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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 18, 2019

Dan Mullen

Gainesville, Florida

COACH MULLEN: Great day recruiting, with the early signing today, really excited, we had 21 guys sign. With the early signing period, covered, really, if you look at it, covered depth across the board within the position.

I think our coaching staff, both our recruiting staff and our coaching staff did a great job getting players. We had players from not just -- a lot of players from the state of Florida, which is really important to me in this program, but a lot of players from around the nation and this year around the world because I think we had the first signee of this year, didn't no one beat us -- Jeremy was the first one to sign this year, yesterday, our local time here at 3:00 yesterday afternoon. 7.00 a.m., legally, his time on Wednesday morning.

But real excited. Good guys. You look at it, not a lot of shocks. Not a lot of surprises, but I think that goes to the character of the players that we recruit and the job, the relationship our coaches form with these guys and how they work.

And a lot of the players looking and knowing why they want to come to Florida and be part of the Florida football program. You're looking at a school that obviously not just a premier athletic school in the state but the premier academic school in the state, and a school that is not just one of the top 10 football programs in the country, but the only one of those schools that's also a top 10 academic school.

So when you look at what players are looking for, obviously those type, it's a great draw. And you see that by the quality of the student-athletes that we have coming in to play for us.

Q. Is there any disappointment you didn't get a running back in this class?
COACH MULLEN: No, because recruiting is not over. This is just the early signing period. We have six weeks from now, we do it all again.

So, I mean there's still -- we already have a bunch of official visits already set for guys in January that we had set, I mean early, that have been set for quite a while. So it's hard to say with the totality of the class because it's just kind of the first part of it done.

Q. (Off mic).
COACH MULLEN: I think what you're looking at it's kind of becoming the trend. You look at, 80 percent of your class signs early, maybe more. But also that's what it's for. You look at all the guys that were committed. And I bet 80 to 85% of guys were already committed before today. Those guys just signed and the guys that weren't go into the next signing period.

Q. What areas were you especially pleased with? It looks like the front seven, secondary really got bolstered?
COACH MULLEN: I think that was huge for us. You look, obviously you've going to be great at the line of scrimmage. I think this is the second year we've addressed the future with the offensive line, which I'm happy with how we're building it for the future.

Defensive line, obviously the last couple of years it hasn't been great. We've made some changes on our recruiting and our coaching staff to address that. And I think you see that with the success we have with some of the D line that we've recruited this year. And really excited about those guys.

You want to be a great team, you want to compete for championships, you've got to be able to control the line of scrimmage.

And if you look at that and then the depth we're trying to bring in in the secondary. It would be the second straight year we're losing guys early to the NFL within the secondary. You've had a little bit of attrition and dealt with some significant injuries and some career-ending injuries. And it was a position we were short on last year. And when you take that, with attrition, with injuries and with everything, there's going to be an opportunity for a lot of these guys to come in and play right away, get on the field right away. Really excited about the DBs in this class.

Q. You said there's still more recruiting to do. And even then is that no longer the finish line any more because of the transfer portal and all this stuff (inaudible)?
COACH MULLEN: Yeah, I think that's something that comes in now is the transfer. There's going to be, not just are we looking at high school signees but you're looking at transfers coming in as well to fill the different gaps moving forward.

We expect -- this certainly I don't expect this to be the end of this recruiting class or new Gators, if you will, coming in here for us. I still think there's going to be some more coming.

Q. You still lose the four wide receivers as seniors. Are you looking for additional high school talent there? Is there an area where you can go to the transfer portal for?
COACH MULLEN: Possibly. But it's a position that we're looking at the balance of the roster, we knew this was going to come. So we were heavy. We over-signed. So as you balance a roster, we were plus one at the receiver position -- this season, on how we balance our roster out. And so we lose -- so we really lose four, but off the roster depth you're down three and we signed two. So there's still another spot that we'd look to address that moving forward.

Q. Jordan Pouncey, is he eligible this coming season?
COACH MULLEN: We're going to file the waiver to get him eligible for this season. Hopefully that goes through for us -- him maybe more than me. It's about the student-athlete. We'll be okay. But hopefully the NCAA does what's right for the student-athlete.

Q. You mentioned the D line recruiting. You had shifted some of the staff. I know some of that was Sal leaving what were the changes?
COACH MULLEN: Bringing David Turner in was a big part of that for me. To get a guy like David Turner here and you've seen the success we've had with him recruiting here and what he's been able to do for us. And I think that was something to me that getting a guy that's coaching the D linemen that does a great job recruiting and building the character of those guys and building the relationship to get those guys.

