GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Following Tuesday's practice, coach Dan Mullen gathered his team and gave them his usual post-practice message. Once he finished, the team lined up on the west sideline of the middle practice field.

And the running began.

West sideline to east sideline and back. Over and over again. The team seemed to run at least double-digit gassers. By the end, some players started to drag. Defensive lineman Elijah Conliffe was the first to really slow to a crawling pace, barely managing a lumbering walk toward the end.

So as Conliffe struggled as most of the rest of the players returned to the starting line, tight end C'yontai Lewis came back out and began to drag Conliffe to the line. He tugged on his jersey, then got behind the 6-foot-4, 317-pound lineman and began physically pushing him toward the finish.

Next, Tedarrell Slaton started to feel the burn and slowed down, gripping just underneath his rib cage on the right side as he began cramping. Out came linebacker Ventrell Miller, slapping Slaton on the shoulder pads and barking out orders to finish the run.

"Yeah, they weren't real happy," coach Dan Mullen said. "That was pretty simple, it's about going to class. I don't control that, they control that. If you're late for class, everybody that's late for class we run a gasser for. So if they don't want to run gassers, then just show up on time for class and we don't run gassers. We'll get extra work in."

Interestingly enough, Mullen actually ran with the team. He was set to speak as a guest speaker for the ACCENT student group on campus just after practice, but he ran the gassers anyway. He attended the speech in his workout clothes, not having time to shower or change thanks to his team's miscues.

That's something he's been doing since he arrived at Florida.

"I'm part of the team, so I should run the gassers too," Mullen said. "Hey, if we make mistakes, we're all going to pay the price. Whether it's discipline issues, academic issues, football issues, training issues, we all pay the price. So I'm going to pay the price just like them."

But Mullen was encouraged by what he saw Tuesday afternoon.

The fact that Lewis, a guy on his leadership council, was doing the right things and pushing his teammates is an encouraging sign.

Of course, preventing the issues that led to the gassers in the first place is what he'd ideally like to see.

"I talk to the guys on our leadership committee, 'The guys on your team, you're responsible for them,'" Mullen said. "So if you're a leadership committee guy and there's a guy on your team missing class, if you don't want the team to run sprints, it's not just his responsibility, it's the leadership committee's guy within their individual teams to set that standard.

"So get out there and push him to make sure he finishes. Because we're running if one of those guys misses, it's their fault we're running. So the best way to do it is just call him make sure, 'Hey, I've got your class schedule.' That teaches leadership and accountability to make sure you're on time to class and doing what you're supposed to do. Especially for the younger guys, and then as they get older, they might understand they might have to help the younger guys and help take care of their business."

There are also some other positive signs in guys like Lewis and Miller willing their teammates through the finish.

That's the kind of straining that Mullen has harped on in the strength and conditioning program that he wants to see. Director of strength and conditioning Nick Savage has stressed that he wants guys uncomfortable, to get used to being uncomfortable.

And you can bet Conliffe, Slaton and several others were quite uncomfortable as they finished their gassers up on Tuesday evening. Possibly even Lewis, who to this point has mostly lurked in the shadows in the public eye rather than being a visible team leader.

"Who's going to step up and who's going to make sure that they're accountable for their actions in the course of the game?" Mullen said. "Hey, if some guy's struggling, somebody else better push him and you better work together as a team.

"I think that was the biggest thing for me, making sure that we understand that everyone out there, our goal is to win the game. Everything we do is about working together as a team, not just as an offensive guy or a defensive guy or 'Hey, I don't want this guy to push me.'

In any case, there were a lot of positives to be gleaned from that simple view of gassers at the end of Tuesday's practice.

They had accountability written all over them. That players are also starting to hold each other accountable, rather than just the coaches attempting to do it for them, is a great sign for the Gators.

"He should push you if you're not living up to the standards and the expectations of the program," Mullen said. "Everybody should push you. You'd love to see the whole team pushing guys. Guys that are being pushed, if you're being pushed by somebody else, you're not living up to the expectations that people have in the program, so I've got to find a way to get myself going harder or say 'Hey, thanks for pushing me that way, because I understand I have to do better.'"

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