Chris Rainey and Jaye Howard were the only Florida Gators invited to the 2012 Senior Bowl this year, and they drew plenty of praise. Rainey, according to reports, practiced at running back, wide receiver and return man. While his stats as a running back during the game weren't all that impressive (one carry for five yards), he was impressive as a kick returner and in the week of preparation leading up to the game.

As a return man, Rainey returned three kicks for 60-yards, and returned one punt for for 17-yards. However, Rainey drew a lot of praise from the South Team coaching staff, which was the staff of the Washington Redskins. In addition to Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan praising Rainey for picking things up quickly, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. also noticed Rainey, saying:

"Florida, right now, is looking at guys that are figuring on day three of the draft," he said. "Rainey’s an interesting guy cause he has speed and he’s got some versatility and certainly could fit what a team’s looking for in maybe the fourth-round area."

As for Howard, things were going fantastic until suffering a minor injury on Wednesday. Howard did play during the game on Saturday, but defensive statistics weren't made available. Howard was the Gators' first ever defensive lineman to compete in the Senior Bowl. Which is kind of surprising considering the linemen that have gone through Gainesville in the past.

Also competing on the South Team was former Gators cornerback Janoris Jenkins. Who, you know, still thinks he should have been playing for the Gators this year. Well, if Urban Meyer had remained the head coach.

Brent Pease is now Florida's offensive coordinator. But there's still plenty of doubt among some Florida fans about whether Pease's schemes from his time at Boise State will translate to the SEC, or whether he'll be the home run hire he's touted as being. To get some answers, I reached out to the folks at SB Nation's fantastic Boise State blog, One Bronco Nation Under God, to get a sense of what they think about Pease, and they graciously answered my questions with some really good insight.

Thanks again to Kevan, Drew, and Nick, and make sure to check out OBNUG.

Pease has just one year of experience as Boise State's offensive coordinator, but has been on Chris Petersen's staff for a number of years. How much of the Petersen scheme do you think Pease has absorbed?

How much of the ocean does a sea sponge absorb? Enough for you to know that the sponge came from the ocean, I would suppose (I'm neither a marine biologist nor all that interested in science).

Basically, the Boise State offense is complex and expansive, and Pease has taken in as much of it as his offensive coordinator mind can take. The Chris Petersen offense will be unmistakable once Pease starts calling plays at Florida.

Continue reading this post »

Guess what? We have another report saying that Brent Pease will become Florida's offensive coordinator, and all it adds to previous reports is that Pease will be named Florida's offensive coordinator on Wednesday. It comes from ESPN's SEC blogger Edward Aschoff, formerly of the Gainesville Sun, and this is, in all seriousness, the entire extent of that article that isn't just filler.

Boise State offensive coordinator Brent Pease is expected to be named Florida's offensive coordinator Wednesday, a source close to Florida confirmed to ESPN.com Tuesday.

That just adds a date to Scout's Bob Redman's report late Monday night that Pease would be named Florida's next offensive coordinator, and Aschoff has a source, while Redman has sources.

In any case, while we still don't know whether Pease has had or will have a meeting with Alabama's Nick Saban today, as he was reportedly scheduled to do, it looks like Pease is Will Muschamp and Jeremy Foley's man. Now we wait for something official.

Scout.com's Bob Redman is reporting that Florida has found its next offensive coordinator. Redman, citing sources, says that Brent Pease is expected to be named Florida's offensive coordinator "in the very near future," leaving the Boise State family he has been a part of since 2006 and the Broncos offense he was in charge of as the offensive coordinator under Chris Petersen in 2010 to run Will Muschamp's offense at Florida.

We heard this story, sort of, on Friday, when the Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley kinda sorta said that Pease was Florida's man, but other reports over the weekend had Pease deciding between Florida and Alabama.

My guess: If news is leaking now and Pease's supposed meeting with Alabama's Nick Saban was coming on Tuesday, Pease has likely already verbally agreed to a deal with Florida, and the GatorZone staff is writing up its features on him for Tuesday as I type. (Redman writes that it is unlikely Pease will have that meeting.)

If so, I think it's a wonderful hire for Muschamp, and look forward to explaining why to all of you — and I'll point out that Florida beat the national champions for something on Monday.

Brent Pease will be Florida's next offensive coordinator, according to the Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley. A search for a replacement for outgoing offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has apparently led Jeremy Foley and Will Muschamp to hire Pease, who has served as Boise State's offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach, and assistant head coach.

The Sun's Robbie Andreu was the first to report that Pease was a candidate for Florida's vacant OC position on December 30; Every Day Should Be Saturday's Spencer Hall reported on Wednesday that Florida and Alabama were both in on Pease, and reports today indicated that Pease was being hotly pursued by both Muschamp's Gators and Nick Saban's Crimson Tide.

Pease, a former quarterback, is considered one of the architects of Boise State's inventive and sometimes explosive offenses, and runs a pro-style scheme that has its fair few wrinkles designed to get the ball down the field.

As for whether Pease can succeed at Florida: You remember Boise flaying Georgia, right?

Let's talk about Kerwin Bell, shall we?

Jacksonville Times-Union columnist Hays Carlton reports that Bell has been offered the Florida quarterbacks coach position, but different sources tell him that Bell is a) wrestling with the decision or b) not going to leave unless it's for an offensive coordinator position. This makes sense from Bell's side..

Bell is the head coach at an FCS school that plays in the Pioneer Football League, one so small that it doesn't have scholarship players. He's a sharp football mind, by all accounts, and has gotten good, exciting offenses out of those players, but he's done what he's done at a level that really isn't that far removed from high school — not coincidentally, his only other level of coaching.

And he's smart, too, and so he's trying to leverage that local success and a profile that cannot possibly be higher at any school other than his alma mater into getting the keys to one of the five best offensive coordinator positions in college football. I don't blame him: If I had an in at a place that would probably pay me at least four times as much as I am currently making, and I thought I could use my results thus far to justify that hiring, I would probably deploy that leverage.

But Will Muschamp's no dummy, either.

Continue reading this post »

Florida defeated Ohio State, 24-17, in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl. We'll look back at the game in at multiple parts: The Rapid Recap, which reacts to the game in full before a second viewing, comes first.

Florida has a bowl win under Will Muschamp. Florida has a winning season under Will Muschamp. Florida has an undefeated record against Ohio State. (And I ended up in a debate on Twitter.) It's nice to be able to count on some things.

Continue reading this post »

I have a confession to make: I don't really care about this Gator Bowl.

Continue reading this post »