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Getting to Know: Florida

Florida – September 8

Will Muschamp is a familiar foe for Aggie fans, having previously served as the DC at Texas.

A Year Ago

2011 was Will Muschamp’s first season as a head coach, having served as defensive coordinator in his three previous coaching stops (Texas, Auburn and LSU,) and the Gators saw mixed his results in the first season.

The Gators got out to a 4-0 start, including victors over SEC opponents Tennessee and Kentucky, but then quarterback John Brantley went down in the fifth game of the season against Alabama. The Crimson Tide would go on to crush the Gators 38-10 in the Swamp that day, and neither Brantley or his team would ever fully recover.

From there, Florida went just 2-5 the rest of the regular season. Florida’s offense was terrible at the end of the season, and even Brantley’s return didn’t seem to get things energized. Though the defense played well all season, the offense was just not good enough for the Gators to win games, and they ended up 3-5 in the SEC, their first losing record in the conference since 1986. The season ended on a high note however, as Florida was able to defeat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl.

Name to Know

Mike Gillislee – RB

With Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps gone, the pressure of the Florida run game falls on Gillislee. Florida fans are hopeful that this allows Gillislee to finally be the more traditional back that they’ve been looking for. He averaged 6.3 yards per carry a season ago, but has always struggled in pass protection. However, he had a strong spring practice under new Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease and many think he’s ready for a big season.

Whoever plays quarterback

Mike Gillislee

Can Gillislee have a breakout season as the feature back?

Similar to A&M, the Gators are going to have a new offensive system coming in this season, and they aren’t sure if their current quarterbacks are suited to handle it. Whether it’s Jeff Driskel or Jacoby Brissett, both have their own shortcomings and neither performed very well a season ago. Both threw for under 50% and both averaged less than 5.5 yards per pass attempt. As Florida enters fall practice, all eyes will be on the dueling sophomores.

Andre Debose – WR

If, and this is a big if, the Gators can get something going on the ground and the quarterbacks can prove they can make accurate throws (last season Florida threw below 50% on passes shorter than ten yards according to GatorBait.net’s Thomas Goldkamp) then Debose has the potential to be a big time playmaker on the outside. He had just 430 yards receiving a season ago, but averaged 27 yards per reception. Pease and company are going to have to find a way to get him the ball.

Dominique Easley – DT

With the pass rushing abilities of defensive end Ronald Powell sidelined after his torn ACT this spring, Easley is going to be an important factor for Muschamp’s defense. Easley, at 6-2 and 286 is a bit undersized by typical SEC defensive lineman standards, but is a big time threat in the pass rush.

Jon Bostic – LB

Bostic is the leading returning tackler for the Gators with 94 tackles a season ago, and is the leader of the Gator defense. He’s exactly what you’re looking for in a middle linebacker. He’s 6-1, 243, he can hit runners in the gap and drop them and he can move well in space in the passing game. Simply put, he’s one of the best linebackers in the country.

Jelani Jenkins – LB

Jelani Jenkins

Jelani Jenkins has been working hard this offseason at taking advantage of balls thrown his way.

If Jenkins learns how to catch the ball, the whole world might be in trouble. He dropped six would-be interceptions a season ago, and had his hands on a few more. The junior is 6-0, 233 and reportedly has been the biggest beneficiary of the new strength and conditioning program at Florida. If he puts it all together, he’ll be a big time playmaker this season.

Why Florida could win this game

September 8th might be the most anticipated matchup of 7-6 teams of all time. For Florida, the game could be a start at proving that their offense can bounce back from a terrible season last year under their new coordinator. If it can, then the Gators have the talent on defense to compete for the SEC East.

However, winning at Kyle Field, especially if this game is at night, is going to be easier said than done for the young Gator quarterbacks. In College Station, this game couldn’t be any bigger. It’s not only the SEC opener for the Aggies, but it’s the home opener for Kevin Sumlin’s team. Everybody from the A&M players to the tailgaters in the parking lot want to prove A&M belongs in the SEC, and they’re going to do everything they can to make it happen.

That’s why it’s impossible to look at this game simply on paper, because for A&M, this game means a lot more than stats and numbers. The question is though, can A&M win?

The answer here is yes, they can. Powell led the Gators in sacks a season ago and he’s likely out for the entire season, without him the Gators will probably struggle to put pressure on the quarterback all season. Add to that the fact that A&M’s offensive line is among the nation’s best, and you’ve got a clear cut advantage for the Aggies in that aspect of the game.

