GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap SEC Media Days for the Florida Gators that took place on Tuesday in Atlanta.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre recap what Dan Mullen had to say during Media Days, plus what the players had to say.
Andrew and Nick also talk about the uniform reveal that took place on Tuesday in Atlanta when the Gators revealed the new Jumpman uniforms.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, the unofficial start to football season took place on Tuesday, and we’re just a few short weeks away from the start of fall camp, and then I believe six weeks from Saturday is the start of the season.
Nick:                         Yeah. It kind of sneaks up on you. Once the season ends, there’s almost like two periods. You’re waiting for spring, and that, of course, is the whole recruiting time, where you’re losing sleep. Then once spring is over, it’s kind of get to SEC Media Days, which is the unofficial kickoff to everything. That’s still going on all this week. After this, I think Florida will get ramped up right in the beginning of August.
Andrew:                 I mean, you think about it, it’s the start of that, Media Days, and then it’s Friday Night Lights. Then right after Friday Night Lights is the start of fall camp. While fall camp is long, and it’s the month period of really just press conferences, getting to see a few practices, that kind of thing, it’s definitely the start of football season. It’s definitely the start of where you start to turn your attention and get back refocused. Yeah. I won’t lie, it definitely seems like this off season was a lot shorter, but we did have a coaching change, recruiting, and more spring access.
Nick:                         The coaching change, we’ve been through two here. Have you been through three?
Andrew:                 No. Let’s see. I was with the Muschamp one. Yeah. Three. Muschamp, when Muschamp got hired, and then when McElwain got hired, and now with Mullen.
Nick:                         This is my second one, and this one was much quicker than finding and hiring McElwain. This one was much quicker.
Andrew:                 We didn’t have no stalking of the outside, and then hiring and firing and hiring assistant coaches in the media before they were even hired.
Nick:                         I’m glad you brought this up, because there’s something that was on my mind a little bit yesterday, while we were at Media Days. Somebody from another beat, another beat reporter, said to me, “Florida didn’t get their first choice.” You can debate that point till you’re blue in the face. Was it Scott Frost? Was it Chip Kelly? I said to him, and he agreed, “I don’t think Dan Mullen was their first choice, but I think he’s the right choice.” I think it’s because of the things that you saw from him on his spring speaking tour, the things that you saw from him yesterday at Media Days.
Dan Mullen was asked by somebody about how many times did you hear, can you fix the offense? He says, “I heard it when we were up 20-3 walking into half-time when I was here as the offensive coordinator.” He gets those expectations, and he understands. I know that these are all Gator fans listening to us, but he gets that your expectations aren’t always based in reality. That’s part of being a fan, but he gets that. I don’t know if the other coaches would have gotten that or would have embraced it the way that he has.
Was he the first? I don’t know. I think he was the right guy for the job at this time, especially when you consider the offensive wasteland that Florida’s been for the past eight years, nine years.
Andrew:                 That’s what I was s