2009 Florida Gator Preview-Defense

2009 Outlook: The Florida Gators return 11 starters on defense from the 2008 national championship team. Senior Brandon Spikes, the pound-for-pound best defensive player on this Florida squad returns for his last hurrah in Gainesville. The other standout on defense is Joe Haden who is the leader of the secondary. This year’s squad looks poised to be better than last season. The defensive stats for 2008: 9th in total defense, giving up an average of 285.29 yards per game; 4th in scoring defense with an average of 12.43 points per game; 20th ranked secondary, surrendering an average of 179.86 yards per game. It is not easy to duplicate productivity from the previous season, but Florida is poised on defense to have some breakout stars that will keep this defense getting better every year, even after the graduation of seniors. Looking at the two national championship years, from ’06 and ’08, the defense allowed an average of 13.2 points per game from the opposing teams, opposing quarterbacks completed an average of 53.2% of their passes, and the running backs averaged 89 yards per game with a measly 3.05 yards per carry. What is evident is that when the defense is stingy and put up numbers like in ’06 and ’08, they will undoubtedly be in the national title game and win it. Defensive Ends: The spring saw dynamic play by Jermaine Cunningham. It seemed he was always in the backfield, getting at Tebow. He was very good in containment of the quarterbacks and running backs. Cunningham showed his strength and quickness throughout spring practices. He will clearly be the key in the defensive pressure put on the offensive lines that they will face in the fall. Redshirt Freshman Earl Okine stepped up during spring practices. He is huge like Carlos Dunlap, both these guys hovering around 6’6 and averaging about 280 pounds. Okine showed good body control and toughness. He was not in the backfield as much as Cunningham, but he made plays when he had to. With the injury bug hitting Dunlap early in the spring; it is understandable that he was not that productive. Returning at the end of spring practice, he made it a point to make couple of plays. With a healthy Dunlap for the fall, this will cause havoc for any offensive lineman. Justin Trattou was injured for most of the spring. He showed flashes of playmaking ability in the beginning of spring practices. In his absence, Duke Lemmens stepped in and showed a relentless attitude to his playing style. With Dunlap and Trattou being injured this was Lemmens moment to shine and he did. Florida has a viable short-term solution if either Dunlap or Trattou fall prey to injuries this season. Linebackers: Weakside linebacker: Senior Ryan Stamper continued his dominance of the position in the spring. In 2008, he had a total of 45 tackles on the year. In spring practice, he was good against the run and in pass coverage as well. Dustin Doe is battling Stamper for the starting position. Before injury hit Doe in the spring, he showed quickness and solid tackling. This will be a good battle in the fall and make each player push themselves. Middle linebackers: True freshman John Bostic has shown the true grit to play middle linebacker. He is fast, powerful, and delivers bone-jarring hits. Meyer and the staff are in love with this kid, and the redshirt has been taken off. He is already number two on the depth chart and vying for the number one spot with Brandon Spikes ahead of him.It is clear that when Spikes moves on to the NFL, Florida is very secure at this spot. Spikes has played sparingly during spring practice. Meyer is very concerned about keeping his playmakers injury-free and fresh for the start of the season. Spikes will provide leadership and guidance to the young linebackers. Strongside linebacker: A.J. Jones, who played in 13 games in ’08 and had a total of 35 tackles, looked good especially in pass coverage throughout the spring when he attended. Most likely, he will be the starter or Brandon Hicks. Hicks has been out of spring practice due to an injury. The team will likely watch his recuperation in the fall and thereafter. Sophomore Lerentee McCray, having played only 8 games in his career due to who is ahead of him on the depth chart, was quiet this spring, but he is still young and learning the position. Junior Lorenzo Edwards was quiet as well, but he is a big asset. He has played every linebacker position and this provides versatility to his game. In the time of crisis, it will be easy to plug him in with no worries. Defensive Tackles: Sophomore Jaye Howard looked good in pursuit and showed great agility throughout the spring. He was good at stopping the run and causing hurries to the quarterback. Howard had the most production among interior lineman throughout the spring. Omar Hunter spent 2008 as a Redshirt Freshman due to a recent injury and nagging injuries from high school. Hunter was healthy this spring and showed improvement at attacking the offensive line. He will provide power and quickness at the nose tackle position in the fall. He needs to keep working with the strength and conditioning coach to maintain an injury-free tenure at Florida. Lawrence Marsh, the starting nose tackle in 2008, suffered an injury that cost him the majority of spring practice. He had 3 sacks in 2008 which ranked third on the team behind DE Jermaine Cunningham (4 solo and 0 assisted) and sack leader of the team, Carlos Dunlap (8 solo, 3 assisted).He will be pushed in the fall by Hunter and this will motivate him to speed up his recovery to get back on the field. Defensive Backs: Strong Safeties: True Freshman Dee Finley showed that he has a nose for the ball. It seemed like he was in on every tackle and pass break up. He will continue to grow as a player and will contribute on the special teams as he matures physically and mentally. Dorian Munroe looked good in couple of pass break ups and he hits hard. But after missing 08’ with an