GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida defense knows how to pressure a quarterback.
Through five games, the Gators defense leads the nation with 24 sacks, and after only recording two takeaways in the first two games, Florida managed 11 in the last three games.
It's not a stretch to say that Todd Grantham's group can pose a big threat to a freshman quarterback in the Swamp.
"A big one. A big one. A great threat,' said defensive tackle Kyree Campbell. "That’s all I’m saying.”
No. 10 Florida is set to welcome No. 7 Auburn to Gainesville on Saturday for the Gators' first big test of the season. Under center for the Tigers is true freshman Bo Nix.
"I remember watching all the high school film last year, I thought he was one of, if not the best, certainly one of the best high school quarterbacks coming out in the class," Gators head coach Dan Mullen told reporters on Monday. "We ranked him very close to the top. For him, a guy that grew up kind of wanting to play for where he's at. But I think he's handled it very well."
Nix has grown through the first few weeks as Auburn's starter. The signal caller struggled to find some consistency in the early games, however, his fifth game as a starter was certainly impressive.
The Tigers quarterback completed 16-of-21 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns in Auburn's 56-23 win over Mississippi State. He also managed to cut through the Bulldogs defense with his legs, running for 56 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
Through five games, Nix has thrown for 980 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
"I think he's got talent," said Mullen. "I mean you see he's already had to play in some big games, big moments, and he's handled that well as a freshman. He can throw, he can run and he's a talent."
“He’s a young quarterback, but he’s handling the job," said cornerback Marco Wilson. "He’s going out there and making plays, so it’s going to be a great game out there with him at quarterback.”
"He’s a guy who’s really progressed from game one to now. Probably got a little more poise than he had earlier," said Gators defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. "Really good athlete that can make guys miss, very competitive guy on tape that works hard at knowing where to go with the ball, both from a pass standpoint but also on the quarterback designed runs, whether I give it, keep it, do I throw it to a guy on an access route. He’s progressing really nicely for them.
"They’ve got some really good skill guys around him. That helps. The combination of that and him make him really good.”
As mentioned above Nix has the ability to show off his wheels. The freshman is second on team in rushing, having run for 173 yards on 35 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per carry.
“Anytime your quarterback can run the ball it becomes truly 11-on-11," explained Grantham. "You’ve just got to make sure you have the edges of the defense set. You’ve got proper containment coverage on the quarterback. And then you have to build a wall inside to be stout. They do a good job on their downhill runs of trying to move and create space and then guys start squeezing or maybe overcommitting too much on that and he pops it loose and gets on the edge. It’s a total team effort. You just got to be able to make sure you play your gap, your responsibility.”
“The objective is to hit him," said a no nonsense Campbell. "He’s a freshman quarterback but he protects himself a lot.
"He slides. He gets out of bounds. What did they compare him to? I think they compared him to Johnny Manziel trying to protect himself on that side... Every chance we get to hit him we’re going to try to hit him.”
"I've got to come up and make plays," added nickel Trey Dean. "Against the running game, I've got to help my linebackers out so they won't be able to run the ball, so we stop the run and it'll be hard for them to pass against us."
The Florida defense has already witnessed what an athletic quarterback is capable of. Grantham's men struggled early last weekend, when Tom Flacco was able to take off on a few long gains in UF's win over Towson.
“I think any time that you face an athletic quarterback leading into another athletic quarterback that gives you some familiarity with what you’re doing, and how to leverage it and I think that was good for us," said Grantham.
“Yeah, we did some things on our side defensive wise that we could have done a lot better," said Campbell about what went wrong early against Towson. “Hand placement, footwork, keeping base, staying in your gap, not getting out of your gap too fast. Simple stuff like that. It’s simple stuff like that that wins you the game.
"Just getting those things, those small things right, technique, and fundamentals. I think we’re going to be ready this week."
“It really gets down to execution of what we can do," said Grantham. "We know we are going to be challenged and we just have to find ways to affect his performance.”
It also helps that Nix will have to face Florida in a packed Swamp.
"A freshman quarterback coming in, it’s overwhelming," said Dean. "Even me as a freshman playing—and I’m playing defense—I’m like ‘wow this thing rocking’ so I know if a quarterback get behind center, he gonna feel it.”
