LITTLE ROCK — Fourth in a series previewing SEC football teams.
Florida Coach Will Muschamp said at SEC media days the Gators probably have the country’s best place-kicker in senior Caleb Sturgis.
“He was voted All-SEC first team by the coaches,” Muschamp said. “I texted our team, ‘Congratulations to Caleb Sturgis, and the SEC coaches must not think much of the rest of you guys.’ ”
SEC coaches didn’t vote any Florida players to the All-SEC first teams on offense or defense. Neither did the media.
The Gators, who won seven SEC championships and three national titles in a 17-year span in 1992-2008, have work to do to regain their lofty status after going 8-5 and 7-6 the previous two seasons. If Florida hadn’t beaten Ohio State 24-17 in the Gator Bowl in a matchup of 6-6 teams, the Gators would have suffered their first losing season since 1979.
“Yeah, I know,” Muschamp said. “I was told that a couple times.”
Muschamp became a head coach for the first time when he took the Florida job last season after being a defensive coordinator at LSU, Auburn and Texas.
“A very frustrating, disappointing first campaign here at Florida,” Muschamp said. “Certainly didn’t meet the expectation level that we have at Florida.
“But I do feel like we’ve built a very a solid foundation for where we’re headed.”
Muschamp’s frustration last season was obvious in several sideline rants.
“He kind of got wild a little bit with how many games we lost,” Gators senior linebacker Lerentee McCray said. “He was kind of on the edgy side last year. We weren’t winning, and we weren’t having very much fun.”
Muschamp noted that Florida finished 113th nationally in turnover margin at minus-12 — with a combined 26 interceptions and lost fumbles and 14 takeaways — and was outscored 72-22 in the fourth quarter of SEC games.
“It’s a minor miracle we won seven games,” he said.
Senior linebacker Jon Bostic said it won’t take a miracle for Florida to be an SEC title contender this season.
“We’re not that far away,” Bostic said. “If we get a few things cleaned up, we’ll be right back in the thick of it.”
The Gators return 10 starters from a solid defense but need a reliable starting quarterback to emerge in the competition between sophomores Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel, who were forced to play as true freshmen last season when senior John Brantley was sidelined by injuries. Brissett and Driskel completed a combined 34 of 73 passes for 354 yards and 2 touchdowns and threw 6 interceptions.
“Both guys are talented and qualified for the position,” Muschamp said. “They’re very even in their competition going into fall camp. They’ll get equal reps.
“I’d like to name a starter before the season, but I’m not going to have a timetable on that. If we need to play both of them, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to do what we need to do to win football games.”
Muschamp said Brissett and Driskel have similar skills.
“So it’s not like there’s one offense we run with one and one with another,” Muschamp said.
Senior tailback Mike Gillislee, who has averaged 6.3 yards on 145 career rushing attempts, said he is ready to help take the pressure off the quarterbacks. Gillislee said his goals this season include rushing for 1,500 yards and 24 touchdowns.
“I’ve got to do something for Florida to remember me,” he said.
Muschamp said offensive line was the Gators’ most improved position in the spring and benefited from the addition of new line coach Tim Davis from Utah. The Gators also have a new offensive coordinator — Brent Peace from Boise State — in place of Charlie Weis, the former Notre Dame coach who took the Kansas head coaching job.
Florida fans weren’t upset to see Weis leave after one season considering the Gators ranked 10th in the SEC in total offense (328.7 yards per game) and eighth in scoring offense (25.5 points).
“People ask what will be different,” Muschamp said of Peace’s addition. “We better score more points.”
Muschamp said the Gators will have more varied formations and motion shifts and have more of a “downhill running game” with Peace running the offense.
“That’s not a shift in philosophy,” Muschamp said. “That’s what we wanted to do last year, but we didn’t necessarily do that because our front wasn’t as good and the backs were smaller.”
Muschamp said he regretted not playing Gillislee more last season, when he rushed 56 times for 328 yards.
“He’s going to have an explosive season,” McCray said.
Sturgis hit 22 of 26 fieldgoal attempts and was perfect on extra-point attempts. The problem for Florida was that Sturgis kicked just 33 extra points, the ninth-lowest total in the SEC.
Bostic said he expects Sturgis to kick a lot more extra points this season because the Gators will get more takeaways for an improved offense.
“We’re going to surprise some people,” Bostic said.
The Gators won the national championship with a 13-1 record in 2008, the season before Bostic arrived on campus, and they went 13-1 again and finished third nationally in 2009 when he was a freshman.
“When I came here, Florida was at the top of the mountain,” Bostic said. “Why can’t we be there again?”
NEXT Alabama
Sports, Pages 17 on 07/21/2012