POST SPRING PERSPECTIVE
I started not to write this post as I fear it will add to my reputation as an overly optimistic poster. At the very least I am viewed as a “glass half-full” poster when it comes to Gator football. However, I do honestly try to impartially assess the team before I post. So, if you are a normally pessimistic person or one that believes that if you speak too glowingly about a situation you will jinx it, please move on because this is not your type of post.
If you were to sit down and draw up the most likely scenario to win back-to-back National Championships it is hard to imagine that you could improve upon the reality in Gainesville. For example:
1. We have a returning Senior, Heisman winning QB who is likely the greatest college football player of all time leading the offense.
2. He is backed up by the third or fourth best QB in the SEC (I will concede that Snead is the second best at this point) on John Brantley.
3. These two QBs are being coached by arguably the best QB coach in the nation. A coach that NFL QBs are seeking out to help them work on their mechanics. For all the positive things about Mullen, he cannot hold a candle to Loeffler to teaching the mechanics of the QB position. Trust me on this, the relationship between the QBs and Loeffler is already greatly superior to that which existed with Mullen. Let me put it this way, there is a lot more coaching and a lot less verbal abuse directed at the QB position than in the past. As I stated before, Mullen going to MSU actually helped convince Tebow to come back. However, if the NCAA had not allowed Timmy to raise money for his dad’s orphanage, he would have gone pro and used his signing bonus for that purpose no matter who the coach was.
4. The OL is deep, deep, deep. In spite of all the “injuries” during the Spring there were always sufficient quality linemen to go against an ever improving DL. I say “injuries” because the truth is that most of the players could have and would have played with those “injuries” if it had been during the season. As Meyer said, what more did he need to see from the Pounceys? Their absence gave the younger guys the opportunity to get meaningful snaps and prove themselves. Privately Addazio is thrilled with the quality depth he has. Johnson needed the snaps at the tackle position in Spring to help determine if he is best there. (he is) All that needs to be established in Fall is the actual starting 5 (Does Robey start and both the Pounceys are at guard? Etc) The beauty of all this is that since the five starters are technically yet to be determined, all of the linemen have the incentive to bust their butts in off-season workouts. The bottom line is there should be plenty of talent to replace Watkins and Trautwein on the line.
5. Basically the same can be said for the wide receiver position. The injuries to Nelson and Thompson (although Deonte didn’t miss much time) and Riley playing baseball allowed Hammond and Lawrence to emerge. The talent is there to replace Murphy and there is enough additional talent to replace Harvin by committee regardless of Whether Debose can contribute right away.
6. I am bothered by the “Harvin position” in that Meyer said he expected Rainey, Demps and Debose to all play the position. (I think he forgot to mention James) However, if that is the case then why didn’t Rainey and/or Demps (before Demps went full-time track) ever practice at that position? I realize that I am stretching to find something negative, however, it is something that makes me go “huh”.
7. We have the best TE in the country and barring injury should be a first round pick in next year’s draft.
8. The running back situation will be solid with the expectation that all three of Moody, Demps and Rainey will be bigger, stronger and faster than last year. Scott as an emergency backup in the case of multiple injuries is a plus.
9. The only negative on offense is the loss of Harvin. Go back and watch the 2006 and 2008 national championship games to remind yourself how much he was used and the level at which he played. However, that said I think the overall offense will be improved and will average in excess of 45 points per game.
10. Moving to the defense lets start with the least area of strength. I termed it that way because there are no areas of weakness. The DL will be significantly better next year than last when they were a surprisingly strong area. The addition of Howard, Hunter, Okine etc will more than make up for the loss of Davis and the “injuries” to Sanders and Marsh also contributed to their development. Add in Trattou and the DL should be able to put a great deal more pressure on the opposing QB.
11. The DE position is stacked and will be a team strength. Dunlap, Cunningham and Lemmons are all in the mix for the two starting jobs with the likely winners constituting the best DE starters in the league. Where do you play Green? He is too talented to languish on the bench. Keep in mind that some of the guys we think of as ends make shift inside in certain formations to take advantage of their speed. All in all the entire DL will be a deep and strong wall against the run and pass.
