| 52. Florida Gators |
| #10 in SEC |
To try and find a little bit of that magic that has been gone from Florida football since Urban Meyer left, they turned to probably the juiciest fruit from the Meyer tree. Mullen first coached under Meyer as a Grad Assistant at Notre Dame in 1999 and 2000, while Meyer was an assistant. When Meyer took the Bowling Green job in 2001, he hired Mullen as his quarterbacks coach, and Mullen followed him then to Utah and to Florida, before getting the Mississippi State job in 2009. You have to not just win at Florida, they sort of expect a certain type of winning. Blame Spurrier and Urban for that. Mullen seems like, if nothing else, he'll deliver a more entertaining brand of football. Step one is rebuilding the roster. It's unclear how much of the issues last year were with coaching, how much were due to roster, and how much can be blamed on the suspensions. Obviously if Options A and C were the primary factors, the turnaround can be quick. As many issues as there are with the Florida roster, by Florida roster standards, Dan Mullen sees a lot more raw talent to work with than he was accustomed to at Mississippi State, where he did win. The one glaring exception is quarterback, where Florida has been looking for a quarterback, pretty much since Mullen left, while Mullen was blessed with Dak Prescott and Nick Fitzgerald at Mississippi State. Gators fans clamored for Feleipe Franks to get a shot last year, and when he did, he was quite underwhelming. The best case scenario for Florida is that Emory Jones is ahead of schedule. Jones is a perfect fit for what Mullen wants to do. He is such a perfect fit, he was originally committed to play for Mullen's mentor in Columbus, but decided to stay closer to his Georgia home once Mullen was hired. He's a true freshman, but that doesn't mean much anymore. He enrolled early, and was on campus from spring practice. I'd bet Jones wins the starting job at some point this season, but maybe not Week 1. The competition seemed to light a fire under Franks, who looked pretty good himself in the spring game. Mullen may not be done poaching Meyer quarterbacks either, with a rumor than Joe Burrow may seek a grad transfer to Gainesville, and still have two seasons of eligibility. The return of Jordan Scarlett from his season long suspension will also help a skill position group that was an underwhelming as any Florida has fielded in 30 years, partially due to suspensions to Scarlett and WR Antonio Callaway. The scheduling gods did Mullen a solid in Year 1. They miss both Auburn and Alabama as crossovers, with LSU coming to Gainesville. Then within the division, Florida doesn't have to play on the road against any of the three toughest teams, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky. But this was a 4-7 football team a year ago, with the only mildly impressive win being due to an implosion by a 7-6 Kentucky team. The other wins were against UAB, and an SEC pair (Tennessee and Vandy) that went a combined 0-15 when not facing each other. I think Mullen gets this thing turned around quickly, although the schedule flipping in 2019, means 2018 may produce a deceptively good record, while 2019 hides real progress.
Key Players| QB | | Feleipe Franks, Sophomore |
| RB | | Jordan Scarlett, Junior |
| T | | Martez Ivey, Senior |
| . | |
| DE | | Cece Jefferson, Senior |
| LB | | David Reese, Junior |
| CB | | C.J. Henderson, Sophomore |
