Florida coaches adjust game prep with Terry Wilson injury
GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Two decades ago, twenty something coaches met up at three o'clock in the morning.
"I had a bag of tapes from Columbia and he had a bag of tapes from Fordham, and we were exchanging to play the next week," Dan Mullen joked on Monday.
Mullen, a Columbia receivers coach at the time, was meeting his future defensive coordinator and then Fordham linebackers coach Geoff Collins.
Things are not so complicated any more.
"Just a push of a button," said Mullen.
Great news for a team on the hunt facing an unexpected name under center this Saturday. Kentucky will be without starting quarterback Terry Wilson on Saturday, who is out for the season with a torn tendon in his knee. Troy transfer Sawyer Smith will be taking over the keys to the offense.
"We know that the quarterback is not as much of a threat running the ball, so it changes a little bit," said linebacker Ventrell Miller. "We are just coming out and just worried about winning the game."
During last year's contest, Wilson was an issue for the Gators. The quarterback ran for 105 yards and a touchdown in UK's win in Gainesville. He is a known factor. Smith is not.
Mullen and Grantham have both dived into Troy tape.
"The only thing that would do is that kind of gives you maybe some accuracy, maybe his rhythm of getting rid of the ball," Grantham said of watching old Troy film of Sawyer. "That kind of stuff. Maybe his athletic ability when he moves. So we've looked at that and are aware of that and made notes of it. We understand it's going to be a challenge with whoever is there, so we've just got to play to our identity."
For the players, their game planning does not change.
"Now that their quarterback is hurt they might run something different, they might not," said cornerback Marco Wilson. "But I’m just gonna watch the stuff they’ve done the past few weeks.”
“Our preparation is to go hard and be ready for an athletic quarterback," said defensive tackle Adam Shuler. "Who’s to say that the second man up isn’t just as good? So I mean it’s not gonna affect our preparation.”
In the end, Kentucky is more than Terry Wilson under center.
"They’re a very physical running team," explained Grantham. "Their offensive line does a really good job. They’re a downhill team that really got after us last year and moved us around and ran the ball pretty good, so we know that’s going to be a challenge. Their runners run hard. I know the one guy (Benny Snell) left obviously. The slot receiver, 1, is a guy (Lynn Bowden Jr.) who can make plays for you.
"And then the quarterback’s a guy who played a little last year at Troy. He’s a guy who’s competitive. He’s a good athlete, not necessarily to the guy they had there before. But he’s a good enough athlete. He had a nice touchdown throw there at the end of the game. He has some nice touch on his vertical balls and things like that. He’s a competitor. He knows where to distribute the ball. So I fully expect him to run their offense and do the things that they’ve done to win the games they’ve won the past two years. We know we have to play physical and match their intensity.”