A Final Draft Wrapup

In the end, three Gators got drafted and four more found jobs as undrafted free agents:

Percy Harvin, 1st round to Minnesota

Louis Murphy, 4th round to Oakland

Cornelius Ingram, 5th round to Philadelphia

Phil Trautwein to St. Louis

Jason Watkins to Houston

James Smith to Cincinnati

Kestahn Moore to Denver

It was a bit disappointing, all things considered. I had heard that Murphy and Ingram each had the potential to go as high as the second round. I never expected to see them have to wait until the fourth and fifth rounds to go.

In Murphy’s case, it may not have a happy ending. The Raiders at this point are a black hole for talent, though he does get to have JaMarcus Russell put football-shaped holes in his hands on Sundays. He’ll be a great addition to Oakland’s track team, along with Darrius Heyward-Bey, but whether Oakland will find football success is beyond me. Incidentally, I don’t think Heyward-Bey is any better than Murphy is, but the inanity surrounding 40 times at the combine made him a No. 1 pick. Go figure.

In Ingram’s case, it is probably a blessing in disguise. Philly had the best draft in my estimation, and with Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy, and Ingram, no one upgraded their offense more. He did say in an interview that the Eagles would have taken him earlier if they had a third or fourth round pick, so that makes him (and me) feel better. Regardless, he’s going to be on one of the NFL’s best offenses within two years thanks to McNabb, Westbrook, Jackson, and his fellow draftmates.

It seems odd to me that neither of the tackles got drafted. I know that Trautwein and Watkins weren’t going to be franchise cornerstones, but I would have thought they’d be worth a late round pick. It seemse like the NFL hasn’t been liking Florida offensive linemen lately, though that will probably change whenever the Pouncey brothers enter their names in.

I am glad to see Moore get picked up by Denver. He has no shot at playing running back there, as Denver now has about 15 of them on the roster, but he could make it as a blocker and a special teams guy. Last season had to be tough for him, having lost his feature back role to a couple of freshmen. However, he apparently never complained and kept on picking up blitz after blitz to buy Tebow time. Say what you want about his running back play, and someone probably already has, but the guy can block and could be in the league for at least a few seasons.

I am also glad to see James Smith get picked up. He’s a former walk on who will be remembered by die hard Gators as the guy who recovered South Carolina’s ill-fated throwback during a kickoff last season. It’s rare that long snappers ever get drafted, so he really never had a shot at hearing his name called over the weekend. However, he probably has a decent shot at making a roster somewhere due to his specialization and demonstrated ability to play well on special teams.

Next year, Florida will have a boatload of guys in the draft. Seniors like Spikes, Tebow, and Cunningham will be there, and underclassmen like Haden, Dunlap, and the Pounceys will probably be there too. Some mock drafts for 2010 are already out there, but I won’t link to any since they’re of no use now. After all, at this time last year, Todd Boeckman and Cullen Harper were no worse than second round picks.

What I do know is that the thin draft is not a sign of weakness, as FSU’s and Miami’s were, but the last echoing effect of the final, uncertain year of the Zook era and the transitional class that Urban Meyer had to throw together at the last minute in 2005. Only five players who we’ll see take the field from that time remain: Dorian Munroe, Jonathan Phillips, David Nelson, and Ryan Stamper in the two-deep plus Cade Holliday on special teams.

Next year is when Meyer’s monster 2006 recruiting class (minus Percy, of course) finally hits the draft. But before that, there is the matter of the fall when those seniors lead Florida to its third title in four years.

Harvin to the Vikings

Percy Harvin didn’t fall out of the first round after all.

The Minnesota Vikings picked him up, which isn’t a bad place. They’re close to contending, but the black hole at quarterback looms large. Harvin and Peterson make two of a great Big Three, but they won’t go over the top without something better than Tavares Jackson under center.

Cornelius Ingram is probably the next Gator off the board.

Meanwhile, my Bucs didn’t just fall for Josh Freeman, but they traded up to get him. Raheem Morris coached at K-State so that’s why he likes Freeman, but that’s only going to make it messier when he doesn’t work out.

