By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:
“You keep thinking Butch. That’s what you’re good at” – The Sundance Kid
THINKING OUT LOUD ON A THURSDAY
It’s better to be underrated than overrated
A year ago, the Gators were thought to be a team just outside the top ten and very capable of making a run at a second straight SEC East title if all the stars and planets aligned. Judging by the way the Gators dominated Alabama for three quarters and then gave the Vols a woodshed beating, you would have thought the preseason prognosticators had UF pegged just right. Then came exposure and a meltdown by the head coach. The 6-7 record says the Gators were vastly overrated. Players from last year’s team tend to think they would have done just fine if the head coach hadn’t checked out and checked in to a first class cabin for a trip to Never Never Land.
Enter Billy Napier, new assistants, The Army and The Process. Everyone seems to think this Florida team is destined to finish fourth in the SEC East Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. All the experts look at the recruiting rankings of the past few years and believe anything better than a 7-5 record might bring the walls of Jericho tumbling down again. You could call the 2022 Gators – at least in the eyes of the preseason experts – the Rodney Dangerfields of the SEC because nobody is giving them any respect.
When he hears what everyone else thinks, Billy Napier probably looks around to see that nobody is looking before he breaks into giggles. The Gators are underrated for sure and maybe rightly so, but the disrespect card will be played over and over again. There is nothing like a team playing with a chip on its shoulder and by the time the first Saturday in September arrives, Billy Napier may have grown that chip so large that it could qualify for its own area code.
Here are three reasons why I think the Gators might be vastly underrated this year:
1. Anthony Richardson is capable of marvelous things if he can stay healthy. A healthy Richardson could be somebody’s No. 1 draft pick in 2023. If Richardson can throw some darts, then Justin Shorter will have a year that will remind everyone why he was a 5-star coming out of high school.
2. The Gators will play defense with their offense. This offensive line is not getting near enough respect. O’Cyrus Torrence is going to be a beast. This will be ground and pound football like it’s 1984 all over again. The running back room, just like the O-line is not getting enough respect. Control the ball with the running game, throw it over the top when they try to stop the run with eight in the box and keep the defense off the field. The 1984 Gators controlled the clock so much that the defense was on the field less than 20 minutes per game. One of every 10 Kerwin Bell passes went for a touchdown.
3. The defense will be much, much better. I know. How could it not be? You worry about the depth on the line, but the back seven will be among the best in the country because the coaching will be that much better thanks to Patrick Toney and Corey Raymond. I like this defensive coaching staff. This is the best defensive staff top to bottom the Gators have had since 2012 when Dan Quinn, DJ Durkin, Bryant Young and Travaris Robinson worked for Will Muschamp.
FINALLY SOME LOVE FOR WYATT LANGFORD
Isn’t it interesting that the SEC coaches couldn’t vote Wyatt Langford first team All-SEC yet the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association recognizes the sophomore outfielder from Trenton as a second team All-American? Perfect Game also recognized Langford as a second team All-American. USA Today named Langford first team All-SEC. It seems everyone was cognizant of Langford’s abilities except the SEC coaches. To say Kevin O’Sullivan was a teensy bit perturbed by the snug would be the understatement of the century.
All Langford did was hit .355 with a .719 slugging percentage, which ranked second in the SEC. He had the most total bases (184), finished second in hits (91), first in home runs (26) and tied for first in runs scored. In the SEC Tournament and the Gainesville regional he was 15-45 with five home runs.
Langford was also named first team All-Southeast Region by ABCA/Rawlings. Pitcher Brandon Sproat made second. Team All-Southeast Region.
TOO MUCH LOVE FOR THESE GUYS?
Marcus Freeman, HBC, Notre Dame: You would think he was there with Moses to part the Red Sea the way the media has gone ga-ga over Freeman. He may turn into the greatest thing since the invention of the frostproof freezer but there is also the chance he will turn into the next Ron Zook or Will Muschamp. Zooker and Muschamp may have turned into fine head football coaches if they had spent three or four years beating the bushes to learn how to be a head coach. Zook succeeded Steve Spurrier with no head coaching experience and Muschamp succeeded Urban Meyer. It was like giving the keys to the Mercedes to the cabana boy. Marcus Freeman has never been a head coach. If the Irish bust this year there will be lots of buyer’s remorse in South Bend.
