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Buster Faulkner says Florida must stop making bad plays worse
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- Buster Faulkner says Florida must stop making bad plays worse
Florida 's offense has developed a costly habit: One mistake quickly becomes two.
Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said the Gators must stop making bad plays worse after penalties, turnovers and missed assignments repeatedly knocked the unit out of rhythm against Georgia. He insisted the breakdowns have not belonged to one position or player.
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Faulkner also discussed the competition between Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr., Florida's sputtering running game, Eric Singleton Jr.'s health and an Oklahoma defense that presents another significant challenge.
Here's everything Faulkner had to say.
What has Florida focused on since the Georgia game?
The focus has been the same thing it has been for the past few weeks: doing simple better and stopping hurting ourselves. We need to understand what that does to the team and what it does to a drive.
All the things that go into not playing good football, we're continuing to coach those things and putting a major emphasis on them again, which we've been doing for a while. We've got to keep at it, keep fighting, keep clawing and try to get better every day. That's the big emphasis this week.
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Everybody has to get better every day. Each position and each person has one thing to work on. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we're better at it.
How does Florida eliminate procedural penalties?
Procedural things, fundamentals and technique — w continue to harp on it, walk through it and show it. There are a bunch of different ways to approach it, and we're taking every way we know to try to get better. Some of the things we're doing, we have to eliminate. That's obvious.
Continuing to coach it is the No. 1 thing we have to do, and we have to do a better job coaching it.
How difficult was it for Florida's quarterbacks to operate against Georgia?
I felt really good about the plan and the way we practiced — everything leading into it. We went out for the first couple of plays, and we were in rhythm. We felt good. Like I said, I don't think it was an effort issue.
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Then, we had a setback on what hopefully would have been second-and-1 or second-and-2 with the holding call. We picked up a few yards to get into third-and-manageable and then had a disastrous play that can't happen.
It goes back to the theme of the past few weeks. Something bad happens within a series, and then something worse happens during the next play or next couple of plays.
We have to eliminate those things to have a chance to sustain drives.
There was no rhythm at all. I don't want to say it was hard for the quarterbacks to operate. A lot of things went into the reason we played the way we did.
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The bottom line is that we have to get better.
What went wrong in Florida's blitz protection?
The first one was a pressure. Could the protection have been moved the other way? Yeah.
But one thing we have to do a good job of is not making a bad play worse. That's what happened on the first one.
He'll learn from that. He knew it right away and was trying to get the ball out of bounds, but he has to be smarter there.
On the strip sack, we were there to pick up the blitz. We came off our man. It wasn't that we didn't have somebody there to make the block.
How much do the offensive line's struggles limit you as a play-caller?
I'm going to return to the things we can control as all 11.
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When you sit down, watch the tape and go play by play, asking where the breakdown occurred, it definitely isn't all on one position or one person.
The breakdowns have been across the board, whether it's a missed assignment, a procedural penalty or something else.
It hasn't been just one thing. That's what frustrates you more than anything because we aren't giving ourselves a chance.
Early in the season, we gave ourselves a chance. During the second half of the Texas game, we gave ourselves a chance.
We're spending a lot of time practicing things we aren't even able to reach in the game. That's frustrating.
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But it's on all of us. We have to get it corrected, continue working to get it corrected, ensure we have the right guys in the right spots and keep moving forward.
Why did Florida replace Aaron Philo with Tramell Jones Jr.?
He handled it great. Like I've said, he's a professional and a tough kid.
Nobody likes getting pulled. Again, it wasn't necessarily, "You're out for the rest of the game."
It was, "We've got two good quarterbacks. We like where they are and how they're developing."
I believe in development, and I believe it takes time. We needed a spark.
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I thought Tramell came in, and we strung a few drives together. There was the unfortunate strip sack right before halftime.
At that point, the best thing to do was continue letting that kid play it out. He earned that.
We'll continue evaluating everything we do, as we have. Both will continue getting reps, as they have, and we'll go from there.
What allows Jones to create plays when things break down?
I attribute that to a lot of poise and preparation. He knows where everybody is.
There are probably a couple of plays we would like back. Other than that, I thought he did a good job.
He has to continue working and getting better. There are a few he would like back, too, but we like where he is and how he's developing.
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We can always get better.
He has played fewer than 200 career snaps, probably somewhere around there. It takes time to get those guys where they will eventually be. I truly believe that.
Was Eric Singleton Jr. rusty after missing time?
