Yesterday, the fourth ranked Florida women's lacrosse team opened their third season with a loss to number 3 North Carolina at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. Despite jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead and stout defense, an inability to clear the ball cleanly and a flurry of turnovers led to a 7-3 deficit at the half. The Gators stepped it up in the second half, trading goals with the Tar Heels and eventually cutting the lead to two with under three minutes to go, but the hole was just too deep, and the Gators fell 11-9.

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It is often said that the only thing you can't teach in sports is speed. As someone who spent the better part of a decade -- high school and beyond -- running competitively, I can tell you that with only the slightest of doubt the statement is true. Now, I'm not saying that you can't refine it and teach someone proper techniques to help them a little, but you can't teach someone to be fast.

As Florida Gators fans, we've seen our fair share of fast athletes in the past few years. Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy and Chris Rainey are just a few of the people that I'd say were fast Gators in that time frame. Jeff Demps however, is on a completely different level. I honestly don't care about the one time that Rainey beat Demps in a race behind a dorm room or any other parking lot race someone participated in. (Hint: check out the "off-field stories" section if you are so inclined.)

Demps is one of the fastest people in the world. And he's got the hardware (and records) to prove it.

Two-days ago in Albequreque, New Mexico, Demps tied the NCAA and SEC record in the 60m dash with a time of 6.55s. Sure that time will be adjusted for altitude, but I think that track and field coach Mike Holloway said it best:

"Jeff was Jeff," Holloway said. "He had a seasonal best but I think he would be the first to tell you that he rushed it tonight. We need to work on being more patient."

Demps wasn't even on his proverbial "A-game" and he ties the NCAA record. Some people are just fast. There is just no other way around it. I'm fairly certain that with his performance on Friday, Demps is the fastest person to ever wear the orange and blue.

As for the rest of the Gators who were in action this weekend in New Mexico (Don Kirby) and Washington (Husky Classic), they were successful as well.

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I suffered through Florida's 75-70 loss to Tennessee — the clubhouse leader for deceiving final score of a Gators game in 2012 — with Nicole, who is about the best companion possible for a frustrating, dismal effort. We yelled during the game and, on the way out, discussed what we learned today. After the jump, what we came up with.

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One time, Florida went to Tennessee and lost a road game at a presumably bad team in January without being very competitive. Today, the Gators seek revenge on a newly Jarnell Stokes'd team in Gainesville — and Florida will be wearing Nike Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms that may spark some discussion.

I will be at the game and recapping it afterward.

Kickoff Time

4:00 p.m. Eastern

TV, Radio and Streaming Information

The game will be broadcast regionally on the SEC Network. You can also watch it streaming online through Watch ESPN. The radio broadcast will also be available on the Gator Radio Network or on Sirius 220 and XM 199.

What to Watch For

Patric Young had only a decent game in Knoxville, and will have a sizable task on his hands in Stokes, who has a strained wrist but is expected to play. Rocky Top Talk warns that the Vols are terrible on the road, which, uh, seems familiar. And Florida's three-point shooting was bad against Tennessee in the teams' first meeting, and even worse against Kentucky on Tuesday, so let's hope for a rebound in that respect.

Game Thread Guidelines

Try to remember that, despite how emotional watching a Gators game can be, there's no reason to be abusive. Rant, curse, or exult if you must, but keep the personal attacks to a minimum.

Furthermore, and I will stress this until I am blue in the face or until FlaGators admits that I'm right, comments with both a subject line and text are much easier to read when scrolling through a thread. Try to keep that in mind.

Florida's Class of 2012 recruiting cycle is finally (probably) over, but the ending the Gators got is about as unsatisfying as the one that a National Signing Day full of misses brought: Five-star Maryland wideout Stefon Diggs has committed to play at Maryland, opting for the home state Terrapins over Florida, Ohio State, and Auburn.

Diggs was Florida's last hope to add an instant impact on the perimeter this year, and was seen as a vital target for a team with a receiving corps that struggled mightily in 2012. But despite being seen as a Florida lean for a long time, then as a Florida lean as recently as Thursday, Diggs picked Maryland, probably thanks both to proximity and some late work by Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, a former Ron Zook assistant and tireless recruiter.

