Former Florida DC REVEALS What's Wrong With the Gators Defense - And How to FIX IT

Brad White's not in the favor of Florida fans right now. A lot of hate coming his way due to multiple reasons. Can you talk some of these Gator fans off the ledge, or do they have a right to be a little frustrated on this defense? The 3-4 isn't falling, you know, Florida fans aren't falling in love with it. Should we fall in love with it, or should we have patience with it? Talk us through if you can. Yeah, so I think patience is always key. All right, boys and girls, welcome back. We've got a special edition today with Coach Jeff Collins. Coach, welcome to the show. You've been crushing it. The content's been awesome. I know Gator fans have been eating it up. It's been fun to get educated by someone like yourself, talking a lot of good stuff about this Florida team up until the buzzsaw this past weekend against Mizzou. Welcome to the show, Coach. Hey, I appreciate it. I just noticed your helmet behind your head. That was one of my favorite helmets that we wore when I was there in 15-16. Love that one. I don't know why we don't use it more or bring it back, and that's exactly why I have it, because it is my favorite. I've got a mini version as well with Percy. So it's a golden one. This one's signed by all the new guys. But, Coach, I got a lot to talk about, man. You spoke very highly about this defense, which had me very excited just a week ago, talking about how good Brad White is and how it's gotten so good so fast. Can you explain to Gator fans what the heck happened this past weekend, and should we be panicking, or is everything going to be okay? Our hair's on fire, Coach. Yeah, I think everything's going to be okay, and the thing that I've appreciated about Jon Sumrall and his approach to this entire team is he does not shy away from calling things out that need to be fixed, whether it's a coaching issue, whether it's a talent issue, whether it's a mentality issue. He is not hiding from the things that need to be fixed. He's not hiding from publicly acknowledging where we need to improve, right? And, I mean, I've been hurting this week, and I didn't listen to all of it, but just was just transparent about sometimes you're going to be placed in one-on-one matchups, and you have to win said one-on-one matchups. A lot of coaches won't say that, right? And he didn't throw shade, and he didn't bash any kids particularly, but the ones that lost those one-on-ones, let's not lose them. Like, we're quite literally at DBU, and at DBU, there's a standard of how we play defense and how we cover in the secondary, and we have to rise to that standard, or there's going to be some other guys that are going to come in and do it, whether they're on the roster, I don't know that, or they're going to be there come January because, you know, I think the things that have happened with John Sumrall's track record as a head coach, people can see the authenticity that he coaches with and the style of play that the Gators play with, and it's going to be an attractive destination. I mean, it always is, but with the right head coach, it's about to be, you know, the floodgates are going to open, the talent that's going to want to join in Gainesville. The other thing I'll say, and I said this to somebody yesterday, I believe, is, like, going to Columbia, Missouri is different, and some of these kids, I don't know how many of them had been to that trip before, but you play in Jordan-Hare, I mean, it's, you know, go to Auburn on the Plains, it is a loud, and I know John, you know, kind of threw shade at it, but that's a loud place to play. Those fans are nuts, and they're loud. Playing in the Swamp, as we all know, being in the Swamp, it is ridiculously loud, and there's an edge to that place, right? There's a level of hatred at most places in the SEC. In Columbia, Missouri, they quite literally, when you get off the bus, I'm so glad you're here. Did you guys have a nice sleep? Did you guys get some rest? I hope you have a joyous occasion today playing football. Isn't this wonderful? Like, it's disconcerting that you go from all of this, you know, angst and hatred and loudness and all these other things, and then it's kind of like taking a sleeping pill out in Columbia, Missouri, just the, they're just polite, they're nice, and it's just a different, if you're not used to it, it's different. That's, you know, that's actually very, a unique take that I've never heard before. Like, we've always heard Mizzou, I've never been to Mizzou, but I've always heard it's a tough place to play. Typically, the reason why it leads to being a tough place is that we play it sometime in October, November, it's like a weird, cold, the ground's hard, it's a noon game, it lacks energy, right? Not the fact that you get just the overly done Southern hospitality. You know, you've heard rage baiting, right? We got a little fun thing we call joy baiting. We got joy baited into this game, where it's like a scary movie, you know what I mean, where you walk