EXECUTION: Florida Gators, Jon Sumrall Keep Gameplan Simple but EFFECTIVE

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Hi, this is Isaac Shade, host of Lockdown College basketball and Lockdown Tar Heels. Today's episode is brought to you by ADT. Imagine you're watching the game at a buddy's house when you get a call that someone tried to break into yours. In a second, everything can change. That's why there's ADT. ADT security systems help keep your home safe 24-7 with the most company operated monitoring centers in the industry. The ADT Plus app keeps you in control the whole time. Don't leave your home wide open during an emergency. When every second counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com or call 1-800-ADT-ASAP. The Florida Gators offense kept it simple against FAU, but it was really promising. You are Lockdown Gators, your daily podcast on the Florida Gators, part of the Lockdown

1:04Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Lockdown Gators, part of Lockdown Podcast Network-YOUR team. Every day, thanks for being a Lockdown Gators. You're first listened of the day. You are available daily and free, weeks and podcasts. The Florida Gators offense was really simple against FAU. The bare bones of what you should expect is what we've talked about all off-season. You're going to see counter, GT, NGH, wide zone, you're going to see screens. They really weren't breaking out a ton. The offense didn't have to do that.

2:05That's what you get to do against an FAU. That's not going to change much against Campbell. I will say there's a couple of schools of thought there. There's some sides that I'll say, hey, keep it really simple and make it so that other teams don't know what to expect from you. The conversation is often make things simple against teams that you know you're going to destroy. When you play a team that is actually a challenge for you, you throw things out there that they haven't been able to prepare for. There's the flip side that there's also the argument of throw things out there against FAU and against Campbell so that the opposing teams need to prepare for it and make them spend practice time doing that. If you go, hey, we actually have this wildcat package where I'm just going to make something

3:05out. Jaden ball, fake direct snap, draw and then throw four votes. You run four votes and he gets to make the throw or whatever it is, just literally throwing things out there. So you got that. Do that against Campbell or FAU and then other teams when Jaden ball comes out in the wild cat, they're going to go, hey, they've run four votes out of this. We need to be prepared for that. We need to be prepared to show discipline when Jaden ball comes in the wild cat. Stuff like that where it's like, yeah, that's the argument. It is give them stuff to game plan for even if it's not set the plan on actually breaking out. There's two schools that thought there. I don't necessarily have a preference. I see the logic in both and my stances have pretty much always been as long as I can see the logic in something. I try not to crush it too much.

4:06I don't have to agree with it as long as I can see the logic then sound and then I'm good with it, right? But Florida clearly was shaping things fairly simple. The run game was putting, I'm going to say the backs in position to create explosives. Even some runs that weren't converted into explosives. Jaden ball had a great day in terms of picking up a bunch of runs of 10 plus yards. It had the 61 yarder. Like we've seen explosive plays there already, right? Duke Clark. There was, I forgot what the play was exactly. It might have just been counter. But quick jump cut makes a man miss gets tackled by one guy in open space. It's like stuff like that where it's like, hey, it wasn't explosive, right? But there were quite a few times where you saw if they just made that one guy miss. All right, if they just made that one guy miss, that's 20 something yards.

5:06If they just made that one guy miss, that's a touchdown. Things like that. Even when you didn't make that man miss, you were put in position for that. And that's just an important thing that you didn't really get with Napier and you're getting with Buster Falconer and you're going to get that with Buster Falcon. All right, passing passing game is very screen heavy or maybe not screen heavy, but. Screen involved will say and that really simple, right? We've talked about screens. Use for quick underneath completions to pick up a handful of yards. And if you break a long one, you break a long one, but the screen game is going to be your efficient, consistent measure. The run game, more explosive oriented, you spent all off season saying that he uses the passing game to be efficient and effective and he uses the running game to generate explosives. That's what counter does. Counter gets you one all moment of lineback or one all with a safety.

6:07It puts you in position to create explosives. So even where Florida did not create those explosives, you were in position to. And I know that that sounds like a Napierism to go like, ah, you were close to being dangerous. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that you were put in position to be explosive and you're not going to make a man miss every single time, right? You're not going to break attack every single time. You're not going to create an explosive every single time. But by creating opportunities for great playmakers and great players to create an explosive, you are going to generate explosives. The issue with Napier wasn't that they weren't explosives is that guys weren't being put in position to create explosives. Now they are. So like that, that's the important part here is not that oh, yeah, um, it wasn't perfectly executed every single time. That's not the important part. The important part isn't whether or not you created an explosive every time.

