SEC FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Florida's Dan Mullen aims to end fluctuations

ATLANTA -- Leading Florida back to national prominence shouldn't be so hard for new Gators Coach Dan Mullen.

Not after accomplishing what many thought was impossible -- taking Mississippi State to eight consecutive bowl games.

That includes an Orange Bowl appearance to cap the 2014 season when the Bulldogs finished 10-3 and were ranked No. 1 for four consecutive weeks.

After doing more with less for so long at Mississippi State -- which won its only SEC championship in 1941 -- Mullen is running a program that expects to win conference and national titles.

Mullen understands those expectations because he was Florida's offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer from 2005-08, including when the Gators won SEC and national championships in 2006 and 2008.

"I'm thrilled to be the head coach of the University of Florida," Mullen said at SEC football media days Wednesday. "It's a great honor for me to be there and take over a program that has so much history and tradition of winning, and I'm excited to get the Gator standard back to where everyone expects it to be.

"When you think of the Gator standard, you're thinking about a university of excellence. Everything about the Gator standard is excellence, whether it's academics, research ... and I want to make sure I get our football program back on top and continue that excellence of where we've been."

The Gators have been on a roller-coaster ride the past five seasons. They twice have had losing records -- 4-8 in 2013 and 4-7 last year -- along with winning back-to-back SEC East titles by going 10-4 in 2015 and 9-4 in 2016, along with a 7-5 finish in 2014.

"That shows me that individual teams at the university right now are playing at a high level, but the program itself is not performing consistently at the level it needs to be at," said Mullen, who had a 69-46 record in nine seasons at Mississippi State. "As I look at things and I look at us, I tell the guys on the team, 'Hey, two years ago we played for an SEC championship. So there has to be talent here. OK?'

"But the fact that you have a fall-off season ... that speaks to the program as a whole."

Florida returns 19 starters and 52 lettermen.

"The vibe and the energy is there's a new sheriff in town, and you can tell that everyone is buying in," Gators senior defensive lineman Cece Jefferson said. "Just the way we operate. I see guys doing things that I wouldn't have seen them doing [last year]. Just the little things."

The Gators' biggest problem in recent seasons has been a lack of production on offense, especially at quarterback.

Mullen coached Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at Florida as well as NFL starting quarterbacks Alex Smith [Washington] at Utah and Dak Prescott [Dallas] at Mississippi State.

Mississippi State senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald developed into an All-SEC candidate under Mullen.

"I was extremely raw when I came in," Fitzgerald said Wednesday. "I wasn't polished in anything except being able to run the ball. He really taught me the game of football and X's and O's, how all 22 pieces fit together on the field.

"I think one of the biggest things is he teaches you how to be a good decision-maker. He teaches you how to process the information from the defense as fast as you possibly can."

At Florida, Mullen will pick a starter from among sophomores Feleipe Franks and Kyle Traske, and freshman Emory Jones, who went through spring practice as an early enrollee.

"I've been pretty pleased with the work they put in and how they handled it," Mullen said. "We won't change our philosophy; we'll change what we do.

"One of my first meetings with the quarterbacks, I told them if you watched Mississippi State film from last year, that's not the exact offense we're going to run. We're going to put you in position to be successful."

Mullen said he put the quarterbacks in different situations in the spring to see how they would react.

"I want you to go as hard as you can," Mullen told the quarterbacks. "I don't care if you're good at it or not good at it. You do it, and at the end of spring we'll evaluate what you do well, and moving forward we're going to go and put you in a position to be successful.

"I think that really changed the mindset of the quarterbacks in the room, because there's not a specific way to do it. Every quarterback I've had, they are all different shapes and sizes and different talent and skill sets."

Mullen said it's his job to adjust to the quarterbacks.

"If I got a square peg in a round hole, I mean, you can sit there and slam all you want -- it's not going to work," he said. "What you need to do is go find a square peg, right? It's not that complicated.

"The person that needs to change is me. And what we'll do is change the offense around the strength of the quarterbacks, and they've surprised me. I want to see how they continue to grow and develop through the summer. As we get closer to the season, we're going to put them in a position to be successful on the field."

Florida senior offensive tackle Martez Ivey said Mullen has done a good job of creating more competition among the players.

"I feel like that is what we were really lacking for a while," Ivey said. "Now that he's come to the program, everything we do, we compete."

Mullen said it won't take a quantum leap for Florida to contend for an SEC title this season.

"Having been in this conference for quite a long time, I've learned the margin for error is very small," Mullen said. "The margin for error from having a bad season to an average season, an average season to a good season, a good season to a great season, a great season to a special season is very, very small.

"The goal for this year's team is to get back here [to Atlanta] the first week in December and compete for an SEC championship.

"We also have a goal, though, to build the program, to be a consistent championship contender. Sometimes they go hand in hand, sometimes they don't. But we're constantly working to do it."

Sports on 07/19/2018