Florida had as explosive a debut as any fan could have hoped for on Saturday.
On offense, at least.
Defense… is a work in progress.
Don’t just take our word for it. Jon Sumrall was not pleased with the result of the defensive side of the ball on Saturday night.
Jon Sumrall knows Florida’s defense needs to be better
We knew coming into the game that FAU had a high-flying offense, but it still should have been an offense Florida could have contained better. Sumrall was not a happy camper when the topic of the defense came up in his post-game press conference:
“Our defense was atrocious at times, quite honestly. So we had a hard time keeping pace with them. It was that way in my opinion. Like I watch that play, I'm a little bit frustrated about how we played defensively at times. I don't think we're as good as we think we are.”
Florida gave up 21 points, and it easily could have been more if not for a couple of key moments. Two things that stood out that led to Florida’s struggles were a lack of pressure from the defensive line and an overall scheme that felt way too conservative against what was supposed to be an overmatched opponent.
Yes, FAU’s quick tempo made life challenging for the defensive line, and PFF gave Florida more credit than we saw, but it didn’t feel like the Gators were making life uncomfortable for Caden Veltkamp. And when FAU ran the ball, it wasn’t like the Gators were getting gashed, but they weren’t blowing plays in the backfield. Florida finished the night with just six tackles for a loss.
Brad White left a lot to be desired
Which brings us to the scheme Florida employed. It felt like the Gators were so paranoid about FAU beating them over the top that everything felt too conservative and soft. Defensive coordinator Brad White seemed to think that FAU would get impatient and would start going deep, but at times FAU essentially called his bluff. Even as FAU would pick up first down after first down on the ground, the Gators kept a light box that kept inviting the run.
Likewise, Florida seemed content giving up seven-yard passes underneath all night. What was confounding is that when Florida's secondary was given the chance to play press coverage, they did a good job of locking FAU. Ben Hanks III, Bryce Thornton, Dijon Johnson, and Kanye Clark all got credit for a PBU on the night.
We’ll see what adjustments Sumrall and White make, because the fear about White coming into the year is that his reputation at Kentucky was to employ safe defenses that relied on a dominant front four.
We didn’t see a dominant front four on Saturday, and these next couple of weeks will go a long way in telling us what Florida's defense will look like in 2026.
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