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In a year last season when the Gator offense was not one of the best in the country or the SEC, the running backs did have some success.
The Gators averaged 187.7 yards per game with 22 touchdowns in 2014, including 418 yards against rival Georgia. Florida did lose their workhouse Matt Jones, who accounted for 817 yards last year, to the NFL Draft. Kelvin Taylor returns after a solid sophomore campaign along with Adam Lane who exploded on the spotlight with a huge game in the Birmingham Bowl against East Carolina. New running backs coach Tim Skipper knows his players need to learn a new system.
“The offense is totally different. Just lining up in pistol formation when the quarterback is under center to get the footwork down…just the little things like that, which is what spring ball is for.”
Tim Skipper enters his first year as the running backs coach for the Gators. He spent the last three seasons under head coach Jim McElwain as linebackers coach of the Colorado State Rams. He is well known for successfully coaching both sides of the ball. Skipper is in a family of coaches where father Tim and brother Kelly both coach in the NFL. With practically a brand new offensive line for UF, Skipper knows the importance of the chemistry between running backs and offensive linemen.
“Just all about jelling…you can see us coming together. And the guys are more comfortable doing what they need to do. Just more days that we are out there grinding together and being a family, the better we are going to be.”
One personnel group that brought a lot of carryover from last year is the defensive backs. Led by All-American cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III and senior Brian Poole among others, the Gators are primed to be elite in the secondary. New defensive backs coach Kirk Callahan believes it is a good problem to have so much depth.
“The great thing is the competition level. Each guys brings his own little variety, his own uniqueness to it. The great thing with Coach Collins and the defense that he brought is there is no depth chart. Your either above the line or below the line.”
Kirk Callahan enters his first main positional job at Florida. In 2010 he was a staff intern and in 2011 was a graduate assistant for the Gators and for the past three seasons he was the defensive backs coach at UCF. Callahan expressed he had little terminology changes for his players.
“Bits and pieces. There was a lot of carryover like you said. The good thing is if we do want to change a term, with my previous history here, I can kind of say ,’hey, that was for you guys. We are calling it this now.'”
As the Orange and Blue Debut nears on Saturday, the Gators got some bad injury news as offensive lineman Rod Johnson will be out for the rest of spring with what coach Jim McElwain describes as numbness in his fingers after suffering an injury in a scrimmage last week.
The injury occurs at a position that Florida is painfully thin at right now.
For full audio clips of quotes above and more, click below:
Skipper on how the offense is different from last year
Skipper emphasizing on the importance of RB/OL relationships
Skipper on more guys getting reps because of spring injuries
Callahan sharing the benefits of coaching an elite group
