Gators Defense Aiming to 'Elevate' After Promising Week 1 Outing

Heading into the 2023 season, optimism surrounded the Gators as it pertained to a defensive turnaround.

Hiring defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong injected newfound life and energy into the unit while maintaining a similar defensive scheme with mere philosophical tweaks. The goal was to reconcile the defense after three consecutive years of unsatisfactory performance. 

Florida flashed signs of the expected resurrection turning into reality during the current campaign in week one.

Despite a 70-yard touchdown by Utah on Florida's first defensive play from scrimmage of the year, the new-look, youth-infused group rebounded to prove stout relative to the product it had showcased since 2020.

It will look to carry that momentum into the ensuing contests.

"Just overall, they're in year two in the system; I think the fundamentals have improved," head coach Billy Napier said when asked to assess the defense's improvement from a year ago. "The comprehension and the understanding of the concepts and their assignment, therefore they play faster.

"They are able to eliminate some of that indecision. Therefore, they're anticipating, they're processing quicker, they play faster, they get better production, there's less mental errors, there's less technique flaws, we're on the same page, communication is at a different level."

Defensive end Tyreak Sapp, a prominent vocal leader of the unit, expressed his content with the signals of improvement in their first opportunity to showcase it under Armstrong.

"A lot of improvement, I loved it," he said on Wednesday. "I liked it a lot. I love going on the field with that group because that's a group of guys that I want to play for. That's a group of guys that I can look in their eyes every play, and I know confidently that they want to put it all on the line."

After allowing the deep shot on play one, Armstrong's squad rebounded to allow just two more possessions of over 30 yards on the day.

The ensuring touchdowns scored by the Utes came due to errors outside the defense's control. The first came three plays after an equipment infraction on the punt team put the offense back on the field after a third down stop for the defense around midfield. An interception off a deflection on the Florida 11-yard line to back UF up on the goal line.

However, the defense's resurgence was primarily highlighted by its ability to force the Utes offense off the field in third-down situations.

After ranking as the nation's 129th third-down defense in 2022 — allowing opponents to convert on 50.32% of their third downs — the Gators halted Utah's attempts at moving the sticks throughout the evening to let just three of 13 (23%) third down attempts be successful. 

The numbers were a drastic turnaround from the 8-for-14 (57%) on conversion downs for Kyle Whittingham's squad in The Swamp a year ago.

"Just execution, being clean, just going with coach Amstrong's plan, executing it, trusting it, that was the main thing," Sapp said regarding the steps forward as a third down defense. 

"When bad things happen, not dwelling on it, just like next play. We're going to take that play for what it is and we're going to go on to the next play and play even better. Just try to elevate throughout as the game goes, elevate." 

Several aspects of the unit still require improvement heading into Florida's week two contest against McNeese.

Sapp pointed to creating pressure on the quarterback with tangible results to show for it, specifically via adding tallies in the sack column on the stat sheet.

"Just rush the Q (quarterback) better," Sapp said candidly on Wednesday. Rush the Q this week, try to get some sacks on our stats. Tell the backend guys to keep handling up, tell Jason, keep encouraging him. 

"All our guys on the back end, even our young guys like Jordan who played a lot, those guys take a lot of snaps, especially those young guys, just keep going. And then, upfront, I take it as my job to control that and making sure we can do everything we can to harass the Q."

Despite the evident talent gap between the two programs, McNeese provides Florida some resistance, given the volume at which they throw the football. The air raid attack can present some issues for Florida to combat. 

"Schematically, they present variables and they can present issues for you," Napier said. "So, we're gonna have to be ready to go."

Honing in on the pass rush and coverage game will be fruitful as Florida hosts Joe Milton and a dynamic Tennessee offensive attack in week three.

UF's week one defensive success instilled confidence that Florida can maintain a high level of play against the SEC opponents on its upcoming slate. 

"I got a lot of confidence," Sapp said regarding the Gators' near-perfect second half defensively in week one. "I got confidence from the first half, just to see us go out there and play a lot better, that's all. I want you to go out and play and let loose. No matter what happens, no matter who we play, we go out there and we let loose. We play fearless and we strike."  

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