The key though, as it always is, will be for A&M not to turn it over. There’s every reason to expect Florida’s offense to struggle in this game, but the Aggies can’t afford to let them have extra possessions.

But that’s exactly why Florida can win this game. A&M has young quarterback issues of its own, and this will be far and away the fastest defense they’ve ever seen. To simulate Florida’s pass defense, the Aggies would probably have to use 13 players in practice.

Who wins this game is going to come down to which team can use its offense to take pressure off the quarterback, and which quarterback(s?) make the fewest mistakes. Make no mistake about it though, as important as this game may be for Florida, for A&M, it’s everything.

Aubrey Bloom

    • Oh it will be fun too.

      Both three for under 50% and both averaged less than 5.5 yards per pass

      PhilCantone

    • Great article Aubs.. Probably a recent personal favorite

      Specht0050

    • PhilCantone said...

      Oh it will be fun too.

      Both three for under 50% and both averaged less than 5.5 yards per pass

      three, threw, what's the difference really? Sure ones a number and ones a past tense verb, but essentially the same I think. bow

      Aubrey Bloom

    • Good article Aubrey, looking forward to each of these.

      WarHymn

    • Was given tickets to this game last week. Gonna be epic.

      Hugh Honey

    • Wait... What happened to Brantley??? Is he no longer on the team? No way he graduated...?

      Ranger Dick

    • Ranger Dick said...

      Wait... What happened to Brantley??? Is he no longer on the team? No way he graduated...?

      Assuming you're talking about Florida, John Brantley was a 5th year senior, he was in the class 1 year behind Tim Tebow and we also had Cam Newton on that class.

      Cam was at UF for a couple seasons and got into some trouble with a laptop theft. When Tebow came back for his senior year, Cam went Juco and than Auburn.

      CLF4L

    • I figured as a Gator fan i will chime in.

      Florida is a team that is basically some offense performance away from being a 10 win team.

      We had a very close loss to Georgia where we gave up two 4th and 10+ TD passes(they were 4th and 10 away from getting a first down, not from the endzone). We should have beat Georgia but Brantley was just coming back from an injury. Had we had Janoris Jenkins(who got booted off the team) i think we take that UGA game.

      We lost to South Carolina by 5 @ South Carolina(to be fair they were without RB Lattimore).

      We got cheated at Auburn(again), they had a play where they took out our return guy and no penalty was called. The problem is the ball touched him on the foot or some crap as he was laid out before the ball even got there(should have been interference) and Auburn got an easy TD off it.

      People will look at the freshmen QB's completion percentages and think nothing of them.

      Jeff Driskel was recruited by Urban Meyer, he was the top QB in the country coming out of high school(and the best at the Elite 11). He had a solid showing in the Under Armour game as well. He is more of a mobile QB, has the size like Tebow and the speed of Alex Smith. He has a really strong arm and threw around a 60 yard pass in our spring game.

      Jacoby Brissett was recruited by Charlie Weis and he is more of a pocket passer. Both have great arms and can be good QB's for us.

      Nobody really knows who is the leader right now, but the belief is that its Brissett as he is more a pocket passer and seems more dedicated.

      Jeff Driskel got his first college start in the 2nd half vs Alabama after Brantley went down.

      Both guys split their first "starts" on the road @ LSU.

      Their last and final starts came @ Auburn.

      So these freshmen QB's had their experience come against:

      2nd Half at home vs Alabama

      On the road vs LSU

      On the road vs Auburn.

      Our O-line is more experiened now, we have two 5* o-lineman in James Wilson(class of 06) and Matt Patchan(08 i believe) that have been hampered by injuries. We were replacing a lot of starters from 2010 last year. We have more depth with 5* DJ Humphries and 4* Jessamen Dunker coming in.

      Defense has some talent

      On our defensive line we have

      5* Ronald Powell
      5* Sharrif Floyd
      5* Dominique Easley
      4* Omar Hunter(he was 5* on some sites i think).

      At linebacker

      5* Jelani Jenkins
      4* Jon Bostic
      4* Lerentee Mccray

      Secondary
      4* Marcus Roberson
      4* Cody Riggs
      4* Josh Shaw
      5* Matt Elam

      There's some talent on the defense and most of them are heading into their 3rd year and finally a 2nd year in the same defense.

