Gators praise Dan Mullen's play-calling, 'that guy there is a genius'

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- In less than a year Dan Mullen has turned Florida football's offense into a productive group.

“That guy there a genius," wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland said on Tuesday. "He knows when to call plays at the right time, so props to him.”

The Gators offense has ranked in 110th, 116th and 112th nationally in total offense the last three seasons. Florida currently ranks 67th averaging 408.3 yards per game.

"He's an offensive guru, man, that's what I call him," running back Lamical Perine added his praise. "He's a great guy calling plays, man. I mean, he always has us ready, I mean, last year there was a couple times, you feel me, like defenses were calling out our plays. So, like, they can't really do that now because we have them so off balance and it's something that we added to our game with Dan Mullen coming in."

Mullen certainly opened up the playbook in Gainesville.

The former staff was heavily criticized for their predictable play-calling that even the players were dumbfounded by some decisions. During SEC Media Days, offensive lineman Martez Ivey remarked that defenses knew the plays before they even ran them.

“I could believe that because we only had like three or four run plays," Perine said. "My grandma could call that out in her sleep.”

No one can call Mullen's play-calling predictable. The Gators head coach has pulled out a few trick plays in his short time at the Swamp already. Be it a throwback pass, a jump pass or a fake punt, Mullen is not afraid to switch things up if the game requires it.

"Yeah one call, it was on special teams. We had a, I can’t say the name of it, but um it was a fake punt. I was very excited for Tommy [Townsend] to get it and get us a first down," Cleveland recounted.

“Oh man, you would never know," added Perine. "It might be a trick play out of the blue and it just changed the game. Like that punt last week changed the game. We didn’t even know it was going to be called. We go over stuff like that. You might go over it one time a week, but that one time got to be perfect so when you do it in a game you could execute it.”

The key to Mullen's success so far this year is his ability to place the players in positions to succeed - just see Freddie Swain's success at the slot to see how one simple change can make a difference.

These simple changes created a confident group. A group that is confident that the man in charge will call the right play when it is needed, even when it is the unexpected.

"That was a gutsy call by him," said quarterback Feleipe Franks about Mullen's choice to go for the fake punt against Vanderbilt. "I think that was cool. He kind of played it good, he came over to me and was just kind of talking to me, but I was wondering because he kept peaking on the field. He was talking to me and peaking like that, I was like, what are you doing? That was pretty cool, pretty gutsy call.”

One can't argue the results. Florida has gone from a 4-7 season to a 6-1 start.

"He does a great job, he does a really good job of changing the rhythm of the game, the pace of the game, some hurry-up stuff, some check-wth-me stuff, some easy throws, some vertical passing game," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said during his SEC teleconference call. "He stretches the field both vertically and horizontally."

Smart and his seventh-ranked Bulldogs will see Mullen's play-calling first hand as they face off against No. 9 Florida on Saturday.

"At the end of the day it's going to boil down to the players making the plays, not the guys calling the plays," said Smart.