For the intense microscope that Gator nation has held the Florida defense under following last year’s horrid form, no position caused more offseason trepidation than the UF cornerbacks.
While Kaiir Elam received national recognition and sizable NFL attention leading into the year for his impressive track record at corner, the race for CB2 was wide open.
Avery Helm secured the starting role ahead of Florida’s season opener against FAU, and the freshman wasn’t the most assured in his second collegiate appearance. Helm made just one tackle against the Owls and was bailed out on a number of occasions by N’Kosi Perry’s poor accuracy.
Mullen rotated a number of players at corner throughout Florida’s victory Saturday and noted a number of encouraging and disheartening aspects of their performances.
“I mean, good and bad,” Mullen said regarding the play of his cornerbacks. “But you know what, they’re young guys getting thrown out there, getting thrown into that situation. But those two guys are gaining valuable experience and are getting a little bit better from one week to the next.”
Helm started the game poorly with a dubious pass interference call, failing to turn his head in coverage and running directly into the receiver. The freshman corner made amends for this mistake later in the game however, as he showed tremendous composure to complete a last-second pass breakup while falling to the ground.
Still, a relatively potent USF passing attack — the Bulls’ quarterbacks combined to go 17-of-30 for 188 yards — picked on Helm throughout the game, and Gator fans have been vocal in questioning his starting role.
Five-star freshman Jason Marshall Jr. also picked up significant playing time in the second half as Mullen opted to rest Elam, an assured starter, out of the locker room. The top-ranked Florida recruit showed up on the stat sheet for the wrong reasons Saturday afternoon, being flagged for a questionable holding call and a less arguable pass interference decision. Marshall was also beat in coverage on a 44-yard pass to Xavier Weaver late in the ball game.
Mullen relished the opportunity to introduce his younger secondary corps to meaningful snaps, despite the occasional penalty or blown assignment. With Kaiir Elam tracking towards an early-round selection in the NFL Draft, Florida’s secondary for next season projects to be light on experience.
“We had a lead,” Mullen said. “We were very fortunate to have that lead and fortunate to be able to give guys a lot of opportunities to go on the field and see what they can do, and go learn and grow and develop. That's a huge deal for our program, is the player development.”
Despite these hiccups against a sub-par offense, Mullen also affirmed that his corners played much better than they did in the season-opener.
“I thought their performance was much better today than it was last week, which is a real positive and hopefully we take another big step next week.”
Mullen’s secondary will likely need more than a big step up to compete with the Alabama passing attack, as the Crimson Tide have averaged more than 300 yards through the air over their first two games.
Stay tuned to Gators Territory.
