By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:
REMEMBER THIS NAME
Bird Sherrill.
Doesn’t ring a bell, does it? He never played college football but he worked for Nick Saban’s recruiting department at Alabama. More recently, he’s been with the Detroit Lions evaluating players for the NFL Draft and free agent acquisitions. This week he was named Florida’s director of college personnel. In particular, he’s the guy who will be evaluating players in the transfer portal, helping Billy Napier decide which potential transfers might fit the Florida plan to succeed.
What this tells us is that Napier is following the same path his buddy Mel Tucker took at Michigan State. Tucker took an NFL approach to the transfer portal, bringing in 21 including former Wake Forest running back Kenneth Walker III (1,636 yards), former Tennessee linebacker Quavaris Crouch (75 tackles), former Alabama safety Ronald Williams (31 tackles, 1 interception, 8 pass breakups), former Florida corner Chester Kimbrough (40 tackles, 1 interception, 3 pass breakups) and former All-Sun Belt left tackle Jarrett Horst from Arkansas State. There were other contributors, but these were the most significant.
The foundation of any team will always be high school and juco players who come up in a system and can be developed, but the portal is the equivalent of free agency and it gives a coach like Napier an opportunity to find plug and play types who can fill an immediate need. The Gators are thought to be the likely landing pad for O’Cyrus Torrence, a 6-5, 338-pound All-Sun Belt performer who has two years of eligibility remaining. Napier needs wide receivers, defensive tackles and a linebacker or two wouldn’t hurt.
Bird Sherrill is the guy who’s going to take an NFL approach to the portal. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Billy Napier isn’t planning on losing in 2022.
VERNELL BROWN IS AN EXCELLENT ADDITION TO NAPIER’S STAFF
I have four very prominent memories of Vernell Brown that should tell you why I think his hiring as the director of student-athlete development and alumni relations is important.
1. The night before Vernell signed as part of Steve Spurrier’s 2001 recruiting class, Spurrier called Gainesville coaching legend Jim Niblack, asking if Brown – then all of 5-8 and 139 pounds – could play in the Southeastern Conference. Niblack told Spurrier, “If he can’t play, I’ll write a check for the cost of his scholarship for four years.” Vernell signed, played in 45 games, started at corner as a senior when he was team captain.
2. When the Florida charter touched down in Gainesville in the evening after the Gators lost to South Carolina in Columbia in 2005, Vernell, Jeremy Mincey and Jarvis Herring held an impromptu get with the program or get out meeting in the plane while it was on the tarmac. Nobody got off the plane until those three had their say. Vernell was on crutches, having broken his leg the week before against Vanderbilt. He was the smallest of the three but his voice carried the most weight. Some guys got the message and left as soon as the 2005 season ended.
3. When the Gators played FSU in the regular season finale it was Senior Day at The Swamp. When Vernell Brown came out of the tunnel on crutches, the roar from the crowd was deafening. He spent the game coaching up the late Avery Atkins, who had to start at corner. Avery intercepted a pass and had a huge pass breakup late in the game. Postgame, Avery Atkins in tears told the Gators with a ton of top recruits (Tim Tebow was one) how Vernell believed in him and helped him play the game of his life.
4. At the Outback Bowl against Iowa a month later, Vernell finished off his career with a 60-yard pick six, a game the Gators won, 31-24. Vernell may have been a little guy, but no Gator ever had more heart.
Vernell Brown bleeds orange and blue. This is the kind of staffer the Gators need. He will make a difference, particularly in bringing back former players into the family.
SEC BASKETBALL
Auburn has been established as a 9.5-point favorite to hand the Gators their second straight SEC loss Saturday night at Auburn Arena (8 p.m., ESPN2).
Saturday’s games: FLORIDA (9-4, 0-1 SEC) at No. 9 Auburn (13-1, 2-0 SEC); South Carolina (9-4, 0-1 SEC) at Vanderbilt (9-4, 1-0 SEC); Arkansas (10-4, 0-2) at Texas A&M (12-2, 1-0 SEC); No. 15 Alabama (11-3, 2-0 SEC) at Missouri (6-7, 0-1 SEC); Georgia (5-9, 0-1 SEC) at No. 16 Kentucky (11-3, 1-1 SEC); No. 18 Tennessee (10-3, 1-1 SEC) at No. 21 LSU (13-1, 1-1 SEC); Mississippi State (10-3, 1-0 SEC) at Ole Miss (8-5, 0-1 SEC)
GATORS RANK 23rd IN PERFECT GAME PRESEASON BASEBALL POLL
(SEC teams in bold face)
1. Vanderbilt; 2. Texas; 3. Stanford; 4. LSU; 5. Notre Dame; 6. Mississippi State; 7. North Carolina State; 8. TCU; 9. Arkansas; 10. Ole Miss; 11. Georgia Tech; 12. Texas Tech; 13. East Carolina; 14. Arizona; 15. Florida State; 16. Oklahoma State; 17. UCLA; 18. Miami; 19. Oregon; 20. UC-Irvine; 21. Tennessee; 22. Nebraska; 23. FLORIDA; 24. Long Beach State; 25. Liberty
SEC FOOTBALL
Alabama: It has been 14,981 days since Georgia last won a national championship. Nobody in the Alabama camp is mentioning the fact that since Georgia brought home the big trophy for the 1980 national championship, Alabama has won seven national championships while Miami has won five and Florida, LSU, Clemson three each. Why even Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Auburn have all won one.