ACL injury, he won’t surpass the instinctive Ahmad Black as the starter. Black led the team with 7 interceptions in ’08 and this ranks him 7th nationally. He had a quiet spring of practices but made plays sparingly throughout. He will remain the starter because of his instincts at the position. Free Safeties: Will Hill looked good breaking up passes and intercepting four balls, from Tebow. He had the best spring out of the safeties, and this sophomore will see playing time this season as he continues to learn the position. This kid is poised for breakout success in the future. Junior Major Wright missed some of spring with an injury but showed his playmaking ability on a couple of plays. Cornerbacks: Redshirt freshman Adrian Bushell looks like a smart football player, considering his youth. Good ball pursuit and catch-up speed to his target. He will be a force in a year or two. Junior Moses Jenkins looked good in the spring. He is a good tackler and is always around the ball. He has very good size at 6’2, 184 pounds. He does not have the speed like the other corners on this squad, but he will use his size and body to aggravate smaller wide receivers. Starting corner Joe Haden looked fast and aggressive in the spring. In 2008, he led the defense with 61 solo tackles and 87 total tackles was second on the team. He is the unquestioned leader at corner and if the spring is any indication, he will be extra aggressive in covering wide receivers this fall. Senior Markihe Anderson looks good. He swatted passes away and picked off a couple of passes this spring. He has been injured in the last two years, dealing with knee injuries. He showed his smarts as he was always around the ball during the spring. Sophomore Janoris Jenkins showed tough physical play this spring. And the team believes that he will be a great asset when they play a spread offense team with quick slot receivers. Jenkins has a penchant for not letting wide receivers off the line of scrimmage.

2009 Florida Gator Preview-Offense

2009 Outlook: With the departure of Percy Harvin, the Florida Gators are devoid of a playmaker at wide receiver. They also lost Louis Murphy as well, who sports very fast wheels like Harvin provided. But there is no denying the impact Harvin gave to the Gators since his freshman year in ‘06. Urban Meyer still has a team that returns 7 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense. Tebow is improving his throwing motion with the help of the coaches; he wants to play quarterback at the next level but we will see how all that plays out. After beating Oklahoma in the national title game last season, the Gators are the odds on favorite to reach the title game again. And this is a good estimate looking at their schedule and the fact that they have a veteran team. But Meyer is looking for that wideout to step in and take over games and be the go-to-guy for Tebow. The spring saw Carl Moore, Deonte Thompson, T.J. Lawrence, Frankie Hammond, and David Nelson vying for the starting lineup at wide receiver. But who will it be? Could it be the ultra-talented tight end Aaron Hernandez? Will the defense continue to be stingy? All these questions need to be answered by Meyer and his staff in preparation for the upcoming season. Quarterbacks: Tim Tebow, the two-time national championship-winning quarterback, two-time Maxwell Award winner and, Heisman trophy winner, will be back at the helm to wreak havoc on SEC defenses. The plan for Tebow this spring is to work on his throwing motion and keep him more in the pocket. Throughout the spring, he has shown improvement with his throws. His intermediate throws have more zip and his deep throws do not have so much air underneath them. However, Meyer and his staff can do all they want with tweaking his technique throwing the ball. When game time calls for Tebow to run over defenders, that is what he should do and will do. Redshirt Freshman John Brantley has shown that he can play the quarterback position. He is more of a pocket-passer than Tebow, and the team will not draw up design run plays for him like for Tebow. But do not underestimate his mobility, for when needed he will get those yards. He has a good arm and showed its power on several deep throws throughout the spring. The only area of improvement is his decision-making which is something that all rookies have to deal with and work through. If Tebow were to go down, Brantley can step in and be a good game-manager. Running Backs: Last season Emmanuel Moody was spotty at best, dealing with injury issues and trying to grasp the offense. He has been the star running back coming out of spring practices. He has shown his maturity in being acquainted with the offense and is catching the ball out of the backfield. There has been sporadic attendance by Will Demps who has been attending track practices, but when he has attended spring practice he looked good running the ball. His acceleration will be a great asset as he hits the hole for positive yardage this season. Chris Rainey has not looked that good in spring practice. He has been battling a groin injury which has slowed him down. At the later end of spring practices, he looked better as his groin was healing. Also of note is walk-on Christopher Scott who used to play safety. He is a bigger back than Moody, Rainey and Demps; and he will provide that toughness at the running back position. He has been highly praised by Meyer and his staff for his penchant for running over and through defenders in spring practice. Meyer not only has three running backs that averaged 7.6 yards per carry last season, but now he has Scott to power through tacklers and make the tough yards or kill the clock in crucial games. The rich keep on getting richer. Do not be surprised if you see Rainey and Demps in the slot position where Harvin used to lineup. Wide Receivers: Clearly, Carl Moore has been the star of the spring. The senior has shown good hands and toughness; he clearly puts his