Lincoln Riley, Southern California: The Trojans are going to score plenty of points, which is what Riley offenses tend to do. Will they stop anybody? He went 55-10 at Oklahoma and never won a College Football Playoff game because the Sooners never figured out that it isn’t illegal to tackle people before they run into the end zone. During his time at OU, the Sooners never had a top 20 defense. To put in better perspective, Florida had a better defense than Riley put on the field every year except 2020. What happens if the Trojans meet up with a team that can slow down their offense this year at USC?
Dan Lanning, Oregon: He was Georgia’s defensive coordinator but how much of that great defense was Lanning and how much of it was Kirby Smart … and how much did Will Muschamp play into turning Georgia’s defense into the best we’ve seen since Alabama 2011? Oregon is a preseason top 10 pick but it’s questionable because the QB will be Bo Nix and the OC will be Kenny Dillingham, whose 2019 offense at Auburn was middle of the pack SEC and whose last two years coordinating FSU’s offense saw the Seminoles finish 9th in the ACC both years.
JT Daniels, QB, West Virginia: This is his third stop on his way to a Heisman Trophy. Oops. Hasn’t won one has he? He won’t this year, either.
NOT ENOUGH LOVE FOR THESE GUYS?
Billy Napier, HBC, Florida: He went 40-12 in four years at Louisiana yet some of these folks who rank head coaches rank first year guys who have never been head coaches ahead of him. Florida will be better than most expect this year. After that, the Gators are going to be very, very good.
Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oklahoma: He threw 70 TDPs and only 14 picks at UCF. Now he’s reunited with Jeff Lebby, who was his OC in 2019-20. He will slice and dice the Big 12 defenses with Lebby calling the plays.
Dave Aranda, HBC, Baylor: Baylor went 12-2 last year and won the Big 12. Not Oklahoma, whose offense Aranda held to 14 points and 260 yards. By the end of the year, Baylor was the team nobody in the Big 12 wanted to play. It will be that way this year too. He turned down Southern Cal and LSU. How long will he stay at Baylor? Someone’s going to back up a Brinks Truck to get him.
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss: Lane knows he can’t recruit better high school kids to Ole Miss than the ones that go to Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M and the like, but he showed he knows how to restock a roster with the transfer portal where he got QB Jaxon Dart and TE Michael Trigg from Southern Cal, RB Zach Evans from TCU, RB Ulysses Bentley (SMU), RT Mason Brooks (Western Kentucky), DT JJ Pegues (Auburn) and linebackers Troy Brown (Central Michigan) and Khari Coleman (TCU). Ole Miss could very well finish second in the SEC West. Lane Kiffin can coach in case you haven’t noticed.
GROUP OF 5 TEAMS THAT POWER 5 TEAMS WISH THEY WEREN’T PLAYING
Houston: Everybody knows about QB Clayton Tune but the guy that keeps opposing defensive coordinators burning the midnight oil is wide receiver Nathaniel Dell, a Daytona Beach native who caught 90 passes for 1,329 yards and 12 TDs last year. Bet the farm that DC Doug Belk will be someone’s head coach in 2023. That defense will be nasty. The Cougars play big 12 Texas Tech and Kansas in their first three games.
Texas-San Antonio: The Roadrunners went 12-2 last year and they figure to be better this year. They’re good enough to put the fear of God in Texas on September 17. Remember the name Frank Harris. He might be the best QB you’ve never heard of. If Jeff Traylor stays at UTSA, the Roadrunners will be the next Cincinnati.
Coastal Carolina: There are only a handful of Power 5 teams that Grayson McCall wouldn’t start for. He’s thrown 53 TDPs and only six picks the last two years while averaging a mind boggling 10.9 yards per attempt. Jamey Chadwell runs a funky offense that is hard to stop. Why isn’t he a Power 5 head coach? That’s one of life’s great mysteries. Circle November 19 when the Chanticleers travel to Virginia.
