Florida Gators fans in Palm Beach County were visited by a head football coach for the first time since 2008 and came away both enthusiastic and impressed on Thursday when Will Muschamp dropped by the Expo Center at the South Florida Fairgrounds to discuss his first season at the helm and his expectations for 2012.

After a 20-minute opening statement, Muschamp took questions for another half hour and stuck around to sign autographs for all of he nearly 200 fans in attendance. Below is a recap of some of the more newsworthy and interesting topics that Muschamp covered (and were not included in stories here and here):

» The competition between sophomore quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel has not slowed down at all. “I have the utmost confidence in both guys. They’re working extremely hard here in the offseason. It’s going to be critical – it’s got to become their football team. And their competition will make each other better which will make our offense better and is going to make our football team better,” he said. “Jacoby and Jeff are both guys we can win a championship with. I do know that. [...] We can win with both. I’d like to name a starter. If we have to play both, we will play both. We’re going to do what it takes to win games at the end of the day. If one guy will distance himself then certainly we will name him the starter.”

» Muschamp said Florida had a legitimate opportunity to match-up against and win every game but two in 2011. “There’s a fine line between winning and losing,” he said. “Last year we played two football teams that were better than us in Alabama and LSU. The rest of the games we had our opportunities. Whether it was maturity or coaching or whatever you want to say it was, at the end of the day we didn’t get the job done. 7-6 is not acceptable at Florida; neither is 15-11 – that’s what we’ve been the last two years.”

» Junior safety Matt Elam’s groin continues to be an issue for the Gators but Muscahmp is confident it will be all healed by the time summer rolls around. “He twinged it in the latter part of spring. We really needed to look at the young safeties Valdez Showers and Jabari Gorman – get those guys a lot of reps. Matt’s a good football player. I know what he can do,” he said. “I pulled him the last three practices before the spring game. I just felt like it was another opportunity for someone else to get the reps. I saw him in the weight room [Wednesday]. He looks great and is working hard. He’s a guy that is very instinctive, has great ball skills, toughness. He can cover; he can play in man and zone. He does a lot of things for our football team.”

» His pair of freshman offensive linemen are impressing him: “Jessamen Dunker from here in Boynton Beach and D.J. Humprhies from Charlotte, North Carolina are two really good players. I’d recruit them again. Glad they’re on our football team.”

» Muschamp said he learned plenty of lessons after his first season as a head coach but in the end you cannot change what happened, you can only move forward. “There’s a lot to be learned through last season. You can’t go back and re-do and press the reset button and start over. That’s not what you do. You learn from it, you move forward, and I think our guys have learned from it,” he said.

Continue Reading » Muschamp gathers Gators in West Palm Beach

Tags: Antonio Morrison, Chaz Green, D.J. Humphries, Dominique Easley, Gator Gathering, Jabari Gorman, Jacoby Brissett, James Wilson, Jeff Driskel, Jeremy Brown, Jessamen Dunker, Jon Bostic, Jordan Reed, Matt Elam, Matt Jones, Matt Patchan, Neiron Ball, Ronald Powell, Sharrif Floyd, Valdez Showers, Will Muschamp, Xavier Nixon

No, Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp does not have a soft spot for the 1979 chart-topper by Sister Sledge. He just wants to see his team put the group over the individual. That is probably why he was wearing a certain orange wristband with white lettering on Thursday at the Gator Gathering in West Palm Beach, FL and made it a point to explain to the crowd that his team has a new motto for the 2012 season.

This version of the Gators will be all about FAMILY: “Forget About Me. I Love You.”

“At the end of the day, let’s take the personal agendas off the table and let’s get into this team,” Muschamp said to smiling faces at the South Florida Fair’s Expo Center. “I think we’re headed in that direction, I really do. We got some guys right now that understand and comprehend that when the collective unit does well, we all do well.”

But Muschamp wants to do more than “well” in 2012. He believes that Florida has many of the pieces necessary to be a championship football team but must find a way to bring them all together in order to win football games. That is where FAMILY comes into play.