The pressure is all on Georgia and Vegas helped by establishing the Bulldogs as 3-point favorites. Rat poison is what Nick Saban has probably been telling his team all week. If Nick loses the national championship game it won’t be the first time. Clemson has beaten him twice. Nick survived and won a couple more national championships. Jimbo Fisher became the first former Saban assistant to get a win over the boss this year. If Kirby Smart does it, it won’t be the end of Nick’s world or the last time Alabama plays for a national championship.
If Kirby loses? Now that’s another story altogether and nobody knows this better than Kirby Smart. The way Georgia steamrolled 12 opponents in the regular season had folks talking about a generational defense and perhaps a team for the ages. When Alabama destroyed Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, folks made excuses. The best one I’ve heard on satellite radio is that Georgia didn’t play its best, knowing win or lose it would make the playoff. Right. There has also been all this blame placed on Stetson Bennett IV. He put up 24 points on Alabama. The “generational” defense gave up 41.
The games are played on the field and not in the media, so Georgia certainly has a 50-50 chance to end the 41-year drought, but the only thing “generational” I think I will see Monday night is the coach in the Alabama sideline. I used to think Bear Bryant was the best there ever was in college football. Well, I was wrong. It’s Nick Saban.
Georgia: In the SEC Championship Game, Georgia didn’t sack Alabama quarterback Bryce Young even once. Young threw for 421 yards and three touchdowns in the game, all but sealing the Heisman Trophy. Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning says the Bulldogs have a strategy to get to Young in Monday night’s national championship game. “We want to get after Bryce,” Lanning said. “As far as how to do it, I don’t want to give away our secrets yet, but wait until the game to figure that out. We want to generate pressure and certainly, there’s a lot of different ways to do that. There’s a lot of different ways we can do it.”
Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith says he cried after the Bulldogs lost to Alabama in the SEC title game. “Want the God’s honest truth?” Smith said. “I cried. I’m 20 now. I’ve been playing football since I was four: 16 years, haven’t won anything. Haven’t won a championship. I won a couple of bowl games, but anything big, any championship, I never won yet.”
The rest of the league:
Arkansas: Three Hogs are in the transfer portal including starting DB Greg Brooks, who has 112 tackles and four interceptions in his career. Also in the portal are backup quarterback Malik Hornsby and defensive lineman John Ridgeway III. Ridgeway is a big loss since he had 39 tackles and two sacks on the Hogs’ front four.
Auburn: Auburn is the transfer destination for last year’s starting QB at Texas A&M, Zach Calzada, who threw for 2,185 yards and 17 TDs while leading the Aggies to an 8-4 record and a win over then No. 1 Alabama.
Kentucky: Punter Colin Goodfellow, who averaged 45.94 yards per punt with a longest of 70 yards, is in the transfer portal … Also in the portal is corner Cedric Dort Jr., who has 13 starts in his career.
LSU: All-America corner Derek Stingley Jr. will enter the NFL Draft. The No. 1 corner on Mel Kiper’s Big Board, Stingley only played in three games in 2021 and just seven in 2020. He played in 15 games in 2019 when he intercepted six passes … Linebacker Micah Baskerville, who played in 40 games during his LSU career and recorded 83 tackles in 2021, is leaving for the NFL with a super senior year available.
Mississippi State: Punter Tucker Day is heading to the NFL Draft. His best year at Mississippi State was 2020 when he averaged 42.9 per punt.
Missouri: Quarterback Connor Bazelac is transferring to Indiana. He threw for 2,548 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2021, 5,058 yards and 23 touchdowns in three years at Mizzou
Ole Miss: As expected, former 5-star running back Zach Evans is transferring in from TCU. He ran for 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns in two seasons at TCU.
South Carolina: Quarterback Jason Brown, who engineered South Carolina’s stunning 40-17 win over Florida in November, is transferring to Virginia Tech. In seven games, Brown threw for 721 yards and seven touchdowns.
Tennessee: Defensive end Tyler Baron, running back Dee Beckworth and long snapper Will Albright have all entered the transfer portal. Baron had 6.5 tackles in 2021. Beckwith played in only two games in 2021, three in 2020 … Director of player development Patrick Abernathy has resigned
Texas A&M: Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports says the Aggies are finalizing a 3-year deal to bring former Florida and Michigan defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin from Ole Miss to College Station.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If Florida football and the recent slump of Florida basketball has you feeling depressed, then perhaps a blowout of epic proportions will raise your spirits. That’s what we’re going to get tonight (6:45 p.m., SEC Network+) at the O-Dome when Florida’s 2nd-ranked gymnastics team opens the season with a quad meet featuring Northern Illinois, Rutgers and Texas Woman’s University. The Gators won’t be anything close to midseason form, but none of these three teams can match up to a Florida team that returns seven All-Americans from last season and three newcomers who earned team or individual medals at the most recent world championships including 2017 gold medalist Morgan Hurd and 2021 silver medalist Leanne Wong.
The Gators will also have a healthy Trinity Thomas, who was the nation’s best all-around gymnast in 2021 until late season injuries curtailed her and prevented the Gators from winning the national championship (UF finished fourth). Thomas has scored seven perfect 10s in her collegiate career.
I’ve seen enough losing efforts in the last four months. I need a good old-fashioned blowout in the worst way.
floridagators.com
theathletic.com