7:10It's about being put in position to create explosives and that's what you saw on the running game where they are going to be put in position to create explosives all without expanding the playbook that much. That's what I know we hear it all the time, right? We hear all the time about teams where you go, oh, well, they're, they're playbook was vanilla, right? And I know that me saying that to Florida Gators fans, I'm sure a lot of people are going to, oh, that's what people said about Florida's day and week one. And sure, maybe, but like the argument of going vanilla is that you're supposed to be running your, your, your bread and butter, right? Like you're supposed to be running the base concepts that your offense is built around. You should be executing those effectively. You are, if you're saying, hey, we're going to keep things vanilla and we're going to keep things to our basics. Good coaches have you excel at the basics, right? Like if you're keeping the kids vanilla, you better be damn good at the vanilla.

8:12And Florida kept things pretty vanilla offensively and they were pretty damn effective at the vanilla. Aaron Filo uses likes enough to threaten, make you defend them, give you even more numbers in the run game. Like we've seen some of this stuff, but a lot of this is what we expected to see and watching them executed effectively. That's the important part. And that's the thing GT counter that's how you would everybody's focusing on. His teams are going to have to deal with that. Again, GT, G, H, G, Y, whatever you want to call it, teams are going to have to deal with that. They're going to be prepared for that. It's something Buster's always done. He's always done effectively and he's going to continue doing. He's shown you that. That's part of the basics. That's part of the vanilla and they executed the vanilla very well. So that's just stuff that you're going to see you're going to deal with. But Florida did it well. I think that's really promising. I think doing the vanilla really well is really promising.

9:14The thing is of course that was against FAU. It wasn't against an SEC opponent. So you don't really know how it's going to go against an SEC opponent. But for the most part, he was blocked up fairly well. I'm going to say, um, spot up fairly well. She does stuff like that and they did it well. Like now again, you got to go again, do it against Alburn. You've camped this week to work out any of the kinks, but you're going to go do it against Alburn. Probably a bit of a different conversation, right? It's probably not going to be as effective. But you did the vanilla well and for week one game against FAU, we're going to celebrate that you're doing the things right. You're doing the basics right because not everybody did the basics right against a group of five opponent in their first game of the season. Florida, they can say that they did. We are going to talk about the defense, which was less promising. Let me get back with a lot of gators. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that

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11:18I'm Wes Goldberg from Locked on NBA Daily and Locked on Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touchscreen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. I see you have a great locked on. Gators, you're first listen of the day. Every day we are available daily and free every single podcast and on YouTube. And the Florida Gators defense. I'm going to say also kept it pretty simple. The playbook didn't really, wasn't too expansive, I'm going to say. I will say that there were some fun pass rush looks. But I think that they put the looks in there and didn't really do anything creative with them.

12:18I'm sure that was by design. Because they did have fun setups, right? They had one setup where it was. It was, I have it written down here because I was trying to draw some of them out because it's just like, all right, that's themes like something that they're doing that should be fun, should be pretty, pretty expensive. You have no pants. It's not going on screen. But it was LG McCray over the tackle. It was DK Kalu at nose. It was Brendan Bet at the three tech on the same side as as Jaden Woods with Aaron Charles right outside of LJ. And it's like, well, that could be one way they're sending a rush. It was also my screen on the same side as LJ between LJ and DK Kalu. And so and they were close up to the line. And so that's just a threatening spot. That's just a threatening look where teams are going to have to probably slide their offensive line to the left because that was the side that they were on.

13:21So I slide your line to the left, your protection to the left. And then you leave a tackle on Jaden Woods one on one. Again, a lot of defense and a lot of defensive calling is about trying to create one on ones. Whether that is overloading aside, rushing five or six depending on how many pass protectors you think they have. Or just saying, hey, we're going to show you something. Pre snap so that you get your protection set up. And then we're going to and we're trying to get you to set your protection up in a way that we want to attack. So if we're showing, hey, we've got five guys to the left. You've got your lineman and the tight end on that same side, that same left side. And we're showing you, hey, we got guys that are threatening right now. Then you're probably going to have to keep that everybody slide except the right tackle is going to say, hey, Jaden Woods, that's my guy. And you're trying to create a one on one.

14:22Now I will say that play was a run play. So it didn't really matter as far as a protection. But if you were throwing the ball, then you had to set your protection up to attack that way. There were ways that I had it's Brendan bet over the left tackle. It's DK Kalu head up over the center as a zero tech and it's L.J. McCray outside of the right tackle. And then you have Jaden Woods standing up in between DK Kalu and Brendan bet. And he's like a little bit behind them. And so you've got guys that are being put in different positions and getting different looks because that's also one of the things where if you're a guard, you're probably not preparing much to handle Jaden Woods in past protection. If you're a guard, you're probably looking at DK Kalu, Brendan bet, Jamari lions, Jeremiah MacLeod, the guys that played most of the snapchos from botches out there, like the guys that played those snaps on the interior, that's probably who you're dealing with mostly.