Gator Football Spring Practice Week 1 Wrapup

The Offense

Florida is experimenting with a fast-paced, uptempo offense. It is partially as a result of seeing Kevin Wilson’s Oklahoma offense in the national title game and partially as a result of seeing Kevin Wilson’s Northwestern offense in 2001.

I took a look at pace earlier this offseason, and I projected that the Gators would have scored about 55 a game last year if they played at Oklahoma’s pace. Urban Meyer may or may not have seen a similar figure from his stats guys, but he seems most interested in the way that an uptempo offense disrupts defenses.

The other big difference is that Tim Tebow will be taking some snaps under center. Tebow says it’s happening because it’s the way Scot Loeffler is influencing the offense, while Meyer says it’s happening to get Tebow more comfortable with it since he’ll have to do that in the NFL. It’s not that one is wrong and one is right, since the offense has always been a team effort under Meyer.

Many have pointed out that packages with the quarterback under center existed in Meyer’s offense in 2005 and 2006 when Chris Leak was running the show. That is true, and the I-formation is also coming back if they can find a fullback.

Behind Tebow, redshirt sophomore QB John Brantley is looking sharp.

Receivers

The question on everyone’s mind comes down to this: who will replace Percy Harvin? Meyer said around national signing day that he sees incoming freshman Andre Debose in that role. So far, that appears likely because no one has stepped up to take control of that role so far. Deonte Thompson, Chris Rainey, and Jeff Demps are the other candidates for that position.

Carl Moore was the invisible man for a lot of last season, which was odd for someone touted as a five-star guy from junior college. He’s been looking a lot better this year, now that

David Nelson and Aaron Hernandez have also looked good catching passes. Justin Williams has been practicing with the first team offense along with Thompson and Nelson. Riley Cooper is playing baseball and is not participating in spring football practice.

Personally, I’m thinking that the 2008 receiving corps is not going to be the best analogue for the 2009 corps in terms of fitting guys into roles. To me right now, 2006 seems like a better comparison given the personnel and likely ball distribution. Having Nelson as Dallas Baker, Thompson as Bubba Caldwell, Debose as Harvin, Moore as Jemaille Cornelius and so on feels a little more right. We’ll see.

Running Backs and Offensive Line

With Rainey rehabbing from surgery and Demps running track, Emmanuel Moody is the only scholarship running back at practice. Fortunately, he’s been playing very well so far though the defense has been stuffing him in goal line scenarios.

A probable cause for that is the fact that the offensive line has not been great. Partially that is because both Pouncey brothers are sidelined with injury right now, and the only other returning starter (Carl Johnson) is at a new position.

The younger guys who haven’t played much haven’t stepped up a whole lot. Things will get better when the Pounceys come back, but they alone won’t solve all the problems. It took half the season for last year’s line to gel, but hopefully this year’s crew will work themselves out a little sooner.

Defense

The defense has been dominating so far, but Meyer says that’s “usually” the case at this early stage of spring practice. It makes sense considering the offense is working through a lot of issues with new schemes and personnel while the defense is enjoying complete continuity.

The defense won the first scrimmage.

Defensive Line

Things are great at defensive end. They are so good and so deep that redshirt freshman Earl Okine has been moved to the inside.

With Torrey Davis kicked off the team and John Brown deciding to transfer, depth is again an issue at defensive tackle. Even the vaunted 2006 line needed Ray McDonald to move from the outside to the inside for depth.

As it turns out, things at tackle have been fine so far. Jaye Howard is bigger than ever and looking like a solid backup to starters Lawrence Marsh and Terron Sanders. Okine has been adjusting well so far. Omar Hunter, the guy Meyer called the Tim Tebow of the 2008 recruiting class, is finally in shape, healthy, and contributing.

Linebackers and Secondary

Brandon Spikes is happy to be back, and the Gators are happy to have him. He will be the unquestioned leader of what should be one of the top defenses in the country. This position is one of the best and deepest on the team, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Spikes, Stamper, and Jones are the first teamers right now, while Doe, Lorenzo Edwards, and Lerentree McCray are the second teamers.

