Brad White breaks down Florida's plan to slow FAU's offense

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Brad White breaks down Florida's plan to slow FAU's offense

David Rosenberg, Gators Wire · Gators Wire

Fri, Sep 4, 2026 ·

15 min read

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Florida defensive coordinator Brad White met with reporters ahead of the Gators ' season opener against FAU to discuss the challenge his unit faces in Week 1.

White broke down FAU's up-tempo passing attack and explained how Florida plans to rotate its defensive backs to keep them fresh. He also discussed the importance of communication, alignment and playing with an "empty-the-tank mentality" against one of college football's fastest offenses.

The Gators' defensive play-caller also touched on Florida's depth at the Jack and star positions, Joseph Mbatchou's development and the flexibility that allows him to employ multiple and exotic defensive fronts.

Here's everything White had to say.

How do you feel about the progress of Florida's secondary entering a matchup with FAU's passing offense?

That's going to be the huge challenge this week. When you walk into Week 1, and you've got the No. 1 passing offense coming into town, the hope is that the guys will be dialed in.

We've tried to build it slowly through spring, more into the summer and then into fall camp, where there's a lot of confidence in understanding the rules, where the eye progression is and what the communication is.

The goal is that it will show up Saturday. That's the goal.

What is the value of having multiple starting-caliber cornerbacks?

We really have four. You throw Dijon Johnson in there, and we've got four guys right now who we feel really confident rolling in. Those guys are all going to play, and they're all going to have to play really well.

With the pace, the number of plays and their ability to roll wide receivers as deep as they are at that position, we're going to have to be able to roll guys on the outside edge as well.

We have to keep them fresh and let them play fast because that's the deal. The tempo, especially early in the game, is unlike anything they've felt. Then you mix that with the anxiety — I wouldn't say anxiety, but the adrenaline — of a first game. It's coursing through your veins.

Then, all of a sudden, you take that first hit and come off that super high. Now, I've just got to play ball. I've got to get my cleats in the ground, get the call and execute. That's the stress of tempo.

What makes FAU's tempo so challenging?

They're really clean in their execution. When you watch tempo teams, the teams that do it really well, you click on the All-22 and see that they're lined up and ready to go. Guys aren't moving. Offensive linemen aren't trying to get into their stances.

Sometimes you have all these clips you're trying to send to the officials, saying, "Hey, look, they're trying to run tempo, but their offense isn't even set." You don't see that with them. They're set and ready to go. You can tell this is what they do on a daily, consistent basis. Our guys have to be ready to match that. They have to get the call, get lined up and execute.

First and foremost, from a tempo standpoint, they do that as well as any team I've seen on film that runs it in terms of being clean with their alignments and execution. The quarterback shows he has great command of the system.

Obviously, the helmet communication really helped them. They did a great job with that in terms of talking to him and letting him know, "Hey, get into this play. Get into that check-with-me."

We've got to be able to match that. Our guys can't take a break. Even if they have a check-with-me, too often defenses see the offense turn or start to change a play, and their legs get straight. They take a deep breath like, "Okay, this is my time."

We've got to stay vigilant. We've got to play with our knees bent. We look to the sideline. If we need to change a call, we can. If not, we're rocking and rolling. We've got to empty the tank on every play.

The other thing tempo teams do is make defensive guys try to conserve energy. They think, "Man, this could be an eight-, nine- or 10-play drive. Early in the drive, on play two or three, I'm not going to go quite as hard because I've got to worry about plays four, five, six or seven. Let me keep something in the tank."

We can't do that. You've got to play with an empty-the-tank mentality on every play.

What strides have you seen at the JACK position since spring?

I think (Kofie Asare) is one of those guys you can point to who has made significant strides from when we got here, from a strength standpoint, understanding and comfort level. In spring ball, especially early in spring ball, he was thinking a lot.

A bigger, longer guy tends to look more stiff and rigid, especially if he's thinking and not going full speed. He wasn't using the natural snap he has in his body, so it looked a little easy. Then you saw him get more comfortable with the calls by the back end of spring, through the summer and then into fall camp.