12. As if the LB position was not strong enough, Beal and Bostic have outstanding Springs. Without going into obvious detail, the LB are all very talented and the vast number of them will ensure that there will always be fresh legs on the field.
13. The only position that is deeper than LB position is the safety position. As good as Major Wright has been, I could easily see him losing his starting position to Hill. You have to play Black, Munroe and Finley, don’t you? Based upon the assumption that most of our opponents will be playing from behind, it is likely that three of the “nickel” defenders will be safeties. Clearly, this has to be the best safety corps in the entire country.
14. In the “rich get richer” category we get our senior placekicker back for his second senior year. Henry is one of the better punters in the country and Sturgis is a star in waiting. If we never notice the long snapper our kicking game should be outstanding as well.
15. All this brings us back to the all-important category of coaching. Is there realistically any better coaching staff in America than our present staff? On previous staffs we have had certain individuals that are better recruiters than they are actual coaches. We will soon see how well that type of staff works up in Knoxville. However, if a gun was put to my head and I had to pick the weak coaching link on this current staff, I honestly would not know whom to pick. In addition, they are all very accomplished recruiters. In other words, I expect these coaches to continue to cause these extremely talented players to get even better. The high level of competition fostered by the staff each and every workout will naturally encourage continued development and battle against complacently. The mark of Meyer’s coaching genius is that he has gone n record saying this will be the toughest off-season conditioning program ever. If there is anything that will combat complacency and over confidence it is hard work and sweat.
Now on to the reason that most of you are still reading…. Recruiting. In general, I will tell you that recruiting could hardly be going any better. The biggest problem we are having at the present time is NOT taking commitments. I am talking about highly rated recruits that are being put on hold until some time in the future. We as recruitniks want the Gators to get every four or five star recruit regardless of position. However, with there being very few real needs on this team the staff must look to the future and assess long-term needs that may not be readily apparent to us.
A clear sign that recruiting is going well is the fact that we already have multiple commitments at our area of greatest depth….safety. While it is probable the a safety in HS may play another position in college, the fact that four and five star safeties are clamoring to jump on the Gator express this early speaks volumes about how talented this class will be. We are starting to experience the USC phenomenon where HS studs completely disregard the depth chart to compete to play for and against the best. With this next class we will truly be where Meyer dreamed we could one day be.
Another sign is that the Jacksonville area is supposed to have one of their best group of Division 1 prospects in years. However, there is only one of that group that the Gators really covet at this time and that is the massive lineman from Bolles, Benedict. His high school coach, the legendary Corky Rodgers, says he is the best player he has ever coached and will be a star on Sundays. He is extremely interested in UF and has visited several times. He can go anywhere in the country and if he had to sign today it would be UF.
There has been a lot of speculation about Louis Nix from Raines HS. The truth is that he has fallen way down the Board at UF. He is a soft UM commitment that some services have rated as a five star. He recently visited UF and the staff saw a recruit that is horribly out of shape with “rumors” of off the field issues. He became a UM commitment because his former HS coach was a close friend of the UM recruiter for the Jacksonville area and had steered him to UM. That coach left for a coaching job in Georgia and it was only last week that the school replaced him with the former defensive coordinator. Consequently, Raines had not had any off season weight training program, in fact, the weight room had not even been opened. In regards to the off the field issues, I know for a fact that a highly respected coach from a neighboring HS turned down the opportunity for Nix to transfer to his school due to concern about Nix’s attitude and these of the field issues. Nix reminds me of “DLO” McCray from a couple of years ago that initially committed to UF and then had a mutual parting of the ways and ultimately ended up with Zook at Ill. There are a lot of red flags surrounding Nix and barring a miraculous turnaround he will never have a committable UF offer.
The most interesting area to watch will be the WR board. UF will probably take four and it is likely to be first come first served from a very deep and talented WR crop. The list of WR prospects is as deep and talented as I can ever remember. Even guys like Boone who seem perfectly suited to the UF attack and has had an ongoing mutual love affair with UF could find himself on the outside looking in if he waits too long to pull the trigger. I am hoping his HS coach (John Brantley’s dad) won’t let that happen.