The secondary is very crowded, especially at safety. Starters Ahmad Black and Major Wright are back, and both are playing well. Fifth year senior Dorian Munroe, injured all of 2008, wants his starting role back. Will Hill has been making plays. Dee Finley is finally on campus, and he’s looking athletic. It’s crowded back there.

Not much has been reported about the corners, other than that Janoris Jenkins has been taking some reps as a punt returner thanks to Brandon James being out. Freshman Adrian Bushell intercepted Tebow as well, and that’s about it.

I would expect that the position will be just fine with Joe Haden and Jenkins locking things down as the starters. The depth at secondary is something any other team in the country would be envious of.

Florida Gators 2009 Signing Day Wrapup

GatorZone has the official list of all 16 signees with their bios. The only player left who might join on is Tampa TE Orson Charles, who will decide sometime in the next couple weeks where he’s going. From what I’ve gathered though, we shouldn’t hold our breath over him coming.

Quality over Quantity

With just 16 players coming aboard, this makes Urban Meyer’s smallest recruiting class. It has one fewer player than the 17-member 2005 class.

Even so, it has a lot of quality according to those who think they know.

The collection of players average 3.94 stars apiece according to Rivals (the highest count on the site) and 3.81 stars apiece according to Scout (the fourth-highest there). ESPN rates half of the class in its top 150. That doesn’t even count S Dee Finley, who the network rates as the best player of the bunch, who apparently didn’t count since he spent a year at a JUCO getting eligible after signing last year.

With the top 23 defensive players returning, plenty on offense returning, plus a slew of young talents who either red shirted or played special teams last year, it doesn’t leave much space open. I read somewhere that Florida would have about 20 scholarships available for this class, so with a max of 17 coming in, that leaves spot either for walk-ons or next year’s class.

Meyer Likes It

That the head coach likes this bunch is quite apparent. He held a press conference at 1:00 to discuss his newest Gators, and GatorZone has a transcript.

The only players he singled out were LB Jelani Jenkins, a top-rated prospect and a 4.0 student, and WR Andre Debose. Jenkins exemplified Meyer’s ideal for a competitor since he never asked about who was on the depth chart. He describes Debose as a Percy Harvin-type who Meyer thinks one day can become the best player in the nation.

ESPN’s Chris Low has some comments Meyer made about the class and recruiting process in general. As he is wont to do, he grouses about the NCAA’s recruiting rules before gushing about Debose and Jenkins. He also talks about DE commit Gary Brown, recruiting in Miami, and negative recruiting other schools did against UF.

On that last point, it apparently was worse this year than it’s been in his time in Gainesville. He says other coaches “take a shot at your academics, at your coaching staff, win and loss record, offense, defense and that we don’t run the ball.” That last point is completely ridiculous considering Florida has run it more than pass it every year under his tenure.

He elaborated, “[t]hey are out there trying, and there are a bunch of guys working their tails off with a bull’s eye on the Orange and Blue. It was really bad this year.” Debose seemed to confirm that there was some negative recruiting going on in his comments about how other schools’ coaches told him not to go to Florida and being in Harvin’s shadow.

He also had good things to say about OL Jon Halapio and LB Jon Bostic.

Those Who Got Away

Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald gives a rundown of former UF commits who chose to go to school elsewhere in recent days. Late decommits are one reason why many college coaches are pushing for an early signing day.

I personally don’t get too upset over guys who change their minds. It’s a huge decision, they’re under enormous pressure, and they’re getting all kinds of advice from every direction.

If they come to decide that they need to change schools, then that’s their prerogative. I don’t buy that switching commitments shows bad character, since nothing is binding until the papers are signed and everyone knows that.

The fact that two Florida decommits ended up at Tennessee has gotten some Gators all riled up. New UT head coach Lane Kiffin has been getting a lot of headlines for hiring assistants away from other conference schools, and apparently he and his staff aggressively went after other schools’ recruits too.

