and play for us. We’ll always have little packages for Emory to play right now as well as prepare him to be the starter.”
RELATED: More freedom for Trask; Jones provides 'pretty good 1-2 combo'
Mullen brings back nine of his 10 assistants from last year, with Tim Brewster replacing Larry Scott as tight ends coach. Brewster isn’t new to this staff, however, serving in the same role for Mullen at Mississippi State and spending the 2012 season with two of his four UF offensive assistants and defensive line coach David Turner.
“I was fortunate enough to work with most of the staff,” said Brewster, who is also Mullen’s assistant head coach at Florida. “I didn’t work with Brian Johnson or Billy Gonzales. I worked with [Greg] Knox, worked with [John] Hevesy. … The chemistry of your staff is so vitally important. Guys that have been in the foxhole together, the chemistry and the bond you have is special.
“The good news is that here we really do enjoy each other’s company and know we’re getting ready to travel a road less traveled. Ten SEC games. We better be together and joined at the hip, because adversity is going to strike. And how you handle the tough times really determines your success. There’s nobody trying to figure out how to coach on this staff.”
Johnson has coached five years under Mullen, while offensive line coach/run game coordinator John Hevesy (19 years), wide receivers coach/pass game coordinator Billy Gonzales (15 years) and running backs coach/special teams coordinator Greg Knox (11 years) have all worked with Mullen for more than a decade.
That’s a total of 51 years on the offensive side of the ball.
“I think it’s a huge deal,” Johnson said. “The fact that we have a lot of people on our staff who have been together and know the problems of what defenses are trying to do to you, have the adjustments ready to go, being able to present that and teach it very quickly and get it fixed on the sideline, that’s something that’s going to be very important to do this year.
“I think 2020 is a year where everybody has to be as flexible as possible. It definitely is a huge positive for us.”
RELATED: Brewster describes Pitts as physical, raves about TE group
One of the most flexible players in Florida's offense is Pitts, who’s on the watch list for both the Biletnikoff and Mackey Awards. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound pass catcher can line up at multiple receiver spots, but Brewster praised him for “truly embracing being a physical football player” and working more with his hand in the dirt.
“The thing about Kyle Pitts that I absolutely love is this guy’s a tough guy. I mean, this guy’s a hard-nosed, physical, tough guy,” Brewster said. “He has embraced the mentality that I’m bringing to the room, truly trying to be a true three-down tight end, a guy that can block people on first and second down, a guy that can go make big-time, third-down catches. There’s nothing that this guy can’t do now.
“He’s probably the premier tight end in all of college football,” Mullen said of Pitts. “Obviously he’s a weapon in the pass game. His athleticism makes him a mismatch. We move him around all over the field. But boy, I think he’s done an amazing job with how he’s improved as a blocker this offseason and kind of becoming that complete tight end. I think he’s taken huge strides forward. He’s a major part of our offense and will be all season long.”
RELATED: UF backs working to replace Perine, give offense more balance
The Gators are counting on their one-two punch of Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis, who has returned to his freshman form according to coaches and players, to fill the void left by Lamical Perine at running back. The receiver position lost four seniors, all of whom made NFL rosters, but still features a trio of returning starters in Trevon Grimes, Kadarius Toney and Jacob Copeland, as well a talented group of young wideouts.
“My relationship with those guys have only improved over time and through repetitions,” Trask said. “A lot of the returning guys like [Jacob] Copeland and the young guys have just been working their tail off, and I can tell how hard they've worked. I think we're going to have a lot of threats around the field.
“[Xzavier Henderson] looks really smooth. And not only Henderson, but [Ja’Quavion] Fraziars, just all the young guys really. They’ve come in and made a quick impact.”
Offensive line is the biggest question mark for Florida after the knee injury to Ethan White, who was slated to take over for Nick Buchanan at center. Trask and Davis still have confidence in the starting five, which boasts 99 career starts with the addition of MSU grad transfer Stewart Reese.
RELATED: Reese practicing like a returner, gelling with Gators O-line
Hevesy singled out Stone Forsythe, a two-year starter at left tackle, for becoming “a great leader with that group.”
“I think he's done a great job through this camp,” Hevesy said. “The young guys see him as being the guy, so they'll listen to him and talk to him. They see not only what he does on the field, the way he prepares himself for practice, meetings, everything he does.
“You add Stew, Brett Heggie’s become that guy. Jean [Delance] is becoming that guy. Really those four upperclassmen have become great leaders for my young guys. Now it’s on the young guys. Obviously check your ego in and make sure you're always listening to the older guys because they have the experience.”
And that experience up front, out wide and in the backfield — coupled with the five decades of staff familiarity — has Mullen feeling good about his offensive unit heading into this season.
“I think it certainly helps that you have veteran quarterbacks coming back,” he said. “We have a little bit more of a veteran offensive line than we had last year. So that core of the quarterbacks and the offensive line, having some veterans there certainly helps.
“When you look out there at receiver, Tre Grimes, Kadarius Toney and Jacob Copeland have all played a lot of football for us. And obviously Kyle Pitts. Our running backs have played a bunch of football. So I think when you look at that, there are guys who have been out there on the field. So I think there is that advantage of those guys having experience within our offensive scheme.”