all on the field. And he is well adept at shielding his body from the defender. But he has not been the only impact player at wide receiver for Florida. Redshirt Freshman T.J. Lawrence has shown that he will pluck any pass from the sky, and he is not afraid to make those tough catches. Deonte Thompson is the one wide out that the coaching staff is hoping will provide that game-breaking speed needed at the position. However, he is struggling mentally with his progress. He has had several drops throughout spring and sometimes gets too down on himself. He will need to become more mentally tougher to provide an impact to this team. Senior wide receiver David Nelson has become the veteran wide receiver that will help this young group of wide outs. T.J. credits Nelson for giving him guidance and confidence for playing the position. Nelson is not the fastest wide receiver on this team, but his 6’5 frame will provide a good red zone target for Tebow. But his most important role this season might be a mentor to the younger wide outs. Frankie Hammond is another Redshirt freshman that has the fewest drops of any receiver in spring practice. You can see him developing his route running and fighting to get open. He has good balance and will adjust to catches that are underthrown. Freshman Andre Debose is the highly recruited wide receiver that Meyer believes will be a force in Harvin’s old role. But he has not arrived on campus yet and they eager to start working with him and getting him up to speed since he missed spring practice. There is no shortage of doubt that Debose is dynamic and he will provide matchup nightmares for linebackers and safeties in the SEC. Tight Ends: I am speechless when it comes to Aaron Hernandez. He is simply a tough football player with good hands and decent speed. He reminds me of Kellen Winslow Jr. of the “U” fame. Hernandez will threaten defenses by stretching the field this season; it was just a tease seeing his impact last season, watch out. His backup Desmond Parks is turning into a fine tight end. The coaching staff is working on his toughness, and his grasp of the position. He has improved since the first spring practice. There is no doubt in my mind how important this position will be for the Gators this season. They have the underneath threat of Hernandez. Meyer has been heaping praise on him since he joined the team and recently spoke about how he is NFL-ready. Offensive Line: Throughout the spring the offensive line has been much aligned. The most significant injuries have been to Mike Pouncey (RG) and Maurkice Pouncey (C). In spring practices the defense was more successful in disrupting the offensive line because of injuries. Marcus Gilbert has stepped up and showed that he is more suited for the Right Tackle position and you have Carl Johnson at the Left Tackle position. Johnson has become the vocal leader of the offensive line, and he will provide support and guidance to the young players. The star of the spring has been Redshirt Freshman Sam Robey who has been playing the center position because of a shoulder injury to Maurkice Pouncey. The coaches are very happy with his production, and Meyer stated that Robey will find significant time at the Center position this upcoming season; and with Robey playing at Center it gives Meyer the chance to rotate the talented Pouncey twins at other positions in case of injury. With so many injuries hitting the offensive line, there have been many different lineups; and, this works in Florida’s favor because almost every offensive lineman has played every position. This will prove effective for the Gators when injuries arise later in the season; it will not be such an adjustment for the lineman playing other positions than their own. Stay Tuned for the Defensive Preview!

A Three-Way Dance for the Heisman

The 2009 season will be memorable for the quarterback position. Coming back to their respective schools will be Colt McCoy of Texas, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, and Tim Tebow of Florida. One can only image the NFL teams drooling come next April to draft one of these uber quarterbacks. If you look at these three, you will find that Bradford to be the most technically sound quarterback of the three and the most NFL-ready player. Tebow is the most passionate leader of the three and the most mobile, and has the drive and athleticism to play either tight end or fullback, if needed. McCoy has the fire and passion of Tebow but it is tempered, but one should not doubt his toughness or drive to win; he is ultra-competitive. Just think, if Crabtree did not make that catch to seal the win against Texas, we could have seen McCoy in the national championship against Tebow. But we ended up seeing Oklahoma in the big dance against Florida; even though, Texas beat them head-to-head. This was a result of the wacky rules of the Big 12 which I will save for another discussion. Looking at Tebow’s resume during his three year stint at Florida it is highly impressive. He already has two national championships, a Heisman trophy, and is a two-time Maxwell award winner (best college football player in the nation). Last year, Tebow did not have the statistical breakout season like the 2007 season where he threw for 3,286 yards with 32 touchdowns and also rushed for 895 yards with 23 touchdowns. In 2008 Tebow passed for 2,746 yards with 30 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, while rushing for 673 yards with 12 rushing touchdowns. These stats are still impressive for any other quarterback but not Tebow who set the bar for himself in the 2007 season. This upcoming season, Tebow and Florida will try to capture a consecutive national championship; Tebow, himself, will try to close out his collegiate career with another Heisman trophy to his name and national championship. The Florida Gators are stacked with a lot of their defense and offense in place for another run to the championship game. One thing for sure