15:26And so that's probably who you're going to spend most of your attention on, right? But then you get a guy like Jaden Woods lining up over you. And it's like, what the hell man? Like that's just another thing that you're showing. There another setup that is Cam James outside the tackle on that same side as Jeremiah MacLeod. Then you have Jeremiah MacLeod on the outside towards the guard as a three-tack. Then you have just when botched you head up over the center, then you got Kofiya Sari all the way outside the other tackle. And so that be gap on the right sides wide open and Miles Graham is standing in it. Like then you have that setup coming in there too, right? And that play you ran creepers. You dropped Kofi, you brought a Aaron Childs from the other side. Like that's just stuff like that is not necessarily opening up your playbook, right? Again, this was a past rush that I don't think was I personally did not expect much past rush production from Florida against FAU.

16:27What I wanted to see was when you were given those opportunities to generate a past rush, did you do that? And I don't think that you did that enough if you were Florida. And I think part of that is just from guys like like Emmanuel Yabatajo was productive but left the game early and then Jaden Woods was there also. Brendan Bed had some reps. But guys like Jamari Lyons was out there and was not very effective as a past rusher. Oh, Jamie Crave was out there. It was not very effective as a past rusher. Right? Like we saw stuff like that DK Klooh is not very productive as a past rusher or effective. We saw guys out there just not making play joseph and bat you didn't really do much frankly like didn't do much as a past rusher. But we saw just guys being put in position again. That's where you're supposed to be seeing and potentially creating those one on ones

17:31which is what they're trying to do on the defensive side against the past or against past protection. What I wanted to see was them be more productive when they were given opportunities. They were not given a ton of opportunities against FAU. FAU knew that and knew to not give them a ton of opportunities. But when you were given opportunities, I don't think enough of your guys were effective. Again, there were some guys that were effective. I know there's a lot of people critiquing Jaden Woods's game. I don't have as many complaints as I think a lot of people do. There's Brendan Bett was decently productive again in manual about his job as decently productive as a past rusher. But I think the thing that frustrated me more was just when we heard all summer about guys like L.J. McCray looking like an absolute freak and the best F in the room at times. It's like well that game was not a good game for him though. That game is not a good game to show that that was true or valid. And that's one of the reasons where I'm going to say, hey, well, you know what?

18:34I got to see it before I buy him. It's been the take that's going to continue being the take. At least with, let me talk about L.J. McCray and what he's bringing to the table. Need to see more of it. And again, Campbell should be a time where you build upon that. Coverage was also not... I don't want to say it wasn't awesome, right? I think a lot of people wanted more there. I also want more understanding game plan. But yeah, let's elaborate on that. Let me get back with Lockdown Gators. You have waited all off season for this. Now, it's time to make every NFL and college for a week count because Fandall is making this your most rewarding scene season ever, whether it's backing a favorite, whether it's building a same game parlay, a props or making picks on the biggest matchups Fandall gives fans more ways to play throughout the entire season.

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20:37of your boxes. That's less stress, less time, and most importantly, more results. When you need the right person to cut to the chaos, this is a job for indeed sponsor jobs listeners of this show, we get $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job premium status. It deserves at indeed dot com such podcast. It's going to indeed dot com such podcast right now and support our show by saying that you heard about indeed on locked on gators indeed dot com such podcast terms that could just apply for you to hire is a job for indeed sponsor jobs. Nice to make a lot of on gators your first listen of the day every day. We are available daily and free. But it was the podcast and on YouTube and the floor of gators coverage was I think for a lot of people frustrating against FAU. I really hope that we see them be more aggressive against Campbell and I really hope that we see them be more aggressive. Throughout the remainder of the season and this is the thing we're again, I try not to harp on it too much because while I disagree with the approach against FAU, I understand

21:41what the game plan was generally, which was, hey, they're going to run out. They're going to quick hitches. But the moment we step up on some of those, they're going to run an out and up or they're going to run a stop and go, right? And so I think that it makes sense like I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of ways you could do things and even if I don't agree with it, as long as I can see the logic, like I'm not going to crush you too much, like I want you to be more aggressive there. All right. I think that you have Ben Hanks at third, Kourmani McLean, Dishon Johnson, Javari Flowers, CJ Brona, like I think that you've got, you got Jordy Lowry, like I think that you have the guys where you could say you know what? This is FAU. We're going to line up and play Press Man coverage because we've got the better athletes. Like that would have been my thought.