Saurian Sagacity runs down all the reasons why Kiffin has been heating up the Florida-Tennessee rivalry and why Meyer might be gunning to run up the score come September as he did against Georgia last year.

It would probably gall them even more if they heard Kiffin’s press conference where within a minute he was boasting about turning two UF commits.

Etc.

GatorSports.com has a nice piece on new OT Xavier Nixon, who seems like a great guy and exactly the kind of high performer with high character that Meyer likes to go after. The front page also has some videos from the day.

Robbie Andreu grades the class and gives it a B+.

GatorCountry.com says Florida did well at every position except cornerback, where the Gators struck out entirely. Other sites say safety prospect Josh Evans could play corner, and with as stacked as UF is at safety (Black, Wright, Munroe, Hill, and Finley), I could see it happening if the coaches want it to.

Finally, if Meyer is going to single out Debose as potentially being the best player in the country, then I might as well put up his highlight video. Special thanks to Bruce and Fran for not putting painfully bad hip hop music behind it.

Four Gators Headed to the NFL Combine

ESPN SEC football blogger Chris Low has the list of all 54 SEC players invited to the NFL combine. Somewhat surprising to me was that only four Florida players were invited to come.

Granted the team was very young and automatic invitees Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes chose to stay in school, but that number seems low. The four guys were:

Percy Harvin

Cornelius Ingram

Louis Murphy

Jason Watkins

The name that jumps out to me as missing is Phil Trautwein. As I understood it, he could have left and been drafted after the 2007 season despite missing it with an ACL injury. I know he had about four false starts in the national title game, but I figured he’d at least be invited to the combine.

It is awesome to see that Cornelius Ingram is going though. Gator fans certainly didn’t forget about him this season, but it’s good to know the scouts didn’t either.

Not getting a combine invite doesn’t mean a guy will be passed over entirely on draft day, but it does just about end a player’s chances of being taken early. I just figure this is a sign that Trautwein will be a late round choice. If he is good enough to play in the league, he’ll make it one way or another.

Spikes is Back, Harvin is Gone

The decision as to whether to turn pro or not depends on a lot of things.

One consideration is which position you play. Some positions, like running back and defensive line, easily translate to the next level. Others, like quarterback and receiver, are notoriously difficult to play well in a rookie season.

Another consideration is the year’s draft class. If your position is stocked with good guys, the numbers dictate that someone is going to fall to the second round when he could be a first rounder in a normal year.

From there you can go forever on smaller considerations like the type of scheme you come from, whether you’re injury-prone, and things like that.

The second consideration appears to be why Brandon Spikes will again be in Gainesville next season. With higher profile guys like Rey Maualuga and James Laurinaitis coming out, this year’s draft is stocked at linebacker.

While Spikes made a lot of improvement this season, most notably in leadership and pass coverage, he reportedly would be the guy who gets bumped to the second round. For that reason, it makes sense for Spikes to come back.

Percy Harvin is leaving however. I don’t think it was considerations one or two that got him, but more likely a host of other ones. The primary concern would be his injury-prone nature. I’ve said it several times: it makes more sense to be paid millions to rehab than to do it for a scholarship.

He also is coming out at the right time. Similar players Ted Ginn and DeSean Jackson had good years, so players like him are enjoying success now. Plus, he can operate the wildcat that is so en vogue.

He will have stiff competition for draft position from Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin, but if he can be healthy by the combine, Harvin will do fine for himself. The fact that he can be both a credible running back and receiver means he can have a nice long career in the mold of a Brian Westbrook or a Marshall Faulk.

I am very excited about the 2009 Gator defense, now that it officially has every member of the two-deep coming back. It could end up the best in school history. It will definitely have a shot of getting there statistically thanks to the schedule rotating Miami, Hawai’i, and Ole Miss out for Troy, FAU, and Mississippi State.

I also wish nothing but the best to Percy Harvin in the NFL. I have no doubt that if he can keep in one piece, he will excel on the next level. Thanks for being an awesome Gator, Percy, and you might give me a reason to actually pay attention to some part of the pro game next fall.

