Florida’s defense got off to a dreadful start to the 2026 season. Through six games, there wasn’t much going right. The coverage was inconsistent, the pass rush struggled to generate pressure, and the energy and intensity seemed to be lacking.
The last two weeks have been a different story. Florida didn’t allow Texas’ offense to score for more than three quarters of game time in a 27-24 road victory. After the bye week, the Gators kept Georgia’s offense in check for much of the game, despite the loss.
Over that two-game stretch, Florida is allowing just 295 yards per game, including 137 passing yards. That’s a night-and-day difference from earlier in the season, especially considering those numbers came against two top-10 teams with NFL talent all over the field.
So, what changed?
Defensive coordinator Brad White narrowed it down to a few things.
“No. 1, guys are playing for each other. They’re straining for each other. There’s a unity factor that they’ve started to buy in together. There’s an understanding factor. I think communication has been better,” White said.
White acknowledged that the defense still has room to improve, particularly in its communication. However, he believes continued familiarity with the system will help the unit take another step forward.
“It’s not where we need it to be. There’s still a lot more time on task, and you’ve seen the really good defenses this year are ones that have guys that have been in the system for multiple years. So the more we get to that point, the more we’ll continue to be better.”
Prior to the Texas game, amid the defensive struggles, White said Florida would not “completely overhaul” its scheme. Instead, the Gators would stay the course, believing they could become a dominant defense on the other side of their growing pains.
However, White also acknowledged the need to adapt, and one adjustment Florida made was trimming down the defensive playbook
“There was some simplification of certain things. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily the calls themselves or how we execute the defense, but it was the volume of defense – just trimmed it a little bit and allowed us to be a little bit more dialed-in on just certain aspects, certain calls,” White said.
After showing signs of progress over the last two weeks, White believes his defense is beginning to gain confidence in the system and the techniques being taught.
“For the most part it’s still very much what we do, what we want to do, and I just think they’re gaining confidence,” White said. “They’ve seen success within it. I think so much about in any profession, and anything is you just want to see some success in what you’re doing, and then you gain confidence in that, and then it works again, and you gain more confidence, and then you believe. So now there’s I think belief in the system, belief in the techniques, belief in how they’re getting coached, belief in, if I do this, this will be the outcome, a large majority of the time.”
Florida has an opportunity to build on its recent defensive progress with a third consecutive strong showing against Oklahoma this weekend. White wants to see the same physicality, energy and commitment to playing for one another that his defense displayed over the last two weeks.
“But I love their physicality this week. This past week, we need to continue that two weeks in a row and we need to continue to be a physical football team makes up for some mistakes,” White said. “But the main thing is they’ve sort of bought it together. I think they’re having fun, you feel their emotion on the field, they’re celebrating. I enjoyed watching that many white jerseys around the football on a consistent basis. It wasn’t just a single guy trying to make a tackle. We need to do that again this week.”
