Florida to use 'special teams mat' on sideline during 2024 season

Florida senior analyst Joe Houston revealed the Gators will use a special teams mat on the sideline this season.

Presumably to make sure the units are in order, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Innovation is rampant at Florida.

You can see the mat below via Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre.

Joe Houston says the Gators will use a special teams mat on the sideline this season. https://t.co/YhU9ldXmVq pic.twitter.com/P48Xtbnm5j

— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) July 30, 2024

If it gives Florida a competitive advantage when it comes to special teams, the team has to be all for it. You can never be over-prepared to run out onto the field in a timely manner.

This doesn’t go just for kickoffs. It can be used for returns as well as both punting units and the field goal units.

Florida will need every advantage it can get considering the tough schedule.

“Yeah, I think a little bit of that is -look, we’ve got a different team. I mean I think we have 35 new players. Every team in our league, about 25 to 30% of their roster is new,” head coach Billy Napier said at SEC Media Days. “So I think some of these teams that we play aren’t the same teams that they had last year. And we certainly are not the same team that we had last year.

“College football, more than any time in our game, has become one year at a time,” said Napier. “I think you start a process in January, you build momentum to the fall, and you do the best you can.”

Still, while Napier’s thinking is right, there’s no denying the toughness of Florida’s opponents. They will play three in-state rivals in Miami, UCF, and at Florida State in their nonconference. They’ll then play a conference schedule that features Texas A&M, at Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, at Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss.

That’s not to mention the final seven-game stretch starting on October 12th. From there, they’ll face the Volunteers, Wildcats, Bulldogs, Longhorns, Tigers, Rebels, and Seminoles all in a row.

Almost no team, if any, has that many top-notch teams on their schedule coming in. Still, as Napier put it, there’s just nothing the Gators can do but just take it game by game. Only on that basis will they know how prepared they are for each matchup.

Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report