Obviously David was a huge part for me to get him in here. And we did readjust part of our recruiting department. But I think David, really making the change to get David here was a big deal.

Q. Pretty comfortable with how the staff is set up now in terms of recruiting?
COACH MULLEN: Yeah, I do think our recruiting department -- like, our coaching staff, I think we've got a great coaching staff. But I think we tweaked in how just -- we tweaked every aspect of our recruiting department, not just personnel but how the whole thing was set up and being run. I am pleased with the job they did. And I think they did a great job and I think we have to head it in the direction we want.

Q. You've got three quarterbacks now. You've got four running backs and nine receivers (indiscernible) sign. Is the depth at those three spots what you want and need or do you need to address that a little bit more?
COACH MULLEN: Yeah, that was a lot of math right there for me. I haven't slept much recently. Our depth, I think our depth across the board, we're getting there. But you're always concerned about depth. One of the things we look at you go into recruiting, not just where you are right now but where you are long term in the future. I still think we're getting there to go build the depth across the board that you need. But I think we're certainly headed in the right direction.

After this recruiting class comes in and moving into the future I'm going to feel a little more comfortable on our consistent depth from one year to the next.

Q. For example, at wide receiver, you've got -- with what you've signed now you'll have nine. What is your ideal number for your offense to have --
COACH MULLEN: Ten. That's what we have slotted. We do as we do, kind of like, it's like a salary cap. Like if you're working in the NFL with your roster and what positions you have and all that, there's a lot of numbers we balance. You've got the 25/85 number that you have to balance, how you're splitting up your 25 and 85 and how do you keep that balanced across the board, where you potentially need to over-sign at different positions from one year to balance if you're top heavy.

Then you throw in the curve ball with the transfer portal and guys leaving early for the NFL Draft. You're always trying to balance it, but we have set numbers we like to be at every position. Then there's always fluctuation with that.

Like quarterback, you like to be at four, looks like we'll probably be at three. But you just -- there's always some fluctuating numbers in there.

Q. You mentioned the depth. Let me follow up on that. You've been part of championships here, so you know what it takes with the roster and everything. After today, knowing that things are still going happen, how close do you feel you guys are to have a championship-caliber roster?
COACH MULLEN: We're certainly getting there. None of these guys have even had a college practice, so it's hard to say about the guys we signed today, how that affects things. We'll see how they develop.

Back to my press conference 13 years ago, with my first recruiting class: What do you think about the class? Come check with me in two to three years and we'll see how they did and we'll see if it was a good class or not.

But I do, I certainly think we expect to go compete for championships, and we're building the roster to be able to go do that. And we want to do that on a consistent basis, not just one year to the next.

So I think we're building the program that is -- we're going to our second straight New Year's Six game. We have an opportunity to finish two straight top 10 seasons.

We're not very far off. We're not quite there yet, but we're not very far off. But I think a lot of it, in championship teams, you want to win a championship there's a little bit of -- you've got, I don't want to say luck, because you create your own luck, but there are things that happen throughout the course of a season -- injuries, you know, and all of that stuff. Did you avoid major injury bugs during the course of the year? And I think that's such a huge factor.

And obviously scheduling can roll into it. I think those are also factors. But I think the fact we have the opportunity to finish our second straight top 10 season certainly would point that, to my mind, that we're headed in the right direction to start being right there to compete for championships.

Q. And you guys signed more top prospects from Florida than any other team in the country. Just how key is that to be able to kind of put a fence around the state?
COACH MULLEN: That's good. We should. I'd be disappointed if we didn't. We are the University of Florida. And, I mean, this is where guys -- I hope most kids in the state of Florida grow you wanting to be Gators and want the opportunity to go play in The Swamp and go do that.

I know recruiting has become more national and international even now, but a lot of your foundation is going to come from, you know, within a five-, six-hour radius of school and especially within your home state.

So it's great that we did that. I'm not as caught up maybe in all the rankings as everybody else. I know how I rank players. I don't always share my rankings, but I will say this; my rankings are probably different than other people's.

Q. You recruited a lot of defensive linemen through the years. Can you count on maybe one hand how many defensive tackles you've recruited that had over 100 tackles in one season?
COACH MULLEN: I have no idea. I've never looked at the stats of that stuff. But I've recruited a lot of really good ones. Who had a hundred, Gervon? He's a really good player. He has size and athleticism. There's not many -- he walks in a room and you can say this guy has been blessed with certain athletic skills.

