Dan Mullen talks development of Florida wide receiver room

Florida has a lot of offensive production to replace in 2021. Gone are wide receivers Kadarius Toney, Trevon Grimes and tight end Kyle Pitts, not to mention quarterback Kyle Trask. To replace the production, head coach Dan Mullen and the Gators now turn to players like former five-star receiver Justin Shorter and third-year receiver Ja’Markis Weston.

It’s safe to say the Florida wide receiver rotation is going to look a lot different. The holes left behind by Pitts, Grimes and Toney are expected to be filled by Shorter, Jacob Copeland, and a rotation of Weston, Xzavier Henderson, Rick Wells, Jordan Pouncey and Trent Whittemore.

The expectations are high for Shorter specifically, who was a five-star prospect coming out of high school and transferred to Florida from Penn State in 2020.

“I think one of the things that I’ve seen from him, and if you ask some of the people on our team even the coaching staff, is his work ethic,” Mullen said in media availability Monday. “How he comes to work every single day. I mean, from the minute he starts practice until the end, he’s grinding, giving you everything that he has. And the great thing of that, you see it in the results. I think he’s playing at a much, much higher level than he did last year, much more consistent level, much bigger playmaker level than he did last year. It’s not a surprise with how you see him work day-in and day-out that you see that improvement.”

Shorter has yet to live up to his lofty recruiting ranking but given the work he’s put in this offseason, 2021 may be the season that he puts it all together.

Last season, Shorter had 268 yards on 25 receptions, good for 10.7 yards per catch. As he enters his fourth season, he’s looking to take on the WR1 role.

Another player that’s shown some praise is Florida wide receiver Ja’Markis Weston, who’s entering his third season with the Gators.

“He had a good night (Sunday) night,” Mullen said. “Had a touchdown catch, did a good job really of growing into a good return specialist guy as well and getting comfortable with that. You’re continuing to see the growth and the steps he’s continuing to do to build and become the type of player I know he can be. He’s got a lot of potential and we just want to continue to grow and nurture that potential into performance on the field.”

Weston is expected to be among the rotation at slot receiver alongside Jacob Copeland, Rick Wells and Trent Whittemore. Replacing Toney is a tough task and Mullen looks to work a multitude of players with varying body types and skills, into the slot.

“Boy you’ve got all different types of people,” Mullen said. “We’re going to move some tight ends to do some slot stuff, more than last year. We kind of played them more on the outside singled up. You have Jacob Copeland in the slot, Rick Wells in the slot. Running backs can go into the slot. Trent Whittemore goes into the slot. A lot of different types of deals creating the matchups where last year you had guys on the outside you’re trying to create one-on-ones for….”

There’s a lot of questions on the offensive side of the ball this season for the Gators. Mullen finished his thought on the slot position, with what could be, the best way to describe what the Florida wide receiver room and the entire offense will look like in 2021.

“(This year) we’re kind of moving a lot more different pieces around.”