“When you win, everybody benefits from that,” he said. “That’s the constant message you got to deliver in this day and age with young people, [for them] to understand it’s more than about you.

“You’re not a player anymore – it’s ‘University of Florida football player so-and-so.’ And that’s what I’m trying to build our football team to understand – it’s bigger than they are.”

Muschamp has already seen that focus and attention in the classroom, where he said the Gators sport a cumulative team GPA of around a 2.8, “which is close to a 3.0,” he said with a smirk. “I’m going to tell you guys…a 2.7-2.8 cumulative for a football team is really, really good,” he added. “Our academic people do an outstanding job.

“I didn’t come close to a 2.7 when I was in college…and y’all know where I was so that’s not an excuse.”

All joking aside, Muschamp is noticing his players buying into his systems and philosophies in a big way. Juniors safety Matt Elam, defensive lineman Dominique Easley and Buck linebacker Ronald Powell are just a few of the players he singled out for showing increased maturity, putting the team over the individual and doing the right thing when it comes to preparing for the upcoming season.

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Tags: Dominique Easley, Gator Gathering, Matt Elam, Ronald Powell, University of Florida, Will Muschamp

Though his team faced major depth issues in 2011 and is still trying to fill its roster with talented, hard-nosed players with a winning mentality, head coach Will Muschamp has no concerns whatsoever about the 12 players that have transferred away from the Florida Gators since he took over the team.

Before giving a speech at a Gator Gathering in West Palm Beach, FL on Thursday, Muschamp broke down transfers into three categories (natural attrition, family reasons, other issues) and said he and the coaching staff approach each individual request differently depending on the player and their unique situation.

“What are the reasons?” he asked when posed a question about his thoughts on a dozen players leaving the team since he arrived. “I use Josh Shaw as an example. He’s a young man that came to me. He’s very happy at Florida. He was a good football player for us. He was competing to be a starter at Florida. He had a bright future ahead of him. He had some personal issues within his family that were obviously affecting him at Florida and him being that far away from home.

“Very similar to Graham Stewart’s situation. Both of those young men came to me, and I don’t know at the end of the day that they wanted to leave Florida, but they wanted to do what was best for their family. And I saw both guys on a day-to-day basis struggling. At the end of the day, life’s too short.”

That is why, upon Shaw making a decision where he wanted to transfer [USC], Muschamp petitioned for him to be eligible to play immediately rather than sit out the one-year mandatory transfer window required by the NCAA. Shaw’s waiver was approved, giving Muschamp hope that the same will be true for Stewart at Connecticut.

“Let’s help these guys out,” he said of his position. “I petitioned for Josh to the NCAA for him to be eligible immediately at USC, and I’m doing the same for Graham Stewart because it’s the right thing to do.

“It’s distance from home and being with your family, and family always comes first with me. Helping those young men is a lot more important than what we’re doing at Florida as far as their future is concerned.”

That does not mean that every player who wants to transfer is met with the same reaction. Some do not respond well to being pushed. Others don’t want to (or feel like they can’t) compete against the talent in front of them to start at their position of choice.

Most importantly, Muschamp does not want to even group these types of issues together because sometimes the student-athlete is to blame and other times, well, it could be the coaching staff’s fault that he is not getting the opportunity he deserves.

“Now when a young man comes to me and says, ‘I don’t feel like I’m being treated fairly, and I want to transfer,’ that’s a different case, a different story,” he explained. “I hate to put a blanket over all transfers and say this is what our stance is. I think they’re all different. I view all situations different. Are you at a position that’s stockpiled with four guys better than you? Is that your fault? No. We signed you. That’s our fault. Those are things you have to take into account.”

The good news for Muschamp and the Gators is that, despite losing Stewart on May 4, the team is deeper than it has been in two seasons at the line of scrimmage. He has finally been able to build the depth he has sought out for the last year and believes that Florida will be better for it both in 2012 and beyond.

