Buster Faulkner sees plenty to fix after Florida scores 66 points

Scoring 66 points did not leave Buster Faulkner short on corrections after he reviewed Florida’s season-opening win over Florida Atlantic.

Faulkner reviewed Florida’s performance against Florida Atlantic, highlighting Aaron Philo’s poise, Jadan Baugh’s explosiveness and the offense’s ability to distribute the ball. He also identified several areas that need improvement despite the unit’s productive debut.

The Gators’ offensive play-caller also discussed the response to Eric Singleton Jr.’s injury, the physicality of Florida’s receivers and tight ends and how Jon Sumrall keeps the team grounded following a convincing win.

Here’s everything Faulkner had to say.

Did you find anything the offense needs to correct after reviewing the FAU game?

Absolutely, we’ve got to make sure we’re in sequence with our snap count. That showed up a couple of times. Timing up our motions, making sure that we understand when we’ve got to snap the ball, and being tied together with the center when it comes to that.

There were a few times I thought we got out-physicaled in certain areas, and then there were other times I thought we played extremely, extremely hard. There was a lot of good and a lot of bad.

I was proud of the way they came out and competed because, at the end of the day, we challenged them: What’s it going to look like on Sunday? You’re going to make mistakes. Let’s make them full speed. I thought we did that.

Overall, it was good. There’s still a lot we’ve got to improve.

What did you think of the receivers who stepped up after Eric Singleton Jr.’s injury?

It was a shame. We took a shot to him early in the game, and the corner got out of there — the one we ended up throwing to Dallas. But you could see his speed.

Then, when we threw it out there to Bailey, I actually saw Eric get rolled up. There probably wasn’t anybody as sick as I was in the stadium when he went down, just seeing the way it happened and knowing all the hard work the kid has put in. He’s had a great camp and an unbelievable spring. I know he was really, really looking forward to getting back out here and playing.

I hate it for him and hate it for us, but it’s a next-man-up mentality. I thought the guys did a great job. The receiver coaches, Marcus and Trent, did a good job of shuffling some guys around. That’s where the versatility comes in with the offense.

VB3 was able to bump out and do some things that we needed him to do. Bailey was able to come in, so we didn’t really miss a beat. Micah went out there and ended up making some plays. TJ had the catch on the big play.

I was pleased with them being ready when their numbers were called. That’s something we preach at all positions: You never know when it’s going to happen. You’ve just got to be ready when that time comes.

How pleased were you with the offense’s efficiency?

The idea is to be highly efficient. We want to be explosive, and we want to be ahead of the chains. When we’re not ahead of the chains, how do we get back on schedule or be explosive on second-and-10?

We weren’t where I wanted to be on first downs. I want higher efficiency right there because that always keeps you ahead of it. But we made up for it on some second downs. We were able to stay in third-and-manageable. I try to stay out of third-and-long the best we can, so that was good, and it makes it easier on third down.

Coach Sumrall is always extremely aggressive, which helps the sequencing of plays and the communication of knowing what we’ve got to get to in order to go for it on fourth down. All of that was good from that standpoint.

Philo made the one scramble on third-and-10 that got us to fourth-and-short. That was a big play in the game. You don’t realize it at the time, but you look back, and that extended the drive right there. We always tell them that when the ball is in play, you’ve got a chance. He kept it in play with his feet, and that was a good play for us.

How would you evaluate Aaron Philo’s overall performance?

That’s a lot of who he is and what we’ve seen over the last several weeks. That’s why it’s so important to have competition. You’ve been competing for the last six or eight months, or whatever it is, to be the quarterback. That’s every day, and that helps when you get into the season.

We’ve been able to see that for quite some time. There was no shock with the poise he plays with and the confidence he plays with. He’s always had that.

We want to continue to tame some of the throws, but for the most part, he did good. There were a few plays that he’d like to have back and we’d like to have back, and he’d tell you the same thing.

On third-and-6 early in the game, we ran a little sweep and he decided to keep the ball. That should have been handed off. In my eyes, that’s one that I didn’t sleep. We don’t want him running the ball, but there are going to be times when he does.

He played well. Can he play better? Yeah, he can play better.

How many options does Philo have within each play?

Every play, we try to have multiple options, even in the run game. Are we going to run it to the right? Are we going to run it to the left? Is he keeping it? Is he throwing it?

There are very few plays where it’s just going to be one thing. That’s the importance of the reps, being in the offense, everything we do during the offseason and all the walkthroughs.

You’ve got to see space. You’ve got to see leverage. You’ve got to see numbers and the box count. Is the corner bailing? If he’s bailing, you can throw it out there — different things like that.

He’s always going to have multiple options to be able to deal the ball. The ball distribution was really good, and we’ve got the players to be able to do it. You look at the numbers, and they say that.

Is Florida prepared to operate without coach-to-player communication?

The first six months, really, the only time we use quarterback-to-coach is during the actual spring practice days. We’ll also do periods where we don’t use it at all. They’ve got to get the signal. All the players know all the signals. We also do that in case we want to signal something in after 15 or 16 seconds, when the communication cuts off.

If it happens, we’re prepared for it. We actually lost coach-to-player on the one where we had to use a timeout, and we were in the wrong personnel grouping. We had to use the timeout, but I think they ended up giving it back to us. We’re prepared for it if it happens.

Did you watch the FSU game in which the coach-to-player communication failed?

I did not.

Would losing that communication be a worst-case scenario for a coordinator in the booth?

No, I wouldn’t say so. It’s only been, what, three years now since we’ve had it? For most of my career, that’s what it was anyway.