But he reminds me a lot of Chris Jones. Reminds me a lot of Chris Jones, who I had at Mississippi State. I hate comparing guys to each other until we go see how they work. But just as a physical, just like tall, long and really athletic.

So Chris probably -- I don't know if he reads -- if he reads your -- I couldn't tell you how many tackles he had so he might get mad at you and say, I had a hundred, too.

Q. What was the day like in general? Last year, you said it was a whirlwind. Today --
COACH MULLEN: It always is. I don't know, you're on the phone, talking to everybody. Meetings late last night. Then you get in early this morning, so that the faxes -- now, like, I don't know that we got a fax today. Uh-ho, we may have put the fax machine industry out of business. Everybody did it kind of on their phones.

So you're just in early this morning and handling all recruiting. Then you're kind of combining that with getting ready for practice, with staff meetings, organizing that, watching the practice film, doing today's install for practice, racing out on the field and having the practice.

Here with you all. Go down, we'll watch the practice film tonight. Then we'll go work on the red zone game plan after that until late tonight. Go home, sleep quick and get to work tomorrow morning.

Q. I'm more commenting the emotions of the signing. Was it exciting? Is it, like, nervous? Are you nervous all day?
COACH MULLEN: Always nerve-racking and it's kind of exciting. And a lot of fun. You know what's a lot of fun is you see a lot of guys getting their opportunity to go live their dreams. They're getting to go play major college football, get to come to the University of Florida. I think that's special.

To be part of that, that's a lot of the excitement of it all of, getting to see these guys fulfill and go live their dreams. There's always the nervous part of it and today seemed to be kind of an uneventful day for us in what happened. So that's good. We didn't have any bad nervous things happen. Everybody is really solid. Most guys got their stuff in. So it wasn't as drama-filled as maybe you sometimes have.

Q. You mentioned Dexter. But is there another guy -- all these guys are gifted, obviously, athletes. But is there one or two maybe athletic freaks in the group that we're not aware of?
COACH MULLEN: There's 21 of them. You don't get here without being a special athlete. I think that's what's really exciting about these guys.

Of what we've seen and through -- we trust our evaluation, that they are. I've only got to see three of them actually practice so far. Those three have done a heck of a job. Anthony has got size, speed, athleticism, really quick release, really smart football person. A lot of football IQ. And out there just how comfortable he is picking everything up.

And Richie and Josh on the O line, they're ready to buckle it up and go after it, which is kind of the mentality you want. They're kind of swimming out there. We threw them right in and they got to go.

But there's no hesitation, no nervousness; they're ready to go buckle it up and knock somebody off the ball. They have that right attitude. Plus they have size and athleticism, which is pretty good, too.

Q. Back to a guy from last year Wardrick Wilson, any resolution there? Where is he at now?
COACH MULLEN: Here's my issue. I don't know that I can comment on where he is because of his recruiting status. Is that fair? There's a lot going on that I could sit here talk a lot of time about, but I don't think I'm allowed to comment on it just because where his status is.

Q. Is there a chance he could end up here still?
COACH MULLEN: I can't even comment on that.

Q. You're talking about the wide receiver numbers but there's a possibility you could lose two more with Kevarrius and Trevon potentially leaving early. Did you have discussions with them --
COACH MULLEN: We've had discussions with everybody. I don't expect anybody else to declare but you never know at this point.

Q. How do you find a punter in Australia? Did you go to Australia? Did he come here?
COACH MULLEN: Did I go to Australia? No. I was about to ship -- we did it in a recruitment meeting. I put it up on the board and I would put up the schedule. I had Brian Johnson written on the board, depart for Australia at this time return five days later or something.

No, they have great kicking academies there. So you work with the people there. They get all the film. They get all the work. You do the work and the film study of what there are, the guys are. And you evaluate it like you evaluate all the other positions. Hard when you don't get to do it in person, so you have to pay a lot of -- and go in depth into extra film study on guys.

Q. Who is the coach on staff that I guess you lean to when it comes to punting and kicking?
COACH MULLEN: Greg Knox, our special teams coordinator.

Q. Last year's class, you lost some guys obviously didn't end up being as good as you hoped it would be. Do you feel better about the guys you're bringing in this year in terms of not only academics but some other things?
COACH MULLEN: Check with me in a couple of years. I don't know. We'll see how last year's class -- we'll have to see how last year's class turned out, you know what I mean? I think there's a lot of special guys in last year's class. But we'll see. They still have some development to do.