Fresno State: Jeff Tedford is back as a head coach and he’s got a stud QB in Jake Haener. The Bulldogs will light up scoreboards and DC Kevin Croyle is a name to pencil in as somebody’s future HBC. The Bulldogs could light up Southern Cal in week three.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: When the College World Series begins play in Omaha Friday, the SEC will make up half the field, three-fourths if you include Texas and Oklahoma, which will probably be joining the league in a couple of years. Even though Texas and Oklahoma are still in the Big 12, they add a distinct SEC feel to the CWS field which includes No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 14 Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
What makes the field even more interesting – and a testament to just how good the baseball is at these six schools – is the fact that only Texas A&M made it to Omaha after hosting a regional and a super regional. No. 9 Texas had to go on the road to Greenville to beat No. 8 East Carolina in its super. No. 14 Auburn had to go on the road to beat No. 3 Oregon State in the Corvallis super regional. Arkansas had to go on the road to win the Stillwater regional against No. 7 Oklahoma State and then to No. 10 North Carolina. Oklahoma had to beat No. 13 Florida in Gainesville and then No. 4 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Ole Miss was one of the last three teams that got in and had to win on the road at No. 6 Miami in the regional and at No. 11 Southern Miss in the super.
What we’ll be seeing in Omaha is a preview of things to come. As dominant as the SEC has been in baseball in the past 12 years (7 national champs, 6 runners-up), it’s going to get worse for the rest of the country and NIL plus the transfer portal will have plenty to do with it. With the baseball draft pared down to 20 rounds, kids are going to be transferring in droves to the SEC where there are big stadiums, plenty of games on the SEC Network, and more opportunities to be seen by Major League scouts.
When Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 for the SEC last summer, the nice boys and girls in “The Alliance” had apoplectic fits all because of football. Maybe they ought to pay attention to sports like baseball, too. And maybe sports like swimming, track and field, tennis, softball, golf and women’s gymnastics while they’re about it. National champs were won in all those sports by SEC teams and future SEC teams.
A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:
“You keep thinking Butch. That’s what you’re good at” – The Sundance Kid
THINKING OUT LOUD ON A THURSDAY
It’s better to be underrated than overrated
A year ago, the Gators were thought to be a team just outside the top ten and very capable of making a run at a second straight SEC East title if all the stars and planets aligned. Judging by the way the Gators dominated Alabama for three quarters and then gave the Vols a woodshed beating, you would have thought the preseason prognosticators had UF pegged just right. Then came exposure and a meltdown by the head coach. The 6-7 record says the Gators were vastly overrated. Players from last year’s team tend to think they would have done just fine if the head coach hadn’t checked out and checked in to a first class cabin for a trip to Never Never Land.
Enter Billy Napier, new assistants, The Army and The Process. Everyone seems to think this Florida team is destined to finish fourth in the SEC East Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. All the experts look at the recruiting rankings of the past few years and believe anything better than a 7-5 record might bring the walls of Jericho tumbling down again. You could call the 2022 Gators – at least in the eyes of the preseason experts – the Rodney Dangerfields of the SEC because nobody is giving them any respect.
When he hears what everyone else thinks, Billy Napier probably looks around to see that nobody is looking before he breaks into giggles. The Gators are underrated for sure and maybe rightly so, but the disrespect card will be played over and over again. There is nothing like a team playing with a chip on its shoulder and by the time the first Saturday in September arrives, Billy Napier may have grown that chip so large that it could qualify for its own area code.
Here are three reasons why I think the Gators might be vastly underrated this year:
1. Anthony Richardson is capable of marvelous things if he can stay healthy. A healthy Richardson could be somebody’s No. 1 draft pick in 2023. If Richardson can throw some darts, then Justin Shorter will have a year that will remind everyone why he was a 5-star coming out of high school.
2. The Gators will play defense with their offense. This offensive line is not getting near enough respect. O’Cyrus Torrence is going to be a beast. This will be ground and pound football like it’s 1984 all over again. The running back room, just like the O-line is not getting enough respect. Control the ball with the running game, throw it over the top when they try to stop the run with eight in the box and keep the defense off the field. The 1984 Gators controlled the clock so much that the defense was on the field less than 20 minutes per game. One of every 10 Kerwin Bell passes went for a touchdown.