in, and it almost feels like it's too good to be true, and it was. You walked into the Venus Flytrap, and you got sucked into it. That's funny you said that. I've never heard that before. Yeah, and it's real. Like, you walk into the hotel, I mean, it's just, I mean, most hotels try to be nice, but the level of niceness is kind of disconcerting. Then you quite literally, like, we're used, like, picture going into Death Valley, right? And they're shaking your buses, and they're screaming, you know, tiger bait, tiger bait. Then you go to Columbia, Missouri. Oh, we're so glad you're here. Man, it's awesome to have the Florida Gators visiting us. And you're like, what are you talking about? We're about to, you know, it's weird. Coach, when as a coach do you know, like, yeah, probably going to be a long Saturday for us, because these boys are not locked in. How early in the week do you know, like, could be a rough one for us? Now, sometimes they shock you. You know, sometimes they wake up when the lights turn on. Obviously, that didn't happen this past weekend. But as a coach, how early in the week do you know, like, oh boy, we are, these boys are reading their own press clippings. I've done this for 30 years, and there's some weeks and some pre-games and some Friday night meetings that you're like, oh yes, this is going to be ridiculously good how well we play. And then they go out there and they don't. And then other weeks you're like, oh, we're going to get beat by a Hyundai. Like, I was head coach at Georgia Tech and we're about to play Miami my first or second year. And I told my wife, I'm like, babe, I love you. And I know you love me, but you know, make sure you still love me after this game. Because I didn't feel at all good about it. Coach, we went out and won and it was a phenomenal, phenomenal day. So I've given up on trying to figure that piece out. But I do think that, here's the interesting piece, and this will be a two-layered kind of story, is when you're new in a program and you've just taken it over like John Summerall has, there's going to be things that have to happen and that will happen in the infancy of your program. And going 4-0 to begin is a magical start, right? But there has to be, for the expansive growth that is about to happen with Florida football, I hate to say it, but you almost need a game like that. Just, you know, because some of them, you know, weren't used to this kind of success. Like how many games did we win last year, four? Right, so you win four out the gate and you, at some point, if you're an 18 to 22-year-old kid, oh, I can just roll the ball out now and we're going to kill Missouri because we're the whatever-ranked team in the country and they've not spent enough time with John Summerall to understand that it doesn't matter the records. This is the SEC, bro. Like, we have to bring our A game in practice every day, in the weight room every day, in pregame warmups, in the game, there cannot be slacking off and there's going to have to be those points of friction to have expansive growth. So I hate that it happened, you know, for them, but it could eventually be one of the best things that did happen to them. Like, you just go back to the Tim Tebow Ole Miss game and it'll never happen again and it didn't. So just one of those things, just one of those things that has to happen. And then the other point is, if you've been in a place like Jeff Levy or even Eli Drinkwitz, where there's been some lack of success, then you just finally get it and then it falls apart, then it's another mentality that unfolds as well. So I don't know if I answered your question. No, you did. So I have a question, because we talked about it today on the morning show where, you know, we're saying, hey, coach is going to be yelling and screaming this week. It's going to be a bloodbath during practice. The energy is going to be lifted to another level. I kind of pushed back and was saying, like, I would love for the players to bring some more of that intensity. From your perspective as a coach, how do you roll into this week of practice? What would be your mindset going into it after that loss? And how would you handle it? Now, obviously, I think coaches carry a different perspective, but maybe your perspective and also how do you think John may be carrying it? And what ultimately do you think is the right way of heading into this week after a loss? So I think you have to be very clear-headed of which of the three elements we're missing on Saturday. Was it the fundamentals and technique of how you were going about your business? So was it fundamental technique execution thing? Was it a motivation thing? Were you not ready for this game? Were you not amped up for this game, right? And then was it a schematic thing? Did we bust assignments? Did we not know what we're doing? Did we kind of not do the right things schematically or execute the right things schematically? And the challenge for a coach is to make sure you're fixing the right one of those three things or the right