Members of UF’s much-maligned protection hung exterior the visiting locker room at Kyle Field on Saturday afternoon each second they might. Freshman defensive lineman Chris McClellan welcomed Amari Burney and Miguel Mitchell to the postgame celebration with high-fives. Texas native Princely Umanmielen shared Florida’s 41-24 win at Texas A&M with household and mates hanging on the rail. Once gamers showered and began to stream exterior towards the busses, they took additional time to bask within the second. Defensive backs Trey Dean III and Rashad Torrence II took photographs with household. Linebacker Ventrell Miller, one of many final to exit, carried a Texas-sized smile.
“Definitely proud of those guys,” quarterback Anthony Richardson said. “They get a variety of hate, backlash, . It’s exhausting to play protection.”
The Gators played it as well as they have all season in the second half Saturday, limiting the Aggies to 106 yards of total offense. The Aggies led 24-20 at halftime, rolling up and down the field for 307 yards. But when the game was on the line, the Gators answered the call, including rising to the challenge on third down. Texas A&M, after converting 3 of 5 on third down in the first half, moved the chains just once in eight third-down attempts in the second half.
“I feel it simply needed to do with the halftime speech from among the coaches and gamers,” stated Miller, who completed with 4 tackles and one for loss. “A little bit of tough love. It was more of an effort thing. We came out flat-footed, very flat-footed. We came in at halftime and everybody took accountability for that.”
Miller stated the halftime message was easy: the protection wasn’t taking part in as much as its capabilities and the sport was nonetheless anybody’s to win. Play higher and win it.
The Gators entered the sport ranked 117th within the nation in whole protection, however they responded by shutting out the Aggies within the second half. When Texas A&M failed to attain within the third quarter, it marked the primary time for the reason that third quarter of the Missouri sport (11 consecutive quarters) that Florida has held an opponent scoreless in 1 / 4. The Aggies scored on 4 of their 5 first-half drives however got here up empty on eight second-half sequence, punting 5 instances, committing two turnovers and turning the ball over on downs as soon as.
The Gators turned up the warmth of their first sport with out fifth-year defensive lineman Brenton Cox Jr., who was dismissed from the crew after the Georgia loss by head coach Billy Napier. In Cox’s absence, Umanmielen, Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr. and Lloyd Summerall III all stepped up. Umanmielen and Powell-Ryland compelled fumbles on sacks, with Summerall recovering Umanmielen’s strip-sack of Aggies quarterback Haynes King within the fourth quarter. Later within the interval, Burney recovered a fumble on Powell-Ryland’s sack.
“We made him hold the ball and we affected the quarterback,” Napier said. “You know, we did not anticipate that child [King] taking part in, however we have been speaking all week about making it exhausting, getting them in passing downs and affecting the quarterback.”
King, Texas A&M’s starter at the start of the season earlier than shedding the job, returned to the beginning lineup when freshman Conner Weigman was dominated out because of the flu. King completed 23 of 45 for 279 yards, however he was simply 9 of 26 for 95 yards within the second half.
Napier stated the protection’s response had as a lot to do with angle than the changes made at halftime by co-coordinators Patrick Toney and Sean Spencer.
“Ventrell obviously is the alpha. I see Gervon Dexter, I see Antwaun Powell, I see Rashad Torrence,” Napier said. “There’s a variety of younger gamers I see taking possession. Antwaun has been within the rotations. Antwaun’s a superb soccer participant. He’s been productive when given alternatives up to now.
“Princely’s another one of those guys with minimal experience to some degree before this year that really is starting to develop nicely as a player. We’ve played him more in the third down packages here as of late, and he’s been productive.”
The defensive turnaround within the second half led to Florida’s first highway win in convention play since 2020. It additionally moved the Gators inside a win of turning into bowl eligible in Napier’s first season.
Florida snapped a two-game shedding streak and returns house on Saturday to face South Carolina within the house finale. Napier is prepared for a repeat efficiency.
Especially the defensive effort that made the journey house from Texas A&M a pleasing one.
“They haven’t got frustrated or bored with trying to do the right thing, making good decisions when there’s been plenty opportunity, you know, to maybe go the other way,” Napier stated. “So, we’ve got a lot of work left to do. But I think the human element … there’s a lot of good going on in there right now.”