3. The defense will be much, much better. I know. How could it not be? You worry about the depth on the line, but the back seven will be among the best in the country because the coaching will be that much better thanks to Patrick Toney and Corey Raymond. I like this defensive coaching staff. This is the best defensive staff top to bottom the Gators have had since 2012 when Dan Quinn, DJ Durkin, Bryant Young and Travaris Robinson worked for Will Muschamp.
FINALLY SOME LOVE FOR WYATT LANGFORD
Isn’t it interesting that the SEC coaches couldn’t vote Wyatt Langford first team All-SEC yet the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association recognizes the sophomore outfielder from Trenton as a second team All-American? Perfect Game also recognized Langford as a second team All-American. USA Today named Langford first team All-SEC. It seems everyone was cognizant of Langford’s abilities except the SEC coaches. To say Kevin O’Sullivan was a teensy bit perturbed by the snug would be the understatement of the century.
All Langford did was hit .355 with a .719 slugging percentage, which ranked second in the SEC. He had the most total bases (184), finished second in hits (91), first in home runs (26) and tied for first in runs scored. In the SEC Tournament and the Gainesville regional he was 15-45 with five home runs.
Langford was also named first team All-Southeast Region by ABCA/Rawlings. Pitcher Brandon Sproat made second. Team All-Southeast Region.
TOO MUCH LOVE FOR THESE GUYS?
Marcus Freeman, HBC, Notre Dame: You would think he was there with Moses to part the Red Sea the way the media has gone ga-ga over Freeman. He may turn into the greatest thing since the invention of the frostproof freezer but there is also the chance he will turn into the next Ron Zook or Will Muschamp. Zooker and Muschamp may have turned into fine head football coaches if they had spent three or four years beating the bushes to learn how to be a head coach. Zook succeeded Steve Spurrier with no head coaching experience and Muschamp succeeded Urban Meyer. It was like giving the keys to the Mercedes to the cabana boy. Marcus Freeman has never been a head coach. If the Irish bust this year there will be lots of buyer’s remorse in South Bend.
Lincoln Riley, Southern California: The Trojans are going to score plenty of points, which is what Riley offenses tend to do. Will they stop anybody? He went 55-10 at Oklahoma and never won a College Football Playoff game because the Sooners never figured out that it isn’t illegal to tackle people before they run into the end zone. During his time at OU, the Sooners never had a top 20 defense. To put in better perspective, Florida had a better defense than Riley put on the field every year except 2020. What happens if the Trojans meet up with a team that can slow down their offense this year at USC?
Dan Lanning, Oregon: He was Georgia’s defensive coordinator but how much of that great defense was Lanning and how much of it was Kirby Smart … and how much did Will Muschamp play into turning Georgia’s defense into the best we’ve seen since Alabama 2011? Oregon is a preseason top 10 pick but it’s questionable because the QB will be Bo Nix and the OC will be Kenny Dillingham, whose 2019 offense at Auburn was middle of the pack SEC and whose last two years coordinating FSU’s offense saw the Seminoles finish 9th in the ACC both years.
JT Daniels, QB, West Virginia: This is his third stop on his way to a Heisman Trophy. Oops. Hasn’t won one has he? He won’t this year, either.
NOT ENOUGH LOVE FOR THESE GUYS?
Billy Napier, HBC, Florida: He went 40-12 in four years at Louisiana yet some of these folks who rank head coaches rank first year guys who have never been head coaches ahead of him. Florida will be better than most expect this year. After that, the Gators are going to be very, very good.
Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oklahoma: He threw 70 TDPs and only 14 picks at UCF. Now he’s reunited with Jeff Lebby, who was his OC in 2019-20. He will slice and dice the Big 12 defenses with Lebby calling the plays.
