UF in 2010
by gatorempire127 on Mar 4, 2010 1:10 AM EST
38 comments
First off, i know its early, but ive had a bad case of insomnia the past week and i had some good thoughts about next year's football season, enjoy and comment the hell out of it.
So the Florida post Tebow "rebuilding" process begins, but does it have potential to be more than that? In my opinion, absolutely. I think our defense will one of the best in the SEC again with the complete STUDS we got in recruiting this year, along with the returning starters and subs from last season. To name a few: Ahmad Black, Janoris Jenkins, Will Hill, AJ Jones, Brandon Hicks, Brendan Beal, Markihe Anderson, Omar Hunter, Brandon Antwine, Terron Sanders, Justin Trattou. These guys will definately need to deliver big time this year.
We all know the team is just completely stacked with talent on defense, this is the Florida gators way, its been that way for as long as i can remember, and in my opinion, its fucking beautiful.
Now heres a question that came through the ole noggin the other night while i was playing NCAA football '10 on XBOX the other night that i thought was worth asking your guys opinions on....
Will Urban tweek his offense to fit Brantley's abilities, or will he tweek Brantley to fit his offense?
My hope is that its the latter, one thing my ex-coach dad always told me is: "Never try to change what your players can do, to be a good coach you need to be able to change your abilities to fit your players". Needless to say im a very firm believer in that philosophy. I think if we have more pro style formations put into the play book next year Brantley could seriously do some damage, he isnt a good misdirection-option running QB like Tebow was, and Urban needs to realize this or hes going to have a very big struggle on his hands on the offensive side of the ball.
On a more positive note i have a feeling we may have a very effective offense next year, yes thats right i said it. Just think about it, our whole line minus the best center in the country is returning, hopefully they learned from their many many mistakes last year. Not to mention the athletic ability of these guys, we always have very athletically gifted O linemen, although they almost always lack in beefiness which is a concern against the big bruisers on the smashmouth teams' D lines (ex. Alabama).
We have an astounding amount of very talented running backs, and you can never have too many of those, its a shame that not all of them will be able to see playing ime and contribute because i think all of them have the potential for being impact players. Even the young guys like Gillislee who showed signs of greatness in his limited playing time last season, and Brown the 4 star recruit who looks like a near perfect combination of power and speed in his highschool tapes.
There are some questions at the WR and TE positions though of course, since we had significant losses to both this year. Desmond Parks is a tall athletic kid, almost a Cornelius Ingram built end but is untested. The new guy coming in, the #2 overall TE out of highschool Gerald Christian is in the same boat as Parks, although is a smaller version, he looks like a fantastic athlete on tape.
And then theres the mystery of Andre DeBose, even Scooby or the Hardy Boys would have a tough time with this one, last year was supposed to be his year to fill Percy's shoes, but of course the injury put an end to that, to our dispair. If everything works out the potential for an unstoppable passing game is certainly there, but as we all know, everything hardly ever works out perfectly, but there is hope. Also, pray to whatever God you believe in that Deonte Thompson learned how to catch the ball over the off season.
Well this turned out a lot longer than i expected, i bet my highschool english teacher would be as surprised as i am too, haha. Well i look forward to talkin this over with ya fellas. Get them fingers goin and as always, Go Gators.
Please be kind and use good grammar.
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My thoughts on 2010
Will Urban tweek his offense to fit Brantley’s abilities, or will he tweek Brantley to fit his offense?
Unfortunately, based on what Meyer did with Chris Leak, it is going to be the latter. (You said you hope it’s the latter, but I think you meant former based on the statement about your dad’s philosophy). Leak was a square peg who Meyer kept trying to shove into the round hole and it was difficult to watch. The passing elements will look good, the running elements, not so much. The option worked with Tebow because he was as big a threat as the dive back and pitch back. I think when Brantley is in there, you’ll see everyone sell out on the pitch back and dare him to run.
The defense will be full of talent, but young. Think 2007. Ouch. Let’s hope that some of these new kids can play right away and don’t end up like Hunter.
I am really rooting for Dubose. If he becomes another playmaker on offense, then we should be able to put up some points. Good OL, tons of speed with Demps, Rainey, Thompson and Dubose. This should help Brantley to have all these guys around him.
