Lemons happy he 'stuck it out' at Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- It was touch and go there for Adarius Lemons. The running back from Clearwater, Fla. arrived on the scene last year and the sophomore did not have quite the freshman year he anticipated.

A few months into his career as a Gator, and the talented playmaker was considering a move away from the program.

"I kind of did want to leave," said a candid Lemons."At first I was like 'Nah, I don't think I want to be here' because of the coaches we had and a lot of stuff going on."

Lemons reached out to his former area recruiter, Tim Skipper, who was set to be his position coach until he was moved to linebackers last season.

"Coach Skip really told me to just like keep working, keep fighting," explained Lemons. "He was like 'don't worry about not really getting the ball, just do what you can do in the meantime and just do what you can do in the now.' I did that."

Although his talk with Skipper did help make his decision, Lemons' personality did not allow him to just quit when times were a bit tough.

"But what made me really not leave because I was never a person to really hop from team to team," explained Lemons. "I thought just sticking with one team and just sticking it out and do your best, honestly."

So Lemons stuck it out.

"As you can see, there's a whole new coaching staff here," said a happy Lemons on Thursday. The running back was pretty candid during his time with the media, and he was quick to praise the new staff and their approach.

"The biggest change is being fast and physical," said Lemons. "He [Mullen] wants us to be fast and physical. Now we have the signals to our offense, so once we get it rolling he wants us right back on the ball. Just up-pace tempo, just going fast that way we can get the defense not set, just get a good play downfield. It's just tempo. Those boys got to get used to running the play, looking at their call and then getting right back on the ball. That's something we've been really working on a lot this year."

Lemons has also been able to establish a good connection with his new position coach, Greg Knox.

"Knox helped me a whole lot, because he also taught me the defensive side of the ball, most of the time to the boundary," said Lemons. "It's little things like that. Reading different linebacker calls on the defensive side of the ball, little things like that you should see being a running back that way so you know which cut to make and things like that. He's really helped me a big deal."

According to Lemons, this staff's method of teaching has allowed him to process the playbook better.

"Once you have a coach that sits down with you and actually explains the game to you, just breaking it down, you actually get it," he said. "Then once you get it, you've just got to go out there and progress."

Lemons will undoubtedly feature in the running back rotation during his career at Florida, however, the Florida native will also add to Florida's special teams.

"Being on special teams also for me is a really big thing," he said. "I love returning kickoffs because it's the first play of the game and you have to get the crowd pumped. So it's that first kickoff is going to determine how that drive is going to be."

One year ago Lemons was beginning to have some doubts about his future. Today, the running back is happy he stuck it out.

"I'm very happy I stuck it out," said Lemons. "I feel he's [Mullen] going to get everyone to where they want to be, they just have to work and buy into the program."