Mullen goes back to an old trick play against Tennessee

It's 2018 and Dan Mullen is back in Starkville, Mississippi.

The Florida Gators head coach had taken the Bulldogs' football program to heights they'd never reached. Not long after Mississippi State lost its Athletic Director to the University of Florida, Scott Stricklin was back to take their head football coach with him. To say that Mullen and Stricklin's welcome back to Starkville was cold would be an understatement.

Trailing 6-3 in the third quarter, Mullen looked down at his play sheet and decided to go off-menu. Play calls can get wordy, but what he sent into Feleipe Franks on first and 10 from the Mississippi State 20, his call was one word.

Kodak.

It was a double pass that caught the Bulldogs off guard. Franks hit Kadarius Toney for what looked like a screen to the talented athlete, something Florida was known to do. Rather than run with the ball, Toney found Moral Stephens behind the defense for a touchdown.

Saturday night against Tennessee, the Gators weren't trailing but they hadn't been able to put the Volunteers away. The Gators led 17-14 and took the kickoff to start the second half. Emory Jones led the team all the way down to the Tennessee 17 yard line and Mullen got the itch again. Just a single word was spoken into the headset and Jones got excited. He was on the sideline in 2018, just a freshman then, watching it unfold. Now he would be part of it.

“It’s kind of crazy. Just getting the call in from the sideline and executing the play. I mean it’s kind of cool," he said. "I’m just glad I get an opportunity to come out there and play with these guys every Saturday.”

Jones did the easy part, hitting Trent Whittemore just behind the line of scrimmage as the offense feigned screen. Whittemore, like Toney three years before him, found a tight end, this time senior Kemore Gamble, in the end zone for six.

"That was Kodak and executed. Executed really well," Mullen said after the game. "You call trick plays, it's a lot of them (are) about timing and execution. I thought it was good timing. We got them kind of, we were driving and they were kind of into like 'we're in the red zone, I'm in attack mode.' We then executed it very well."

In 2018 the trick play was called out of necessity. Florida was down, they needed points and trickery helped them get a lead. Saturday night was just style points. It was fun.