You would have to ask him. I don't know whether "rusty" is the right word.
He practiced last week. He's still probably at 90%, fighting through that ankle.
You can see it on some of his in-and-out breaks, and it takes him a little longer to reach top speed.
But that guy comes to work every day, takes pride in his job and took it to heart.
I have the utmost faith and confidence in Eric Singleton making those two catches 100% of the time.
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I don't want to say those plays had anything to do with whether he was at 100%. He was there to make them.
The one on the sideline was a really, really tough play. I think the defender got his head in there. The other one was a tough play, but the ball was on his hands.
How does Florida revive its running game?
It's difficult to operate when you have negative plays, probably more so than when you have 1-yard gains.
At least with a 1-yard gain, you're somewhat in rhythm. The ball changes hashes or locations, so you can keep things going.
We have to eliminate the negative plays. That's on all of us — the guys up front, Jadan hitting it vertically, the tight ends and better design. The whole nine.
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We have to get the running game going. We know that.
We have to find ways to do it, and I assure you we're working hard at it.
Has Jadan Baugh tried to bounce too many runs outside?
I don't want to say he's bouncing outside too much.
Sometimes, when you're a player of his caliber, you put a lot on your shoulders and try to make a big play.
There are a lot of reasons we have to improve, and we have to get better at all of them.
We need to run the football more consistently, stay out of negative situations and create some explosive plays. That's important.
What stands out about Oklahoma's defense?
It's an extremely well-coached team that plays extremely hard.
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They use a bunch of different fronts, coverages and looks every week. We have to do a great job preparing our players.
There's a reason Coach Venables is the head coach at Oklahoma. His teams have always played good defense.
We have a challenge this week, and we have to answer the bell.
What has Urban Meyer's impact been on college football?
Everywhere he went, he won. That's what everybody in this profession strives to do.
He created a toughness when he was here and everywhere else he went. He was known for always having tough, tough-minded football teams.
He did it with several different schemes and at multiple places.
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That's what great football coaches do and why he won everywhere. He always adjusted to his players.
I think he'll tell you the same thing: It wasn't always about scheme. It was about mentality and doing the things required to win football games.
He did those things at a high level. He's someone a lot of us in this building really admire.
Why didn't Dallas Wilson receive more targets against Georgia?
That's a great question.
It wasn't for a lack of plays designed to go to him. There were several, but they didn't reach him, whether that was because of coverage or another reason.
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On the strip sack, the ball was going up to him. I don't know whether he would have had a chance to make the play or scored, but that would have been a target.
There were a few other direct calls that could have gone to him. There was miscommunication on one.
We want him to have more opportunities, but when you play wide receiver, sometimes they don't always come your way.
How is Justin Williams progressing?
Late last week, we decided to let him go early in the game.
He only received five snaps, but he did a great job.
Bailey Stockton hadn't practiced. He was able to come in and knew some of the things a little more than Justin.
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But Justin showed some flashes. We're really excited about his future.
He has to continue improving every day, and I think he is. He has earned the right to play a little bit.
What does Bailey Stockton's willingness to play through injury say about him?
When he was in high school, I think it was the quarterfinals when he broke his collarbone.
There were two or three weeks before the state championship, but it was a six-to-eight-week injury. No doctors would sign off on him playing in the state championship. I think his father had to sign a bunch of papers for him to play.
He had two touchdown catches in that game against one of the best secondaries in the state.
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He has always been a tough kid who loves playing the game, whether it was football, baseball or whatever he played while growing up.
Those are the kinds of guys you want to continue building this program around.
How can Florida involve Duke Clark and Jadan Baugh in the passing game?
I had a few plays for Jadan last week.
We motioned him out of the backfield a couple of times. It didn't work out because Georgia didn't play the coverage we wanted.
But we want them involved in everything we do. We try to involve good players.
What have Roderick Kearney and Caden Jones shown?
Rod is one of the leaders on our offense.
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You can be a leader without being a starter. He is that. He has been an energy guy for us and has earned the right to probably play a little more.
Caden continues to improve. He has to make the most of every opportunity.
We'll see how that goes this week.
How has Will Griffin developed on the scout team?
He's getting better every day.
He takes great pride in his work. He goes over there and gives Brad White and the defense a great look, which has been good for his development.
He's learning the speed of the game by facing the defense every day. He's getting better and better.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Buster Faulkner says Florida must stop making bad plays worse
