Florida Gators' holiday wish list

Ok, now just hear me out here.

Kyle Trask has shown the patience of a saint dating back to his time as a backup quarterback to D’Eriq King (who just announced he would be coming back to Miami in 2021) to waiting until he was a senior to start a game at Florida. Surely he wouldn’t mind waiting one more year to enter the NFL Draft? Trask has two medical redshirts available to use dating back to two season-ending injuries. He also has a free season to use from 2020. I’m not asking Trask to be a 25-year old in 2023, but how about running it back in 2021?

This 2021 draft class is loaded at quarterback. Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields will both be gone within the first five picks. North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance is projected as a higher pick than Trask, and then there’s a debate between Trask and BYU quarterback Zach Wilson for the next best on the board. Add in Mac Jones, Kellon Mond, and Jamie Newman — all ranked lower than Trask — and you see just how loaded the class is.

What does the 2022 class look like? Sam Howell, Kedon Slovis, Jayden Daniels, and Bo Nix?

Am I starting to sell it yet?

Trask could come back to Florida for his sixth season. He’ll have the opportunity to continue cementing his legacy at Florida, win more awards, another shot at an SEC Championship, and maybe lead the Gators to a National Championship. Not to mention, with two degrees from the University of Florida already in hand, Trask could start working on a PhD.

Paging Doctor Trask. Doctor Trask slicing up defenses. I mean, the headlines are writing themselves.

I’m just saying, it’s not as crazy as you may have thought, and certainly would make Florida an instant National Champion favorite in 2021.

There would be a number of reasons why the two senior receivers wouldn’t play in the Gators’ third-consecutive New Year’s Six Bowl game and any of them would come without argument from Gator Nation.

Kyle Pitts announced he was foregoing the rest of the season just 12 hours after the SEC Championship Game and that was well-received by Florida fans.

At this point of the season, a long, grueling, season at that, nobody would blame Toney and Grimes for opting out of the game to focus on the NFL Draft, but the 2020 season has been so much fun watching the Gators’ offense, how about one more game in Orange and Blue?

Technically, both could come back to Florida in 2021 thanks to the NCAA rule giving all student-athletes an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19, but neither are expected to run it back in 2021. All Gator fans are asking for is just one more opportunity to watch the duo catch passes from Kyle Trask in the Cotton Bowl.

The votes have already been cast and tabulated. Kyle Trask is a Heisman finalist and his body of work in 2020 is certainly deserving of the award. Dan Mullen recently said, and rightfully so, that no player in the country has meant more to his team than Kyle Trask has to the Florida Gators.

Florida’s offense has revolved around Trask all season, and the Gators have the nation’s 11th scoring offense (41.6 ppg), 9th total offense (508.8 ypg), despite having the nation’s 110th rushing attack (120.45 ypg). Why is that? Well, it’s because nobody in the country throws for more yards-per-game (388.4) than the Gators do.

Kyle Trask has been asked to put the Gators’ offense on his back and carry them through an 11-game SEC schedule. He’s put together the most prolific passing season of any Florida Gator quarterback.

Is Kyle Trask going to win the Heisman? We don’t know. If he doesn’t win the award it certainly isn’t because he didn’t have the stats, or that his story wasn’t good enough. If he doesn’t win the award will it be because his team lost three games? Are losses a new quarterback stat?

The winner will be announced on January 5 on ESPN.

The Gators had a successful early signing day but adding 5-star offensive tackle Triston Leigh would be a cherry on top of the 2021 signing class. Leigh is a 6-6, 290-pound tackle from Fairfax, Virginia.

Leigh was expected to sign early but pushed back that commitment date.

Signs are pointing towards Leigh signing elsewhere but maybe the Gators, given more time, can make a late push to sign a guy that would get on the field quickly for them? Florida's 2021 class has been defensive heavy and Leigh would be the best offensive signing for the coaching staff.

The Florida Gators defense has been a middle-of-the-road unit when compared to other defenses this season. If you compare them to other Florida defenses it’s not as flattering.

Florida’s allowing 28.6 points-per-game in 2020, which is the most any Gator defense has given up since 1946. There has been confusion, blown assignments, defensive breakdowns, and most frustratingly, the defense has hampered an offense that set school records.

The 54-year old defensive coordinator has been at Florida for three seasons and with Dan Mullen for four years, dating back to Mississippi State. That marks his longest tenure with one head coach — he spent four seasons at Georgia under Mark Richt (2010-13).

Dan Mullen has only fired one coordinator in his more than 12 years as a head coach. When Manny Diaz left Mississippi State to take the defensive coordinator job at Miami, Dan Mullen hired Peter Sirmon away from USC. Sirmon lasted just one season in Starkville before Mullen fired him and replaced him with — yeah, you should have seen this coming — Todd Grantham.

Mullen has expressed confidence and faith in Grantham when asked about his DC’s job performance. As the season went on, Mullen would only say that Grantham would be evaluated after the season, as all of his coaches would.

The Gators’ defense didn’t live up to its recent standard in 2020 and, ultimately, that needs to fall on the defensive coordinator’s shoulders. Will it be enough to make Dan Mullen do something he’s only ever done once before?