Gators turning it up a notch as they implement the game plan for Michigan

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After taking a break following the regular season finale victory over the Seminoles, the Gators kicked off bowl preparation with three open practices to the public.

“You sit down for two weeks and then you got to get back at it,” nickel Chauncey Gardner-Johnson said. “Nobody was rusty. We were still flying around. A lot of guys still competing and having fun.”

However, those practices were focused on the fundamentals and working in some younger players in order to give them some experience.

Now practices are closed once again, as Florida begins to implement the game plan for the Wolverines.

“You've got to dial in now,” Gardner-Johnson said. “All the fun and games are over with, so you've got to get into game week and get ready to play."

Michigan is no ordinary opponent though as the Gators have learned over the last few years. The Wolverines were one game away from a college football playoff appearance.

“We really are just focused on getting the tempo up and going really hard every play,” senior tight end C’yontai Lewis said.

“They are a really good team and they do a lot of things. So what we try to focus on everything they do good and everything they do bad, so that we can take chances on everything they do bad.”

The Wolverines are a very physical team and like to use their aggressiveness to set the tempo against their opponents.

Florida has been through some very tough, physical games themselves though and now has the benefit of taking what they have learned and use it as an advantage.

“To me we’ve just got to combat what they do and looking at their scheme and take parts from the twelve game season and start taking parts, look at different coverage’s that we’ve seen during the season and pull back from the season,” offensive line coach John Hevesy said.

“Review it and say ‘this is what we saw here, this is where it’s going to change.’

“We saw some of these pressures back at Vanderbilt or back at Georgia or wherever it was. So you can pull from everything and they have a good bank of what we’ve seen, they just have to go out and execute.”

The Gators used their break to heal up and recharge. Now it’s back to business for one final time this season against a familiar foe as they try to earn the first double-digit win season since 2015.