Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy are no longer with the Gators program, sources told Fox’s Bruce Feldman.
It is believed that either secondary coach Wesley McGriff or special assistant Paul Pasqualoni will serve as the defensive play-caller for the remainder of the season, while graduate assistant Michael Sollenne will serve as the interim offensive line coach.
Grantham’s firing came two days after his defense surrendered 459 total yards and 284 rushing yards to a South Carolina team that ranks near the bottom of the SEC and the country in multiple offensive statistical categories.
Six of their 12 opponents scored at least 35 points against them, and Alabama and Oklahoma scored a combined 107 points against them in their final two games. Alabama gained the most first downs in a game by a UF opponent in school history (33). The Sooners rushed for 435 yards against them in the Cotton Bowl, the third-most surrendered in school history, and scored 55 points, the second-most in school history.
Ole Miss gained 684 total yards against them, the most in program history. In that game, Elijah Moore hauled in 227 yards worth of passes, the most ever by a UF opponent.
Despite all of those record-setting performances by opposing offenses, Mullen opted to keep Grantham for the 2021 season and instead replace both of the secondary coaches.
Through six games, the defense looked much-improved and ranked near the top of the conference in several statistical categories. That turned out to be nothing more than a mirage, however.
And then there was the nightmare in Columbia that wound up being his final game on the UF sideline.
McGriff, who joined the program in January, previously served as Ole Miss’ defensive coordinator from 2017-18. Pasqualoni, who has more than 30 years of major college football and NFL experience, joined the program prior to last season.
Meanwhile, Hevesy, like Grantham, came with Mullen from Mississippi State in late 2017. He’d worked with Mullen since they were both on Urban Meyer’s Bowling Green staff from 2001-02.