Florida defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong talked some junk about Tennessee's tempo
Florida Gators defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong apparently wasn't too impressed by the Tennessee Vols' tempo on offense last weekend in the Swamp. Gators pass rusher Princely Umanmielen met with reporters this week and he was asked about Armstrong and how he helped Florida's defense get lined up so quickly against Tennessee's tempo. Umanmielen told reporters […]
Florida Gators defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong apparently wasn't too impressed by the Tennessee Vols' tempo on offense last weekend in the Swamp.
Gators pass rusher Princely Umanmielen met with reporters this week and he was asked about Armstrong and how he helped Florida's defense get lined up so quickly against Tennessee's tempo.
Umanmielen told reporters that the tempo Florida practiced with last week was faster than Tennessee's tempo, which is something that Armstrong brought up during the game.
"He's just really intense," said Umanmielen when asked about Armstrong. "Like, for example, last week, you know, Tennessee goes tempo like the whole game. His tempo that we were doing in practice was way faster, it was like an unrealistic tempo. So he was just doing that to get us ready for Tennessee. And you know, Tennessee, I think there was only one play, where we weren't lined up. And you know, we were ready because we went through it in practice. And in the middle of the game he walked up to us, he was like, 'Is Tennessee's tempo faster than mine?' And we were all like, 'no,' because, you know, he just did it to a point in practice where it was unrealistic. But we were able to line up and practice, so we know if we can line up when he's going unrealistically fast in practice, we were able to do it against Tennessee."
Umanmielen said Florida only had four to five seconds between plays while preparing for the Vols' up-tempo attack.
It sounds like Armstrong was pretty happy with himself. And it definitely sounds like he was poking fun at Tennessee's tempo.
What he probably doesn't realize is that Tennessee's tempo in the Swamp wasn't the hyper-paced Vols offense that everyone saw last season.
UT had trouble getting their tempo going against Florida, thanks to some pre-snap penalties and some issues on early downs. Tennessee scored on both possessions where they got their tempo going.
Of course, Florida won the game, executed their plan, and handled business as they planned all week. So the little bit of trash talk from Armstrong is fair game.
It's still something, however, that Tennessee should remember. They won't get another chance in the swamp until 2025 at the earliest (depending on how the new SEC scheduling works out), but they should still use what happened last Saturday — coaches and younger players that are still at Tennessee in a couple of years — as motivation to end the Vols' lengthy losing streak in Gainesville.
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