Like I said, if you come watch us practice, we’re signaling constantly during different periods. The reason we do it is that I like to coach. I don’t want to just be sitting there talking the whole day. I want to be able to coach, see everybody else and make sure the intensity is where I want it to be at practice.

We’re prepared for it if it comes up.

What did you think of Jadan Baugh’s performance?

He didn’t score on the 61-yarder. It was an explosive run, but I tell him, “Hey, man, we don’t want to have to call another play there.”

But you saw him not go out of bounds, and that was probably in the back of his head. Then you saw those guys running down there — VB3, Bailey Stockton, Luke Harpring and a few other guys were getting down there.

That’s what it’s all about. You’re not going to have explosive runs if those guys aren’t down there making the blocks, giving the extra effort and doing all that stuff.

His performance was as good as advertised. There are still some things he’s got to clean up, and he’ll tell you the same thing. We’re going to coach him through those things. I thought he did a great job making the first initial guy miss. He’s fun to watch, highly competitive, and I’m glad he’s on our team.

What did you think of TJ Abrams blocking a nose tackle on Duke Clark’s touchdown?

That wasn’t exactly ideal, but he did a good job right there. Part of his job on that play is to clean anything up, and he did.

That’s tough to ask him to do, and he did a good job. I was really impressed with all the wideouts blocking downfield and the tight ends. If you watch Amir Jackson, the first thing when I came out of the game was, “We’ve got to find a way to make sure No. 7 is playing more.”

That’s what the tape says — the effort, the strain and the ability. He’s getting better and better every day and embracing his role. He’s earned more, which is a good problem for us.

How does the perimeter blocking reflect the toughness and sacrifice emphasized during the offseason?

I think it goes a lot by the way the head coach runs this program. There are a lot of guys who just put “toughness” on the wall and say it every once in a while. He coaches it, preaches it and teaches it. Not just once or twice — he does it all the time.

I think that’s the way it should be. It comes from him, and it goes right down to all of us. He’s not only coaching the players through those things, but he’s coaching the coaches, too. I think every one of the coaches will tell you that when he gets in front of the team and coaches those four pillars of the program, we’re ready to go play right after he gets done doing it.

It’s part of who we’re going to be. It’s in the DNA of the program, and we’ve got to continue to be better at that. A lot of those things come in practice.

Where does Bailey Stockton’s ability to get open come from?

I think it comes from playing in an offense in high school where they threw the ball every snap. If you look back at kids like that, they understand spatial awareness. That’s where he’s really good. He’s faster than you think he is, but he’s not the fastest. He’s quick and in and out of breaks, but he sees the field with great vision.

He knows when to spin it tight, when to go over the top, and he changes speeds really well. That’s what makes him a really, really good receiver.

What has surprised you most about Baugh?

For a guy his size — I’ve talked about how he’s built to last — his lateral quickness and twitch are elite. That’s what’s off the charts. To be a great back, that’s probably the No. 1 trait you’ve got to have. Being able to make guys miss in the hole and the quickness that he displays are really good. That’s fun to watch.

We didn’t even block the guy, and he made him miss. That’s where coaching is overrated.

How did TJ Shanahan perform after entering at left tackle?

He was awesome. He has been trending upward since probably right after the first scrimmage. During that week of practice, you started to see it. TJ came in and didn’t miss a beat. He did some really good things. He’s another one where you come back and watch the film Saturday night and say, “OK, he’s earned the right to play.”

He’s going to play some left tackle and some right tackle. He was playing left guard before we had an injury last week. We had played him at some guard because he had been doing so well.

In the middle of last week, he went back to tackle, so his stock is definitely trending upward. We’re glad because we need some more depth. He did an awesome job when he came in.

How do you keep the players grounded after scoring 66 points?

Don’t listen to anything (the media) say. No, I’m kidding.

The message is that it’s one week at a time. The goal is to be 1-0, and we’re on to the next game and the next opponent at this point.

How good do you want to be? Great teams practice hard. Great players practice. They don’t sit out of practice. Those are the things we’re coaching and preaching all the time, trying to get them to understand that the scoreboard is going to take care of itself Saturday night.

It’s all about the preparation leading into the game and making sure they’re prepared to play. We want the game to be slow for them by the time we get there, and we want the week to be chaotic and hard. As the week goes on, it gets more mental and the plan will shrink.

To answer your question, it starts with the staff. We’ve got to move on and understand that you’re only as good as your last game.

How have the former Georgia Tech players helped Florida’s offense come together?

The biggest thing is that they understand me and what I believe it takes to be a good offense. I tell them all the time that everybody has good plays, but it’s got to be about the playing style. What’s our mentality?

They understand that at all the positions, and that’s as important to me as anything. It doesn’t matter what we run. It’s how we run it, how physical we’re going to be, how hard we’re going to play, how well we know our jobs and how fast we play. They’ve been a part of it, I think all of them for three years, or Philo maybe two.

They get that aspect of it. They get that I’m going to be hard on them, and I think they were able to say, “Hey, this is just the way he is.”

What did you think of Luke Harpring’s catch?

It was an unbelievable catch. He actually played really fast — probably played the fastest he’s ever played.

That’s a testament to coach (Evan) McKissack and the way those guys are coached on every detail. Luke played really well. That catch was not an easy catch and not an easy throw, but he has elite ball skills for a guy at his position, and we’re excited about him.

He’s doing a great job. That whole room — really, all of them played well. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely, and they’ll tell you the same thing. They’re getting coached as hard as any position out there.

But it was a heck of a catch.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Buster Faulkner sees plenty to fix after Florida scores 66 points