Your right
Thanks for the correction, i never quite understood how to use “the latter”…probly shouldve used another phrase instead lookin like a tard haha. I do agree with the Leak comparison, although the result was a national championship, it just didnt fit what Leak was, thank god he was good enough to take us all the way even when he was out of his element.
The option will definately suffer, but John has shown some ability to run when he needs to, but i think the only time they should let him run is on scrambles out of the pocket, set plays with him running just wont work. There will need to be an absolute element of surprise when he runs for it to be effective.
I was actually thinking about comparing the team to the 07 campaign when i was writing it up but it was just too upsetting to do so. If the cruits live up to the hype the defense will be more of an 06 caliber than 07, maybe that is a bit of a stretch though.
by gatorempire127 on Mar 4, 2010 8:13 PM EST up reply actions
'06 D would be nice, but I don't think this team compares
The ’06 team was loaded with veterans….who all left and resulted in the ’07 learning curve.
We finished 9-4 in 2007, and I think that feels about right for ’10.
I wish I could say that Leak’s play carried us to a national title in ‘06, but I simply don’t remember it that way. I remember a nasty defense holding onto small leads because the offense just couldn’t get out of its own way at times. Remember the loss at Auburn? That was simply foul. We squeaked by FSU after we had them on the ropes in the first half.
If there is one thing that I wish Meyer would improve on this season, it is trying toscore again before the half. He has a bad habit of letting our opponent run out the clock when we could put them away by halftime with one more score. Just once, I would love to see him call timeouts when the other team runs it up the middle on first and second down from their own 20 with 1:30 to play.
I think your underestimating our defense for next season.
The defense is slightly similiar to 07’, but I dont think it is quite that bad. The main reason the 07’ D was so terible is they had all new starters at almost very position, especially the DB’s.
Next season we have a little bit of hope that AJ Jones, Will Hill, Jenkins, Black will step up for the loss of Haden, Wright and Spikes.
Plus the addition of Floyd, and Easely and should have an immediate impact on our rushing defense even if they are freshmen, they will be clogging some holes.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
You are right about the LBs and DBs
We were really young there.
I am concerned about depending on true freshman to come in and play well. Omar Hunter was a 5-star and this is his 3rd year as a Gator….not much to show for it. Powell doesn’t look much like Hunter though – I doubt he’ll report to practice as a disgusting fatbody~~
Let’s hope that Janoris can make the move to top CB and that someone can fill the void at the other. That position makes me most nervous, because I like what we have coming back at LB.
I agree, even Haden got burned many times his freshmen year. But Shaw is coming in as a DB and the scouting report for him is he fits the mold as a NFL CB more then anyone in the 2010 class.
Yea I am a little too excited about the freshmen class. But we have Floyd, Easely, Powell, Shaw, Elam.
I don’t expect all of them to be huge in thier freshmen season, but I think it’s not a total load of crap when I expect 2-3 of them to have an imediate impact. But yea, maybe one of the back up DB’s can step in the first 5-6 games before Shaw gets the hang of it, because its very rare for a freshmen to play well at CB since its one of the hardest positions on the field.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
good point
wasn’t Haden the first UF corner to start his entire freshman season or something like that?
John Brantley
Will run very smoothly in Urban Meyers offense. Urban will not have to tweak his offense with Brantley like he did with Leak. Brantley has no problem running the ball. Of course the play calling will change. But that seems like a blessing after last season. On short yardage plays the opposing defense will no longer be able to stack the line and just key in on Tebow, because unlike Tebow, Brantley will be able to make the coverage reads and make that quick release to where ever the defense exposes itself on the blitz.
Brantley will be more effective. Tebow was one of the greatest ever, but it was clear last season when teams took away the running game and made him pass, it wasn’t his strong suit. Brantley is sort of the opposite of Tebow in skills. Brantley is a pure passer and is an adequate runner.
So you see the only problem we had with Tebow, is when a team was actually able to stop the running game and make Tebow pass. It’s not that Tebow was a bad passer, but the entire game now depended on Tebows passing skills, and last season we all noticed the drop in production when we lost Harvin and Murphy.
