Florida Gators 2019 Season Superlatives
With the Florida Gators' 2019 season in the rear-view mirror, it's time to have some fun in reflection of a successful second year of the Dan Mullen era.
It's time for season superlatives.
Who was the team MVP? Which freshman earned rookie of the year honors? Who was the most underrated player to don orange and blue this year, and who left the most to be desired?
MVP: QB Kyle Trask
Kyle Trask wasn’t perfect this season. However, he performed a lot better than anyone thought he would – myself included. Given the keys to Dan Mullen’s offense midway through the Kentucky game this season, Trask buttoned his chinstrap and trotted onto Kroger Field in the first real, meaningful showing we had seen from the Texas native.
And while it took Feleipe Franks suffering a gruesome injury for the “Rise of Trask” to take off, it undoubtedly changed the perception of Kyle Trask as a football player. After all, I can’t think of too many people who would’ve guessed that he’d be this season’s MVP. Yet, here we are.
After throwing for 2,941 yards this season and mustering nearly a 67% completion percentage, Trask helped lead the Gators to their second consecutive 10+ win season and New Year’s Six bowl win.
After eclipsing 300 passing yards four times this season – with his first 300 yard bout coming against No. 1 ranked LSU – Trask touched numbers that hadn’t otherwise been touched since the days of Tim Tebow.
In his performance against Vanderbilt on November 9th, Trask tossed the pigskin for a total of 363 yards – the most a Florida quarterback had thrown for since Tebow threw for 432 yards against Cincinnati in the 2010 Sugar Bowl.
Losing Feleipe Franks could have gone one of two ways – the season could have tanked or Franks’ replacement could have stepped up to the plate and owned his new role as the offensive leader.
Trask chose the latter of the two – and for that reason, he’s Florida’s MVP for the 2019 season.
Offensive Player of the Year: TE Kyle Pitts
With an offense that is soaking wet with talent like Florida’s was, it was hard to zero in on one guy.
There were four senior receivers on 2019’s roster – and each of them made some seriously clutch and game altering plays. But at the end of the day, it’s Kyle Pitts who turned the most heads this season.
The 6 foot-6 tight end isn’t your “typical” tight end. Instead of spending a majority of his playing time blocking for the running back behind him, Mullen wanted to get Pitts more involved in the offense.
And by more involved, he meant 54 receptions for 649 yards and five touchdowns. That stat line might not jump off the page, but remember that Pitts is a tight end – not a conventional receiver.
All season long, the Kyle-to-Kyle connection proved to be special. That same partnership contributed to a total of 108 yards on the road against LSU. A lot of size, in combination with nice routes and strong hands, Kyle Pitts stuck out in 2019.
And with Pitts being just a sophomore and Kyle Trask returning to vouge for the starting job in 2020, the Kyle-to-Kyle connection will certainly be something to keep your eye on next season.
Defensive Player of the Year: DE Jonathan Greenard
Though he only wore the orange and blue for a single year – the former Louisville Cardinal made it count.
Coming into Gainesville, he made sure to give lessons on how to pronounce his name. As he prepares to leave UF en route to the NFL, he won’t have to worry about his name being forgotten anytime soon.
In his sole year as a Gator, Greenard tallied 50 total tackles – 26 solo and 24 assisted.
Admittedly, I wondered if this superlative belonged to David Reese II considering Greenard lost a handful of games with a pesky ankle injury. But as I recalled the games that Greenard missed, I remembered that his absence was almost as prominent as his presence.
And that’s DPOY material.
On the season, Greenard also tallied 9.5 sacks – but like other superlative recipients, Greenard’s leadership didn’t stop on the stat sheet. Instead, Greenard acted as the field general for the Florida offense.
Florida’s defensive coordinator Todd Grantham identified many times that Greenard’s pre-snap presence was just as important as his presence after the play got underway. At the line of scrimmage, Greenard often made sure that his teammates were in position and adjusting to any pre-snap motions from the offense.
Some NFL team will be fortunate to have Greenard on their roster come April.
