The Florida Gators are close. Two seasons under head coach Dan Mullen churned out 22 wins — 11 of those came in a Southeastern Conference play — and consecutive New Year's Six bowl wins in the Peach and Orange Bowls. There is plenty of hype entering the coronavirus pandemic-laden 2020 campaign as UF ranked No. 8 in the preseason AP Poll, and whispers of an SEC Championship are growing louder around The Swamp.
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Senior quarterback Kyle Trask is officially on Heisman Watch. Defensive tackle Tedarrell Slaton tips the scales at 360 pounds and boasts legitimate All-American potential. When it's all said and done, Kyle Pitts could be the nation's best tight end.
The hype train's whistle was blowing as the University of Florida football team returned to campus with late-summer heat hanging over Gainesville. The Gators' social media team put together a training camp hype video to showcase Mullen's roster preparing for the upcoming season opener on Sept. 26 against Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels.
Florida Gators Football Hype Video: Fall Camp 2020
🅲🅰🅼🅿 🅶🆁🅸🅽🅳#RelentlessEffort 🐊 pic.twitter.com/zOKttsfkmQ
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) August 23, 2020
"Can't be a good day today, it's got to be a great day. Got to be flying around, 100 miles per hour, having a lot of fun while we're out here.
"Here comes the question: who is the guy that set the standard? Who here is willing to pay the price for us to go be a great team? Who's willing to go do that? That has to be the mindset as we go attack the day today."
Yup. Chills.
Florida's SEC East opponents feature the usual suspects of South Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Tennessee, but the 10-game slate also includes Texas A&M, LSU, and Arkansas from the SEC West. Losing the annual rivalry with Florida State is a bummer, but I don't think Mike Norvell will mind.
Something about an offensive line in shorts, Emory Jones slinging touchdowns in that orange jersey, and football players practicing their back pedal just gets me going. It may only be fall camp practices, but that means the college football season is coming, and that's good enough for me after a wild and wacky summer.