Dan Mullen, Former Florida Gators Head Coach

We continue it as the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. College football is back. Loved Week 0 last weekend. Now, Week 1 underway. We welcome in a former head football coach at Mississippi State, also Florida. Was an OC Ferb admirer all those years at Florida as well. Now doing a kick-ass job with ESPN and that is Dan Mullen. Coach, appreciate the time.

How are ya? We get to open the one gift tonight, you know, of some of the big games going on and then you get all of them on Saturday. But, you know, this is that crazy week now. We got games Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Kicking it off. I'm excited for college football.

It's great to hear. Let me start you off with Georgia. Back-to-back champs. Last year they were doubted, right, with all that they lost. Going to the NFL and Stetson Bennett once again was excellent and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Now Bennett's no longer there. A little bit of an interesting offseason as well. You've been at schools like Florida when you were the OC where it wasn't only just win, it was absolutely destroy the opponent. And if you win by 21 points, then that's great. How do you think Georgia now, back-to-back, everyone giving them their best shots, going to handle the pressure this year?

Well, I think, boy, they're going to be great. You know, a big key of winning championships is, you know, staying healthy is critical within your roster and scheduling helps. And if you look at Georgia and what they have on the schedule this year, the schedule sets up for them, you know, where they don't have a lot of challenges during the regular season, which will also allow them to stay healthy.

And then, you know, so they get into a situation where at the end of the season they have the SEC Championship game, then possibly two playoff games. So I think the schedule lines up really well for them. Obviously, they have talent. They're loaded with talent, top to bottom.

And I think they're going to have the opportunity to give a good run at winning three in a row. Staying in the SEC, let's go to Alabama. For a while, we were just used to the big quarterbacks, right?

A Jalen Hurts, a Tua Tunga, Vailoa, back Jones, and then also Bryce Young was number one overall pick. Now we don't even know who's going to play a quarterback for Alabama. Some people are doubting Bama heading into this season. We usually know how that works out, but how do you kind of view the Alabama quarterback situation right now? Well, I think the one thing that, you know, over almost maybe the last eight years maybe of the Nick Saban era, that you've seen is Nick has really not been afraid to evolve and get outside the box. And so I wouldn't be shocked to see them play a multiple quarterback system this year, you know? And a lot of people say if you have two quarterbacks, you have none.

I think what he's going to look at how people have done it, how they've succeeded in doing it. They have Jalen Bilroe, who is in, you know, a dynamic guy with a ball in his hands. Not to downplay his skills as an overall quarterback, but dynamic guy with a ball in his hands. They have Tyler Buckner who knows the system of the new coordinator. Ty Simpson, who's a talented young passer. I wouldn't be surprised to see him do a little bit of quarterback rotation throughout the year and do whatever it takes for them to win. I know everybody's down at, you know, like, oh boy, Alabama, you know, they're down now.

What's going on? They're still 24 and 4 the last two seasons. So, you know, I mean, most programs around the country would be jumping up and down for joy if they were 24 and 4 the last two years. So I don't think it's that far gone for them. And I think it's going to be a great challenge for Nick and that team. And, you know, the last thing you want to see is usually Alabama's the team that's got to try to stay on top. You don't want to see them with a chip on their shoulder. Well, that's the thing. How many times through the last few years or the last decade, Saban is killing the media for praising his football team too much with that rat poison, as he would like to say. Now people are probably feeding into the ideal way for Nick Saban, where there's some that are jumping off the Alabama ship and doubting him. And I'm sure those practices and those talks behind the scenes are definitely legendary right now.

Absolutely. And listen, don't doubt this for a second. They have a very talented roster. You know, they have some talent at different positions and they're going to come back, play great defense. And all of a sudden, if this style is different, I know we've seen them with this wide open passing attack, lighting up the scoreboard. Big Saban knows how to win by playing power football and playing defense as well.

So, you know, they might do it a little differently, but it doesn't make them any less dangerous. Coach Dan Mullen here with us on the Zach Gelb show. I want to go to Ole Miss. I think it's going to be Jackson Dart just with the way that Lane Kiffin has been talking about his quarterback all offseason long.

But there's been no official announcement yet. They brought another great quarterback from Oklahoma State in Spencer Sanders. How do you think that QB position will play on out this year? It'll be really interesting. You know, I think that one of the tough ones is if they go Jackson Dart and Spencer Sanders transferred in, it's his last season. But it will be interesting to see.

You're going to have the nice thing that Lane's going to have. He has a veteran guy that's won a lot of football games sitting on the bench right there. What you don't want to do in the multi-quarterback situation is create a situation where somebody's looking over their shoulder.

So I think he's got to kind of define it, set it, make sure the definitions are clear within the room, what's going on, what the plan is. This is why we're doing the plan and possibly setting the depth chart for those guys and getting everybody to buy in. When you get to Graham Mertz at Florida, and we'll see him tonight up against Utah, they're not expected to have Cam Rising.

