With a green screen featuring Florida’s three national championships as his backdrop, Dan Mullen held another virtual media session Tuesday — his first since the Gators reported for June workouts.

Mullen and his assistants still haven’t been able to interact with players this month, as meetings continue to be conducted via Zoom. But the reports he’s gotten back from the strength staff have been positive.

“I think everything’s gone pretty well and gone pretty smoothly,” Mullen said. “We’ve been very slowly building back up. I don’t know if we’ve really pushed anybody just yet. We want to make sure that the guys come back in great shape.

“Hopefully we find out in the next couple days what the official path is going to be moving forward, get the season started. I think our players are excited to be back on campus, working out, back together and hoping to get back on the field soon.”

The NCAA Division I Council will vote Wednesday on a six-week preseason camp. The Gators are scheduled to start fall practice Aug. 7 after two weeks of walk-throughs, which Mullen called a critical time for the team.

“To me that is really the opportunity for the players to prepare themselves mentally, get out there through walk-throughs to start getting some muscle memory to prepare for the season and start doing movements that will be involved in during the season so that our guys can kind of be prepared rolling into training camp,” Mullen said of the July 24-Aug. 6 window. “It's one thing to take notes and write it down in the classroom, but to be able to go and actually do it on the field is something very different. So we're going to have to find out, hopefully when we start our walk-throughs on July 24, to see how much knowledge guys have retained and how much they can translate that knowledge from a virtual meeting onto an on-the-field application.”

That’s one of the many hurdles facing the Gators as they get ready for the season. Others include adjusting to the change in routine, not having in-person contact with each other and following COVID-19 protocols.

Mullen cited student privacy when asked Wednesday if any players have tested positive. The first 80 tests came back negative, according to UF officials last week.

Mullen said understanding the personality of your team is challenging every year, but 2020 will be harder and take more time.

“We’re just going to have to do that in a restricted window in camp, and it might actually even take a couple weeks into the season until we really find the personality of this team,” he said. “One of the hardest things that we have probably had to deal with, to me, is not being around our players. I love the personal interaction of our players.

“When you get on the Zoom call and you’re looking at however many boxes can fit per screen, I try to scroll through the screen just to even see everyone’s face. I think one of the hardest ones is not dealing with the personal face-to-face, the personal interaction with our players on a regular basis.”

All team members have been forced to adjust to their routine being disrupted, which can be difficult for anyone who’s a creature of habit. Though film study and workout sessions look completely different right now, the coaches have tried to provide as much normalcy for the players as possible.

“I think it’s difficult not having a routine for the coaches and it’s not having a great routine with the players right now. I think that is tricky,” Mullen said. “If there’s one thing they’re hungry for, it’s to get back to somewhat of a routine. Our coaches’ life right now, we tried to create as much of a positive routine for our players as we can.”

In addition to their football discussions, Mullen said the coaches have talked to players in small groups and as a full team about the recent nationwide protests over social injustices. He released a statement last month condemning racism and oppression.

“It’s been very educational to me,” Mullen said of the discussions. “I’ve learned a lot. Learned from our players and learned from our coaches and learned from personal retrospective.”