Florida head coach Dan Mullen has done enough in his coaching career to deserve the opportunity he has in front of him in Gainesville, but his work with quarterbacks is easily one of the top reasons Florida fans are happy to see Mullen in charge of the program. Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott are two of his greatest achievements when it comes to player development and performance, with one winning a Heisman Trophy and being a key cog in a national title run and the other quickly rising to become the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. So it only makes sense that Mullen will plan on spending a good amount of time with his quarterbacks at Florida this spring, knowing just how much room for improvement there is at the position.
“That’s my position of comfort,” Mullen said to reporters during a press conference on Tuesday, according to Gridiron Now. “I will spend a lot of time with the quarterbacks.”
Florida ranked 11th in the 14-team SEC in passing offense last season with an average of 179.5 yards per game through the air. Of course, it is fair t point out Mullen’s previous program, Mississippi State, ranked last in the conference in passing yards per game (166.9 ypg) and tied for the most interceptions thrown (14) among all SEC programs.
But the passing stats do not tell the whole story when it comes to Mullen’s offensive plan of attack, because Mullen likes to have quarterbacks run the football too. Last season, Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald was the team’s second-leading rusher with 984 rushing yards and a team-high 14 touchdowns. Florida’s quarterbacks combined to rush for 50 net rushing yards with no touchdowns. Look for that to change if Mullen has anything to say about it (which, of course, he pretty much does).
How quickly Mullen can get the offense to run the way he is comfortable doing remains to be seen, and it may take more than a year to really take form.
Helmet sticker to Gridiron Now.