Dan Mullen doesn’t think much of depth charts, and he doesn’t really care who the listed starting quarterback will be for Florida on Saturday against Georgia. Instead, Mullen cares about who finishes the game.
Anthony Richardson replaced Emory Jones last week against LSU, reigniting a quarterback controversy that had quieted down since the beginning of the season. When asked about the quarterback situation during his weekly press conference, Mullen said that the two will continue to split reps in practice throughout the week.
“We’ve got to get both guys ready to go play so we get both guys a lot of reps,” Mullen said. “Maybe it’s a little more even than a lot of places where the one gets a lot of reps and the twos get minimal reps. The quarterbacks, we try to keep them pretty evened out so that they’re both ready to play.”
This isn’t the first time Mullen has called the Gators a two-quarterback team, but there’s typically a stronger defense of Emory Jones along with it. That’s not to say that Jones won’t be on the field for the first snap against Georgia, but rather that he might not be there to finish it.
Mullen admitted that poor play from Jones was a factor in the switch last week, and Jones should be on a shorter leash after this week as a result. That said, the plan isn’t changing too much.
“We’re going to keep playing them the same way,” Mullen said. “We plan on playing both guys like we have.”
While some may criticize Mullen for not making a decision, the dual-quarterback offense has its upsides. Mullen mentioned that the defensive schemes Florida sees often depends on what personnel is out there, so using Richardson to draw a blitz could come in handy.
Of course, the split will also depend on health. While Mullen didn’t say either quarterback was dealing with anything currently, he did mention that injuries and availability play a role in deciding what kind of workload a player gets.
Mullen has never been one to disclose too much before the actual game, so there’s no telling what call he’ll make on Saturday. If there was ever a time for Mullen to live up to the moniker “quarterback guru,” now would be it.
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