      We have a dangerous kick returner in Andre Debose(5* WR). He has 3 kick returns for TD's in his career including his last in our bowl game vs Ohio State last season. We have a solid kicker in Caleb Sturgis who finished 2nd in the Groza award behind your kicker who won it. Debose has a lot of speed but he isn't very shifty. If he gets a crease he is gone, but if he has to work for it he won't do much.

      We have a couple new coaches on offense.

      Brent Pease is coming from Boise State, and our O-line coach who had coached at USC under Pete Carroll from 2002-2004(joined Saban in the NFL on the Dolphins in 05).

      We're a talented team but our problems last year

      1. QB Play

      2. WR Play

      3. RB Play(we've lacked power RB's)

      4. O-Line has been inconsistent.

      5. Lack of turnovers

      Florida dropped 15 INT's where they had two hands on the ball and should have caught it last year.

      We've got a good defense, finished top 10 in the country last year. The problem is our offense was terribly bad, near the bottom in passing yards per game.

      It will be interesting to see what more experience, a change at QB, and a new OC can do for this team.

      One thing that most people don't know, Florida only had 67 scholarship players last season due to transfers, and recruiting by Urban Meyer.

      This post has been edited 8 times, most recently by CLF4L on 7/11/2012 at 4:38 AM

      CLF4L

    • We also held Florida State's offense to less than 100 total yards of offense which is something people over look because we lost 21-7.

      John Brantley self destructed and threw 3 INT's that led to all of FSU's TD's.

      CLF4L

    • I don't know if ya'll play Georgia but you will see that they're overrated.

      Florida had to face Alabama(at home) and than followed that up with road trips to LSU and Auburn.

      Of the top three teams in the SEC West, Georgia only faced Arkansas(who you guys almost beat, that was one hell of a game).

      Georgia had(and continues to have) the easiest schedule in the East. They were suppose to face Alabama this year. Thanks to you and Missouri, Florida gets @ A&M instead of @ Ole Miss and we get Missouri at home instead of Auburn.

      Florida was suppose to face Ole Miss and Georgia was suppose to face Alabama. SEC conference expansion changed all that.

      This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by CLF4L on 7/11/2012 at 4:41 AM

      CLF4L

    • Anyway im coming out to college station for our game and i cannot wait to visit Kyle Field. Hopefully A&M fans are welcoming to some extent and not rude like Tennessee fans that i encountered. I think you guys have a great chance to beat us, your stadium is going to be going crazy for their first SEC game and this game has A&M win all over it. Hopefully Muschamp has our guys ready to play and he's coached @ Kyle Field before so he knows how rowdy you guys get out there.

      Ive only been to a handful of away games in the SEC, but Tennessee was by far the worst(their stadium and ramps into the stadium are extremely crowded, it took us 45 minutes to get up the ramp due to their poor stadium design).

      Kentucky fans were nice, Ole Miss fans were extremely nice(we got invited to a tail gate). You'll love the grove, all those southern girls(they've got some female talent at Ole Miss!) all dressed up and looking good.

      Welcome to the SEC guys, this ain't the Big 12. Each team will give you a game and there are no gimmies. We're going to hope to beat the crap out of you in the regular season, but pull for you in the post season because we've got conference pride.

      S-E-C

      S-E-C

      S-E-C

      You may think its stupid, but you'll see why we do it eventually.

      Welcome Aggie fans, and F the Longhorns.

      This post has been edited 3 times, most recently by CLF4L on 7/11/2012 at 4:47 AM

      CLF4L

    • CLF4L said...

      Assuming you're talking about Florida, John Brantley was a 5th year senior, he was in the class 1 year behind Tim Tebow and we also had Cam Newton on that class.

      Cam was at UF for a couple seasons and got into some trouble with a laptop theft. When Tebow came back for his senior year, Cam went Juco and than Auburn.

      Yeah... For some reason I thought he was a redshirt freshman last yr. Thanks.

      Ranger Dick

    • CLF
      Solid posts here. Thanks for the insight to go along with Aubrey's write up. It will be interesting. A solid UF D against a solid Aggie offense. A rebuilding UF offense versus a rebuilding Aggie defense. Going into this I'd rather have the stellar defense but it's at Kyle Field do we will see.

      I live in Orlando and have 4 Gators that work for me. For that reason alone we've GOT to win this game!

      spider pig

    • spider pig said...

      CLF Solid posts here. Thanks for the insight to go along with Aubrey's write up. It will be interesting. A solid UF D against a solid Aggie offense. A rebuilding UF offense versus a rebuilding Aggie defense. Going into this I'd rather have the stellar defense but it's at Kyle Field do we will see.

