OFFER: Purchase a monthly subscription and get the rest of 2020 for FREE when using promo code GT2020
After preparing for a brand new staff in the opener at Ole Miss, No. 3 Florida will face much more familiarity Saturday against South Carolina.
Will Muschamp makes his third trip to the Swamp with the Gamecocks since his UF tenure ended in 2014, and this will be the seventh time going against current Gators coach Dan Mullen. He’s 3-0 against Muschamp as a head coach, including a win at Mississippi State (2016), beat him in 2015 when he was Auburn’s DC and lost to Boom twice (2006, 2007) when they were offensive and defensive coordinators at Florida and Auburn, respectively.
“This would be my fifth time going against him,” UF offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said. “I think having a natural baseline of some familiarity of what they like is a good thing. But you always gotta remember that each game is independent and they study and change things up as well. So, we gotta be ready to go execute our plan at a high level.”
Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is more than familiar with first-year South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. This game will be a chess match between the former co-workers, who coached together for four seasons at Georgia in their current roles.
“I think that gets overblown,” Grantham said of knowing each other’s tendencies. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Mike and what he’s done. We won a lot of games at Georgia together, and he’s a very competitive guy.
“I think highly of him and his family. I’m kind of a guy that roots for people, so I certainly rooted for him when he was a head coach. Other than this Saturday I’ll be rooting for him.”
Bobo is back in the SEC after coaching Colorado State the past five years, and he brought his quarterback with him as a graduate transfer. Colin Hill beat out incumbent starter Ryan Hilinski for the job and threw for 290 yards in his first game against Tennessee.
It won’t be Hill’s first time playing in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He got in the game when the Gators hosted CSU in 2018, completing 2-of-8 pass attempts for 23 yards.
“Colin’s got a great demeanor about himself,” Muschamp said of Hill. “He’s a very confident young man, but very humble. He’s got a great command of what we do offensively. His understanding in the run game, the protections, where to take the ball as far as progression reads and things.
“So he’s been in this offense now going on his fourth season, so he should be at that point. And he’s really good arm talent and a tremendous amount of toughness about him. This guy’s been through three ACLs. And I think walking in the door, he gained tremendous respect from our team as far as his toughness is concerned.”
His top target is South Carolina receiver Shi Smith, who was second on the team last year with 43 receptions for 489 yards. He accounted for a quarter of that production last Saturday, hauling in 10 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown.
“The guy's played a lot of games for them,” Grantham said of the senior wideout. “He's an explosive guy. They're going to find ways to get him the ball. Any time you've got a guy that can go get the ball when it's down the field, that creates issues and you've got to know where he is. So we're going to have to have awareness of him and make sure we don't let him beat us single-handedly.”
Much like UF’s defense with Hill and Smith, the Gamecocks will try to limit quarterback Kyle Trask and tight end Kyle Pitts after they rewrote the school record books last weekend. Muschamp raved about Trask as a person and player on the SEC teleconference this week.
“Well it was just one game, but he played really well,” Muschamp said of his 416-yard, six-touchdown performance at Ole Miss. “He does a really good job of creating what I call off-rhythm plays. Several times before half, Ole Miss is playing in zone coverage and he checks it down to some really good guys like [Dameon] Pierce, [Malik] Davis, [Nay’Quan] Wright and those guys they got in the backfield. So I just think he’s got a very good command of the offense and he runs the offense extremely well.
“He’s got a very good understanding and also a very good supporting cast. He’s also got four seniors on the offensive line. You got a guy like Kyle Pitts out there and [Trevon] Grimes is a bigger receiver and [Kadarius] Toney is a guy that can do some different things and [Jacob] Copeland is a tough cover. And they got some young guys coming, [Xzavier] Henderson and that group. But I just think, overall, he’s a really good football player and a really good quarterback. I think he’s got the mental and physical traits that you want to have at that position.”
Muschamp’s defense held Trask to 200 passing yards in 2019, his lowest total in conference play among games he started. Pitts was also kept in check with just 29 yards receiving, which marked his season low in an SEC game last year.
Mullen anticipates South Carolina trying to take him out of the game once again.
“They have some length out there,” he said of the Gamecocks. “They have some long corners and big safeties. They’re probably going to have some athletes that they can match up with him. They’re big men and play a lot of man coverage, so you’ll have some one-on-one matchups and it’s about creating the best matchup we can.
“I think they have a very talented front. They have some veteran guys who are starters, and then really a bunch of five-star guys that they have recruited over the last few years. Very, very talented front, as well. It’ll be a big challenge. Each of the last few years, this game, it’s kind of come down to the end. We have to be ready to go play for four quarters.”
