HOOVER, Ala. -- Florida Coach Will Muschamp didn't wait to be asked about his job security.
He brought it in his opening comments at SEC media days.
Florida glance
LAST SEASON 4-8, 3-5 SEC (5th in East
COACH Will Muschamp (22-16 in fourth season at Florida)
RETURNING STARTERS Offense 7, defense 7, specialty 2
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS QB Jeff Driskel, WR Quinton Dunbar, CB Vernon Hargreaves, DE Dante Fowler
SEC TITLE SCENARIO The offense needs to be more productive — and should be under new coordinator Kurt Roper if the Gators can avoid the injuries that decimated them last season — and the defense has to get improved play from the linebackers. The schedule has a bad trade with Alabama replacing Arkansas.
Florida schedule
DATE;OPPONENT
Aug. 30;Idaho
Sept. 6;Eastern Michigan
Sept. 13;Kentucky*
Sept. 20;at Alabama*
Oct. 4;at Tennessee*
Oct. 11;LSU*
Oct. 18;Missouri*
Nov. 1;at Georgia*
Nov. 8;at Vanderbilt
Nov. 15;South Carolina
Nov. 22;Eastern Kentucky
Nov. 29;at Florida State
* SEC game
"There will be a lot of chatter about the hot seat business," Muschamp said. "That's part of it. The way you control that is winning football games, which is what we're going to do."
Muschamp understands his job is on the line going into his fourth season after the Gators finished 4-8 last year, their worst record since 0-10-1 in 1979.
No Florida coach has suffered back-to-back losing seasons since Raymond Wolf in 1946 and 1947.
The Gators, who won at least nine games in 17 of 18 seasons under Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, went 7-6 in Muschamp's first season, then looked to be back on track with an 11-2 record in 2012.
Florida improved to 4-1 last season with a 30-10 victory over Arkansas on Oct. 5.
"We're thinking, 'OK, we're going to be like we were last year or even better,' " Gators cornerback Vernon Hargreaves said. "Then it didn't go as planned."
The Gators lost their final seven games, including 26-20 to Georgia Southern.
"A 4-8 record isn't acceptable at Florida," Hargreaves said. "It's no secret. Everybody knows that."
Hargreaves said that prior to last season he didn't believe a Florida team was capable of being 4-8.
"I don't think anybody did," he said. "But it happened, we learned from it, and we've got to move on."
The Gators had 21 scholarship players miss at least one game because of injuries, and they had 10 players suffer season-ending injuries, including quarterback Jeff Driskel, tailback Matt Jones and defensive lineman Dominique Easley, a first-round NFL Draft pick by New England.
"Injuries are what they are," Muschamp said. "Next guy has to move forward, step up and play. That's the mentality you've got to have."
Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley has offered strong support, saying he is "a thousand percent convinced" Muschamp is the right coach for Florida and will fix what ailed the Gators last season.
"There was never any time in my mind that I didn't think I would be retained," Muschamp said.
After Florida finished last in the SEC in scoring offense (18.8 points) and total offense (316.7 yards), Muschamp hired offensive coordinator Kurt Roper from Duke, which last season had 28 rushing touchdowns and 26 passing while averaging 32.8 points.
"That's the type of balance I think we'll need in our league," Muschamp said. "We've been too one-dimensional on offense."
The Gators will run an up-tempo offense under Roper that features more passing and has Driskel -- a redshirt junior fully recovered from last season's broken leg -- in the Shotgun rather than taking snaps under center.
"I think this offense fits Jeff better to utilize his athleticism," Muschamp said.
Driskel, who missed the final nine games, said he is confident the offense will flourish under Roper.
"This offense creates space," Driskel said. "When you get that space, that's when big plays happen.
"I think we have all the players in place to have a really big year. We've just got to learn offense a little bit more and execute it in games."
Driskel and Hargreaves are among 14 returning starters.
"I've got a lot of confidence in this team and staff," Muschamp said. "This is probably the most complete team we've had in all three phases."
Hargreaves said it boosts the players to hear Muschamp being so upbeat.
"Of course it helps us, because if he's not confident, how are we going to be confident?" Hargreaves said. "He's a competitor. We love to play for him."
Driskel said there is a calm within the program.
"I mean, there's a sense of urgency, but at the same time no one's pressing," Driskel said. "Coaches are always on the hot seat in college football. That's just the nature of the game. But I haven't seen any change in Coach Muschamp. He's still there every day working for us, and we're 100 percent behind him."
Muschamp said the seven-game losing streak after the Gators beat Arkansas was frustrating, disappointing and not indicative of Florida's program. Carrying the losing streak into the offseason made it worse.
"I think as a competitor, you want to get back on the field, play as soon as you can," Muschamp said. "That's why I'm really looking forward to football and practicing and developing this team."
Up next: Arkansas
Sports on 07/16/2014