Tags: Gator Gathering, Graham Stewart, Joshua Shaw, Will Muschamp

1 » Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp is set to make 10 appearances at local Gator Clubs (nine in the state of Florida and one in Atlanta, GA) as part of the team’s six-week 2012 Gator Gathering schedule. The events are open to the general public; however, tickets are sold for each speaking engagement with proceeds benefiting the individual Gator Clubs and the university. You can check out the entire schedule here.

2 » The Gators opened up the Griffin-Oakley Strength & Conditioning Complex to the media on Thursday making new director of strength and conditioning Jeff Dillman as well as a few Florida players available for interviews and to talk about how training is going heading into the 2012 season. UF released a video recap of the event, which you can view below, through their GatorVision.tv service.

ESPN explained his philosophy further:

Dillman described Olympic-style lifting as weighted plyometrics — essentially exercises with fast, powerful movements while lifting weights. It’s designed to provide a total-body workout and a cardiovascular workout in a short period of time. It includes numerous variations based on three main lifts: the power clean, the snatch and the split jerk.

Because Olympic weightlifting movements are done quickly with heavier weight, and require significant coordination and muscle control, they can help athletes with such quick movements as sprinting, jumping or firing off the line of scrimmage. They also develop a strong core, better conditioning, and better balance.

Click to expand and read two more BITS in this post.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Brady Quinn, combine, Denver Broncos, Gator Gathering, Jeff Dillman, John Fox, NFL, Tim Tebow, Will Muschamp

Just a day after head coach Will Muschamp entertained the media at the 2011 SEC Media Days, Florida Gators offensive coordinator Charlie Weis filled in for him by participating in a Gator Gathering at the Marion County Gator Club.

During the event, Weis spoke about a number of topics but was most notably asked about the potential of redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley and the recent transfer of redshirt senior center Dan Wenger from Notre Dame.

After struggling one year ago, Brantley will be given the best chance possible to succeed, Weis said, because the goal is to develop the entire offense and not put all of the onus for success directly on his shoulders.

“When you put in a new offense, too much responsibility on any one player is not a very good philosophical idea,” Weis said, according to The Gainesville Sun. “The most important thing for me and the offensive staff is to figure out what we can do the best, and then just do a lot of that. Too many times in football people try to reinvent the wheel. What we have to do is develop a personality and find out what [Brantley] can do the best, and do that.”

The Super Bowl-winning offensive mind also reiterated that film of Brantley from last year has not done much to help his evaluation, even though he is confident in his ability to handle the offense and succeed long-term.

“It doesn’t help me very much because it’s so different from what I do,” Weis said. “[Brantley wasn't] really in a true drop-back setting, so therefore I need to be able to compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. […] In a pro-style offense, it’s more about whether you have all the physical tools to be able to run the offense – which he does. Then it’s mentally how do you handle it.”

Weis also spoke for the first time about Wenger, who joined the team in the summer and hopes to earn significant playing time considering his experience in Weis’s offense and as an player taught directly by new offensive line coach Frank Verducci at Notre Dame.

“He started a whole bunch of games for us at center and guard,” Weis said, according to GatorZone.com. “You want to talk about a bonus, a throw-in guy who has started about 30 games at center and guard? You can’t buy things like that. He’s really helped with those guys when we haven’t been able to be with them.”

Photo Credit: Unknown

Tags: Charlie Weis, Dan Wenger, Frank Verducci, Gator Gathering, John Brantley, Will Muschamp

Flying into Fort Lauderdale, FL for a Gator Gathering with the Broward Gator Club on Tuesday evening, Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp appeared anything but tired after a long day’s work. He gave a confident and passionate speech to nearly a thousand orange-and-blue-clad fans in attendance before energetically answering questions until it was time to depart. Below is a recap of some of the more newsworthy and interesting topics that Muschamp covered during the event:

