Florida Football: Texas A&M's grand plan is to take everyone from the Gators

After a promising start to the 2023 season, the defense for Florida football wound up being a massive disappointment over the back half of the season. Whether it was scheme, coaching, or the players themselves, change was inevitable and needed.

And as they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure and despite the flaws the Gators had, another SEC team thinks they can make it work.

Florida Football: Gig 'Em

When Sean Spencer was let go by Billy Napier, it didn't take long for Spencer to land on his feet. Within a week he was named the defensive line coach at Texas A&M, a move that made sense given Spencer's connections with new Texas A&M coach Mike Elko.

Then the day after Early National Signing Day, linebacker coach Jay Bateman snuck his way out of Gainesville to go be the defensive coordinator for the Aggies, a move that seemed like it was cloaked in secrecy and caught Napier and crew off guard.

That was phase one of Texas A&M's grand plan to take everyone from the Gators. Phase two started yesterday as Scooby Williams and Jaydon Hill both announced they would be taking their talents to College Station for the 2024 season.

Williams started the season out with some splash plays and there was hope he would take a leap forward playing along side Shemar James. But as the season progressed, he struggled to read the game, and his tackling suffered. Williams finished with 37 solo tackles and 15 assisted tackles.

But his 15 missed tackles gave him a missed tackle rate of 22%, 16th most in the country among linebackers that played at least 400 snaps.

Hill slotted into the STAR position and gave Florida some stability at the position it hadn't had the past couple of seasons. And while his pass coverage was adaquate and was able to provide some blitzing support, his tackling wa also a liability. His 12 missed tackled were 20th most in the country among defensive backs and his missed tackle rate of 24% was 21st most among defensive backs that took at least 400 snaps.

Their losses aren't ideal for Florida given the overall lack of depth for the Gators, but it is an interesting sales pitch Texas A&M is trying to give their fans.

"Hey guys, you know how Florida was terrible on defense last season"

"Yeah..."

"Well what if we went out and took all their players and all their coaches?"

"Brilliant. Gig 'Em."

Texas A&M travels to Florida on September 14th