This stings, of course, and leaves Florida with a class of recruits that is very heavily weighted toward Will Muschamp's defense, but Diggs' choice to drag out his decision until more than a week after Signing Day and announce his commitment at a three-hour ceremony in a bar in Maryland has probably left most Gators fans with a reminder that recruiting is often a window into the more ridiculous side effects of the attention given to athletes.

On the bright side: Andre Debose remains a Florida Gator.

For previous editions of Theater of Operations' Season Review, please see bottom of article.

In part one of our look at how the safeties performed in 2011, we took a look at someone who is arguably the best player on the defense and quite possibly the entire team. And don't worry, I'm not referring to Moses Jenkins in any way so you can continue drinking that coffee.

Oh, you didn't think that?

You actually read Theater of Operations yesterday?

In that case, let's just move right along quickly and take a look at the other safeties who played significant minutes during this past season. I know it is shocking but it is true. I even looked it up. It's right there in black and white. Apparently, they go by the names of Josh Evans, De'Ante Saunders and Jaylen Watkins. Yes, I know that Watkins saw the majority of his time at cornerback, but Theater of Operations goes by what the player is listed as on GatorZone unless the committee rules otherwise.*

We'll go ahead and start with Evans first despite his penchant for taking horrible angles over and over and ov ... well, you get the idea. He did in fact record an interception against Tennessee (more on that later), so all wasn't lost with him. He did finish the season with the fifth most tackles on the team. I even looked that up as well to confirm. It checked out.

As for Saunders and Watkins, can you say growing pains? The growing pains were so evident in fact, that someone who shall not be named at Alligator Army actually thought Watkins was a freshman in 2011. What a sorry excuse for a fan that guy must be.

Moving along quickly yet again, Saunders had two interceptions (one in which he returned for a touchdown) and Watkins is still getting burned by Georgia Bulldog wide receivers. Wait, I'm fairly sure that Saunders was also burned on a 4th down pass against Georgia.

I thought Georgia were the ones who always got burned?

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The Florida Gators track and field team will split up this weekend for the first time all season. With the SEC Indoor Championships in two weeks, the distance runners will head to Husky Classic in Seattle, Washington while everyone else will head to New Mexico for the Don Kirby Albuquerque Elite Meet.

The Gators head into Friday's (and Saturday's) meet in New Mexico and Washington ranked No. 2 overall in the latest USTFCCCA poll.

The Don Kirby Elite meet, which begins Friday and is hosted by the University of New Mexico is a one-day meet is scheduled to begin with field events at 4:15 p.m ET and conclude with track events starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. Aside from the Gators, the Don Kirby Elite meet only has a handful (at best) of good programs scheduled to compete. Texas (No. 4) and Stanford (No. 7) are the other ranked programs.

The Husky Classic on the other hand -- which is a two-day meet beginning Friday and continuing on Saturday -- has a stunning field of competitors. That's not even mentioning the 120-entries in the one mile run. Arizona (No. 5), Stanford (No. 7), Minnesota (No. 10), Ohio State (No. 15), Wisconsin (No. 17), Oregon (No. 21) and Arizona State (No. 24) among others will compete against the Gators for supremacy.

The Dempsey Indoor facility -- which doubles as Washington's indoor practice facility -- is widely considered to be the fastest track in the country.

Live stats for the Don Kirby Elite Invitational will be provided by GoLobos.com. Stats for the Husky Classic can be found here, and live video of the meet can be found here or here courtesy of FloTrack.org.

For previous editions of Theater of Operations' Season Review, please see bottom of article.

In my opinion, there was no player more important to the Florida Gators defense than Matt Elam. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was the most valuable player on the entire team. Elam was second on the team in total tackles to Jonathan Bostic, and did pretty much everything else to fill up the boxscore.

Elam ended the year with seventy-eight total tackles (including eleven for a loss) to go along with two forced fumbles, two interceptions and two sacks. His tackles for a loss and forced fumbles led the team. He also recorded seven pass breakups and was even credited with a quarterback hurry.

While his height isn't ideal for a safety -- he's listed at 5'10" -- he more than makes up for it by literally flying to the ball. He was also responsible for what was quite possibly the single greatest moment of the season. Yes, I am indeed talking about his in-bounds to out of bounds pick up and toss to the side smack down of Florida State Seminoles running back Jermaine Thomas.

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