Continue Reading » Muschamp gathers Gators in Fort Lauderdale

Tags: A.C. Leonard, Aubrey Hill, Bill Parcells, Brandon Antwine, Brian White, Bryant Young, Caleb Sturgis, Charlie Weis, Chris Rainey, Cody Riggs, D.J. Durkin, Gator Gathering, Jeff Demps, Jeremy Brown, John Brantley, Justin Trattou, Justin Williams, Kyle Christy, Matt Elam, Philadelphia Eagles, Riley Cooper, Terron Sanders, Trey Burton, Will Muschamp

Just hours after completing his first Gator Gathering in Lakeland, FL, Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp traveled to Bristol, CT and was put through ESPN‘s self-named car wash – appearing on nearly a dozen of the network’s media platforms over the course of one business day. OGGOA followed Muschamp’s media appearances throughout the day and has put together the following recap:

He started the morning on the set of SportsCenter, where anchor Josh Elliot interviewed him about becoming a head coach and taking over the Florida program.

Then Muschamp headed over to First Take on ESPN2 where host Jay Crawford covered a wide variety of topics with him.

Read, view and listen to the rest of his day in Bristol…after the break!
Continue Reading » Coach Muschamp goes through ESPN’s car wash

Tags: Andre Debose, Charlie Weis, Draft, ESPN, Gator Chomp, Gator Gathering, Jeremy Foley, Jesse Palmer, Jimbo Fisher, John Brantley, Mack Brown, NFL, Shelley Meyer, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp

Making the first stop on his state-wide tour of Gator Clubs, Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp arrived at the Gator Gathering in Lakeland, FL on Wednesday to much fanfare and excitement. He spent the evening giving a speech and answering questions about the team, meeting fans and signing autographs. Though OGGOA was not on-site for the event (we will be for one next week), some newsworthy notes were uncovered courtesy of a few reporters who were on hand.

» On redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley’s performance in the spring game: “I was standing behind him. With that front, there wasn’t a whole lot of blocking going on. I called a couple of them look-out blocks. When that ball was snapped they turned around and say, ‘look out’ because it was coming quick. The quarterback position is kind of like the old head coach — you get way too much credit when things go right and way too much credit when things go wrong.” (LL)

» Sophomore Gerald Christian, who committed to Florida as a tight end but was moved to linebacker this spring while still taking offensive snaps, will have his assignments switched again. Muschamp said Christian will play tight end and fullback while taking some snaps on defense, opposite of what the initial plan for him.

» On wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill coming back to Florida: “He called me more than I called him. He wanted to get out of Miami. I don’t blame him.” (PBP)

» On closing practices: “I know as a coach preparing for a team when there’s uncertainty; it’s very frustrating. With our age of technology and the Internet stuff, a guy can walk out to practice with a pen and film practice right now.” (LL)

» Kicker Caleb Sturgis has been granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA after sitting out most of 2010 with back injuries.

» On playing against Georgia, his alma mater: “I know we need to win. They’re all big. […] I’m not going to treat any game any different than any other one. I think when you do that you start to have fluctuation how you play and how you approach.” (LL)

» Junior running back Mike Gillislee “is going to be fine” after hurting his foot in the spring. “Matter of fact, he’s out back running now,” Muschamp said. (LL)

» On redshirt sophomore Jonotthan Harrison moving to center: “He brings an element of toughness to our football team.” (LL)

» Senior cornerback Janoris Jenkins (torn labrum) will be a “full go” for summer.

» Florida will not place any restrictions on where WR Chris Dunkley can transfer. “You go through this, and things come up. We have a certain standard that we want our players to uphold to. Chris and I met after spring practice and we just felt like it was best for him to look at another opportunity. He’s excited about another opportunity, and that’s the direction we decided to go. We’re helping him and trying to advise him. We appreciate his time at Florida. We’ll help him go wherever he wants to go.” (PBP)

Hat-tips: LL – Lakeland Ledger; PBP – Palm Beach Post
Photo Credit: Erica Brough/Gainesville Sun

Tags: Aubrey Hill, Caleb Sturgis, Chris Dunkley, Gator Gathering, Gerald Christian, Janoris Jenkins, John Brantley, Jonotthan Harrison, Mike Gillislee, NCAA, Will Muschamp