By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:
WAS DAMEON PIERCE THE VICTIM OF COACHING MALPRACTICE?
Eric Edholm, who writes for Yahoo Sports, spent last week observing practices at the Senior Bowl where he came away shaking his head when it comes to former Gator running back Dameon Pierce. In four seasons at Florida, Pierce ran for 1,806 yards on 329 carries, averaged 5.5 yards per carry and scored 23 touchdowns. He also caught 45 passes for 422 yards (9.4 per carry) and five more TDs.
Just for the sake of comparison, Pierce’s productivity per touch isn’t that far off Alabama’s Najee Harris. Harris had double the carries and receptions in his four years at Alabama, gaining 3,843 yards (6.0 per carry, 46 TDs) while catching 80 passes for 781 yards (9.8 per catch, 11 TDs).
Why Pierce wasn’t given more carries and receptions has boggled the minds of Gator fans for the last four years. Eric Edholm was wondering the same thing after seeing Pierce at Senior Bowl practice.
“The question I came away with from this week: Why didn’t Dan Mullen and the Gators feature Pierce more? The Senior Bowl is seldom a place where backs can impress significantly but Pierce bucked that trend.
“All week long he looked assertive as a runner and pass blocker and facile as a receiver. Watching his burst, vision and yards-after-contact ability, Pierce looked more like a big fish in a small pond rather than someone who averaged fewer than 100 touches over his four seasons in Gainesville.
“How the 5-9, 220-pound back never received more than 17 touches in his 48 college games feels like coaching malpractice.”
The Gators had very productive offenses all four years that Pierce played. Sure, that 2018 team had Jordan Scarlett and Lamical Perine, so there weren’t many carries to be had for a true freshman, but there is no question Pierce should have been more involved in the offense the other three years. He showed the kind of speed he had in 2019 when he broke off a 75-yard TD run that led the comeback win over South Carolina. How is it a back with that kind of speed who could run through tacklers only carried the football 54 times that year? How is it that Pierce never had more than 13 carries in a game in 2021 when every time he touched the ball it seemed he broke at least one tackle or flattened the poor soul attempting to bring him down?
Mullen typically was too involved in the play calls so he left the rotation at each position to his assistant coaches, but he’s the head coach. He watched the film. He saw what was going on. He should have grabbed Greg Knox by the lapels and told him either Pierce is in the game and more involved in the offense or you can find a new job somewhere else, words Mullen should have shared with a few other assistant coaches to whom he was far too loyal.
Of course, there is a silver lining in Dameon’s favor. Because he’s had less wear and tear on his body the last four years, he should have a longer NFL career. Still, if he had carried the ball more often and been on the receiving ends of more passes, he might have earned a bigger signing bonus than the one he will get when he is drafted in April.
ANOTHER FIRST FOR KELLY RAE: GATORS CRACK AP TOP 25
It took awhile, but the rest of the country is finally catching on to a couple of things: First off, Kelly Rae Finley should be on everybody’s short list for both SEC and national coach of the year, and secondly, the Gators (17-6, 7-3 SEC) are that hot team nobody in the Southeastern Conference wants to play. Florida’s 54-51 win over Georgia was the fifth over a ranked team in the last month and it earned the Gators their first national ranking since 2015.
Finley has the Gators playing with a whatever it takes to win mentality, especially on the defensive end where Florida’s guards proved way too quick in last week’s wins over then No. 7 Tennessee and No. 14 Georgia.
The 19th-ranked Gators have six games remaining in the regular season, all of them winnable including 14th-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge. Florida’s last 20-win season was 2015-16 when the Gators finished 22-9. At their present pace, the Gators have a chance to either match or exceed the school record for wins in a season (24), which has been achieved four times.
The Associated Press Top 25 poll: 1. South Carolina 21-1; 2. Stanford 18-3; 3. Louisville 21-2; 4. Michigan 20-2; 5. North Carolina State 20-3; 6. Arizona 17-3; 7. Indiana 16-3; 8. UConn 15-4; 9. Iowa State 20-3; 10. Baylor 17-5; 11. Georgia Tech 18-4; 12. Oklahoma 20-3; 13. Tennessee 19-4; 14. LSU 18-4; 15. Maryland 17-6; 16. Texas 15-6; 17. Georgia 17-5; 18. Notre Dame 18-5; 19. FLORIDA 17-6; 20. BYU 19-2; 21. Ohio State 16-4; 22. Florida Gulf Coast 21-1; 23. North Carolina 18-4; 24. Oregon 14-7; 25. Iowa
APPLEBY HAS BECOME FLORIDA’S GLUE GUY
Perhaps we’re seeing the Tyree Appleby we always thought we were getting when he transferred to UF after two standout seasons at Cleveland State. It’s not that Appleby was a disappointment prior to these last seven games, it’s just that he’s blossoming into the kind of point guard the Gators have lacked since Andrew Nembhard took his game to Gonzaga.
When Colin Castleton went down with a shoulder injury that kept him out of six games, Florida’s season seemed on the brink, but that’s when Appleby stepped up his game. On both ends of the court, Appleby has become Florida’s take charge guy. Offensively, he’s averaging 14.7 points and 4.87 assists per game in the last seven. He’s only hitting 32.8 percent from the 3-point line for the season, but he’s hitting 38% (19-50) in the last seven games. He’s also Mr. Clutch at the foul line, hitting 36-39 to bring his season total to 86.6 percent. When Castleton was out, the Gators had to rely heavily on quickness and full court pressure. Appleby has been outstanding both in the press and handling his guy man-to-man.
Appleby had his first bad shooting game in awhile (1-10 from the field overall, 1-6 from the 3-point line) this past Saturday, but he compensated with 10 assists and going 7-8 from the foul line in overtime as the Gators won their third straight game, 62-57.