And the same with this year, you know what I mean, of -- I think it's usually two to three years before you know. I always go back to, I think I remember, probably maybe 2010 or 2011, had a signing day. And I was, like, oh, boy, this will be the end of the program and terrible players here. Dak Prescott, no one has heard of this kid as a quarterback. I don't know if he can even play. And Josh Robinson and Preston Smith. It's, like, NFL player, star, star, star -- like, not really high rated guys, but turned out to be really good players in the end.

We'll see that down the road how it all turns out because I think honestly probably the top recruit in that class or top two recruits in that class according to the rankings never panned or out played.

Guys that people didn't think a lot of in the rankings turned out to be superstars. We'll see how it all turns out.

Q. Do you feel these two classes now, your first two full classes where you've had full recruiting cycles, could be the basis for something really special down the road?
COACH MULLEN: I think for us here when you want to compete -- to me, it's not just something special; it's building consistency within the program and competing every single year at an extremely high level.

So I think everything -- that these guys are building that foundation for us to be consistent winners. But there were really good players when we got here, too. And those guys bought in. And since we've been here, we've started to build that consistency of winning and we want to bring guys in that are going to continue to do that and continue to win at an extremely high level.

Q. The receivers you signed last year and redshirted, where are they at in their development, and how much do you expect them to help you out next season?
COACH MULLEN: They're doing really, really well in their development. And I'm excited about the futures all three of them have. I think they have a chance to be really especially players. It was good to have a couple of developmental practices for them. And I'm really excited to see the steps that they take heading into spring ball.

Q. Anthony Richardson, how unique was it to kind of see his development from sophomore when he was a skinny kid to where he ended up as a senior? And was it a unique situation also to have him in Gainesville and so close to your program?
COACH MULLEN: It was. It's sometimes tricky because this is really very comfortable for guys. I think one of the hard things in recruiting, you can get really comfortable in the situation, and then, hey, I could take a trip somewhere else and it's shiny, new and exciting. It's just not comfortable.

Everything is really shiny, new and exciting here, too. It's just I'm really comfortable and I see it all the time. I'm really happy that didn't become the case with him and he was here and wanted to stay home, obviously, and come play for the University of Florida.

But it's unique. When you sit there and you say, we're scouring the nation for the top quarterback and he's sitting right here in Gainesville Florida, that's a pretty -- that's a pretty good deal. Cut down on travel expenses and recruiting. Could have gone to Australia.

Q. This is like the third year of the early signing period. How has that evolved as far as your planning and so forth? And do you think you've kind of worked the kinks out of that to get it down to --
COACH MULLEN: I think it is what it is now. I think everybody sees what it is. I think it's been pretty consistent, to be honest with you, over the last three years. That's kind of the norm of what it is, I bet. You look at it, about 80 percent of the guys will sign early, within the early signing; 20 percent will sign on the second signing day. I'm guessing that will be pretty consistent across the board. It has been the last two years and I imagine it will be similar this year.

Q. You have a bunch of guys that kind of committed and didn't take any other visits and were just solid. That's not maybe what happens all across the board. Is that something that you guys talk to them about, being solid in their commitment before they make it, or just kind of the kids that --
COACH MULLEN: We talk about what commitment means. I think that's a big deal for guys. But I also think if guys know, you have the opportunity to come to the University of Florida. There's only one school in American that's top 10 in football and top 10 in academics. It's like, hey, I've got the chance to go here, I'm good. I'm pretty excited about that opportunity and maybe don't even look at other things. But that's a pretty big positive for us.

Q. You talked a little bit about Coach Turner and what he landed I guess, helped land this class. What makes him a good recruiter?
COACH MULLEN: I think one thing, his sincerity and the type of person he is. When guys come and see him, the relationship he builds with the players. They get to see the relationship not just that he builds during recruiting, but the relationship he has with our guys, and his ability to not just coach you as a football coach and coach you on the field, his ability to mentor you off the field. You know what I mean?

When you go ask people, you go around and ask a Fletcher Cox or Chris Jones or Jeffery Simmons, you're talking about all-NFL superstars. This is the guy you want to go play for. He's going to help develop you and help you become successful.

Q. Heading into the February signing, how does the recruiting change as a group? Do you all circle, is it like circling the wagons?
COACH MULLEN: No, not necessarily. It's just less numbers to deal with, which is good. We don't have as many scholarships. You're not recruiting as many people. You're jump-starting into the next class. It's kind of accelerated recruiting a little bit, because now you're less than a year away from signing day for the '21 class.

