Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp combated the issue right away in his opening statement at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama.

“There will be a lot of chatter about hot seat business,” the fourth year coach said. After a visit to the Sugar Bowl in 2012, Muschamp’s Gators went 4-8 last season, which he described as a “very disappointing, frustrating season.”

“We definitely can’t forget about it, it’s in the record books,” said defensive end Dante Fowler. “We have that bad taste and that bad season last year nobody expected. We came to UF to win championships and we have to get back to that in the offseason.”

A big factor to last season’s performance was an offense that was dead last in the SEC in total offense. A conscious effort to fix that comes in the form of new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, who was the offensive coordinator for last season’s 10-4 Duke team.

“I’m really pleased with Kurt,” said Muschamp. “His development at the quarterback position speaks for itself. Eli Manning, Thaddeus Lewis, Sean Renfro, all guys playing in the NFL, been a play-caller for 11 years.”

Muschamp hopes Roper can demonstrate the same kind of success with senior signal caller Jeff Driskel, who missed most of last year with a knee injury. Highly touted coming out of high school, Driskel has been inconsistent in his time at Florida. He realizes the pressure is on him for his team to be successful.

“I think the game is just moving towards having to score points and trying to get as many plays in as possible, which is Coach Roper’s mindset,” said Driskel. “He’s a positive coach and puts players in positions to be successful so we’re lucky to have Coach Roper and we’re excited to get going into camp.”

Defense has been a strength for Florida the past couple seasons. 2014 figures to be much of the same, with playmakers at every level, most notably defensive end Dante Fowler and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III.

“Defensively, I think we have a good mix of talent,” said Muschamp. “We do lack some experience in some areas, but I take talent over experience any day.”

“It will be just as physical as it was last year,” said Hargreaves. “We’re a physical defense and it’s going to speak for itself.”

The hope is that the Gator offense can build off the defensive success, which in turn would help the defense.

“It’s a team game,” said Hargreaves. “Offense and defense, we have to do the equal amount to win the game. I don’t feel like we’re going to have to so any more than the offense has to do.”

If all the pieces come together, this Gator team has confidence it can make a run.

“We are going to be a team to beat this year,” said Fowler. “Just having the feeling to succeed after all the barriers we had to cross and all the adversity that we fought last year. Those guys know the pain and I know nobody on the team wants to go back to that.”

“I got a lot of confidence in this team and staff,” said Muschamp. “This is probably the most complete team we’ve had at Florida since I’ve been at the University of Florida in all three phases. Looking forward to getting this thing going.”
–