Florida OC Buster Faulkner talks QB race and scheme before fall camp

Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner made one thing clear in his pre-fall camp press conference: the goal is to get the Gators' offense back to how it was when UF was competing for championships.

Faulkner believes in the old-school style, playing "physical" and "violent," the kind of offense Steve Spurrier had in the '90s or Urban Meyer had in the 2000s. Getting the best guys on the field, and the best playmakers the ball are both key points for Faulkner. He's willing to adapt to his personnel while helping them develop into the kind of players he wants in his system.

Running back Jadan Baugh and receiver Dallas Wilson were two names that stuck out at the skill position, but Faulkner insists that both position rooms are deep. So much so that Faulkner has to make sure he's getting everyone a chance to touch the ball.

The offensive line is still a work in progress, but there's been a lot of growth. Faulkner identified center Harrison Moore, who followed him from Georgia Tech to Florida, as the leader in the trenches.

Finally, the quarterback question remains up in the air. Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo and sophomore Tramell Jones Jr. are battling it out, but Faulkner won't set a timeline for a decision. He likes the growth both players have shown, but there is no official starter as fall camp begins.

Here's everything Faulkner said on Tuesday.

What did you see from Aaron Philo and the rest of the quarterbacks in terms of processing terminology and becoming comfortable within the offense?

Yeah, this summer was big for him. They get a lot of reps, seven-on-seven, do some team stuff on their own. We weren’t around them the whole summer, so I can’t sit here and say I know exactly how far they’ve come. But I know that they were making great strides at the end of spring.

When we were around in June, the leadership qualities, really, all of those guys had started to take off. They kind of ran the summer. We wanted them to run the summer as much as they could, and they did a great job with that.

What does it take to be a quarterback in your system, and what are you looking for?

You’ve got to be the toughest guy in the building, mentally and physically. It’s not easy to play this position, especially in this league. What they’ve got to go through each week, the defenses we’re going to see, the crowds we’re going to play against, all those things.

You’ve got to be mentally and physically tough to be a great quarterback in this system, or really in any system. That’s the No. 1 thing that I believe in, and that’s the No. 1 thing we’re looking for.

What kinds of situations will you put the quarterbacks through during camp to make sure they are ready?

Yeah, absolutely. Definitely, both ready, okay? Then we’ve still got Aidan Warner and Will Griffin, and we’re going to try to get them ready as well, too. A lot of different scenarios. We want to put them through tough situations. That’s one thing I believe in, is put them through as many difficult situations as we can, whether it’s third-down pressures, two-minute drills, all those different things, to kind of see where they’re at when those opportunities come in games.

You judge a quarterback really on how well does he perform on third down and in two-minute, especially, like I said, in the SEC. Obviously, in the NFL, that’s a big deal. So that’s something we’ll look forward to. They’ve got to protect the football. We want to see how they protect the ball.

We’re going to put them in a lot of tough situations. We’ll throw the ball more in camp than we probably have here in the past, just to kind of see where we’re at and see where those guys are in comparison to where things stood in March.

Based on the feedback you have received, how comfortable do you feel about the protection the quarterbacks will have?

Well, you go all summer, and that’s a lot more identification, working on your feet and all that kind of stuff. We’re fixing to put pads on here in the next four or five days, and I’ll have a whole lot better idea of where we’re at. I like the strides that we’re taking up front, but we’ve still got a long way to go to get to where we want to go with that group.

How important will it be for the quarterbacks to adjust as different offensive-line combinations rotate?

I think both guys will handle that, and it won’t be a problem. We’re going to work a bunch of different combinations up front and make sure we find the five guys that we need to go play to win football games. It’s like I tell every position: "You worry about doing your job, okay?" It’s our job as coaches to make sure we get the best guys on the field, and that’s what we’ll do.

How important was it to bring in Harrison Moore, who already knows your offense and your quarterback?

It was fortunate that it worked out for the Gators. Harrison Moore is one of the toughest guys I’ve ever had a chance to coach. The last two years, he played a lot for us as a freshman. I think he’s now getting comfortable in his own skin. When we first signed him, he was 265 pounds, so he’s still putting on weight. He’s much stronger than he was.

He’s starting to become a leader, a lot more vocal, and that’s very important for what we ask the center to do in this offense.

How similar is Harrison Moore to the player he is replacing, Jake Slaughter?

Very similar in outlook and the mental aspects of the game, from the things that I’ve been told. Very similar. Again, you ask a lot of guys around this building, and that’s a high compliment. Jake Slaughter was very well thought of amongst his teammates. Harrison’s only been here seven months, and he’s still working to gain that kind of respect. He’ll do that.

How do you ensure the ball gets distributed throughout a talented wide-receiver room?

Great question. There is only one ball. We’ve got a lot of really good receivers that had good springs, have had really good summers. Ca...

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