A lot of the focus is pay attention, we're going to recruit but -- since the numbers are a whole lot smaller of the everybody we're dealing with.

A lot of my focus now will turn to the '21 class because, honestly, we'll probably be looking at recruiting five or six kids coming into the next signing day instead of the potential -- like, starting in this recruiting period, you're recruiting like 40. And you see who you have a chance to get and trying to get different guys.

Now you're down to like a handful. So that's easier to manage. Your focus really changes also to the '21 class.

Q. In terms of needing a running back or wanting a running back specifically in the class, do you tag team that more, just given the amount of time and the list of recruits?
COACH MULLEN: No, you kind of already know who you're recruiting. We're going to keep recruiting those guys the same way we've been recruiting them all along.

Q. Couple guys who actually missed their junior years on the field. What goes into like the risk of doing that, the evaluation of doing that, because they don't have as much film as, say, another kid?
COACH MULLEN: You have to really trust your evaluation on guys. Fortunately, a guy like Rashad Torrence came to camp, you get to see what he does in person. But one of the things we always sit in that room is trust our evaluation. Nothing against everybody else's -- I don't trust the Steve McClain (phonetic) Hot 150; not that I don't like Steve. I know he's been around football a long time. But Steve's got his, right, Steve's got the 2021 Hot 150 reveal coming shortly. So we have to go wrap it up. He's got his podcast.

But, honestly, it's about trusting your own evaluation. You just trust what you see. You meet guys. You try to find out. You gather as much information. And like all these guys, I mean I'm really excited about these guys, but I don't always just see the 17- or 18-year-old, I'm looking at what the 21-year-old's going to like and how they are going to develop. And if you trust your evaluation -- we've had a lot of success doing that.

Q. This guy Rogers from Texas, how would you characterize his game?
COACH MULLEN: He's really interesting. He was a high school quarterback up until this year. Really athletic, playmaker with the ball in his hands on offense. He played defense this year for the first time, had a lot of success. And you saw him continue to grow and get better doing that.

He's just a phenomenal athlete, all-around athlete, plus a high character guy. So you get excited about guys like. I've had a lot of success with guys that are just great athletes. They do everything for their team. I love guys who do everything for their team. That means the coaches trust them. The teammates trust them. They're great football players, and they usually end up having a lot of success in college.

Q. You say you mentioned all these top 10s, top 10 universities, your top 10 recruiting class.
COACH MULLEN: Are we the only top 10 of that one too?

Q. I haven't added it all up.
COACH MULLEN: I haven't looked at the recruiting rankings. Are there any other top 10 academic schools in the top 10 of recruiting? Is Notre Dame in the top 10 of recruiting?

Q. Do you care about being -- do you think that's good? You finished top in recruiting. Are you proud of that? You don't seem to care about the rankings, but do you take something from that?
COACH MULLEN: Let's hope it translates into continuing being top 10 on the field. I'm more concerned how we finish on the field. Look, here's the hard part about that: If you look at the rankings, I think we're ranked at a different category depending which website you want to go to, our rankings change.

So those are other people's rankings. I don't know how they evaluated it or judged it sometimes. I guess it's great that we're in the top 10, people think we have a really good recruiting class, and our coaches have done a good job, excited about great players coming.

It's like being a top 10 football team. We're 6, 7 and 9 -- does that sound right; depending on what poll you want to look at. I'll give you my Fox News spin. We're sixth in the country. You can spin it how you want.

Like, I don't know, if CNN says we're 9 and MSNBC has us at 7 and Fox News is at 6, I'm going with their spin on it. I think in the recruiting rankings, I think it looked like most of them have us in the top 10. So I think that's really good. I think it's a great job from our coaches and the work they did and it's great we have some what multiple people think are great players coming to play for us.

Q. What's the promise of the new facilities? How much does that help and did it play a role this year to be able to sell that?
COACH MULLEN: No. I think it helped moving forward. I don't know that it had much to do with this year's recruiting class. But once guys come on visits and they see that we've broken ground, I think it will start to have more of a role.

Q. You mentioned only recruiting maybe five or six guys, maybe four, what are some of the positions you would like to shore up for this early signing day?
COACH MULLEN: For this one, just vested available players. We'll look at who fits and where we have a need. It might be more than that, depending on attrition, I don't expect us to have many more guys to declare for the draft, but you never know how that's going to be and we'll try to move those gaps moving forward.

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