Dan Mullen on getting Anthony Richardson valuable game experience
The Florida Gators came out of their week one matchup with a win against Florida Atlantic. They also came out of it with a quarterback controversy on their hands. Emory Jones came in as the starter and expectations on him were high. Anthony Richardson outperformed Jones in the season opener, leaving many questions about the position moving forward. Florida head coach Dan Mullen thinks that Richardson saw mixed results in his season debut.
Richardson outperformed Jones in Florida’s week one win
Jones got the start against Florida Atlantic and completed 17 of his 27 passes for 113 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran for 74 yards on 10 carries. Following a poor stretch from Jones, Mullen turned to Richardson to lead the offense. Richardson completed just three of his eight pass attempts for 40 yards but rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
Getting Richardson some game experience right away could prove to be valuable for the second-year freshman moving forward. Whether or not Richardson starts to see more involvement in Florida’s offense remains to be seen.
“Anthony knows the offense,” Mullen said of Richardson. “It’s just getting the reps and the experience of the decision making and all of the reads and checks within the offense. If you watch the film, he made some spectacular plays but missed some simple checks within the gameplan. It’s just that comfort, and then the comfort of being able to execute it within a game. Obviously, you can make that time work however you need to make it work sometimes. But it’s the best when you get to let guys learn it the right way and build a really sold foundation.”
Jones was expected to make a big leap in his first year as Florida’s starter
Despite being with the program for four years now, Jones is just now getting his first action as a starter. Including week one against Florida Atlantic, Jones has completed 63.7 percent of his passes with 726 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions. He also has 588 yards and six touchdowns rushing. Jones’ skillset is drastically different than last year’s starter Kyle Trask. Mullen still expected Jones to have a successful season at the helm of the offense.
Richardson is a second-year freshman and attempted just two passes last season for Florida. One of them was a 27-yard touchdown and the other was an interception. Richardson also rushed for 61 yards on seven carries. With his impressive rushing performance in week one, some wonder if Florida now has a quarterback controversy.
Florida could potentially move to some sort of a two-quarterback system in the future. The Gators face off with South Florida on Saturday. South Florida lost 45-0 to NC State in week one, and the matchup is a favorable one for both quarterbacks on Florida’s roster.