two of those things or some cases on a day like that, it might be all three of those things. And the level of intensity depends on which of those things need to be fixed. So if it's all three, there's going to be a very heightened sense of intensity, right? If it's just fundamentals technique, well, let's drill down and get better and focus on the details. That doesn't need to be a lot of yelling and screaming to get that fixed, right? Okay. Then the schematics or the preparation or the execution, if that's the case, then what method of teaching are we going to have? So I think it's varying on which of those three or the combination of those three have to be addressed. And the thing that I've grown to know about John Summerall is he's going to be very clear-headed in the evaluation. Like he texted me, I texted him after the game, he texted me right back. So I think he's going to have a clear-headed vision of what are the thing, thing or things that have to be addressed before they play South Carolina. Yeah. Before they come down. You're saying he does have a clear vision based on your conversation of what needs to be fixed. I'm not saying with my conversation. I'm saying with how I have grown to know him and appreciate him. And to see, okay, he is not going to miscalculate what needs to be fixed. And that's a talent and an art in itself that not all of us have. I think that's actually a really good point because, you know, us as a fan base, we're still learning who John is. And I said that a lot of like, look, the foot's going to drop at some point this season. And it got kicked off. It didn't just drop. And that's where we're going to find out who coach really is, is how he responds. And I love that you said that. I'm like, look, I trust, and right now you're saying, based on what you know about him, you trust him to go into this week and manage it properly. Where, look, there's times where you could go in. It's like, man, it's so overly saturated with nonsense. It could take a bit to get, to turn it back around. But you feel ultimately confident from what you know that, hey, this, this, he knows exactly what buttons to hit and where to flip it back. Yeah, 100%. And just the, you can tell his emotional intelligence and his maturity level that he's not going to just be reactionary and fly off the handle on some tangent that is actually, could make things worse. Okay. Like if you go and you're hammering around on motivation and all those things and that wasn't the issue, where it was fundamentals, technique, execution scheme was the issue. You run the risk of losing the fellas. You know what I'm saying? Like, if a play call sucks, I would imagine John Summerall in the, in the team meetings is going to be like, yeah, we should, we put you on a bad position. But if a kid lost a one-on-one matchup, do it not doing what he should have done. He's going to point that out and not to, you know, belittle a coach or belittle a kid. But hey, let's have a clear-eyed vision of the reality of what this is so we can all get this thing fixed. And he's the one that's the steward of all that and the teller of truths and making sure that there's no misguided notions. I'm using some big words, misguided notions of what the issue was, what the problem was. One of my favorite things in the first two games, like, you know, 62 to nothing, whatever it was, 59 to whatever the scores were. He had real conversations publicly and privately of what said issues still were. There was entitlement. There were people that think they're better than they are, all those kind of things. And I know he would probably address, I'm sure he addressed those directly with the people that need to get those things fixed and you can get things fixed when truth is told. If you're just doing it for some false narrative, if you're just doing it to gas up a fan base or to make somebody feel good, there's no growth that's going to happen. But real honest conversations based on fact and evidence that were shown in that game, like there's going to be, that's why they film the games is so you can have a record of what happened so that you can go and educate the players. Here's what we got to do to get better, motivation, technique, fundamental scheme, execution, whatever, whatever part of it needs to be improved. And I was actually, I think one of the text was, I'm fired up to watch you get this thing fixed. Congratulations, boys and girls, because this show is brought to you by Price Picks and I congratulate you because you finally made it to college football season, boys and girls. Yes, that is right. You can now get in on the action on Price Picks with college football. It is time to get up after it. This week, we're rocking and rolling, feeling pretty good, but our guy Micah Alejandro from Hawaii. Then we've got, of course, King Miller with USC getting some rush touchdowns. I know we don't like FSU around these parks, but I think Ashley Daniels going to use a little legs in this upcoming week for some nice football to get him more in