The Florida Gators defense ran plays every 4 seconds in practice, leading up to matchup with Tennessee. The strategy worked and the Gators have a top 10 defense.
Florida Gators fans: rejoice.
The dark days are over as the Gators flipped the switch from a miserable defense, led by former coordinator Todd Grantham, to a new and enlightened front-seven who have shut down their opponents for the last two weeks.
Defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong was hired by head coach Billy Napier Feb. 27 and the 30-year-old brought in a new regime and attitude to turn the Gators into a top-10 defense.
Armstrong left the Alabama coaching staff, despite acknowledging that ‘Bama head coach Nick Saban is his “hero.” He also took notes learning from Florida legend Steve Spurrier and brought his own energy to Gainesville and the players love playing under his leadership.
Gators edge rusher Princely Umanmielen appreciates that Armstrong instills a lot of trust in his players.
“You know, I think Armstrong just really trusts his players. He really shows us that he trusts us,” Umanmielen said. “He’s not gonna go out there and rely on his scheme. He relies on the player. He tells us all the time, ‘Good players make good defenses.’ So you know, when he’s calling plays, he’s calling plays based off the players he’s got and trying to do it to their strengths.”
Florida safety Miguel Mitchell says it’s a lot of fun playing and learning under Armstrong.
“He brings a lot of energy every day and it shows through us,” Mitchell said. “I feel like we show it out on the field and we get that energy through him and we just spread it throughout the defense.”
“(Armstrong’s) just big on execution and being consistent day in and day out throughout the week,” Mitchell said. “Because if you have a great, consistent week of practice, it’s just going to carry over to Saturdays.”
The road trip to Salt Lake City was rough for the new coordinator and his team. The Utah Utes ran a fast offense and the Gators looked lost seconds before the snap. Players were looking to Armstrong for the next play and the tempo seemed off.
The tempo problems were quickly fixed during week 2 against McNeese State and a ridiculous practice strategy leading up to the Tennessee game resolved any issues.
The Tennessee Volunteers also run a dangerously fast offense, so Armstrong upped the tempo to prepare the team. Armstrong set a ludicrous pace where his defense was running a play after four seconds of rest.
“His tempo that we were doing in practice was way faster, it was like an unrealistic tempo. So, he was just doing that to get us ready for Tennessee,” Umanmielen said. “There was only one play where we weren’t lined up. We were ready because we went through it in practice.”
Armstrong asked his defenders if Tennessee was faster than his tempo in practice, to which the players responded “no” in unison.
Mitchell also felt the difference while playing against Tennessee.
“Oh yeah. We worked that tempo for sure,” Mitchell said. “It was easy in the game.”
“Tennessee’s tempo really didn’t get to us,” Mitchell continued. “We had a hard week — a big, hard week last week. Coach Armstrong made sure he got us right with tempo. We had a lot of reps in practice. Reps counts definitely helped.”
The players are behind the coach and his system, and used it to suffocate the Volunteers holding them to only 16 points on their way to a Florida win. The Gators tallied three tackles-for-loss, recorded a sack, and forced an errant throw from Joe Milton III that landed in the hands of Gators safety Devin Moore.
The Florida Gators’ next test will be at home when the Charlotte 49ers pay a visit to The Swamp. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. EDT and will broadcast on SEC Network+.
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