Speaking of Brantley’s father, he has even a better relationship with Meyer than does Tebow’s father. As a coach, Brantley truly appreciates and admires the manner by which Meyer has accomplished what he has. That has been a reason that the Junior Brantley has been so patient as a backup to Tebow. Keep in mind that Brantley was the national Gatorade Player of the Year. This side of Mitch Mustain I cannot think of a more highly acclaimed HS QB that his ridden the pine longer than Brantley. It will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets this year. Will he play once the games are clearly out of hand or will Tebow stay in the amass the stats necessary to remain in the Heisman race? My personal belief is that if we are undefeated and ranked #1 when the Heisman votes are cast that Tebow will his second one. More on a “lifetime achievement” theory than on a stats race such as last year. My hope is that the voters that left him off last year saw the error of their ways in the BCS title game where he outplayed and out willed Bradford. He should win next year because he deserved to win last year.
Privately, Meyer is as confident as my source has ever seen him. He says that unless they have an unbelievable string of bad luck with injuries or unless the staff “screws things up” he expects to repeat. Meyer is driven, he is arrogant and he is consumed with winning. All the qualities we love in our coach and love to hate in our opponent. (see Spurrier and Saban)
One non-football related story for you. If you follow the Gator baseball team at all you know that a couple of weeks ago they rallied from six runs down in the last inning to beat Bama. What happened was that their Senior catcher Teddy Foster, who splits time with Buddy Monroe, is quite skilled at intercepting the other team’s signals. Most teams have a coach in the dugout that relays to the catcher which pitch pitching coach wants the pitcher to throw next. Teddy deciphered the code before the ninth inning and was able to alert each Gator batter before the pitch the exact pitch the pitcher was about to throw. For those of you that have seen Bull Durham, that knowledge gives the batter a great advantage. Anyway, the Gators scored seven runs to beat Bama, however, the assist by Foster will not show up in the box score.
In conclusion, we must try extremely hard to fight the effects of high expectations. They have ruined our enjoyment of Gator football before and can surely do it again. Whenever you get the feeling that we are entitled to win or that we won in a less impressive manner than you wanted, think back to the Zook years and for old guys like me the pre-Spurrier years and it will help you enjoy the ride and appreciate the experience. I apologize for the length of this post.
This post was edited on 4/22 1:29 PM by Gatorgary
I started not to write this post as I fear it will add to my reputation as an overly optimistic poster. At the very least I am viewed as a “glass half-full” poster when it comes to Gator football. However, I do honestly try to impartially assess the team before I post. So, if you are a normally pessimistic person or one that believes that if you speak too glowingly about a situation you will jinx it, please move on because this is not your type of post.
If you were to sit down and draw up the most likely scenario to win back-to-back National Championships it is hard to imagine that you could improve upon the reality in Gainesville. For example:
1. We have a returning Senior, Heisman winning QB who is likely the greatest college football player of all time leading the offense.
2. He is backed up by the third or fourth best QB in the SEC (I will concede that Snead is the second best at this point) on John Brantley.
3. These two QBs are being coached by arguably the best QB coach in the nation. A coach that NFL QBs are seeking out to help them work on their mechanics. For all the positive things about Mullen, he cannot hold a candle to Loeffler to teaching the mechanics of the QB position. Trust me on this, the relationship between the QBs and Loeffler is already greatly superior to that which existed with Mullen. Let me put it this way, there is a lot more coaching and a lot less verbal abuse directed at the QB position than in the past. As I stated before, Mullen going to MSU actually helped convince Tebow to come back. However, if the NCAA had not allowed Timmy to raise money for his dad’s orphanage, he would have gone pro and used his signing bonus for that purpose no matter who the coach was.
4. The OL is deep, deep, deep. In spite of all the “injuries” during the Spring there were always sufficient quality linemen to go against an ever improving DL. I say “injuries” because the truth is that most of the players could have and would have played with those “injuries” if it had been during the season. As Meyer said, what more did he need to see from the Pounceys? Their absence gave the younger guys the opportunity to get meaningful snaps and prove themselves. Privately Addazio is thrilled with the quality depth he has. Johnson needed the snaps at the tackle position in Spring to help determine if he is best there. (he is) All that needs to be established in Fall is the actual starting 5 (Does Robey start and both the Pounceys are at guard? Etc) The beauty of all this is that since the five starters are technically yet to be determined, all of the linemen have the incentive to bust their butts in off-season workouts. The bottom line is there should be plenty of talent to replace Watkins and Trautwein on the line.
