Advertisement
Published Jun 13, 2020
Florida's Top 10 offensive plays of the Dan Mullen era
circle avatar
Zach Abolverdi  •  1standTenFlorida
Staff
Twitter
@ZachAbolverdi

Dan Mullen is 21-5 as Florida's head coach, leading the Gators to back-to-back top-10 finishes and New Year's Six Bowl wins.

He and his offensive assistants have revived a UF unit that ranked 96th or lower in total offense for seven straight seasons prior to their arrival. Florida's offense ranked 42nd and 45th, respectively, the past two years.

Here are the top 10 offensive plays from the Mullen era.

Advertisement

10. Kadarius Toney's 47-yard play against Florida State

A top-10 list isn’t long enough for Kadarius Toney by himself. He’s made so many electric plays during his time as a Gator and his elusiveness has been showcased several times in the ground game, including reverses against Vanderbilt last season and South Carolina in 2018. We’ll include just one of his runs to leave room for some other highlights, although this play was technically a reception. With the Florida-FSU game still competitive early in the second quarter, Toney motioned into the backfield and quarterback Kyle Trask tossed it to him as soon as he received the snap. Toney ran outside and then changed direction as he broke one of four would-be tacklers near the line of scrimmage, accelerating to the second level and evading three more Seminole defenders for a 47-yard gain. That led to Freddie Swain’s 23-yard touchdown catch and gave the Gators a 20-7 lead. Toney finished with a season-high four catches for 65 yards in Florida’s 40-17 win.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

9. Josh Hammond's 65-yard reception against Miami

Florida’s season opener against Miami was a sloppy game, but quarterback Feleipe Franks and wide receiver Josh Hammond delivered in crunch time. After a missed 27-yard field goal by the Hurricanes kept the score 20-17 with under 10 minutes left, UF seized momentum on the ensuing play. Franks dropped back on first down and fired a deep ball to Hammond, hitting him perfectly in stride for a career-high 65-yard reception. The Gators took the lead with a 3-yard touchdown run by Franks in what would be one of his final games in a Florida uniform. Hammond caught four passes for 93 yards in the 24-20 win over Miami, his best receiving performance as a Gator.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

8. Van Jefferson's 38-yard touchdown reception at Florida State

Van Jefferson was Florida’s go-to receiver the past two years, coming up big in the comeback win over Vandy, bowl games against Michigan and Virginia and on the road at Kentucky and LSU. His performance at FSU included a season-high 94 receiving yards and his sixth touchdown of 2018, which is one of the nastiest routes you’ll see. Jefferson faked like he was running a post, then cut back upfield and shook Seminoles safety Hamsah Nasirildeen to the ground. Jefferson had 15 yards of separation from the next nearest defender when he hauled in the 38-yard score, putting the Gators back up by three scores en route to their 41-14 win over Florida State.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

7. Kadarius Toney's 66-yard touchdown against Miami

Toney was assigned the No. 1 jersey prior to the 2019 season. In the opener against Miami, he showed why on Florida’s first offensive series. Following Tommy Townsend’s fake punt, Toney caught a screen pass from Franks and blew past an arm tackle as he turned upfield with a great block by Jefferson. Toney then broke four more tackle attempts from three defenders, stiff-arming Hurricanes cornerback Al Blades Jr. to the ground on his way to a career-high 66-yard touchdown reception. “I've always said when he has the ball in his hands, something exciting is going to happen,” Mullen said of Toney after the game. “He lived up to that today, right?”

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

6. Dameon Pierce's 75-yard touchdown run at South Carolina

South Carolina broke a 10-10 tie with UF on the opening possession of the third quarter, regaining its first-half lead on Tavien Feaster’s 21-yard touchdown run. Florida responded on the next offensive snap with Dameon Pierce in the backfield. He took the handoff from Trask and followed behind the pulling Brett Heggie, who took out USC linebacker T.J. Brunson. Pierce broke R.J. Roderick’s tackle attempt and was off to the races, evening the score with a 75-yard TD. He got another great block from Tyrie Cleveland, who ran stride for stride with South Carolina cornerback Israel Mukuamu down the sideline. Pierce's score was a game-changing play in Florida’s 38-27 win and also one of three UF runs for least 75 yards in 2019, which set a single-season school record.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

