OFFER: Use promo code UF60 to receive 60 days of FREE PREMIUM access!
There's a joke around college football that Nick Saban is running a coaching rehabilitation clinic. He takes former head coaches, gives them a title of an analyst, locks them in a basement, and has them break down film. The Tide go undefeated, win a championship, coaches leave and then the analyst gets promoted, rinse and repeat as the evil empire marches on and over everyone else in college football. Charlie Strong served in this role in 2020, along with Butch Jones, and new Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was an analyst at Alabama.
Florida was slow to add that role to their football program but has begun to do so. Garrick McGee served as a defensive analyst for the Gators' in 2020 before being promoted to quarterback's coach this season. Being an analyst isn't glamorous. It's a lot of work for little recognition and even less pay. McGee was renting an apartment in Gainesville last year before being promoted to quarterbacks coach this offseason.
“I was one of the guys in the basement watching the film. That’s what I did. What you do is you stay a week ahead. Meaning, if we’re preparing to play Georgia this week, then by the middle of the week on Thursday or Friday, I will transition on to the next program or the next team we’re going to compete against, and I’ll start there on Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning or Saturday night of the game."
McGee has been coaching since 1996 when he got his first job with Langston University. He bounced around as many young coaches do before ending up at Toledo. That's the first time he and Dan Mullen crossed paths.
"We ended up winning the game that year, but they put up some major numbers on offense," McGee recalled of the Toledo-Bowling green game in 2002. And then, when they left and went to Utah, that same offseason, I left and went to UNLV. So, I was in the same conference with those guys again, and they were undefeated and pretty much unstoppable."
That didn't stop when McGee went to Arkansas in 2008 and ran into the buzzsaw the Florida Gators were during the Urban Meyer years.
McGee and Mullen got on the same team last year, but it was a new role for McGee. The son of a legendary coach in Oklahoma, McGee played quarterback at Arizona State and Oklahoma. He's been a quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator and head coach. When he got to Gainesville he was assigned to be a defensive analyst.
“Brilliant. I think it’s a brilliant deal," McGee said of Mullen's decision.
McGee spent his time working with the defensive staff, helping to break down film of the next opponent and brought his knowledge of offensive schemes and tactics to the defensive staff.
Now, McGee is working with Florida's quarterbacks. He's tasked with helping groom Emory Jones and helping the redshirt junior take the next step in his progression as he gets ready to be the starter. McGee is happy to be "out of the basement" but knows his role at Florida and in Dan Mullen's program.
"I’ve worked with other coaches that were head coach play-callers, and my theory is that, when you’re trying to win the national championship, the best person in the building to do a particular job should do that job," McGee said when asked if he'll help call plays in 2021. "I should not play quarterback because I’m not the best quarterback in the building. That’s Emory right now. Dan’s one of the best play-callers in college football. So, in my opinion, if we’re wanting to win a national championship, the best guy at calling plays in the building should call the plays."
