Former UF great Larry Kennedy questions identity of current Florida team

Coming off a Week 2 win over McNeese, former Florida great Larry Kennedy still sees a lot of question marks around the Florida football program.

Not the least of which is a pretty fundamental question.

“The biggest thing is what is our identity?” Kennedy said on the GatorsOnline YouTube channel in an interview with On3’s Keith Niebuhr. “We don’t really have an identity. The defense is playing better, but over the last year or so the defense has been terrible. They just don’t know how to tackle.”

Florida’s defense was notably bad a year ago, to the point that the Gators brought in a new defensive coordinator in Austin Armstrong. To date the results have been pretty good. Florida has given up just 31 points in two games and has the nation’s eighth-ranked passing defense.

But it’s hard to put too much stock into that just yet given the state of Florida’s opponents. Utah was on a third-string quarterback, while McNeese is an FCS team.

And last year is hard to forget for a guy like Kennedy, a former high school coach who played for the Gators from 1991-94.

“The thing I see at Florida, especially last year, last year was just hard to watch, is guys just couldn’t play defense,” Kennedy said. “It’s one thing to lose a game, but it’s another thing to get out there and watch performances that are just bad with what’s supposed to be great football players.”

That’s where another fundamental question comes in for Kennedy.

“Then the development of players at Florida, I’m just not seeing that development,” he said. “And the one thing I’ve always said: It starts in the weight room. Even if you watch Swamp Kings and how they handle the weight room there, it was kind of an inside look at what it takes to be a great ballplayer or a great program. … It starts in the weight room, and I think that’s the biggest thing. But it starts with discipline, it starts with development, and play-calling.”

Napier has managed Florida on the play-calling front so far, with mixed results. The Gators were pretty good against the Cowboys but struggled mightily against the Utes, mostly because they were pushed around in the trenches.

That’s where Kennedy would like to see the team start to develop its backbone.

“You’ve got to have some kind of identity, and I’m just not sure right now what’s our identity,” Kennedy said. “I don’t see playmakers. I mean the running game, I think we have running backs. There’s no question we have running backs. Three-headed monster back there. But can that offense work in the SEC? Can you win an SEC Championship with that offense? It’s yet to be seen.

“Then defensively I think we’ve got some things that we’ve got to button up, we’ve got some holes that we’ve got to take care of. Then we’ve got to throw the ball. When you throw the ball you’ve got to have a real passing game.”

One way to open up the passing game is by being able to lean on the run. Kennedy is quite high on Florida’s talented backfield, and there’s one player in particular he wants to see more of going forward.

Him and the rest of the Gator Nation.

“My biggest guy is (Trevor) Etienne, I mean that’s my guy,” Kennedy said. “You’ve got guys that are playing good football, but Etienne is the guy that jumps out at me. That’s the playmaker, that’s the guy that makes it all work. So I still need to see a little bit more out of some of the other guys. I’m just not sure what that this team, who’s the guy? Who’s the leader?”