5. Lucas Krull's throwback pass to Feleipe Franks against LSU

After LSU took a 19-14 fourth-quarter lead on Nick Brossette’s touchdown run, Mullen called one of his best series as Florida’s coach. His offense responded with a methodical nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive, including a trick play inside the red zone. Tight end Lucas Krull motioned into the backfield and looked like he was running an end-around, while Franks paused for a second before slipping out of the pocket. Krull stopped and tossed a throwback pass to Franks, who made the 15-yard catch and gave the Gators first-and-goal at the 2. “We’re able to execute that at a high level,” Mullen said of the throwback pass. “We made some explosive plays on that drive.” Lamical Perine scored the go-ahead touchdown on the next play, with Krull providing the key block. UF upset the No. 5 Tigers, 27-19.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

4. Josh Hammond's 76-yard touchdown run at Kentucky

Heading into the fourth quarter at Kentucky, the Gators were trailing 21-10 and had lost their starting quarterback to injury. But Trask rallied UF in the final period, leading the offense on two touchdown drives to take a 22-21 lead. UK failed to score on the next possession and Florida got the ball back with a chance to end the game. On third-and-6 with 44 seconds left, UF ran Hammond on a reverse and blocks from tight ends Krull and Kyle Pitts allowed him to burst free for a 76-yard touchdown. It was the exclamation point on the Gators’ 29-21 win, avenging their 2018 loss to Kentucky. Hammond’s reverse, at the time, also marked the longest TD run by the Gators since 2012 (Trey Burton at Tennessee).

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

3. Freddie Swain's 64-yard touchdown catch against Auburn

Freddie Swain had multiple scores worthy of this top-10 list, from his 65-yard catch-and-run at Tennessee to last season’s diving TD grab at South Carolina. But he’ll be remembered most for his play against No. 7 Auburn. Swain set the tone on Florida’s opening series, getting open over the middle on Tigers linebacker K.J. Britt. He turned on the jets once he made the catch, splitting the Auburn safeties for a 64-yard touchdown. Swain was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week after a career-high six receptions for 146 yards in UF’s 24-13 win, marking the highest single-game receiving yardage total by a Gator since Demarcus Robinson in 2014. Swain also totaled more receiving yards on his own than Auburn’s entire team (145).

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

2. Kadarius Toney's double pass to Moral Stephens at Mississippi State

In his return to Mississippi State, Mullen dipped into his bag of tricks for the game-winning touchdown. He had been dialing up screens and quick throws all game long to offset the MSU pass rush, but those calls also set up a trick play in the red zone. With UF trailing 6-3 in the third quarter, Franks threw out to Toney as the other receivers blocked for what appeared to be a bubble screen. But Toney, a former high school quarterback, located tight end Moral Stephens on a corner route and threw the double pass for a 20-yard touchdown. “They’re a really aggressive defense,” Mullen said of the Bulldogs. “All of a sudden, they jump up on the quick screens and the double pass is open.” The go-ahead score proved to be the difference in Florida's 13-6 win at Mississippi State.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

1. Lamical Perine's 88-yard touchdown run against Auburn

Like Toney, fellow Alabama product Lamical Perine could have his own top-10 list with the plays he’s made. He had huge touchdown runs against Florida State, Michigan and Virginia, as well as some spectacular TD catches at LSU and Missouri. But this play means everything to Perine, who wasn’t offered by the in-state Tigers because they thought he was too slow. “When we play Auburn that day, I will remember all that,” Perine said months earlier at SEC Media Days. On Florida’s first snap of the fourth quarter, Perine met Britt in the hole and bounced outside after shedding his tackle attempt. Auburn’s safety had the angle on Perine, but he evaded Daniel Thomas and tightroped the sideline to outrace the defense for an 88-yard touchdown. It was the fifth-longest rushing play in school history and the longest since Emmitt Smith’s 96-yard touchdown run in 1988. So much for being too slow. Perine finished the game with 14 carries for 130 yards and got the last laugh.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings