I meant to post this earlier:
Is Todd Grantham to blame in 2020? Is he worth $1.4M salary?
Overall the Gator defense was disappointing and gets a D in 2020, but whom should we blame? The automatic answer is obviously Todd Grantham. This defense was historically bad, even though it was stacked with talent. What went wrong? Could Dan Mullen fix the defense simply by firing Todd Grantham and bringing in someone else? First, let us look at how he earned (or failed to earn) his $1.4M salary managing the talent on the 2020 roster, regardless if Grantham recruited the athlete or not. Players recruited by Grantham and this staff from 2018 to the present will be highlighted in blue for clarity.
WDE/OLB EDGE (5 technique) - The Gator defense did end up leading the SEC in sacks by the end of the year when Cox was healthy, and they did so with a very slow start. Grantham gets an A- here. He has also overloaded this position in terms of recruiting for the future, which is a good problem to have.
- TR-RSO OLB Brenton Cox 6-4 245 of University of Georgia by way of Stockbridge High School, Stockbridge, GA. 5-star.
- RSO Andrew Chatfield, Jr. 6-2 248. American Heritage HS. Plantation, FL. 4-star.
- RFR DL Lloyd Summerall. 6-5 220. Lakeland HS. Lakeland, FL 4-star.
- FR WDE Antwaun Powell 6-3 235 I.C. Norcrom, Portsmouth, Virginia. 4-star.
WDE Jeremiah "Scooby" Williams 6-3 224, Ramsay, Birmingham, AL, 4-star.
DE Tyreak Sapp 6-2 255. St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 4-star.
DE Justus Boone 6-5 250. Sumter High School. Sumter, South Carolina. 3-star.
NT (0/1 technique) - The 0/1-technique was filled by veterans who predate Grantham's first recruiting class. Kyree Campbell was injured early in the year, and Slaton was forced out of position while Cox was injured. By the end of the year, this unit was clicking and it did contribute to the Gators leading the SEC in sacks. Grantham again gets an A-. He does have some flexibility to move athletes around into this position once Slaton and Campbell leave, assuming these athletes get an offseason to bulk up.
- SR Tedarrell Slaton 6-5 340 American Heritage. Fort Lauderdale, FL. 4-star.
- SR Kyree Campbell 6-4 320 Woodbridge HS. Woodbridge, VA. 3-star.
- RSR Marlon Dunlap 6-3 285. West Charlotte HS. Charlotte, NC. 3-star.
- SR WDE Antwaun Powell 6-3 235 I.C. Norcrom, Portsmouth, Virginia. 4-star.
- RFR DT Jaelin Humphries 6-3 303. Mountainview HS. Lawrenceville, GA. 4-star.
DT Desmond Watson 6-5 350 of Armwood High School. Seffner, Florida. 3-star.
DT/BUCK (3 technique DT/ LB hybrid) - Jeremiah Moon started off the season well, Zachary Carter filled in the void. Khris Bogle and David Reese need to figure out which end of the DT/LB hybrid they want to be on. This position group gets a C for Grantham's failure to develop veterans and bring his young recruits into the right side of the DT/LB hybrid mix. Grantham's success in recruiting new athletes will hinge on the success of transfer DT Antonio Shelton. At face value his critics will lambast Grantham for not grabbing a blue chip athlete out of high school and instead grabbing former 3-star athletes from other schools.
- RSR OLB Jeremiah Moon 6-4 205 Hoover HS, Birmingham AL. 4-star.
- RJR Zachary Carter 6-4 290. Hillsborough HS. Tampa, FL. 4-star.
- SO Khris Bogle 6-4 240. Cardinal Gibbons. Fort Lauderdale, FL. 4-star.
- RSO David Reese 6-2 240. Vero Beach HS. Fort Pierce, FL. 3-star.
- SR DT Jaelin Humphries 6-3 303. Mountainview HS. Lawrenceville, GA. 4-star.
- FR DT Lamar Goods 6-4 290 St Thomas Moore HS, Oakdale, Connecticut. 4-star.
DT Antonio Shelton 6-3 280. Penn State University by way of Westerville North HS, Westerville, OH. 3-star.
DT Christopher Thomas 6-5 280. Dunbar High School. Fort Myers, Florida. 3-star.
WILL/ MONEY - Garbage. Next year has to be better. Chief Borders or Diwun Black might see action early next year behind Mohamoud Diabate. Amari Burney and Mohamoud Diabate were disappointing in 2020, and that blame lands squarely with the defensive coordinator. Grantham gets a D for this position group, but the future does look bright here with Tyron Hopper and Chief Borders.
- JR LB Amari Burney 6-2 230. Calvary Christian HS. St. Petersburg, FL. 3-star.
- SO OLB Mohamoud Diabate 6-4 215. Auburn HS. Auburn, Alabama. 4-star.