      I live in Orlando and have 4 Gators that work for me. For that reason alone we've GOT to win this game!

      I'm interested to see how Sumlin's attack does in the SEC as we all saw what it did at Houston.

      You guys have a good RB in Christine Michael(I believe that is him that is back?) and Ryan Swopes is a great WR. You guys did lose Tannenhill but it sounds like you have a promising young QB(although didn't he get arrested?).

      I'm really looking forward to the game and if there any famous food places to eat at in College Station i would appreciate it if you guys mention them!

      Not to be a homer i do think Florida is a slightly better team as i really like our defense but they didn't force hardly any turnovers last year which was their problem.

      Our offense was terrible as well but hopefully more experience, depth, a new OC from Boise State, and a new QB can change things.

      It's going to be a great game, i wouldn't be surprised if Sumlin tries a bomb down field, scores, and Kyle Field eruputs. If that happens Florida is going to be in trouble.

      But our young QB's did play vs Bama, and on the road at Death Valley and at Jordan Hare(Auburn) so hopefully they'll be somewhat prepared.

      Welcome to the SEC guys, Im excited to be playing @ A&M in the second week of the season when Florida is usually playing a creampuff from the sunbelt.

      If you guys could tell me about any seats to avoid in Kyle Field i would appreciate it, although im not sure if you guys will give me a good answer lol

      "Yeah sit in section 525, last row, great view of the field" and than i get to the game and i can't see the endzone lol

      This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by CLF4L on 7/11/2012 at 4:42 PM

      CLF4L

    • Anyway i just wanted to welcome you guys to the SEC, and feel free to come over to the Gator board on 247 and discuss some football with us.

      Here's a highlight video of Florida that i made of last season in case you guys want to check it out.

      Play

      GS

      http://www.youtube.com/v/XZIDPAnALB4

      CLF4L

    • CLF4L said...

      I'm interested to see how Sumlin's attack does in the SEC as we all saw what it did at Houston.

      You guys have a good RB in Christine Michael(I believe that is him that is back?) and Ryan Swopes is a great WR. You guys did lose Tannenhill but it sounds like you have a promising young QB(although didn't he get arrested?).

      I'm really looking forward to the game and if there any famous food places to eat at in College Station i would appreciate it if you guys mention them!

      Not to be a homer i do think Florida is a slightly better team as i really like our defense but they didn't force hardly any turnovers last year which was their problem.

      Our offense was terrible as well but hopefully more experience, depth, a new OC from Boise State, and a new QB can change things.

      It's going to be a great game, i wouldn't be surprised if Sumlin tries a bomb down field, scores, and Kyle Field eruputs. If that happens Florida is going to be in trouble.

      But our young QB's did play vs Bama, and on the road at Death Valley and at Jordan Hare(Auburn) so hopefully they'll be somewhat prepared.

      Welcome to the SEC guys, Im excited to be playing @ A&M in the second week of the season when Florida is usually playing a creampuff from the sunbelt.

      If you guys could tell me about any seats to avoid in Kyle Field i would appreciate it, although im not sure if you guys will give me a good answer lol

      "Yeah sit in section 525, last row, great view of the field" and than i get to the game and i can't see the endzone lol

      The worst seats are in Sections 100 and 149 and those right around them ... they are also the seats we give to opposing teams.They aren't horrible, but you might have a crick in your neck from looking towards the field the whole game. The rest of the stadium is pretty solid. Any where you go, your seats will be decent, at the least.

      Or, I should say, "Go ahead and get 50 yard line, first row seats. They're pretty good."

      We are also interested to see if Sumlin's attack will work. We've been picking apart your coach's defenses for the last several years at Texas, so it will be interesting to see how it will relate to the Gators.

      My favorite place to eat is Free Birds. Get a loaded 'super monster'. You'll thank me.

      We had a quarterback arrested for a 3rd degree misdemeanor, so it shouldn't affect the game. He didn't exactly kill someone, and it looks like he was the backup anyway.

      Having this game so early is causing a lot of us heart burn. We'd rather have our creampuffs up front to fine tune before the chips are on the table.

      Don't worry too much if we score early. We'll probably toss several interceptions to balance that out.

      Finally, as for being in the SEC, there is no secret that we are all either excited, or keeping very quiet. (Those who are keeping quiet are playing with their guard dogs.)

      FarwellRob

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