GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Following an impressive season that saw the most touchdowns completed through the air since Tim Tebow, six Florida receivers could have left school for the NFL. They all returned, and they did it because they have some unfinished business.
"Oh man I just think this team has the chance to go to the National Championship,” receiver Van Jefferson said. “Especially, you know I came in with Coach Mullen one year so I'm just not gonna leave him and just bail on him like that. He gave me a chance to come here and play for him so I wanna give that back to him.
“Especially all these guys too. I love playing with this receiving corps, going up against those great DB's every day and being coached by Coach G (Billy Gonzales) man, so I think that was a major deciding factor in me coming back."
The receiver room is now full to the brim with talent and veteran leaders. Sometimes that can become an issue because of egos and guys wanting to “get theirs” among a crowded group, but that’s not the case for Florida’s receiving core.
“A family. We’re all together,” Josh Hammond said. “We’ve had a year together. We’ve all played. We’ve all caught the ball. It’s very unselfish. Everybody wants to help each other get better.
“I think that’s the one thing I admire the most – we all work together to get each other better. We’re a family. We talk to each other every day.”
The family atmosphere doesn’t mean there isn’t competition though. Each receiver knows they have to perform in order to keep their spot and earn their reps. The respect and cohesiveness is still there, but if you don’t show out among this crowded group, someone else will.
“The receiver room is deep and I think it keeps guys on their toes man,” Jefferson said. “You never know, that guy can come in and take that spot so I just think you gotta go out there everyday and work hard man and just give it all you got.
“Just have that thought in the back of your head that somebody can catch up to you, that's why you gotta keep grinding."
Last season this group saw a major improvement in blocking, three receivers average at least 14 yards a catch and more than 2,000 yards generated in total to go along with 21 touchdowns caught.
Now in year two under Dan Mullen the receivers are set to improve on last season and they are confident they can up their game.
"I mean we can play faster,” Tyrie Cleveland said. “We've been here, we've played ball for three years now. Going into our fourth year, so we're just playing a lot faster. We know the game, so we're just going to continue to get better and continue to work with the young guys."
“I feel like the receivers are 100 percent comfortable with the concepts and the playbook, we just have to keep learning and keep getting better every day."
“We can play with things a little more and get a little more savvy,” Hammond added. “Everybody knows what we’re doing now. Within the quarterbacks and receivers, the only person that’s new is Jalon Jones. We’re able to play with a lot of things and move forward.”
The receiving core is the best it’s been in a long time at Florida. From top to bottom the group has playmakers.
From sophomores such as Jacob Copeland to juniors Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes to the senior leaders of Jefferson, Hammond, Freddie Swain and Cleveland they have plenty of solid options to throw the ball to and the group feels there is no ceiling to what they can accomplish this season.
“There really is no limit for us, we push each other everyday, we go hard everyday, we all talk, we all go out to eat every night,” Grimes said. “Fun things like that, and I guess you can say we all push each other to our highest potential.
“When somebody has a bad practice we lift them up, if I have a bad practice they lift me up, and I think that really helps a lot when it comes to playing because everybody has bad days, and when you have guys like Van and Freddie Swain and Josh Hammond that are there to uplift you when you have a bad practice, there’s no limit. You can be as great as you want to be.”
