Mullen: FSU Defense a Little Different
December 27, 2009 01:17 PM | General
Sunday, December 27, 2009 (1:18 p.m.)
The Florida State defense Jeff Mullen is watching on tape today is slightly different than the Seminole defense he remembers going up against when he was coaching at Wake Forest.
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| Jeff Mullen talks to reporters before Sunday's morning practice in Jacksonville
Submitted photo |
“They play a little more zone coverage,” Mullen said Sunday morning. “They move their defensive linemen around in different techniques and I think that is personnel driven more than scheme driven, which is smart by coach (Mickey) Andrews by trying to put his players in the best position to succeed.”
The schemes may be a little different but Florida State’s approach is still the same – attack.
“The mentality is still the same. It’s still an attack front,” Mullen said. “It’s still a get-after-you, blitz, man-coverage and attack mentality.”
Florida State has had mixed success on defense this year, but Mullen is a firm believer that units can get better between their final regular season game and the bowl game.
“I really believe football is a player’s sport. Players have got to go out there and make plays. Clearly when you have a lot of time to work on what you do schematically you tend to execute a little better on both sides of the ball,” Mullen said.
Mullen said his offensive coaching staff has used some of the idle time to get organized with the loss of tight ends/fullbacks coach Doc Holliday to Marshall. Pat Kirkland will assume Holliday’s role up in the booth for the Gator Bowl.
“The time off has been really good for that getting Coach Kirkland coached up on what we’re doing up there and what Doc’s role was on game day,” Mullen said.
