Theater of Operations, Florida Gators Season Review: The Tight Ends
by FlaGators on Jan 23, 2012 5:42 PM EST
in Florida Football Analysis
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PrintPrevious Season Review editions of Theater of Operations: Quarterbacks (Part one, part two, part three), running backs (part one, part two, part three). On another note: I'm posting this for the third time, if it doesn't work this time, we'll just go ahead and skip the tight ends post altogether.
When scanning through the roster before the season, I was struck by the talent the Gators had at the tight end position. It's a position in which the Gators have serious talent in. At least on paper. As the season unfolded, A.C. Leonard would suffer a meniscus tear and miss the majority of the season, Gerald Christian decided to transfer, and holdovers Omarius Hines and Jordan Reed once again failed to live up to expectations.
Yes, I do in fact count Hines as a tight end because that's how the Gators officially list him.
But back to those expectations and more specifically, what exactly where those expectations? Even though I'm not sure, but by basing it on a few factors (read: pro-style offense, Brantley and his love for the check down pass) I'm going to say that more was expected from the group.
Hines as you know, is thought of quite highly here at Alligator Army, so the fact that he turned in yet another sub-par season, was surprising. Many thought he was do for a breakout campaign. Jordan Reed on the other hand, handled his transition from part-time quarterback to full-time tight end with relative ease.
If anything, the highlight from this group was their blocking, specifically down the field. On nearly every big play (either from a running back or receiver) there was at least one of the tight ends getting in a key block down field. If nothing else, that will earn some extra playing time and in turn, more chances to catch a ball.
Play No. 1: Gerald Christian's 45-yard touchdown reception against Kentucky:
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
You know, this is actually a pretty good match-up for any tight end, especially one as quick as Christian (yellow circle).
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
As John Brantley gets ready to release the ball, you can see that Christian has inside positioning.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
When Christian makes the catch (yellow square), you can see how much a gap there is between him and defender. Oh, and yes, it was a great catch.
From another angle:
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
Yeah, there is a solid two-yards between Christian and the defender.
Play No. 2: Omarius Hines' 37-yard catch and fumble:
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
If there is one thing that Hines (yellow circle) does great, it's blocking.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
Hines does a great job of getting his block (yellow square) before he begins his route.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
After Hines (yellow circle) sheds his block, he runs his short out-route.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
When Hines catches the ball (yellow square), there isn't a defender in sight.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
At this point, Hines (yellow circle) has already made two defenders miss (green circles).
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
Unfortunately, Hines tries to do just a little too much and fumbles (yellow square) the ball (red circle). Though at the time the Gators were 4-4 and desperately needed a victory. So I guess there isn't such a thing as "trying to do too much."
Play No. 3: Jordan Reed's 14-yard touchdown catch against Furman:
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
Even though I think that Reed is the Gators' most polished tight end, I kind of think he moves a bit early on this play. It's close, but here is the video so you can judge for yourself.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
There is Reed's inside cut.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
Brantley makes a great throw in-between two defenders (yellow square) and Reed makes the catch (yellow circle).
From another angle:
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)
FINALLY ON THE BOARD AGAINST FURMAN! YAY!
The tight ends this year for the Gators did almost as much as I did on the field for the Gators. Which is to say, not much. Before the season started, with Charlie Weis promising play-action and the like, I figured it was time for one of the tight ends to have a breakout season. But I guess injuries, transfers and what not kind of changed that.
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On another note: I’m posting this for the third time, if it doesn’t work this time, we’ll just go ahead and skip the tight ends post altogether.
Haha. Yeah I noticed it looked like you were having a little trouble there with that this morning. It looks like it all worked out tho finally. Nice job as always.
Yeah, it started on like Saturday when I accidentally hit post on my phone (which of course Andy saw it because it went to the Alligator Army Twitter account and he was like “C’MON REALLY!!!”) and yeah, so I quickly deleted that one, thought I copied and pasted the entire thing…
…but apparently, my phone only saves text and video text, not the actual video. Which surprised me. Not knowing that, I went to automatic post it, saw it was like that, had to delete it…
…went through the process again, SB Nation gave me an error message, so I hit “Publish” again, saw that for some reason it was posted twice, had to delete one of them.
