Florida has fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy, the school announced on Monday, as Florida is mired in a 4-5 season just one year after winning the SEC East and flirting with the College Football Playoff. In subsequent moves, linebackers coach Christian Robinson will serve as the play-caller on defense and special assistant Paul Pasqualoni will move to an on-field role.
Grantham’s defense currently ranks eighth in the SEC in defensive yards per play at 5.44 and 12th in the conference in tackles for loss per game with 5.22. The Gators are coming off a miserable performance in which it lost to South Carolina 40-17 — a Gamecocks team was led by third-string quarterback Jason Brown, who transferred in from FCS St. Francis prior to the season.
Grantham’s defense posed issues even during last year’s SEC East title run. It gave up 6.06 yards per play, 30.8 points per game, allowed touchdowns on 64.4% of opponent’s red zone trips and saw opponents gain 10 or more yards on 185 different occasions, 13th in the SEC.
Grantham served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator from 2010-13, had the same role at Louisville from 2014-16 and was with Mullen at Mississippi State in 2017.
Hevesy’s offensive line hasn’t been as much of a liability this year as the defense. The Gators are third in the SEC in rushing offense at 224.78 yards per game and has only allowed 9 sacks through nine games. This comes one year after the Gators struggled mightily to run the football and give former quarterback Kyle Trask any help, however.
Hevesy has been on Mullen’s staff since his first season as coach at Mississippi State in 2009. He has been in lockstep with Mullen on staffs at Bowling Green (2001-02), Utah (2003-04) and Florida (2005-08).
The moves come at a tumultuous time in Gainesville as the defending SEC East champs have been unable to live up to the pressure of wearing the target on their backs. They have lost three straight games, four of their last five and given up 34 or more points in each of the last three games.
The Gators will host Samford on Saturday at noon ET.