Tebow is Returning

With these words, Tim Tebow announced his intention to return to campus next season. It wasn’t as dramatic as the 04s’ return announcement where they dropped and broke a fake crystal basketball trophy, but it will do.

The immediate reaction has been to already name Florida as next season’s sure preseason No. 1 pick. Given that it took months for the consensus to form around Georgia as 2008’s preseason No. 1, it’s a bit hasty. However when at least 10 starters on defense, most of the offense, and the Heisman-winning quarterback are all coming back from a national title winning team, it makes sense to go ahead and call it now.

Tebow dropped hints all along the way that he would come back, the first probably before he even thought about 2009. During his famous speech after the Ole Miss game, he said that his goal for the season was to go undefeated, something that had never been done before at Florida. That signaled to me that no matter how the year ended, he’d have that unmet objective in the back of his mind.

Then of course throughout December he was asked about staying or leaving. The whole time he did an admirable job of making it sound like he was going to give the NFL a fair shot, but you could hear in his voice and read between the lines that his heart is not with the pros yet.

Percy Harvin hasn’t decided his course of action yet, but he meets with Urban Meyer today to help make up his mind. It’s encouraging that he said he’s leaning towards coming back, but honestly I’d tell him to leave if he asked me for advice. He’s been hurt so often, why risk another bad injury when you’re not getting first round money for it?

Ryan Stamper says that on the plane back from Miami, Brandon Spikes told him he’s coming back. I wish I still had the links (sorry), but I’ve seen one place where Spikes said Tebow’s decision would influence him greatly, and another where Charlie Strong said his advice would be to stay. Strong’s rationale was that Spikes might grade out a second or third round pick by the NFL draft report, and that the coaches only tell players to go if they grade out as first rounders.

Only one other Gator asked for a draft evaluation, and that was Brandon James. He has no intention of leaving early, but he desires to play in the NFL and wanted to know what he needed to do to get there. Makes sense.

I always try to control my expectations for this team, but I can’t this time. There is no reason to think that Florida shouldn’t be the national title favorite (catastrophic injuries not withstanding) with so many people coming back from a title-winning squad. I felt the same way about the 2006-07 basketball team, and the same applies with these guys.

How long is it again until September?

National Champions

You don’t gotta win pretty, you just gotta win. National champions, twice in three years.

It’s like the 2008 team was magically transported to 2006 where they beat the Buckeyes like they did all season, and the 2006 team showed up tonight to win a tough, gritty, and close game.

Yes, Urban Meyer can win with his own players.

Yes, Percy Harvin is the best skill position player in the nation.

Yes, Tim Tebow was the best quarterback on the field tonight.

And yes, Florida is rightfully named national champions.

What I Learned From Watching an Oklahoma Game

Back in November I recorded the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game on my DVR both in hopes of capturing the career-defining win for Mike Leach (so much for that), and just in case Florida ended up playing either of them in a bowl. I figured it would be good to have a game in which both played another top team to get some good studying in.

As it turns out, Texas Tech’s threat to win the game was about as real as the cherry flavoring in Diet Mountain Dew Code Red. The entire team, and Graham Harrell especially, just plain had a bad game. As a result, it didn’t turn out to be that great of a game for study. I should have saved the Red River Shootout instead, but I forgot to record it that weekend. Such is life.

Despite that issue, I was still able to pull some nuggets of wisdom from the game after re-watching it yesterday evening after work.

The Fox telecast on Thursday might end up the worst sports broadcast ever.

The Fox cameras had trouble at times keeping up with the pace of the Texas-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl. With the up allegro tempo that the Sooners sometimes run their offense, the film crew could fall hopelessly behind. We might never see the Sooners’ formation for more than a second before the snap.

But seriously folks, the Sooners’ fast break is a variable speed machine.

