Mullen making special teams special for the Gators
GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Dan Mullen is not all talk when it comes to his pledge that Florida will be one of the best special team teams in the country; and he is not all talk when he says you earn your reps by your performance on special teams.
"Coach Mullen speaks special teams to us all the time. If you want to get on the field you’ve got to play special teams," said wide receiver Van Jefferson.
According to Mullen, his specialists receive plenty of perks for just being specialists - like eating first during team meals. On Saturday, Dameon Pierce was able to eat after he left his mark on a Charleston Southern returner.
On a kickoff return for Charleston Southern in the third quarter, the freshman quarterback flew down the field and hit Bucs running back Taz Lindsey down at the 12-yard line.
"It's good to reward that," said Mullen. "Greg Knox already had him in the game, but I said make sure he’s in. I guess that’s one benefit of us working together a long time. I said, 'hey get him in, and Greg’s like, 'he’s already in.'"
The difference on special teams is night and day from the last few years - where UF blocked three field goals in three years. Florida is no longer allowed to be passive about this phase of the game.
If Trey Dean trash talking and firing up the crowd when he was on punt coverage was not evidence enough.
That renewed energy allowed the Gators to block a field goal, a punt and an extra point. According to Mullen, the team's blocked field goal to end the first half was one of the biggest moments of the match up.
"If I’m proud of one play in the game, it’s the blocked field goal before the half," explained Mullen. "We gave up a long run, it’s right before halftime, we continue to play guard. We give up a touchdown in the second half, we played hard and blocked the extra point. Those are things … I don’t care what happened the play before, what you think is going to happen down the road, you’re in the game on that play, go as hard as you possibly can".
"It was a good feeling, man. When I felt my hand on the ball I was like, 'Wow, we've been practicing this and it paid off,'" said Zach Carter, who blocked the field goal before the half.
"We take a lot of pride in special teams. Coach Mullen always talked about just five us a blade of grass to defend, if they are going to try to kick a field goal, we are going to defend."
"We gave up some yards on one of the kickoff returns. I want to see that. I want to check our punt coverage, make sure we did that, I think we were pretty solid within the punt game. So, we’ll see," said Mullen. "Didn’t have much of an opportunity on kickoff return. They didn’t kick it to us deep. The two blocked kicks are huge and I thought we were pretty solid in our placekicking. We have some ways to go, but I think our guys do understand it."
It's pretty simple really if you're a Gator playing under Mullen: you work on special teams and you eat.
"What’s going to happen is reps are precious and I think a lot of guys realize that tonight, that reps are precious and I have to be ready to take advantage of any I can get.”