He arguably had as good an individual camp as anybody we had on the defense in terms of where he started and where he is now. We're confident he can go in and play high-level, winning football for us. That's what we need. In a game like this, when they average more than 90 plays, you can't put that all on one player.

What is the next step for a KJ Ford who plays like his hair is on fire?

He's a freshman, and I think the biggest thing everybody involved needs to understand when you're dealing with freshmen is that there are going to be young mistakes. He tries to play full speed, which is arguably the most important thing.

You never want to have to say, "Giddy up." You'd rather say, "Whoa," and pull it back. But it's about understanding what my job calls for and understanding when to do it. You're so itchy, but it's third down and you're going to get a hard count. Jumping offsides on third-and-11 — I appreciate the fact that you're trying to play fast, be aggressive, and get on tackles, but that doesn't help the defense.

He's got to go through those learning moments, and he is. The big thing for a freshman is not to internalize it and get down on yourself because you're having to get corrected. He has done a good job of taking the coaching, getting better, putting bad plays behind him and moving forward.

He's going to have some really good plays for us this year, and he's going to have some freshman plays. For his development and our success as a defense this fall, he has to take the coaching point but not get down on himself.

What does Joseph Mbatchou bring to the defense?

When you think about a guy as big and strong as he is, you also have to remember he had to deal with some injuries in the spring. I didn't know this until I was told, but he didn't arrive until last June. He didn't have that first spring ball, and then he only had about half of this past one.

Think about how young he is in his maturation process from a football standpoint and how aware he is of football. Usually, those kinds of players really struggle with instincts and being instinctual. He gets it. He gets it in the box. He has block recognition. He's going to be a guy who elevates and excels quickly in this sport because of that.

He's a big, strong, rugged force inside. We need him to be that all year and really dominate from gap to gap. He can play — obviously, his strength right now is playing in the A gaps and playing guard to guard. But he's a guy who can slide out and command a B gap still.

He's still a work in progress from a pass-rush standpoint. He's more of a really strong run defender with strong hands, great disengagement and lockout. He'll be a really good nose for us, but I think he's going to improve as a pass rusher as he continues to progress.

You can see it in him. He just doesn't know it yet. When we talk about instincts, he has instincts in the run game and in block recognition. He doesn't quite have it yet from a pass-rush standpoint. We have to teach him when to convert. As soon as he sees high pads or gets a quick set from a guard, he has to get ready to convert. Those things will be part of his growth.

Will Florida operate primarily out of a 3-4 defense?

We'll see Saturday. How about that? But, yeah, we're not just a 3-4. Honestly, when you look at college football these days, a lot of teams are going to be multiple. You're going to have three-down fronts and four-down fronts. We'll have the ability to go to both. Having that ability allows you to be flexible with your personnel.

For example, you've got an LJ McCray . The best thing with LJ is to get him into a five-technique as much as you can, not stick him in there at a 4i or even down there as a three. What can you do out of your structure to help accentuate what he does well?

There will be some fronts where, even if you're a football guy, you're looking at it like, "Is that three-down or four-down?" It's kind of a hybrid of both because you're trying to highlight certain guys' abilities.

We talked about Botch. Botch is a really good zero. Can he play shade? Yeah, he can play shade. But you put him at zero. If you've got Botch in the game and you've got LJ, sometimes you've got to manipulate what you call as a front to let those guys play.

Some will be like, "Man, is that a four- or three-down front?" It's kind of a blend, honestly.

How creative can you get with Florida's exotic defensive fronts?

The fun part as a coach is trying to find as many ways as possible to create one-on-one opportunities.

You come to a place like Florida, where you have as much talent as we have in this building, and you want to walk into the room and say, "Hey, Jayden Woods, I'm going to be able to organically create a one-on-one against a tackle."

"Hey, Brendan Bett. Hey, McCloud. I'm going to be able to create a one-on-one through this front."