his rushing yard. You can, you can now get in on the action with Price Picks for the rushing season and individual games. And on the app, you can pick your team to just win the game outright. When you use that code HMA, download the app today using the link in the description. You pay $5. You get $150. If you win that lineup for brand new users and take advantage, ride with the crowd. Okay, use the great features that Price Pick has to offer. Price Picks, it is good to be around. You said that to him. It's hard, you know, it's hard. It's hard probably to harp on 19 to 21 year olds because the winning did cover a lot of stuff. Let's be honest. It covered stuff with us and it's hard to ride them when they're winning. But now Coach Jon Summerall's got all the ammo he wants after an egg like that. I ask you, obviously this week coming into South Carolina, a talented team. They have, we don't know if Dylan Stewart's going to be back yet, but a coach that is on the proverbial hot seat, right? And then you have a very wishy-washy up and down team in South Carolina. Could this be like a scary team to play? Because I've always seen like teams that have put in an interim coach are kind of scary because you don't know what you're going to get and teams that have a coach on a hot seat, you don't know what you're going to get because South Carolina has the talent to beat anybody in the SEC and Lenore Sellers, all it takes is him to go nuclear one game and he's, you know, 400 yards, five touchdowns and you get an outcome you don't want. Is that a scary place to be? Almost like the wounded dog mentality. You don't know what kind of dog you're going to get with South Carolina Saturday. Yeah, and I think it's twofold. I think, you know, the thing that John's done is has been honest in those big wins. So I don't know that in all those wins, they walked out of there letting the scoreboard dictate their emotions. They were letting the truth of what they saw get those things corrected and, you know, something like that had to happen for that to move forward. But the other piece is the, like, I've known Shane for 26 years. We were GAs together back at Georgia Tech. So he's one of my closest friends in the world. And the hot seat thing, and I did a whole thing on my show, Coach Collins show, probably too early in the, you know, development of the show because I didn't even know what I was going to do with this show. But I did a whole episode about what it feels like to be on the hot seat. And boys, it sucks, man. Like I texted with Shane on Friday, like I'm a thousand percent in his quarter. He's one of my closest friends and I know what his family's going through, what his wife is going through, what his kids are going through going to school. I know what every single one of those players in that program is going through because you got to understand, every one of those players chose South Carolina for Shane Beamer. All of those players he recruited, all of those players he has a tremendous relationship with. And I think Shane, as we all do as head coaches, can turn off our mentions, delete our social medias. We're not going to see it. And we just pour into the coaches, we pour into the players, try to be good dads when we get home. And that's our day. We don't hear all the noise. Every play in that locker room hears every single bit of that noise. His wife going to the grocery store, she's going to hear the noise. His kids going to school, a thousand percent are hearing the noise, right? And it sucks, but back to the players, like they love Shane Beamer. And they want to play really well for him. But there's also a fan base that celebrates them as individuals. Well, those same people that celebrate them are trashing somebody that they care about and that they love. And are, I think in a lot of cases, and not just at South Carolina, other coaches are on the hot seat calling for him not to be there anymore. And that creates, you know, hurt and pain and concern. And they want to go out there and play at a high level for him. So I don't think anybody's, you know, like the hot seat thing is not tearing that locker room apart. I think it's galvanizing them in support of Shane because they love him. And you saw how they played it, played versus Kentucky. I mean, that's, what are they now, top 20? It was a one point game. Mississippi State, they're top 20. That was a one score game, right? It's not a bad football team. It's just the SEC is freaking loaded. And, you know, if you're on that hot seat list, every one point, six point loss feels like the sky is falling. But internally, the guys know that they're still a pretty good football team. Yeah, you could definitely do that segment again. I think a lot of fans would appreciate that perspective. I think we always, as fans, where it's easy for us to throw the egg at the coach on the hot seat. But there is that, again, there is that side of it, you're humans too, that a fan say, well, they're fine, they're taken care of. But it's the, it's the out, everything else