Rookie of the Year: CB Kaiir Elam
If not for his Orange Bowl performance, this superlative might have gone to Jacob Copeland. Instead, true freshman Kaiir Elam really impressed me with his performance in Miami.
With just 10 total tackles on the season, the Elam’s stats are far from special. So, I might be falling in love with potential here, but his bowl game performance seemed like the truth to me. And looking deeper than his box score, his 18.3 passer rating allowed in 2019 (per PFF) backs it up.
Against the Cavaliers, Elam netted a pair of tackles, a defended pass and an interception.
With CJ.. Henderson sitting out the bowl game, Elam knew he would have to rise to the occasion. Yet, this was nothing new for the freshman defensive back.
Early in the season, Florida’s secondary took a hit with the dismissal of John Huggins. Depth issues continued for the Gators as an injury here and there took time away from guys with more experience.
However, not having college experience didn’t deter Florida’s coaches and it didn’t deter Elam himself.
The ceiling is tremendously high for this baby Gator – I have a feeling this won’t be the last time you see Elam scoop up a postseason recognition.
Breakout Player: TE Kyle Pitts
Typically, I try to avoid double-downing on a player for superlatives – but this just seems to fit.
In the 2018 season, Kyle Pitts had three receptions for a total of 73 yards and a single touchdown. A year later, and he has 51 more receptions, nearly nine times as many yards and five times as many touchdowns.
If “breaking out” had an official definition on the football field, I’d call that pretty close.
This is the same player that had Gators everywhere up in arms at the fact that he wasn’t named a finalist for the John Mackey Award – the yearly honor that recognizes college football’s most outstanding tight end.
And to be honest, I’m not sure anyone knew who Kyle Pitts was ahead of his breakout year – Gator fan or not.
Leaving the most to be desired: The offensive line
It’s hard to single one guy out here – because truth be told, the offensive line as a unit left a lot to be desired.
I understand that Dan Mullen and John Hevesy aren’t necessarily coaching a full batch of guys they recruited, but the lack of production from the offensive line was startling.
Due to a lack of push up front, Dan Mullen and the Gators didn’t really use a balanced offensive approach. While they passed for 3,910 yards on the season, Florida was only able to rush for 1,687 yards.
And while I’m not one to usually point fingers – hence me not honing in on just one lineman – the lack of ground game ultimately comes crashing down on the shoulders of the guys in the trenches.
On more than one occasion in the 2019 season, Dan Mullen publicly criticized his offensive line and really challenged them to put more time towards perfecting their craft. Simply put, averaging 4.2 yards per rush just wasn’t cutting it.
Mullen was able to overcome and remedy the lack of ground game with the help of four senior receivers, a stud at tight end and a precise quarterback. While the run game was mainly a non-factor, the line did hold it's own in pass protection.
Nonetheless, Florida’s offensive line has its work cut out for them as the offseason gets underway.
Most Underrated: RB Lamical Perine
Perine being called underrated and the offensive line struggling all season definitely go hand-in-hand.
Before the start of this season, Perine was coming off of a 826-yard year in 2018. The Gator running back racked up that yardage with 134 carries.
In 2019, Perine received only two fewer handoffs than the year prior, yet found himself with 150 less yards than what he tallied in 2018. The Gators’ bell-cow back saw his average fall from 6.2 yards per carry to 5.1 yards per carry.
But Perine’s fall in production was far from his fault. After all, we did see glimpses of the Lamical Perine of old.
Take his 88-yarder against Auburn, for example. Perine has the vision and speed to be RB1 – he’s a proven back.
In addition to his ability to hit holes (if they’re actually there), Perine has also flashed impressive hands out of the backfield. In 2019, he hauled in 40 receptions for 262 yards and five touchdowns.
But perhaps the most impressive stat the senior back posted in 2019 is the fact that he didn’t fumble the football a single time. Whether it be on a reception or a rush, Perine proved to know a little about ball security.
So, while it was often frustrating to watch Perine run right into the equivalent of a brick wall composed of five guys, more times than not it wasn’t his fault – so I’m not going to hold that against him here.
