2018 College Football Team Previews: Florida Gators
Florida Gators
Location: Gainesville, FL
Coach: Dan Mullen (0-0@ UF, 69-46 overall) 1st Season
Stadium: Vanderbilt Stadium (Capacity: 40,550)
CSJ Projections:
12th: SEC (5th in East Division)
6th: Florida
64th: FBS
67th: Division I
2017 In A Sentence: Florida and former Coach McElwain mutually agreed to part ways in late October with defensive coordinator Randy Shannon finished the season as the interim–the team overall finished just 4-7.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: DT Taven Bryan was a All-SEC second team performer last year and was the plug in the middle. He rcorded 40 total tackles, six tackles-for-loss, four sacks and three quarterback hurries. He was drafted in the NFL Draft’s first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Key Player: DE Cece Jefferson could thrive as a stand-up rusher this year with the defense moving to a 3-4 alignment. The now-senior totaled 47 tackles, which ranked fourth on the team. He led the team in tackles-for-loss (13.5 for 38 yards) and sacks (4.5 for 14 yards).
Fearless Prediction: Coach Mullen comes to Gainesville from Mississippi State and was a former offensive coordinator for the Gators when Florida won two national titles in the mid-2000s. His team this year will have plenty of pieces but question marks remain especially with the change of schemes on both sides of the ball. The future looks bright, but this year will likely see several growing pains but this team likely has enough to get to bowl-eligibility.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football in the western half of the United States– the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below:
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About The Author
Kent Schmidt
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football in the western half of the United States-- the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below: