GAINESVILLE — With one linebacker signed in Florida's recruiting class in February, the Gators looked within their own roster to fill a position of need.
Gerald Christian moved from tight end to strong side linebacker, one of a few position changes Will Muschamp and his staff made as they head into spring football.
"He's got length," said Muschamp. "He's a heavy handed guy, strong, lower body punch and power and you have to play stack linebacker and you have to play off the ball and be an instinctive linebacker."
Christian, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound sophomore-to-be from Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer, played linebacker in high school. As a freshman last season, he played in eight games.
Other position changes included moving Leon Orr from offensive line to defensive tackle and Josh Shaw from cornerback to safety. Muschamp also said the Jordan Reed and Trey Burton would not be playing quarterback.
Instead, Reed will stay at tight end and Burton will play at fullback as well as a few other offensive positions. The two were called upon to play under center last season.
MUSCHAMP TO LET QUINN CALL DEFENSE
Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn will make the calls on that side of the ball with Muschamp's input. Quinn said he and Muschamp, who spent almost a decade as a defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach at Florida, see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. The two worked together with the Miami Dolphins in 2005.
Asked how he envisions Muschamp's involvement working out, Quinn said, "He would say, 'Hey, Dan, we need to think more about this,' and then I would say, 'Okay.'
"Honestly, I mean, really to put it as ease, we see football a lot in the same way and that connection is what brought me here, even though we only worked together the one year, we really saw things the same way."
GATORS TO RUN MULTIPLE DEFENSE
While Quinn and Muschamp said the Gators would run a 4-3 defense, they plan to have principles of a 3-4 mixed in.
For Quinn, it goes back to a conversation during their time together in Miami. After hiring Mike Mularkey as offensive coordinator, then-Dolphins coach Nick Saban asked him which defense – a 4-3 or 3-4 – was most difficult to prepare for.
Mularkey said both.
"It was that conversation that resonated," Quinn said. "That if you have the opportunity to do both, I really thought it could create problems in matchups for an offense."