Yeah, it was for some reason a hassle. But thanks, yeah … just glad it’s over.
Editor at Alligator Army.
I didn’t know you did anything for the gators on field this year. Wow. And the tight ends did even less? Wow. That’s sad.
"It's just a very exciting time at the University of Florida. And I want to be part of it."
-Tim Tebow
The tight ends lack of production had a lot to do with Brantley and the pass protection.
I saw a breakdown on ESPN of the 83 yard pass to Rainey against Tennessee. I don’t remember who it was but it was one of the tight ends was actually streaking right down the seam wide open. The correct read on the play would have been to get the ball to the tight end, but Brantley didn’t see him and the protection started to break down, and the ball got dumped off to Rainey instead. Granted, the outcome of the play was still great for the Gators, but still illustrates the limitations of the offense this year with Brantley as the QB and a poor O-line.
Yeah, I mention a little of that (about the pass protection) in the first part of the wide receivers review that will be out in the morning.
I didn’t see that exact breakdown, but I wish I did.
Editor at Alligator Army.
If you can find the play online somewhere just keep an eye out for the tight end going down the seam in the middle of the field. Right as Brantley is getting ready to step up in the pocket, the tight end is flying right by the linebackers and is in the clear. Brantley never even looked at him and just went straight into dump off mode. The protection on the play wasn’t great, but Brantley had time to make the throw. The funny thing is, if he makes the right read and throws to the tight end the play probably doesn’t end up going for a TD. But it makes you wonder how many times there may have been open receivers or tight ends down the field and Brantley dumped it off to the back for a 3 yard gain.
by Cali Gators on Jan 24, 2012 12:52 AM EST up reply actions
Found it. It looks like it was Gerald Christian (he was #32 right?) and he goes right by the linebacker but never gets a look. Check it out.
by Cali Gators on Jan 24, 2012 12:56 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, he was #32.
And wow. I never even noticed that. Mostly because I was just watching Brantley looking around and then just checking down to Rainey.
Editor at Alligator Army.
Yeah I agree
I feel like the Tight ends weren’t at fault for the most part. They didn’t have much time to get open. I’d say the main reason for offensive problems was O-Line. Wide receivers and QBs weren’t great though.
"It's just a very exciting time at the University of Florida. And I want to be part of it."
-Tim Tebow
Nope, just an all around bad year for the offense. Some of it was expected, because of the transition to another coordinator, but still, it seemed a bit extreme. At least to me anyway.
Editor at Alligator Army.
I'll bet you offense would be twice as good and wins division
if O-line was more consistent and Brantley could of had some confidence.
"It's just a very exciting time at the University of Florida. And I want to be part of it."
-Tim Tebow
Well, we would have beat UGA and Auburn, so that gives us three conference losses and UGA two. South Carolina has two. If we beat South Carolina, that gives them three and us two, but UGA still has two.
We win the tie-break between us and UGA because of the head-to-head victory.
It would have been a lot closer.
Editor at Alligator Army.
Jordan Reed was far and away UF's best true receiver this year.
Debose has the big numbers, but he was only present in about 5 of the Gators’ games this year. Reed was essential in every game that he played in. If Brantley hadn’t been as bad as he was (and his backups even worse while he was hurt), Reed would’ve had a monster year.
Weoejuwejhdjwe!
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by Chekhov's Spread Gun Option on Jan 24, 2012 12:09 AM EST reply actions
Especially if he figures out how to catch without leaping
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
It's a problem
but he’s had two years of awful QBing. About 60% of those jump catches were necessary. You can’t really blame him for forming a habit.
Weoejuwejhdjwe!
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by Chekhov's Spread Gun Option on Jan 24, 2012 10:09 AM EST up reply actions
He looks like a poor-man’s Carl Moore when doing it. But, it always makes me chuckle. And, he usually makes the catch, which is a good thing.
Editor at Alligator Army.
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