SEC Basketball
Tuesday’s games: No. 1 Auburn (22-1, 10-0 SEC) at Arkansas (18-5, 7-3 SEC); No. 5 Kentucky (19-4, 8-2 SEC) at South Carolina (13-9, 4-6 SEC); LSU (16-7, 4-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-8, 4-6 SEC); Missouri (9-13, 3-6 SEC) at Vanderbilt (12-10, 4-6 SEC)
Wednesday’s games: Georgia (6-17, 1-9 SEC) at FLORIDA (15-8, 5-5 SEC); Alabama (14-9, 4-6 SEC) at Ole Miss (12-11, 3-7 SEC); No. 19 Tennessee (16-6, 7-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (14-8, 5-3 SEC)
The Associated Press Top 25 poll: 1. Auburn 22-1; 2. Gonzaga 19-2; 3. Purdue 20-3; 4. Arizona 19-2; 5. Kentucky 19-4; 6. Houston 20-2; 7. Duke 19-3; 8. Kansas 19-3; 9. Texas Tech 18-5; 10. Baylor 19-4; 11. Providence 20-2; 12. UCLA 16-4; 13. Illinois 17-5; 14. Wisconsin 18-4; 15. Villanova 17-6; 16. Ohio State 14-5; 17. Michigan State 17-5; 18. Marquette 16-7; 19. Tennessee 16-6; 20. Texas 17-6; 21. Southern Cal 19-4; 22. Saint Mary’s 19-4; 23. Murray State 22-2; 24. UConn 15-6; 25. Xavier 16-6
The Coaches Top 25 poll: 1. Gonzaga 19-2; 2. Auburn 22-1; 3. Purdue 20-3; 4. Kentucky 19-4; 5. Arizona 19-2; 6. Duke 19-3; 7. Houston 20-2; 8. Kansas 19-3; 9. Texas Tech 18-5; 10. Baylor 19-4; 11. Providence 20-2; 12. UCLA 16-4; 13. Illinois 17-5; 14. Wisconsin 18-4; 15. Villanova 17-6; 16. Ohio State 14-5; 17. Michigan State 17-5; 18. Tennessee 16-6; 19. Marquette 16-7; 20. Texas 17-6; 21. Southern Cal 19-4; 22. Saint Mary’s 19-4; 23. UConn 15-6; 24. Murray State 22-2; 25. Wake Forest 19-5
SEC FOOTBALL NOTES
Georgia: Secondary coach Jahmile Addae has departed for Miami, which gave him a 2-year contract.
Mississippi State: Backup quarterback Jack Kristofek is in the transfer portal.
Missouri: Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has interviewed for the vacant New York Giants defensive coordinator position.
Texas A&M: Commenting on the “Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit addressed Jimbo Fisher’s recent rant. “I have no idea what’s true and what’s not in this world of NIL,” Herbstreit said. “There are always rumors that A&M has a bunch of money and a bunch of boosters that are throwing big money into a pot and then just divvying it up to players and recruits.”
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: What’s going on at Auburn should be entitled, “The Dysfunction at the Junction.” But, then again, it is Auburn. What do you expect?
There is every good chance that Auburn is going to fire football coach Bryan Harsin. They would love to find some speck of dust that they could say taints the whole program. Then the power brokers who are behind this latest palace coup, wouldn’t have to write buyout checks, but again, this is Auburn. If buying out Bryan Harsin’s contract after just 13-1/2 months on the job is what it takes for them to hire a new coach then that’s what they’ll do. Count on it.
Buying out Harsin would set the boosters back $18.3 million. Sounds like a lot but it pales in comparison to the $21.7 million it cost them to buy out Gus Malzahn even though he’s the only man on the planet that’s beaten Nick Saban three times since 2007. Gus is making $2.3 million a year now at UCF, which not only affords him a rather nifty lifestyle but allows him to keep that $21.7 million earning interest every day.
Before Gus, the Auburn boosters paid Gene Chizik $11.09 million to go away two years after he had put together one of the greatest unbeaten national championship runs in 2010 when former Gator Cam Newton led the way and won the Heisman Trophy. Before Chiz there was now Senator Tommy Tuberville, who they paid $5.1 million to leave even though he had an unbeaten season to his credit and had bushwhacked Alabama seven straight years.
Tubs is perhaps the poster child for just how dysfunctional they are at Auburn. Two days before Tubs and Auburn beat Alabama 28-23 in the 2003 Iron Bowl, Bobby Lowder, Auburn president William Walker, athletic director David Housel and a few cronies capable of writing big checks boarded a jet for Louisville where they made a verbal hire of Bobby Petrino. Somehow word leaked out and the rank-and-file Auburn boosters rallied behind Tubs, forcing Lowder and his henchmen to back off. Tubs went 13-0 the next season. Eventually, these same people bought out Tuberville after he went 5-7 in 2008, with the misfortune of losing to Vandy and 36-0 to Alabama, but the damage was done five years earlier. Despite the great season in 2004, it was only a matter of time before the big money boosters ran Tubs off.
So absorb this number: $62.39 MILLION. That’s what Auburn will have paid to buy out every single coach dating back to Terry Bowden if the boosters succeed in firing Bryan Harsin.
And, do you want to know it is rumored the money boosters want to replace Harsin, a good football coach, with? Kevin Steele. The same Kevin Steele who got buyout money when Gus was fired (Steele was DC), buyout money from Tennessee for serving as interim coach for one month when Jeremy Pruitt was fired, and who spent four days as the DC at Maryland only to take the DC job at Miami.
Firing Harsin will be stupid. If Kevin Steele is the replacement coach, then stupid has just been taken to a level lower than anything we could dream or imagine.
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