5. Basically the same can be said for the wide receiver position. The injuries to Nelson and Thompson (although Deonte didn’t miss much time) and Riley playing baseball allowed Hammond and Lawrence to emerge. The talent is there to replace Murphy and there is enough additional talent to replace Harvin by committee regardless of Whether Debose can contribute right away.
6. I am bothered by the “Harvin position” in that Meyer said he expected Rainey, Demps and Debose to all play the position. (I think he forgot to mention James) However, if that is the case then why didn’t Rainey and/or Demps (before Demps went full-time track) ever practice at that position? I realize that I am stretching to find something negative, however, it is something that makes me go “huh”.
7. We have the best TE in the country and barring injury should be a first round pick in next year’s draft.
8. The running back situation will be solid with the expectation that all three of Moody, Demps and Rainey will be bigger, stronger and faster than last year. Scott as an emergency backup in the case of multiple injuries is a plus.
9. The only negative on offense is the loss of Harvin. Go back and watch the 2006 and 2008 national championship games to remind yourself how much he was used and the level at which he played. However, that said I think the overall offense will be improved and will average in excess of 45 points per game.
10. Moving to the defense lets start with the least area of strength. I termed it that way because there are no areas of weakness. The DL will be significantly better next year than last when they were a surprisingly strong area. The addition of Howard, Hunter, Okine etc will more than make up for the loss of Davis and the “injuries” to Sanders and Marsh also contributed to their development. Add in Trattou and the DL should be able to put a great deal more pressure on the opposing QB.
11. The DE position is stacked and will be a team strength. Dunlap, Cunningham and Lemmons are all in the mix for the two starting jobs with the likely winners constituting the best DE starters in the league. Where do you play Green? He is too talented to languish on the bench. Keep in mind that some of the guys we think of as ends make shift inside in certain formations to take advantage of their speed. All in all the entire DL will be a deep and strong wall against the run and pass.
12. As if the LB position was not strong enough, Beal and Bostic have outstanding Springs. Without going into obvious detail, the LB are all very talented and the vast number of them will ensure that there will always be fresh legs on the field.
13. The only position that is deeper than LB position is the safety position. As good as Major Wright has been, I could easily see him losing his starting position to Hill. You have to play Black, Munroe and Finley, don’t you? Based upon the assumption that most of our opponents will be playing from behind, it is likely that three of the “nickel” defenders will be safeties. Clearly, this has to be the best safety corps in the entire country.
14. In the “rich get richer” category we get our senior placekicker back for his second senior year. Henry is one of the better punters in the country and Sturgis is a star in waiting. If we never notice the long snapper our kicking game should be outstanding as well.
15. All this brings us back to the all-important category of coaching. Is there realistically any better coaching staff in America than our present staff? On previous staffs we have had certain individuals that are better recruiters than they are actual coaches. We will soon see how well that type of staff works up in Knoxville. However, if a gun was put to my head and I had to pick the weak coaching link on this current staff, I honestly would not know whom to pick. In addition, they are all very accomplished recruiters. In other words, I expect these coaches to continue to cause these extremely talented players to get even better. The high level of competition fostered by the staff each and every workout will naturally encourage continued development and battle against complacently. The mark of Meyer’s coaching genius is that he has gone n record saying this will be the toughest off-season conditioning program ever. If there is anything that will combat complacency and over confidence it is hard work and sweat.
Now on to the reason that most of you are still reading…. Recruiting. In general, I will tell you that recruiting could hardly be going any better. The biggest problem we are having at the present time is NOT taking commitments. I am talking about highly rated recruits that are being put on hold until some time in the future. We as recruitniks want the Gators to get every four or five star recruit regardless of position. However, with there being very few real needs on this team the staff must look to the future and assess long-term needs that may not be readily apparent to us.
A clear sign that recruiting is going well is the fact that we already have multiple commitments at our area of greatest depth….safety. While it is probable the a safety in HS may play another position in college, the fact that four and five star safeties are clamoring to jump on the Gator express this early speaks volumes about how talented this class will be. We are starting to experience the USC phenomenon where HS studs completely disregard the depth chart to compete to play for and against the best. With this next class we will truly be where Meyer dreamed we could one day be.