22:44And again, I'm not saying that the way Florida did things was wrong, right? I am just expressing because I'm not trying to seem like I'm sitting on a fence here. But being like, oh, like what's wrong is I can see the logic because that is my approach. If I can see the logic, I'm not going to crush it. But I will also say I disagree with that just because I think that you have the athletic advantage. Play Press Man build some confidence by beating guys that are worse than you and get prepared to play against better players. I think it was the plan against FAU to not be too aggressive, right? And like I mentioned, like there was a point where I thought Kourmani McLean looked like he was getting frustrated with some of the just underneath completions. And I think part of it was because he wanted to jump it, but was maybe told to sit back and basically just like, hey, they're going to do that stuff. Just let it happen. It's okay. Because they're not going to beat us doing that.

23:45Which again, it is fair. It's absolutely fair. When you play a team where you are better than them significantly. I understand the thought of going, well, we're going to make them fight for every inch and every yard. And we're going to make them consistently execute to try to beat us because they are not better than us. And so they are not able to consistently execute against us. I understand that thought. I do. I just wish it was different. And I do think that as the season goes on. I do think you're going to see Florida's coverage expand, I'm going to say. I mean, I've also said this. Brad White mentioned in the presser, basically saying like, yeah, like we want guys need to be pressed up more on on key downs, right? In short, yardage downs. Like guys need to do that. That was the thing that I know a lot of people are pissed about. There's something that I don't know why we see that just.

24:48I don't think anybody likes it. And John Somerall mentioned it in the presser, like immediately after the game. And I mentioned it on Monday as well. And then Brad White mentioned it yesterday. And I don't think anybody likes it. But I feel like we see it so often in college football right now that guys play off the line on like third and short. And I don't know. That's, I'm generally pretty cool with a whole lot of the new school coverages. That's a thing. I just don't get because again, no one seems to like it. But yet everybody does it. It's just such a weird phenomenon right now that we got going on. I just make absolutely no sense to me. But they've said, hey, like we can't be doing that, right? So I do expect to see that be different. I do expect to see, hey, it's third and short. We're pressed up. Right? And again, Brad White in his presser, he was like, yeah, we can't be doing that. That has to be corrected. Something like that.

25:49I just don't get. I will say though, I want to see this defense be a bit more aggressive on early downs, which I do think again, that's that stuff that you're going to see. I don't know. I don't know if you see it much against Auburn, just because of just because of what they're offence is. But I want to see you against, you know, just a regular team say, okay, first down cover one, we're blitz in a backer. Let's go be aggressive. But I hope we see that from this defense. That's the thing that I've been expecting from this defense and that I was hoping to see from this defense. We did not see it against FAU, but again, I think the game plan was very simple. It felt like they were just sitting in quarters for most of the game. I was just being like, all right, like if they're attacking us with with outs and and quick hitches, then so be it. That's not going to beat us. Which again, I get it. End of the day, winning the football game is is pretty much all that matters, right? And I say pretty much because how you look doing it does matter as well.

26:53If you don't look good consistently, but you were winning some games, they're like, well, that's probably not sustainable. So I'm not going to be too thrilled with that. But this is also a time where again, against FAU, you're better than them. You're more athletic than them. I wanted to see you just play Press Man just to get those reps in like that's that's why I want to see you do it. Just to get those reps in there against FAU against Campbell. And I know that like maybe maybe the game plan was, hey, we're going to play a lot of quarters against Auburn. And so we're going to we're going to wrap the hell out of it in a game. I may maybe that's what the case was. But I do expect to see them be a bit more aggressive coverage wise play more man. They were very little man coverage in the FAU game. So I expect them to see them play more man coverage in the coming weeks. I expect this to be more of a cover three cover one team throughout the entire year this season. So we'll see just just how much we really see that.

27:53I don't think this is going to be like a quarters heavy team. And I will say this, if it is a quarters heavy team, I'm going to take that as more indicative of the DBs and their evaluation of the DBs. That's what I'm going to say. Because I think that these are guys that want to play a lot of man coverage and want to be single high. And if you're not going to do that, then I'm going to think, hey, it's probably because you have some concerns about those guys actually hanging out on an island. And especially when you look at the guys that they've got recruited or that they've been recruiting. And the guys they've committed for 27 and have been recruiting for 28. It's guys that can play press man. It's guys that can do that. And so I think they want to do that. I just don't know if that's the thing they're comfortable doing yet, but we're going to find out pretty soon if they are. Thanks for being a locked on Gators. You're first listen of the day. Every day we are available daily and free. It was the by fast and on YouTube for locked on Gators. I am Brandon Olson.

28:54Don't forget to follow me on Twitter at WNS underscore brand. Then find all my written work about the Florida Gators. Just swap signal that's set stack.com. And I'll see you all next time. Hey, it's Isaac Shade. Your host of Amazon Fire TV's College Football Kickoff. Join Kenyan Barnard, Jesse Holly, myself and the local host of the Locked On Podcast Network. Each week on Fire TV throughout the season to preview the biggest matchups across College Football. Search College Football Kickoff on the Fire TV app.