this season is that Tebow will not be the only SEC quarterback that will be talked about. He has competition in Jevan Snead from Ole Miss that beat Florida last season. Snead is probably the purest pocket-passer in the SEC. Sitting down with Kirk Herbstreit Tebow talks about how winning the national championship for him in 2008 was a big thing. He believes that “you are judged by being a winner and winning games that’s more important than stats” and covets the 2008 season more for winning the national title than his Heisman victory of 2007. McCoy is back this season with passion and grit, trying to get to the national championship. Texas fans feel cheated out of the opportunity last year by the BIG 12 after having one loss to Texas Tech and beating Oklahoma head-to-head competition. McCoy will not complain about what happened last year but is motivated for this upcoming season and hoping there will not be any missteps to their goal. In the 2008 season, he passed for 3,859 yards with 34 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He had the highest completion percentage of the three quarterbacks with 76.67 rate per game and the highest in NCAA football. He made a gentleman’s bet with Kirk Herbstreit that he can improve on that greatly for this upcoming season. McCoy feels that his completion percentage suffered when he went to this second to third check down for receivers. But he said that his first check down is near a hundred percent most of the time. He also rushed for 561 yards with 11 touchdowns. He had more rushing yards than any other running back on their roster. The Longhorns hope to find a running back that will carry load to allow McCoy to continue to improve as a quarterback. He will miss his trusted receiver in Quan Cosby, but he has emerging star Malcolm Williams and Jordan Shipley. There is no doubt that the University of Texas All-time total touchdown career leader will have success in the upcoming season and will make an impact whether it is in the regular season or in the off season towards a BCS bowl or the national championship. He tells Herbstreit that he wants to be remembered as a great team player and a better person off the field to the people he comes in contact with. Bradford returns to Oklahoma for his junior season, hoping to repeat the success of last season. He not only won the Heisman, but Oklahoma averaged 51.14 points per game which was 1st nationally. Bradford averaged 349.36 yards passing per game, and also the team averaged a total offense of 547.86 yards per game. Statistically in 2008, Oklahoma’s production mirrored the production of New England Patriots of the 2007 NFL season. But like the Patriots all the stats was not enough for the Sooners to overcome a stingy defense and Tim Tebow in the 2008 national championship. From sports writers, to analysts, to NFL personnel has deemed Bradford to be the first quarterback taken in the 2010 draft and number one overall pick. The 2009 upcoming college football season will see Bradford playing with an offensive line that will be young and inexperienced and also losing his impact wideouts Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson, who entered the NFL. Oklahoma has not had the greatest success at all, losing in the last two Fiesta Bowls and recently the national championship game. Bob Stoops and his squad will look to turn the tide in their favor whether it is a win in the national championship game or win in a BCS bowl game. In a interview with Kirk Herbstreit, Bradford said that he wants to be remembered as tough competitive player that did everything right and a example to kids on and off the field. The Heisman voting played out with McCoy coming in second, Tebow placing third and Bradford winning it all. For this upcoming season, we will see more awe-inspiring plays from all three quarterbacks as well as emerging stars around them that will grow after these respective quarterbacks have moved on. The general consensus is that Florida has the leg up as repeating national championship winners out of Texas and Oklahoma. Florida’s schedule plays out well with away games against LSU, a neutral site game against Georgia, and South Carolina. They do not play Ole Miss who beat them last year. Their road to the SEC championship will be an easy one. Who knows maybe they will meet Ole Miss in the SEC Championship game. The Longhorns have tough away games against Oklahoma in the annual slugfest between the two teams on the 17th of October and later they will face a good Oklahoma state team. They must also watch out for a game Kansas team in late November. There are two potential losses for Texas, facing the Sooners and the Okie St. Cowboys. The Sooners will start their season against a BYU team that will test this 2009 Sooner team. They also have Texas on their schedule, away games against the Miami Hurricanes and Kansas, and they end the season against a well-balanced Oklahoma State team at home. The Sooners have the toughest road to the Big 12 Championship game, considering their losses on offense and defense. You will not see that explosion of offense that we all witnessed in ’08. No more games in a row where they scored 60 points or more. I have a feeling that we might see another Big 12 and SEC matchup in the national title game. This time insert Texas instead of Oklahoma. But time will tell, we have plenty of time before the season kicks off. There is no doubt that Tebow, Bradford and McCoy will be in a heated race for the coveted Heisman trophy unless one of them gets injured. And also that each one of them wants to win the national championship title. Most importantly, the Heisman trust can be happy having each one of them as a winner to join the Heisman family. Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy are passionate about continue to play hard and be respected for a being good individuals on and off the field. Get ready for a good slobber-knocker this season for the Heisman.