GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida football will kick off its home slate on Saturday against UT-Martin.
The Gators are 41 points favorites on Saturday, which means it is an excellent opportunity for some young players to gain some live game experience. The NCAA redshirt rule, that began last year, is a great benefit to Dan Mullen and the Gator program in games like these.
“There haven’t been many coaches complaining about the new rule," the Gators head coach told reporters on Wednesday. "Players were forced to sit out an entire season if they were redshirting, unless some injury occurred after playing less than four games and that precluded them from getting back on the field. The new rule allows any player to play in any four games during the season and still be allowed to redshirt that season.
“I think it’s a tremendous rule,” he added. “Obviously you look and you hope the NCAA is looking for what’s in the best interest of the student-athlete. You hear that a lot. That rule certainly is in the best interest of the student-athlete for so many different ways. The motivation for guys to get into games and go play, the depth for guys to go in and play and not potentially burn a whole year because of injury situations where, ‘I need this guy to come up because we’re thin at this position’ so this guy’s got to play and then all of a sudden everybody’s back from injury and now he’s dropped back down the depth chart and they can still redshirt that year. I think it’s a tremendous rule for the benefit of student-athletes.”
Freshmen like Kaiir Elam, Chester Kimbrough, Jaydon Hill, Ethan White, and Tyron Hopper are just some players that can expect to see the field this weekend if the game opens up quickly.
But it is more than just the freshmen receiving reps.
This is also an opportunity for Mullen to bring in Emory Jones and Kyle Trask. Both Jones and Trask are listed on the depth chart behind Florida starter Feleipe Franks. However, there does not seem to be any separation between the two signal callers.
They are both listed as the backup with an 'OR' separating their names.
"I will say this: If we do get a second quarterback in the game, whoever that first is to come in, you guys are going to make way too much out of it already," Mullen said while laughing.
"I can guarantee you you'll be reading way too much into whatever you see, how that happens."
Although a fair assessment in what would happen, the advantages of playing both signal callers on Saturday cannot be overstated.
"I think they do a great job preparing like they’re the starter," Franks said. "Two years ago it was hard for me to just continue to prepare as the starter when things weren’t going maybe the way I wanted them to. I think they do a great job of preparing as the starter week-in and week-out, knowing the game plan and what the coaches are telling them.
"I think when they go out there, I think they’ll be prepared, ready to play, eager to play and you know hopefully give those guys an opportunity to get into a game and show what they can do."
It is about picking the right moment for Trask and Jones, and Saturday could very well provide the right circumstances for both to feature.
“I don’t mind getting those guys in all the time if we can,” Mullen stated. “Those guys work hard in practice to go get reps. But you never know how the games are going to play out. You look at the last game, we didn’t run a ton of plays, but a few of those we’re turning the ball over.
"The opportunity didn’t arise. Hopefully, the opportunity arises that we get more reps and get guys into the game."
As Franks can attest, practice does not fully prepare you for the spotlight of a game. The pressure of playing in front of a Swamp crowd.
"It’s a lot different. I mean, everything counts," Franks said. "Coach Mullen says it all the time, whether it be the defense and the offense, we hit a big play, touchdown, in practice, we bring the ball back, spot it back here, next play. In a game, that’s a touchdown, it’s a 60-something-yard touchdown.
"You go out there at practice and ‘Uh oh, like fumble here.’ We re-spot it. Or interception there, we re-spot it. You know, next play. In a game, those are momentum-turners and things that you don’t want to happen."
“You can never get enough reps at that position," added Mullen. "I think that’s critical at every position. I don’t know if it’s more important at that one more than other ones. But, that one gets a lot more attention."