- RJR DT Lamar Goods 6-4 290 St Thomas Moore HS, Oakdale, Connecticut. 4-star.
- RFR OLB Tyron Hopper 6-2 205. Roswell HS. Roswell, GA. 4-star.
- TR RSO SDE/OLB Noah Keeter 6-5 225 of University of California Los Angeles by way of Buchholz HS, Gainesville, FL, 3-star. (preferred walk-on)
OLB Chief Borders 6-3 231. McEachern High School. Powder Springs, Georgia. 4-star.
MIKE - Garbage. Next year has to be better. Diwun Black and Chief Borders might be cross-training between WILL/MONEY and MIKE. Grantham gets a D here, but the future looks bright depending on the direction that Hopper, Borders, and Black take in developing into the correct positions.
- RJR Ventrell Miller 6-1 230. Kathleen HS. Lakeland, FL. 3-star.
- RJR James Houston IV 6-1 240. American Heritage HS. Fort Lauderdale, FL. 3-star.
- RSO TE Dante Lang 6-5 220 Boca Raton HS, Boca Raton FL. 3-star
- RJR OLB Tyron Hopper 6-2 205. Roswell HS. Roswell, GA. 4-star.
- RJR Lacedrick Brunson LB 6'2" 210 Jackson Miami, FL. 2-star.
- RFR OLB Jesiah Pierre 6-2 220. Christian Home Bible School. Mount Dora, FL 3-star.
OLB Diwun Black 6-4 226. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College by way of Osceola High School, Kissimmee, Florida. Perkinson, Mississippi. 4-star.
FCB - Hot garbage. The future looks bright, but Grantham gets a D here. Mullen elected to take out the blame on Torrian Gray and Ron English, and rightfully so. Armchair QBs will say that the DC ultimately deserves the blame, and that Mullen derivatively deserves blame for not firing Grantham, but objectively it makes sense to fire the position coaches who performed the worst and those position coaches are Gray and English. Grantham does not get a pass, but his leash over new hires Wesley McGriff and Jules Polinar is rather short in 2021.
- RJR CB Marco Wilson CB 6'0" 180 American Heritage Plantation FL. 4-star.
- FR CB Ethan Pouncey 6-1 160 Winter Park HS, Winter Park, FL 4-star.
ATH Charles Montgomery 5-10 185. Armwood High School. Seffner, Florida. 4-star.
BCB - Garbage. See above.
- SO CB Kaiir Elam 6-1 185. The Benjamin School. North Palm Beach, FL 4-star.
- SO CB Jaydon Hill 6-0 174. Bob Jones HS. Madison, AL. 4-star.
- FR CB Jahari Rodgers 6-0 170 Arlington HS, Arlington, TX. 4-star.
STAR/ NB - Garbage. See above. The future looks bright, and the coaches that directly recruited Kimbrough, Marshall, Wilcoxson, and Mitchell are gone.
- JR CB Jahari Rodgers 6-0 170 Arlington HS, Arlington, TX. 4-star.
- SO CB Chester Kimbrough 5-11 170. Warren Easton HS. New Orleans, LA. 4-star.
- RSR CB Christopher McWilliams 6-0 170 Southwest Miami Senior HS, Miami FL. 3-star.
CB Jason Marshall 6-2 180 of Palmetto High School. Miami, FL. 5-star.
ATH Kamar Wilcoxson 6-2 185 of IMG Academy. Bradenton, Florida. 4-star.
SS - Garbage. See above.
- SR CB Brad Stewart 6'0" 194 McDonogh New Orleans, LA. 4-star.
- JR DB Trey Dean 6-2 180 Dutchtown HS, Hampton, GA. 4-star.
- RSR DB Quincy Lenton 6-0 195 Meridan HS, Meridian MS. 3-star.
S Dakota Mitchell 6-0 184. Winter Park High School. Winter Park, Florida. 3-star.
FS - Garbage. See above.
- SR DB Shawn Davis 6'0" 185 Southridge Miami FL. 4-star.
- SR DB Donovan Stiner 6'2" 185 Bellaire Bellaire, TX. 3-star.
- FR S Rashad Torrence 6-1 195. Marietta HS. Marietta, GA. 4-star.
S Corey Collier 6-2 170 of Palmetto High School. Miami, FL. 4-star.
Just based on the recruits on this roster, it looks like Grantham failed to develop the veterans. Then again, those veterans from the McElwain/ Randy Shannon were not as highly rated as the athletes brought in by Mullen/ Grantham. Grantham and the other defensive coaches deserve some of the blame for not developing the more talented youngsters, but overall it appears that Grantham is improving the defensive recruiting to levels approaching but just below those attained by Will Muschamp years ago. Based on the criteria above I would say that it was a good decision to keep Todd Grantham at $1.4M, but let go of Ron English and Torrian Gray.