that's affected, that doesn't get looked into, right? Like the, like the wives, like the kids. They're the ones that are getting unsolicited nonsense because that's, that's the world of college football. So, yeah, I didn't know you had this. I just taught my personal experience. So, our daughter, quite literally, had best friends in Atlanta. And we're not there anymore. She quite literally no longer has those friends because we moved, right? And same thing, like they're, you know, they're not going to, the coaches of said schools, once they're not there, they're not going to stay in that community where some of them have five year, 10 years, seven year, 10 years, some coach on the hot seat at 10 plus year, 10 years. That's going to affect the families, the wives, the relationships. It sucks, man, you know? And I, the thing that I always stress is, like, we're not cartoon characters. Like, sure, they pay us a lot of money and you get paid a lot of money. You should be able to deal with all of these things that are thrown at you. And I, and I get all of that. But, there's still real people with livelihoods and families and relationships and all of those things. And I understand the win-loss record, but the vitriol surrounding all of it is just, it boggles my mind that we can just have casual conversations about wishing for somebody's demise and for them to lose their job and their kids to lose their school. Like, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't think that happens elsewhere in society. Like, I don't want to, you know, illustrate a comparison, but I don't think if your quarterly review on your, you know, numbers doesn't go well that there's 100,000 people that are sitting there screaming for you to lose your livelihood and job. I don't think that happens. Maybe it does. Maybe I don't, I don't know the real world. Yeah. I'm laughing. I'm thinking of an SEC short. I'm thinking of an SEC short, right? Like, imagine you're in the office and there's people outside of the, of the, of the pitch bowl. Fire show, fire show. Because he's had a bad quarter. You're, you're a, you're a seventh grade teacher and, you know, you have eight of your 20 kids fail the, the math test. Yeah. You know, is there a blog that is going on to? It is crazy. Maybe there is. I don't, I just don't know it. There will be now, coach. Thanks. No, that's, that's, that's such a good point. Obviously, I'd like to ask you about fan bases. Obviously, you've been to a couple, couple places in your tenure of, of coaching, right? You know, I feel like, I feel like there's some places like John Summerall was very happy at Tulane. I feel like he could go around New Orleans, have a great time. Nobody really knew who he was, unless you were like a super fan of Tulane. You know, they could go to downtown. Wasn't a big deal. Obviously, a little bit different in Gainesville. Probably different for you, when you were at Mississippi State, going, going to Mississippi State, and then obviously Florida. It just ramps up, ramps up, ramps up. What is that like? Is it, is it like, oh, this is the big leagues? Is that kind of what it feels like, coach, when you become an overnight superstar? Not, and it could be because you're good, and it could be because, you know, sometimes good, sometimes ----. You don't know what you're going to get. Yeah, and it happens. I remember the first time it happened for me. So, I was running recruiting at Georgia Tech in 2006. Nick Saban hires me to be his director of player personnel at Alabama. His first staff, and all these kind of things. And Nick Saban sent the Alabama, University of Alabama plane, to Atlanta to pick me up, to bring me to my first day of work. And bro, coach, you could, you could tell me nothing, right? I definitely, I was, coach, you know, I was, I was it in that moment. And I'm like, I have made it. I have arrived. And obviously, there's other moments like that, that'll happen throughout your career. And I remember going to, when we got to Gainesville, they gave me a bunch of swag. So, I don't want Jeff McGrew to get pissed, that I didn't say that, Florida Equipment did give me a bunch of swag. They did. But, I think the first week, I went to, what's the, what's the store that's off of, over there near, Chewy's, whatever that, Florida Gator, Alumni Hall or Alma Mater? Alumni Hall. Okay. So, I go to Alumni Hall, and I just walk in, you know, just like, like a regular person. And I buy some stuff for my wife, who is still in Starkville, Mississippi. And I go up to the counter to pay. And they're like, coach, we're so glad you're here. You get 25% off or whatever. And I'm like, they know who I am. That's pretty cool. You know, I don't been there like two days. And so, those moments, you know, do happen. And those are, those are cool moments. But there's other times, as a coach, you get booed out of the stadium. And that moment, those moments suck, bro. It's, well, that's. Do you still? Go ahead. Do you still remember your first time, coming out of the tunnel, in the