Strong making right moves

Football coaches like to talk about the weekly chess match that goes on between opposing coordinators. It's all about thinking ahead, finding an edge and making the right moves.

Last Saturday, Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong won what many might consider a defining chess match. He put Steve Spurrier in checkmate. He outstrategized the legendary offensive playcaller in the Gators' 56-6 victory over South Carolina.

It's been that kind of year for Strong, who is drawing lots of praise for his game-planning, his playcalling and the way he and his staff have brought together a still relatively young defense.

"He's one of my close friends," UF coach Urban Meyer said. "But he's also one of the best coordinators in the country. It's not about the scheme, it's more about getting guys ready to play. They (Strong and the defensive staff) do an excellent job developing their players. He's done a real good job. That's his strength, developing players."

And, apparently, calling a game.

"I think Charlie has improved so much," Meyer said. "I watch the film from the offense's point of view. He's doing a great job keeping offenses off-balance. It's personnel, it's effort and are you giving these kids a chance to be successful — and he's doing it right now."

A year ago, everyone was questioning what was wrong with the Florida defense (a lot of things). Now, everyone is marveling at how well the Gators are playing. During UF's current six-game SEC winning streak, the defense has given up only 10.5 points a game, forced 15 turnovers and scored three touchdowns (all on interception returns).

The performance against Spurrier's offense was maybe the most impressive of the season.

The Gamecocks went three-and-out on eight possessions (after having only 15 through the first 10 games) and were 1-for-15 on third down, the lone conversion coming on a third-and-1 late in the game. The defense also produced the first score of the game, an interception return for a touchdown by middle linebacker Brandon Spikes in the first quarter.

After giving up play after play a year ago, the defense is making the plays and shutting down opponents.

The Gators have more experience in some key areas, especially in the secondary and on the defensive front, and Strong and his staff seem to be bringing out the best in some of the young players, including true freshman cornerback Janoris Jenkins, sophomore strong safety Ahmad Black, sophomore Brandon Hicks and defensive linemen Justin Trattou and Matt Patchan.

This has become a Strong defense.

"He's done just a phenomenal job," defensive line coach Dan McCarney said. "I've been around a lot of good coordinators, and he's as fine as I've ever been around. It's planning, it's talent, it's putting it all together, exchanging ideas and developing a plan.

"On game day, he's the one making the calls and bringing out the best in our defense. He does a wonderful job. He builds great relationships with the coaches and the players. It's easy to see why he's been so successful for so many years. It's just been a joy to be with Charlie Strong."

In Meyer's first three seasons at UF, Strong shared the defensive coordinator's role with Greg Mattison after being the Gators' defensive coordinator the previous two seasons under Ron Zook.

Strong has long been considered a potential future head college coach, and his reputation was way up there after UF won the national championship in 2006 on the strength of the defense.

Strong's star faded a little with last season's struggles, but he's emerging as a strong candidate again with the resurgence of the defense (and the Gators' return to the national title hunt).

Strong said earlier this week that he's not paying attention to the growing talk linking him to possible head coaching jobs. He's focusing on getting the UF defense ready for The Citadel and the rest of the season.

His approach has worked so far this season.

"He's just getting the maximum potential out of the whole defense," cornerback Joe Haden said. "And he's put us in a position to make plays."

McCarney said Strong coordinates a highly efficient defense.

"One thing I admire about Charlie is we put a plan together and rarely is there much that's not used on game day," McCarney said. "I've been around coordinators where you don't use a bunch of stuff and you look back on Sunday and say, ‘Why did we spend a lot of time on that when we didn't even use it?'

"Here, we really utilize the calls and the plan and the things we do all week. And Charlie does a good job implementing it and calling it on game day."

And right now, Strong is winning those chess matches on Saturday.