The future of the Gators will be the success of Brantley being the pure passer he is. If a team tries to shut down the running game, if the hype is true, Brantley should pick the defense apart. So you see if they try to shut down Brantley’s arm, we don’t need to depend soley on Brantley to pick up our running game because we without a doubt have the running backs to break some big runs if the opposing teams are focused on stopping the passing game.
This all depends on what I have read about Brantley. In the limited duties hes been in we havent seen enough to really know how well he can pass. But the reason why I say he wont have to adjust the offense like he did with Leak is; Leak was a panzy. He couldnt run the option worth a damn because it just wasnt his thing. Brantley has been compared to John Elway, as he can pass and run. I like the comparison becuase Brantley isn’t going to be the next Vick or Tebow but like Elway he has just enough skills running the ball it makes his arm that much more dangerous.
So to make my final point, the offense won’t change, just the play calling in certain scenarios, but the spread option will be intact more then ever, just a little less jumbo sets.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
well said
2009 NY Phin PhansFantasy League Champion
2009 Best Regular Season Record in NYPPL.
2010 The Jim Mandich NewsFlash Award Winner.
Tebow
I don’t think it was that Tebow couldn’t pass the ball, because he could. I remember countless times he would throw a perfect pass only to have the receiver trip, drop it, or give up on the play.
What happened was last year we became a one trick pony on every third and short. And rather than do something else, Urban wanted to keep using his favorite toy and see if anyone could stop it. Alabama certainly did.
But I like the John Elway comparison with Brantley. Hopefully the receiving corp will step up big time, with the timing routes and experience under their belts.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
I don't agree with the Leak comparison
I remember distinctly what a big deal it was that Urban altered his offensive scheme to Leak’s abilities. He always used enough option plays (2-3/game) to keep the D guessing and used Leak primarily as a shotgun/pocket passer. Urban can’t afford to shape Brantley into an option QB BUT! the Urban spread O will be a beautiful thing with Brantley running it (think Sam Bradford as a Soph). Just as Bradford, Brantley is very accurate and has an very quick release.
One double, dirty martini down and one more to go.
And Brantley can run the ball much better then Bradford.
Don’t underestimate Brantley’s running ability. Everyone has predetermined that he can’t run the option because he isn’t as athletic as Tebow. I just assume he won’t be running it on 3rd and 1’s or 4th and 1’s anymore. We will greatly miss that, but Moody in a jumbo wild cat could try and replace that compenent.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
Brantley
I don’t don’t know enough about Brantley to even venture a guess as to how he will perform. He seems to have a strong arm and the ability to make throws into relatively good coverage. He has good mobility but I don’t know about his pocket presence. How will he react when he has to pick up first downs under tremendous pressure? I think he will do well on the odd broken play when he has to take off upfield but what does he have to offer down after down? Who will he have to throw to who can make the clutch catch? He will have a stable of fast running backs but the receiving corps is iffy. Pray for Urban Meyer, he has been stellar so far and I would take to drinking if all those decisions were mine.
What Brantley really needs to be successful
Is receivers who catch balls that hit them in the hands and for Addazio and Meyer to trust our running backs. I like our 3-headed monster with Demps, Moody and Gillislee….not to mention Rainey in the slot. That’s a bunch of playmakers that can make a QB look good….Let’s hope Omarious and/or Dubose pan out and Thompson ups his game to the next level.
It should be an interesting year.
I really want to go to Tuscaloosa for that little matchup with Bama……
If Rainey moves to the slot, It would be nice if Dubose can line up as the #2 WR.
So imagine the spread option, with Dubose, Thompson, Rainey, Demps all on the field. Imagine one of those guys going in motion setting up as a decoy for Demps or as a play action pass to Thompson on the outside. It’s like you said though, even if they are super fast and quick they have to be able to catch the ball to even be on the field any ways.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
That's a lot of speed
I like the thought!
