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Dan Mullen was in a depressing, good mood Friday night.
Florida’s third-year coach felt down because he wasn’t at the Hilton getting ready for his team’s original season opener.
“I’d be stuffed from Friday night meal getting ready to go play Eastern Washington. So that's kind of depressing,” Mullen said. “I didn't realize it till (Friday) morning that it's supposed to be gameday tomorrow. Your body clock leads to, like, depression.”
Mullen was cheered up when the Gators did their latest round of COVID-19 testing Friday and everyone was negative. The fall semester started at UF last Monday, so those numbers are a good sign with students back on campus.
“It’s really encouraging, you know what I mean? It is,” Mullen said. They've really handled all of these situations extremely well. I think it shows their commitment to excellence, their desire to be a great football team, their commitment to each other, and how serious they take everything. But, you know what? Success is not a short-term thing.
“To be successful, it takes commitment to doing things the right way. Commitment's a long-term deal. These guys are young kids, and they're college kids. Picture yourself being 19-year-old in college and say, ‘Hey, you gotta be on lockdown.’ Boy, that's hard over a long period of time. So hopefully we continue to be smart, continue to do things the right way and continue to stay on the path we're on.”
That path, so far, includes no opt-outs. Florida had four players miss the start of fall camp, but all reported to camp within the first week and projected first-round pick Kyle Pitts said Wednesday he never considered missing the season.
Mullen believes his players haven’t opted out because the Gators, unlike programs such as LSU, haven’t had a positive test since early July.
“I think there’s a growing comfort with what we’re doing,” Mullen said. “Obviously, we’re getting into a new phase, which is going to be kind of gameday phase and we’ll see how that goes. I hope everybody feels real comfortable with all the safety precautions that we’ve put in place, that we have that comfort level with coaches and players to continue on the path we’re on.
“I think our guys, they love playing football. I think they realize we’ve tried to create a really safe environment. They look at their teammates and have a lot of respect between each other and guys on the team. I think that makes it a much easier environment not to opt out.”
Mullen still has his concerns, though. With a limited training camp and no spring, he’s admittedly worried about team development and has taken precautions in practice to keep players safe.
Monday’s scrimmage, however, will have live tackling to the ground.
“Monday is going to be a physical practice and that’s 18 days before we kick it off. So that kind of gives you some opportunity, a window. If guys get dinged up, get banged up, there’s still 18 days until we have to play a game,” Mullen said. “There’s a chance there will be some sloppy football early in the season. I mean, it’s so long since we’ve done it.
“We’ll have one more scrimmage Monday. That would have been in about a 10-month period you’ve tackled somebody twice. I mean, that’s … I don’t know. You probably wouldn’t want to go rush into the hospital and have surgery with somebody who has a surgery twice in 10 months … ‘You sure you know what you’re doing?’ Right?”
Mullen was asked what he wants to see from his team Monday, which will be Florida's final scrimmage until the season opener at Ole Miss on Sept. 26.
"Really, to be honest with you, just cleaner," he said. "Cleaner tackling, cleaner execution, cleaner ball security. You know those are all the things you worry about. When you go full contact now, the fumbles, the turnovers, missed tackles, the things that end up being big plays within the course of the game.
"You just really want to have clean football, clean tackling, great ball security. I love when you’re watching and say, ‘Boy, that was really good football being played on both sides. Those are good football plays being made.' And not mistakes and big errors, whether it be physically or mentally.”