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Florida cornerbacks coach Charlton Warren stopped the players at his position in the middle of a drill.

“Water, water, water,” he directed them as they were lining up to run a tackling simulation.

“Everybody get a drink of water.”

A bit further down the sideline, wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales made sure that his players got water every time there was a break in the action.

He made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion, but rather mandatory of each and every player in his position group.

"If I give you a break, you're drinking. Take care of yourself, rehydrate," Gonzales pointedly told freshman walk-on Jaylin Jackson - who had taken a knee but not a drink - while making the point loud enough for all to hear.

It was a muggy Wednesday morning, the kind that Florida is infamous for during the dog days of summer, when you can’t even focus on the heat because the humidity is too suffocating. Therefore the constant calls for water at all times, not just during pre-set water breaks, shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Given the recent reports of a “toxic” culture at the University of Maryland though, every tough aspect that previously had been labeled “just football” has come under the microscope.

What’s acceptable?

What’s pushing the line?

At what point does trying to make someone stronger begin to actually beat him down?

It’s a question that has to be asked across the country; meanwhile the Terps search for answers around their program and determine how the culture might have led to the death of a freshman offensive lineman as the result of a heatstroke during offseason workouts.

Early reports state that Jordan McNair—the lineman who passed away—suffered a heat stroke and seizure then didn’t receive medical attention for close to an hour, instead continuing to run sprints as long as he could. There are currently two investigations proceeding, one looking into McNair’s passing (on Tuesday the University took responsibility for the death) and the possible toxic culture that head coach DJ Durkin and strength and conditioning coach Rick Court may have created.

Court, who was specifically examined in the ESPN report, which brought the above questions to light, has since resigned from his position. Before joining Durkin (the former Florida defensive coordinator) with the Terps, Court was at Mississippi State, spending time as the S&C coach for Dan Mullen in Starkville.

On Wednesday Mullen said the situation out of College Park is a reminder to check on your own program, in its entirety.

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“I’m always trying to evaluate our program, constantly trying to evaluate our program. When things come up you go ask those questions and walk around and check again. The nice thing is a lot of the times guys come back and say ‘you asked me that yesterday, coach, before it came up.’

“I think you’re always trying to evaluate every aspect of the program…you try as best you can to keep everybody on the same page. You’re always trying to pay close attention to how the program’s going and what we’re doing.”

It was sort of a broad skirting of the topic but the mindset has resulted in what seem to be direct responses to personal evaluation, including delegation and pulling back on the yelling.

“I don't yell and scream as much as I used to at practice,” said Mullen.

“I'm not maybe the raving lunatic I used to be screaming around the field everywhere because you know what I noticed? Our coaches are coaching hard, too. If two guys are yelling at the guy the same thing it's like echoing. If you're on the defensive line and you jump offsides, and Sal [Sunseri's] like, 'Hey, watch the ball,' and I'm screaming, 'Watch the ball,' it can get in one ear and out the other. I do think delegating is a huge decision in it.

“It becomes a factor of trust in that, go out hire good people, share with them what you're expectations and standards are, ok, and then allow them to go do their job and do their work. You know as a head coach, make sure you're constantly, everybody in the program understands your expectations and then try to help them improve themselves and pay attention to what you think they're doing well, what they're doing poorly and ways that they can improve and trust that they're gonna do their job the best way.”

A lot of that trust has been on strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage this offseason.

Savage, who took over in Starkville when Court left for Maryland, followed Mullen to Gainesville. He’s been continually praised by players in the offseason as pushing them to become more physical and able to withstand the grind that comes with a SEC football schedule. As someone who served on Court’s staff at MSU and under the same mentor—former Florida and current Ohio State S&C coach Mickey Marotti—though there comes the understandable question of how much of the mindset is being used with the Gators.

However, the mental image of Nick Savage walking around Saturday’s practice with a water backpack while hosing down players from head to toe coupled with a recent quote from a player can’t help but lead one to assume Savage takes a slightly different approach than his counterpart in Maryland.

A current Terps player told ESPN about Court, “He'll put more weight on the bar than you can do, ever done in your life, and expect you to do it multiple times. He'll single people out he doesn't like, which is a common practice here. Guys are run off. They'll have them do specific finishes at the end and do harder workouts or more workouts just to make their lives miserable here.”

It stands in direct contrast to something defensive lineman TJ Slaton shared on Monday. While explaining why he wasn’t allowed to bench his max weight Slaton said, “Coach Savage like really sets weights for us and stuff like that so we don’t really go over cause he knows what he wants, where he wants us to be and stuff like that…you know some days when I feel comfortable with lifting a lot of weight they tell me ‘no we’re just gonna do this today. We’ll try tomorrow or the next day.’”

According to linebacker Jeremiah Moon, a balance has been struck between certain days to help push the players with days to help them maximize energy as opposed to losing it all.

“We don’t max out a lot. We still go hard, I guess, in different ways. We do rep tests with 225. We have certain lifts, like the Valentine’s Day lift, where they’ll just put a whole bunch of plates on and you have to go as many times as you can. So, I guess it’s not really maxing out, but you’re still giving and exerting all of your energy.”

There’s still a lot to be learned from the situation in Maryland. The results could prove that Durkin and his coaching staff did everything right. Or they could send shockwaves across the college football landscape. In the meantime, in Gainesville, players speak often of the positive culture shift they’ve experienced under Mullen who asks his players to have fun and enjoy their time as Gators. It’s something they see carrying over to the season and that, according to linebacker David Reese, has a lot to do with Nick Savage.

“Coach Savage has been the biggest difference since Day 1. Him and his accountability for our unit has been the biggest difference.”

Adds Moon, “He’s just done a great job motivating everybody and getting everybody into shape for this upcoming season. So he’s been a big part of it."