Omarious
He showed alot of talent catching and running with the ball in the FIU game last year, especailly when the ball was coming from John Brantley, one of my favorite highlights of the year was Hines catching a short pass and literally dragging a puny cornerback 5 yards into the endzone with him, i went nuts. Thats the type of player we need to be successful, a bulky aggressive receiver whos not afraid to take a whack or two, thanks ffor bringin him up i forgot about him!
I think Rainey should have been in the slot from day 1, the type of runner he is, to me, fits so much better as a jet sweep motion, slot option guy, cuz he has shown hes not a threat in the trench like Demps is, or even Gillislee, i think that will be a great move for Rainey, not to mention he has better hands then Demps.
And your damn right thats alot of speed you aint shittin. Thats an unreal amount of speed.
by gatorempire127 on Mar 5, 2010 11:34 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, I've got a gut full of Bama already.
Brantley has the tools to light up the Swamp if he has the receivers and decent pass protection. I hope Deonte realizes that this is his time to step up and claim his part of UF history. I also hope that the backs can focus on looking the ball into their hands. The potential for explosiveness on a simple hitch-n-go is mind boggling. It was so frustrating last year to see the open man get hit in the hands with the ball and then drop it. Damn! I walked thirty miles around my living room every game. Demps, Rainey, Moody and Gillislee are all burners. Rainey may be better used in the slot and I hope Gillislee gets a lot more touches. He seems to be able to bang inside and accelerate into the secondary as well as anyone. Christmas in September! Let’s get ready to open that package. Go Gators!
Hell yeah!
Everyday is Christmans in the Gator Nation boy!
by gatorempire127 on Mar 6, 2010 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
serious question from a Nole (crazy i know)
I’m not here to pick a fight, I’m just curious to know who is behind Brantley? From the limited information I have, I thought Brantley was a little quicker than Tebow and just as capable of making the correct reads in the option game. But if Brantley takes off running and gets injured who is behind him? Anyone of consequence? Will this affect the play calls to keep him protected? It’s the down season so I’m just checking other places out and was enjoying this conversation. Any responses are welcomed but be nice, I’m not here looking for trouble.
Some people are pretty excited about this Trey Burton kid.
I dont know the actual dept chart behind Brantley. I dont think its even been anounced yet, but I am not sure. Rivals also listed another QB recruit Tyler Murphy.
To answer your question, last year with Brantley backing up Tebow most of us were pretty confident in Brantley to step right in and not have too much drop off. I dont think we have that luxory this year. But Brantley is no Tebow, hes not going to be running it 20 times a game. I dont think he is at least.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
Jordan Reed
Tebowesque build with a monster arm….how accurate it is? no idea. But from what i understand hes going to be the short yardage bruiser at QB. hes also getting a very good look at TE and from the little ive heard hes doing very well at it for a QB to TE “convert”…better word might be hybrid. Trey Burton is also a runner but hes a speed guy and wont run anyone over…hes got a hell of an arm too from what ive seen on his highlight tapes.
by gatorempire127 on Mar 26, 2010 11:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Not running it 20 times
I am going to have control my shouts for Joy when I start watching Gator football and the QB is not running the ball 15 plus times a game, especially when you Demps, Moody, and Rainey.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
Trey Burton and Tyler Murphy
They are both freshman, and Tyler doesn’t arrive till the Fall.
Jordan Reed is now a tight end and … he loves it, so I don’t see he coming back unless they absolutely need him at QB.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
NC Nole has noticed our achilles early
We are one and done at QB this year, so Brantley HAS to stay healthy. This concerns me with option plays, but he can always slide 1 yard short of the first down marker like some past QBs always did!!!
Also, NC – no need to apologize for posting. As long as you don’t come here and post retarded stuff like this post we always welcome the opinions and comments of our rivals!
Yeah
The Gainesville Sun reported the story just after I said that I think. figures.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
Agreed.
A nice discussion with non Gators is welcome as long you dont troll.
by gatorempire127 on Mar 30, 2010 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Great link by the way Ski.
Im surprised the “Quote of Note” wasnt something about John being a realy QB though hahaha.
by gatorempire127 on Mar 30, 2010 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Good point
Maybe they should rename it “highly edited quote of the day”
haha
Yeah that has a nice ring to it.
by gatorempire127 on Mar 31, 2010 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions
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