Dave Aranda, HBC, Baylor: Baylor went 12-2 last year and won the Big 12. Not Oklahoma, whose offense Aranda held to 14 points and 260 yards. By the end of the year, Baylor was the team nobody in the Big 12 wanted to play. It will be that way this year too. He turned down Southern Cal and LSU. How long will he stay at Baylor? Someone’s going to back up a Brinks Truck to get him.
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss: Lane knows he can’t recruit better high school kids to Ole Miss than the ones that go to Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M and the like, but he showed he knows how to restock a roster with the transfer portal where he got QB Jaxon Dart and TE Michael Trigg from Southern Cal, RB Zach Evans from TCU, RB Ulysses Bentley (SMU), RT Mason Brooks (Western Kentucky), DT JJ Pegues (Auburn) and linebackers Troy Brown (Central Michigan) and Khari Coleman (TCU). Ole Miss could very well finish second in the SEC West. Lane Kiffin can coach in case you haven’t noticed.
GROUP OF 5 TEAMS THAT POWER 5 TEAMS WISH THEY WEREN’T PLAYING
Houston: Everybody knows about QB Clayton Tune but the guy that keeps opposing defensive coordinators burning the midnight oil is wide receiver Nathaniel Dell, a Daytona Beach native who caught 90 passes for 1,329 yards and 12 TDs last year. Bet the farm that DC Doug Belk will be someone’s head coach in 2023. That defense will be nasty. The Cougars play big 12 Texas Tech and Kansas in their first three games.
Texas-San Antonio: The Roadrunners went 12-2 last year and they figure to be better this year. They’re good enough to put the fear of God in Texas on September 17. Remember the name Frank Harris. He might be the best QB you’ve never heard of. If Jeff Traylor stays at UTSA, the Roadrunners will be the next Cincinnati.
Coastal Carolina: There are only a handful of Power 5 teams that Grayson McCall wouldn’t start for. He’s thrown 53 TDPs and only six picks the last two years while averaging a mind boggling 10.9 yards per attempt. Jamey Chadwell runs a funky offense that is hard to stop. Why isn’t he a Power 5 head coach? That’s one of life’s great mysteries. Circle November 19 when the Chanticleers travel to Virginia.
Fresno State: Jeff Tedford is back as a head coach and he’s got a stud QB in Jake Haener. The Bulldogs will light up scoreboards and DC Kevin Croyle is a name to pencil in as somebody’s future HBC. The Bulldogs could light up Southern Cal in week three.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: When the College World Series begins play in Omaha Friday, the SEC will make up half the field, three-fourths if you include Texas and Oklahoma, which will probably be joining the league in a couple of years. Even though Texas and Oklahoma are still in the Big 12, they add a distinct SEC feel to the CWS field which includes No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 14 Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
What makes the field even more interesting – and a testament to just how good the baseball is at these six schools – is the fact that only Texas A&M made it to Omaha after hosting a regional and a super regional. No. 9 Texas had to go on the road to Greenville to beat No. 8 East Carolina in its super. No. 14 Auburn had to go on the road to beat No. 3 Oregon State in the Corvallis super regional. Arkansas had to go on the road to win the Stillwater regional against No. 7 Oklahoma State and then to No. 10 North Carolina. Oklahoma had to beat No. 13 Florida in Gainesville and then No. 4 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Ole Miss was one of the last three teams that got in and had to win on the road at No. 6 Miami in the regional and at No. 11 Southern Miss in the super.
What we’ll be seeing in Omaha is a preview of things to come. As dominant as the SEC has been in baseball in the past 12 years (7 national champs, 6 runners-up), it’s going to get worse for the rest of the country and NIL plus the transfer portal will have plenty to do with it. With the baseball draft pared down to 20 rounds, kids are going to be transferring in droves to the SEC where there are big stadiums, plenty of games on the SEC Network, and more opportunities to be seen by Major League scouts.
When Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 for the SEC last summer, the nice boys and girls in “The Alliance” had apoplectic fits all because of football. Maybe they ought to pay attention to sports like baseball, too. And maybe sports like swimming, track and field, tennis, softball, golf and women’s gymnastics while they’re about it. National champs were won in all those sports by SEC teams and future SEC teams.