But last year, a lot of people doubted Bo Nix and also Michael Penix with them not being able to prove what we thought they could be. They go to new schools and they were both in the Heisman Trophy conversation. How do you think Graham will handle the change going from Wisconsin to Florida and could he have a breakout year?

Yeah, I think he could. I think one of the things, you know, you look at tonight's game, obviously with Cam Rising not playing, I think that is a major factor in the course of that game. And how I think that'll end up, the game will end up. But if you look at what Florida wants to do right now with Billy Nadir, I mean, he wants to run the football. They have two really good running backs and they want to be a running football team. And so, you know, I think for Graham Mertz, it kind of sets up in a similar situation from where he was at Wisconsin, where you're in a running attack. You're going to be kind of running an under center, run the ball, play action, pass.

And, you know, for him, I don't think they're going to try to put too much on his plate. And so I think the transition for him will be pretty seamless. Coach Dan Mullen here with us. So Joe Milton has been around for a while at multiple stops. Michigan in the last two years, Tennessee replacing Henson Hooker this season. And we know what type of coach Josh Heiple is, but we keep on seeing those big throws from the Manning Academy.

And there's a lot of hype and buzz around Joe Milton. But when you look at him as a quarterback, what are the things that Coach Dan Mullen sees? Well, you see that. You see the talent.

Now everybody, if you've got to remember, he had won the starting job over Henson Hooker at one point. And now what I think everybody has to see and what's going to be really important for Tennessee is his maturity and his growth. You take the unbelievable skill set that he has.

I mean, this is called athletic guy. I mean, he can, you know, he can throw the ball over the mountain. And so when you have that talent, that ability, that natural skill, sometimes you don't worry about laying the position. And I think, hopefully, now he's matured. And through the years, he's always been able to rely on just pure talent. Now growing, maturing, what Josh Heiple, they want to do in coaching him up, to not just have that, but use the talent within the position.

If he can do that, he's going to be very, very special. And I think that's one of the things that's got to be not, you know, there's not a lot of plays in the playbook where you need to throw the ball 80 yards down the field. There's a lot of plays in the playbook where you got to throw it accurately, on time, making good decisions. And he can do that, but I think he has to understand that being a great quarterback is not just making spectacular plays, it's making the unspectacular play on a regular basis. Coach Dan Mullen here with us. So you were at Florida when Tebow was there.

You know what it's like when everyone's calling him the savior. This year, Texas has Arch Manning, but right now he's the third quarterback with Quinn Ewers being the starter. How do you think Sarc will handle that this year when you look at everyone probably going to be talking at Arch Manning in the moment Quinn Ewers makes a mistake? People are going to be calling for Arch even though he's QB3 right now. Well, I think, you know, one of the things that helps is Quinn Ewers had a lot of success there.

Highly recruited guy coming in. And I also think when you look at the Arch Manning and how recruiting went and how he did everything through the recruiting process, it's really interesting. It wasn't all kind of a craziness. I remember, you know, even recruiting Arch a little bit when I was in Florida.

And it wasn't about the hype or the craziness or the wildness of everything. So I think the family's going to look and say, hey, you know what, big time college football, you have the opportunity to sit and grow. We're not going to rush you through your career. And so I think he's going to take the role on in a good way. And as a competitor, listen, he wants to get on the field. You know, he wants to get on the field and go play.

But I don't think the psyche is going to get to him. I think that's going to make it a little bit easier for Sarc to sit there and say, hey, Quinn Ewers is our guy. He's out here playing. We're really excited about the future with Arch Manning. He's growing, developing, learning the system. He's going to get a couple opportunities this year.

But I think it's going to be easier for Sarc because I think it's easy for him to sell Arch the buy-in of the long-term plan for the future. When we get to A&M, we know they have a loaded roster. Jimbo Fisher on the hot seat even with a very lucrative contract. You're bringing Petrino as well to be your offensive coordinator. Your expectations this year for A&M are what, Coach Dan Mullen?

You know, always high. Listen, you're – everyone's expectations for A&M are going to be high. Jimbo knows that. That's part of being a coach in the SEC and especially the West. The one thing that I always laugh at in the SEC West, you know, you have seven great teams in the SEC West.

And someone has to finish last. Everyone talks about, ooh, the fan base and, you know, who's first, who's going to be second. The hardest one is someone has to finish last in that division with seven fan bases that expect to win a title and a championship every single year.

So I think he understands and he knows that pressure. I think they have a talented roster. And I think, you know, people kind of – when you get back in the corner a little bit, last year everybody was hyping them up, hyping them up. This year I don't hear that hype about A&M. But they still have a lot of talent on the roster. It lets them maybe come in a little bit under the radar for things. Really going to be interesting to see how the combination of Jimbo and Bobby Petrino work.

Because if it works well, I mean, you have two great offensive minds that have to meld together to make a system work for both of them. Let's get to some of the matchups this weekend. Coach Dan Mullen here with us for a few more minutes on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the Zach Gelb show. I circled Drake May against Spencer Attler, UNC up against South Carolina. Should be a fun one with those two quarterbacks.

