Colleges

Speed on defense: Young Gators are fast learners

New starters mold into an effective unit.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2007

Florida freshman cornerback Joe Haden defends Tennessee's Chris Brown. In the secondary, 71.4 percent of players have little or no experience, but Haden says the experienced staff has the defense well prepared: "All we've got to do is make the play."
	[BRIAN CASSELLA | Times]

GAINESVILLE - It was the biggest question surrounding the Florida football team entering the 2007 season, yet whenever the subject came up, Urban Meyer's answers seemed reassuring.

The Gators needed to replace nine starters on defense. Seventy-eight percent of the defensive line, 71.4 percent of the defensive backs and 100 percent of the linebackers are underclassmen with little or no college experience.

Meyer's faith rested not so much with the talent brought in among the nation's No. 2 recruiting class, but with the people he had entrusted to develop those players.

Charlie Strong, Greg Mattison, Chuck Heater and Doc Holliday have 115 years of coaching experience among them. Their combined salaries fall just short of $1-million. Yet to Meyer, no price tag can be placed on what they bring to the Gator program.

"There is a ridiculous amount of experience in the defensive staff meeting room," Meyer said. "That's not byaccident, that was on purpose. ... When I have a decision to make in a game, I flip over and say something to them. That's how much respect I have for them."

Three games into the season, the defense has been the Gators' biggest surprise. In its best outing so far, Florida held Tennessee to 37 rushing yards on 21 carries and 261 passing yards - and the defense gave up just 13 points last week.

Credit the staff, the players said.

"When we go into our meetings, they just know everything that's going on," said cornerback Joe Haden, a freshman who had nine tackles in the UT game and is fourth on the team. "They are in there the whole day before we come. They go home studying film. So when they bring stuff to us, it's like if ya'll see this, this is what's going to happen. If you see that, that's going to happen. All we've got to do is make the play."

It's not like the No. 3-ranked Gators are playing perfectly. In three games, Florida has held opponents to an average of 46 rushing yards per game, but has allowed 233.3 yards via the air. And the Gators have yet to show much of a pass rush, something Meyer lists as a major concern heading into Saturday's game at Mississippi. Florida has two sacks.

But the defense has come a long way in a short period, something senior Tony Joiner believed would happen based on what he has seen in practice.

"They go against Percy Harvin, Bubba Caldwell, Riley Cooper and those boys with Tim Tebow and that offense every day," Joiner said. "And they make plays against that offense. When I'm in the game, I know what they can do. I know they've made these plays over a million times. So that's where my confidence in them comes in."

Along with the lack of a pass rush, missed tackles continue to be a concern, Meyer said. The players said because of the coaching staff they are learning as much from the bad plays as the successful ones.

"We learn from the mistakes we've made because these coaches have been there," sophomore linebacker Dustin Doe said. "All of them have been around, they've coached in big ballgames and they've coached big-time players. So the wisdom they bring with them is phenomenal."

Any one of the defensive coaches might well be a coordinator at other schools, but they have remained at Florida. They acknowledge that getting this young team ready to play in the SEC at an accelerated pace requires checking your ego at the door.

"Any time you're on a staff where there's no egos involved and each guy can coach another guy's position, that really helps," said Strong, co-defensive coordinator. "With the experience we have in that room, ideas are being thrown out and no one thinks anything about it and it's not where somebody says this is my defense, this is my idea. We all take it and then we use it."

Heater, the cornerbacks coach, said the staff didn't panic early on because they've been in similar situations over the years.

"You hope you have some of the experience and wisdom to draw upon because you've got to play with the cards that are dealt you," he said. "It's where we are. On a positive side, I'm very encouraged by the progress. You go from Game 1 where we really didn't function very well, to Game 2 where we got better, to Game 3 where we made a dramatic improvement.

"Now the challenge is to keep it going."

Antonya English can be reached at english@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 19, 2007, 23:50:42]