Another sign is that the Jacksonville area is supposed to have one of their best group of Division 1 prospects in years. However, there is only one of that group that the Gators really covet at this time and that is the massive lineman from Bolles, Benedict. His high school coach, the legendary Corky Rodgers, says he is the best player he has ever coached and will be a star on Sundays. He is extremely interested in UF and has visited several times. He can go anywhere in the country and if he had to sign today it would be UF.
There has been a lot of speculation about Louis Nix from Raines HS. The truth is that he has fallen way down the Board at UF. He is a soft UM commitment that some services have rated as a five star. He recently visited UF and the staff saw a recruit that is horribly out of shape with “rumors” of off the field issues. He became a UM commitment because his former HS coach was a close friend of the UM recruiter for the Jacksonville area and had steered him to UM. That coach left for a coaching job in Georgia and it was only last week that the school replaced him with the former defensive coordinator. Consequently, Raines had not had any off season weight training program, in fact, the weight room had not even been opened. In regards to the off the field issues, I know for a fact that a highly respected coach from a neighboring HS turned down the opportunity for Nix to transfer to his school due to concern about Nix’s attitude and these of the field issues. Nix reminds me of “DLO” McCray from a couple of years ago that initially committed to UF and then had a mutual parting of the ways and ultimately ended up with Zook at Ill. There are a lot of red flags surrounding Nix and barring a miraculous turnaround he will never have a committable UF offer.
The most interesting area to watch will be the WR board. UF will probably take four and it is likely to be first come first served from a very deep and talented WR crop. The list of WR prospects is as deep and talented as I can ever remember. Even guys like Boone who seem perfectly suited to the UF attack and has had an ongoing mutual love affair with UF could find himself on the outside looking in if he waits too long to pull the trigger. I am hoping his HS coach (John Brantley’s dad) won’t let that happen.
Speaking of Brantley’s father, he has even a better relationship with Meyer than does Tebow’s father. As a coach, Brantley truly appreciates and admires the manner by which Meyer has accomplished what he has. That has been a reason that the Junior Brantley has been so patient as a backup to Tebow. Keep in mind that Brantley was the national Gatorade Player of the Year. This side of Mitch Mustain I cannot think of a more highly acclaimed HS QB that his ridden the pine longer than Brantley. It will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets this year. Will he play once the games are clearly out of hand or will Tebow stay in the amass the stats necessary to remain in the Heisman race? My personal belief is that if we are undefeated and ranked #1 when the Heisman votes are cast that Tebow will his second one. More on a “lifetime achievement” theory than on a stats race such as last year. My hope is that the voters that left him off last year saw the error of their ways in the BCS title game where he outplayed and out willed Bradford. He should win next year because he deserved to win last year.
Privately, Meyer is as confident as my source has ever seen him. He says that unless they have an unbelievable string of bad luck with injuries or unless the staff “screws things up” he expects to repeat. Meyer is driven, he is arrogant and he is consumed with winning. All the qualities we love in our coach and love to hate in our opponent. (see Spurrier and Saban)
One non-football related story for you. If you follow the Gator baseball team at all you know that a couple of weeks ago they rallied from six runs down in the last inning to beat Bama. What happened was that their Senior catcher Teddy Foster, who splits time with Buddy Monroe, is quite skilled at intercepting the other team’s signals. Most teams have a coach in the dugout that relays to the catcher which pitch pitching coach wants the pitcher to throw next. Teddy deciphered the code before the ninth inning and was able to alert each Gator batter before the pitch the exact pitch the pitcher was about to throw. For those of you that have seen Bull Durham, that knowledge gives the batter a great advantage. Anyway, the Gators scored seven runs to beat Bama, however, the assist by Foster will not show up in the box score.
In conclusion, we must try extremely hard to fight the effects of high expectations. They have ruined our enjoyment of Gator football before and can surely do it again. Whenever you get the feeling that we are entitled to win or that we won in a less impressive manner than you wanted, think back to the Zook years and for old guys like me the pre-Spurrier years and it will help you enjoy the ride and appreciate the experience. I apologize for the length of this post.
This post was edited on 4/22 1:29 PM by Gatorgary
