Jefferson: I feel like we can go to the College Playoffs soon

Although the team and the fans are already looking forward, this is also a good time to see how far this side has come because it can show how much this team can do.

Mullen came in to do a job: bring the 'Gators Standard' back by not only expecting a higher work ethic but also by having a productive offense.

In the last decade, Florida's defense was reliable, its offense not so much.

That changed this season.

"Everybody sees it," linebacker David Reese said about the offense's improvement after the Peach Bowl. "They're not turning the ball over, playing safe football. We're playing great defense on offense, so playing the field position battle [is big]. We could have got a little bit better on special teams today, but our defense stood strong and our offense scored points like they're supposed to."

A lot of the offensive improvement is due to Feleipe Franks' development.

Mullen "is a great coach. He is a quarterback guru," said Franks. "Him and [quarterback] coach [Brian] Johnson did a great job coaching me up this whole year."

Mullen and company had to start fresh with the Florida quarterback. One can argue that the red-shirt sophomore was thrust into the spotlight a little too early in his career. He was criticized heavily and his development paid.

"He's still a young player," Mullen said.

Mullen used that youth to his advantage. Along side his quarterbacks coach, Brian Johnson, Mullen helped build up Franks' confidence along with his skill.

Franks slowly progressed through the season, helping his team win the Peach Bowl and record ten wins, by posting the best quarterback numbers since Tim Tebow was under center.

"Coming off a season like last season to where we're at now, winning a New Year's Six bowl, that's kind of like where I was at with being overwhelmed," Franks explained. "Just filled with emotion and just on how much I felt like I've improved from last season under coach Mullen and coach Johnson, and how much this team's improved from last season as well.

"It's just a great feeling, tears of joy -- I've always wanted to be in the middle of confetti falling down on me, winning championships. Coach Mullen's bringing that back to Florida.

"He's still a young guy. But I think the steps that he's taken, it just shows how you can improve," added Mullen. "He didn't worry about anything. Didn't worry about all the outside stuff, whether it's good or bad. I mean, none of that -- I always tell our guys, that don't matter. You watch the film, so you know. Whether someone thinks you played good or bad is irrelevant. Watch the film and judge yourself. You know how to get better.

"And I think he really did that. Grew up, matured, and really understood the offense, understood the gameplan coming in today. You saw, I don't think, at any point during the game we got conservative in what we were doing because we just trusted he'd make good decisions and get the win for us."

"It's great. I always knew Feleipe was an athlete," running back Jordan Scarlett said. "He could always get the job done, he just needs his team behind him. He'll definitely get the job done.

"He's definitely done a lot more from last year and even the beginning of this year. He's definitely going to continue to improve, because coach Mullen is a really great coach. He emphasizes making us get better every day."

That trust was big.

"It means everything," said the quarterback.

Franks is not the only one that has adapted and developed throughout his career.

Mullen's success as a head coach is not by accident. The Florida coach has learned plenty from his experiences, including when to relinquish the reigns.

In the win over Michigan, the Gators head coach had a decision to make: was he going to go for it on fourth -and -1 or was Evan McPherson going to kick the field goal. Johnson got in Mullen's ear and told him they should run the jet sweep with Kadarius Toney.

That was the play that changed the game.

"Brian called that upstairs,” Mullen said after the Gators 41-15 win over Michigan. “We had another play called. We didn't like the look so we took a time-out. It's like run the jet sweep.“I said ‘okay’. I said, ‘well, this one's on you’, so I gotta give him the credit. ‘If it goes bad in post-game press conference, I'm going to blame you for calling it. If it goes well, you're getting the full credit.’”

Mullen learned he did not have to micromanage.

“I think our offensive staff, we have guys that have been together for quite a long time, work really well together,” he said. “We have some really, really good coaches on offense.I guess I'm kind of the guy that calls the play when it goes in the game most of the time. But everybody contributes a lot of that of how we work together. So they did a nice job with that call.”

Even Franks made a change to the play call, deciding to run for the 20-yard touchdown.

“You just see the guys understanding and working together in the system,” Mullen said. “It's a look that they gave us. They walked everybody out of the box. He has the green light. If he sees something like that, that they're giving us -- we'll go in the game maybe not with checks, but with automatics. If you see a look they're going to give us a play, you can take it at any time. Feleipe did a good job of calling that right there.”

Franks showed his progress in that moment. Progress he was able to have with the backing of the staff and his brothers.

"Having the trust in God, having the trust from your family, your teammates, the people that are closes to you every day, these coaches, being able to trust in them," said Franks. It made the whole thing so special."

"The biggest thing that they helped me do, I would say just gain my confidence back," Franks said of his new coaching staff. "I don't think my confidence could have got any lower, where there had been a bunch of different things.

"And it just made football fun again. That's kind of what it did for me."

"I feel like we can go to the College (Football) Playoffs soon," wide receiver Van Jefferson said. "That's coach Mullen's goal. That's what he wants out of this program and I feel like this program is headed toward that.

"I think that this staff puts players in better positions. I wasn't here with the last staff, but obviously he's putting players in better positions here and last year that probably wasn't the case."

Jefferson and Franks are both returning in 2019 and both are ready to continue their development in Gainesville. However, this season is also an opportunity for the younger athletes like Amari Burney and company to step up.

With the new talent flocking in, things are looking bright in the Swamp.