swamp, home game, as a coach? I don't know that I do. I do remember it from, the spring game, and walking out of the tunnel, and seeing all the mass order people, that I wasn't expecting to be there. For practice and scrimmage. For scrimmage. For the first spring game, I'm like, what the heck is this? And Mississippi State did a good job with that too. But there's just something about, going past the Gatorhead, that Tim Tebow had walked by, and Urban Meyer had walked by, and you know, those kind of things. Like, legends of the game, had literally walked out of this exact same tunnel. That was a pretty cool experience. Coach, before, I know you got to get up out of here. I want you to tell people, where they can follow you, and keep up with all your great content. But I got one last question on this defense, because you spoke very highly about it schematically, and its ability to confuse people. We talked about coaches, and you know, the signs of booing coaches out. Brad White's, not in the favor of Florida fans right now. A lot of hate, right, coming his way, due to multiple reasons. Can you talk some of these Gator fans off the ledge, or do they have a right to be a little frustrated, on this defense? The 3-4 isn't, isn't falling, you know, Florida fans aren't falling in love with it. Should we fall in love with it, or should we have patience with it? Talk us through if you can. Yeah, so I think patience is always key, and I think one of the biggest pieces that I've learned, when I went from Mississippi State, which we had great players. So I had Chris Jones, Preston Smith, Darius Slay, Benardzo McKinney. I mean, we had great players. But, the defense that we played, and the style of defense that we played at Mississippi State, wasn't the style of defense that, the second year I was at Florida, were able to play. Like, I was a zone quarters, fire zone, that kind of deal. And we did that the first, probably half of the season, and we had Keanu Neal, we had Bernard Hargroves, we had John Bullard, we had, we had great players, right? So they make things work, no matter what. But then, over time, I figured out, we could play a lot more man-free, we could just lock people down, we could do some sexy blitzes, and play tighter coverage across, and not as many, creepers, and Tampa twos, and all those kind of things. So I think there's a learning curve, when you go to a place that is a have, when you've been at places that were have-nots. And they play great defense at Kentucky, but they're not necessarily a have. Like, they don't have all the best resources, they don't have all the best players. Then when you're at a place that does have it, there's a learning curve, because I went through it, that you have to go through, and experience, and you've got to experience that on your own. And I understand Florida fans, and I understand fans in general, you know, they want it now, and it doesn't help that Buster's putting up 60 a game, right? The first four games too. So there's going to be always that natural, you know, back and forth, offense, defense, all those kind of things. So could it be like, Brad's got to trust his players a little bit more? Like you, you have the haves, trust in that? The question is, that's a, that's a great point. And I don't know the roster, completely in full. But, there's some players, in general, I'm not talking about Florida, that think they are, something, and maybe their performance isn't reflective of that. Okay. At this point in their careers, but they still have that, mindset, and then they don't think they have to, have as much attention to detail, fundamentals, technique, all those kind of things, playing with leverage, where, getting those things pointed out, will help, their development and maturity. And if they can't do certain things, then we've got to address it, in the portal, in the offseason as well. Or get somebody that's, next in line, to be able to elevate, to do those kind of things as well. For sure. Well, Coach Collins, we can't thank you enough. This has been an absolute pleasure. Great information. We'll get you some swag headed your way. And thank you for coming on with, we'll be in touch. We'll love, I'm sure we'll love to hear from you again. And maybe, you know, once these things start, things turn around, you come back, like, told you, patience is key. Coach, tell them again, where they can follow you, and keep up with you though, and we appreciate you. Yes, so just across all socials, even from when I was there the first time, at Coach Collins, and then it's on YouTube, it's The Coach Collins Show. And, my second highest performing video, is apparently a Florida Gators video. Let's make sure those things get elevated, and keep all these other fan bases, that are following my stuff, keep them below, the Florida Gator level of, expertise and enjoyment. I love it. I think they will. Gator fans show up, and show out for sure. Coach Collins everybody, go give him a follow, and subscribe. We'll see you guys in the next one. Peace and love baby.