Should be really fun. You know, Drake May started the year so hot last year. And then, you know, Carolina lost the last four games of the season. And I think he has some new receivers to go learn how to play with. But he was such a great player. And Spencer Attler, you know, when he's hot, you know, it's hard to say there's better quarterbacks out there when he gets hot. When he can get on fire.

He also can struggle and make some mistakes that are just head scratching as well. So I think that's going to be the most entertaining game of the entire weekend in a shootout with two great quarterbacks. And another game, I'm just like curious to see how it unfolds. Like I think TCU will win. Chandler Morris gets his job back after getting hurt last year.

We know what happened with Max Duggan and that wonderful story. And then you look at a Colorado program. There's definitely a lot of buzz because you're bringing Deion Sanders. And I know they overhauled the entire roster. But the team only won one game last year. And that's like just one of those games where I wonder how we're talking about them next week, both Colorado and TCU from this one. It'll be interesting. You know, Colorado obviously is a rebuild. And, you know, Deion overhauled the entire roster.

So it's kind of his team. They're there. Let's see what they can do. TCU is going to come in with the expectations of winning. And coming off of last year, obviously a disappointment in the national title game. But that's a team that found ways to win. They know how to win. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Colorado to get that mindset of learning how to win.

Not just to go play. Not that we have talented players. We can go play with them learning how to win. And that's one thing TCU knows how to do. And then Sunday night, what a matchup. LSU, Florida State, we all remember how it did go down last year. But now it's different because both these teams have sky high expectations. What do you look for in that matchup between the Seminoles and then also the LSU Tigers?

Well, you know, I mean, two great quarterbacks. Again, I mean, teams with national championship aspirations in this game will be looked at, I think, at the end of the year. I think there'll be a lot of attention paid to this game by the playoff committee at the end of the year as you compare resumes down the line. I expect both teams to be in the top ten. Maybe it's a direct – the winner, obviously, is in a great position for the rest of the season with a potential at a playoff bid.

The losers certainly not out of it. But I think it's going to be such a great game. I think LSU is looking at the revenge factor from last year. But Florida State is going out to make a statement that they're back, that they belong in the national spotlight, that the hype is deserved.

I really like Jordan Travis's leadership and his toughness and the chip on the shoulder he plays with that helps keep that team together and keeps them strong, fending off all the hype coming into the season. Coach, Dan Mullen, before we let you run, Swamp Kings, we saw the documentary. You were all over it. What did you think with the final product? I loved it.

I hope people loved it. I think, you know, it is a realistic look of what college football and really what the Gators were like back then. I mean, I think it portrayed the team and what was going on and all the pressures that were involved.

I think a lot of the times now – and I'm perfectly honest because I did one. You know, we did the HBO, the Hard Knocks-type show with HBO when I was at Florida. All these different teams are doing TV shows. But when you're covering an active team, the school gets the editing power at the end of what goes in and what doesn't go in.

And everything – a lot of things are going to be based on recruiting and how you want to profile your program. When I think you look at that Swamp Kings, Netflix had final editing control. It wasn't the university. So I think it's a true look at behind the scenes of a college football program and the pressures, the stresses, the things that really go on, as you've seen on television anywhere. And I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really good. Brought back a lot of great memories, a lot of tough memories. But I really – I enjoyed filming it. I enjoyed being part of it.

You know, I love being part of the Gator Nation. And, you know, so it was awesome to be in that show and be asked to be on the show. So the one gripe I had with it – and I thought the game recaps were awesome. Like Brandon Seiler was phenomenal.

Brandon Spikes was phenomenal as well. But like there's some storylines. Aaron Hernandez not really talked about.

Cam not really talked about. And a bunch of other things as well. Were you asked about that stuff? Or did it just not even get brought up when they were interviewing you? Yeah, I think – but, you know, I think a lot of people got to look at the storyline of what was going on at the time. Cam was never – you know, Cam was a backup quarterback the whole time.

You know? I mean, he never – he wasn't – you know, there was a story about those teams and those championships. And I love Cam Newton to death. I mean, I got to coach him, spent so much time with him. And I think people look at it and say, oh, well, what about Cam?

It wasn't – you know, for him, he wasn't a major player in those games. A lot of Aaron Hernandez stuff. I think, honestly, a lot of that stuff happened after he left Florida and some of the issues he had. You know, and I got people calling and saying, hey, well, what about these guys, these guys, these guys? I think there are a lot of people that were invited to be part of it that declined, to be honest with you. And I think it was up to their – you know, it was up to them whether or not they wanted to be on the show.

And so I think they did and kind of portrayed, though, the storyline of you look at those teams of who was on the field, who were the players, you know, who were the key guys in all of those games throughout those seasons. Coach, really do appreciate the time. Enjoy the college football season, covering it all for ESPN. Thanks so much for joining us. It's going to be a busy day for you. Yeah, no problem. Great to be with you. It's great to have football back.