If you want that, you've got to put in the effort because getting those things requires more words. You've got to have a different front. If this alignment is this word, this alignment is another word. It's that balance where, yeah, it's fun to have a bunch of different exotic looks and fronts that confuse an offense.

But you don't want to confuse your own defense to the point where they can't get aligned. Through the process, sometimes they misalign, and it's all invention, right? They get into something and it works. You look at it and say, "Yeah, we're putting that in right there. That's next week's call."

Then you're able to grow off that. We're going to show this one week. The next week, it can be shown and we can do something different. Or, man, we'll do the same thing. Now it puts indecision in an offensive mind in terms of what you're trying to get done.

How does the defensive line's versatility help create favorable matchups?

All those guys can play across the front. That's fun. You've got a guy like Emmanuel and Kam James. They can play all the way from a nine to down inside.

To have those pieces and make an offensive line look cross-eyed at the front and say, "All right, who are we identifying?"

The next thing you know, it's a six-man protection and they've got the back trying to block Emmanuel, Bett or McCloud because they couldn't identify what the front was. I always tell our guys, "Don't be surprised." That's something we always talk about. Don't be surprised if you don't get what you thought you were going to get.

"Man, I thought I was going to get the All-American tackle kicking to me." Well, he got confused because of this, so he slid down. Now you're one-on-one with a back, or you're a free runner. Don't be surprised, and then don't miss the layup.

I tell the guys bad things happen when you just try to lay it off the glass. Slam it home and put the ball all the way through defenders.

Which players give Florida the most positional flexibility?

You talk about the back end and guys being able to slide into different spots. The Bryces and the D.J. Colemans can go into different spots.

Then, up front, you've got a guy like Aaron Chiles. AC, if you ever watch him walk down the line and pass rush, you see it. When I got here, people talked about AC being able to play Jack. I was like, "No, he can be a really good Mike." But he has that ability to walk down the line and blitz.

Myles Graham can move around. We have pieces that can do a lot of things. Obviously, Jayden Woods and LJ McCray can play on two feet. Kam James can play on two feet or put his hand down. Emmanuel can start out wide and slide all the way inside with his hand down.

We've got guys who can do a lot of different things.

How does the star position fit into the defense, and how important is Kanye Clark?

It's important, and Kanye has had a good camp. The other one who has really taken a big step forward is Alfonzo Allen. When you talk about versatility, he has the ability to play safety or star. He can play in a lot of different spots.

It's a long season. You can't go into a season and say, "Hey, man, we've got one STAR." To have Kanye and Alphonso, and then Bryce and D.J. can do it — D.J. did it at Baylor — we've got guys with some flexibility who can go out there and give each other blows.

It's about being fresh. We want to be the freshest defense out there. It's not just going to be, "Hey, these 11 are going to be out there for 75 plays." I feel good that the strength of this defense is our ability to rotate pieces and parts without any huge drop-offs at certain positions. That's what we're going to lean into.

What is the challenge of defending a Wildcat quarterback such as Gavin Wimsatt ?

When the quarterback position becomes a runner, and you've got to defend all 11, it's really hard. If somebody ever said, "Do you want to face a statue quarterback or a mobile quarterback?" the mobile piece is always the one where you're like, "Man, you just can't account for it."

Then you have to slow your pass rush down a little bit because you're trying to say, "Listen, you have to control the quarterback. You can't run past him."

Are there some pro-style quarterbacks you wouldn't want to face? Yeah. Would you want to face Peyton Manning ? No. He's not going to run past you. But when you've got the ability to be a runner and make something out of a broken play, it sits in the back of your mind as you call plays as a coordinator.

You're thinking, "I'd love to get really aggressive, but what if he slips through a seam?" Or maybe we have a free runner, he makes the free runner miss and you're playing zero coverage with no eyes behind it. That thing is going to go for a touchdown.

Having that athleticism is a challenge.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Brad White breaks down Florida's plan to slow FAU's offense

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