The fast pace of the Sooners’ offense has enabled them to set a scoring record despite the new clock rules slightly reducing the number of plays per game over last season. They seldom snap the ball with less than 15 seconds to go on the play clock and often hike it with more than 20. By contrast, you almost never see Florida snap it with more than 15 seconds to go.

The fast paced OU machine is not a consistent thing though. The farther away from the opposing end zone they are, the generally longer they take in between plays. I guess the idea is to be more careful so as not to get any turnovers close to the opponents’ goal.

When they were within their own 35 or 40, they generally snapped it with 13-18 seconds to go. From about their own 40 to the Red Raiders’ 30, they hiked with about 19 to 25 seconds to go. From there in, the pace got up to a breakneck speed that’s faster than most teams run their hurry up, two minute offense.

So yes, they do go fast. Ricky Bobby fast, even. However, they do have more nuance to it than most give them credit for.

This Bradford guy looked awfully familiar…

It was bothering me for more than a quarter. You know what it’s like, when you see someone and you know they remind you of someone else but you can’t quite place it.

Eventually I got it. Sam Bradford reminded me a lot of Georgia’s Matthew Stafford. It wasn’t so much in his delivery, and he didn’t make as many bad decisions as Stafford generally does over the course of a game. However the way he stood in the pocket, handed off, and threw down field gave me flashbacks to watching the Bulldog signal caller play.

It is true that Florida’s defenders haven’t seen an offense as prolific as OU’s, but they have seen a pocket quarterback with an excellent arm. Bradford almost certainly won’t be gift wrapping any interceptions though, and that makes the task that much tougher.

Gresham will be a problem.

Jermaine Gresham is by far the best tight end Florida will have seen all season, and he’s the biggest pass-catching target too. The Gator secondary has seen a 6-6 receiver in FSU’s Greg Carr and it did just fine against him, but Gresham won’t be running jump ball routes all game as Carr does. Plus, the Sooner tight end outweighs Carr by 50 about pounds.

I can’t say enough about how well the Gator secondary has played. They surpassed all of my expectations. However no one is especially big, and bringing down Gresham in the open field one-on-one will be perhaps the toughest task they face.

Zone defense is choosing death against Oklahoma.

I like Florida’s defensive line, but it is not the 2006 unit. Oklahoma has a monstrous offensive line, and I have a feeling the Gators up front will have even more trouble getting pressure than they did against Alabama. Any pressure will probably come from the ends or blitzers, but it won’t come as often as it did in Glendale against Troy Smith. The result is that Bradford will have some time to go shopping for receivers.

Texas Tech played a lot of zone, and Bradford picked them apart. Given the protection he had, there was always time for someone to get open in a hole in the zone.

Fortunately, Florida doesn’t play much zone. They don’t play strict man coverage, something that allows guys like Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins some freedom, but they cannot stray too far. If Florida is to get many sacks, they are going to have to be coverage sacks.

Oklahoma will miss DeMarco Murray.

I know the guys behind Murray are great backs and they’ll be productive. Neither of them appeared to be able to bring as much to the table as Murray does however.

The more things a single player can do, the more dangerous he is. If you have to use more than one guy to replicate someone you’re missing, then you’re going to be under your peak potential. That’s just the way it works.

The Sooners will need to embrace the blitz.

In general, Texas Tech’s offensive line did a good job of protecting when OU only rushed four players. Far more often than not, no blitz meant that Harrell had time to set his feet and throw. The problem was that he just plain missed his receivers too often to mount a credible counterstrike to the Sooners’ offensive onslaught.

The trouble came whenever an extra defender or three went after the quarterback. The Tech blockers often became confused with the creative blitzing schemes and that is usually what got Harrell into hot water.

Florida’s offensive line has been a huge part of the post-Ole Miss turnaround, even to the point that Urban Meyer says its the main thing that makes the offense go. From what I saw in this one game, I’d say that the Gator O-line will be able to handle the Sooners’ front four well enough to allow Tebow’s Flying Circus to do almost anything they want to.

I have no doubt that Brent Venables has been cooking up some new wrinkles for bringing some extra heat. His crew is going to need it because Florida has a great O-line this season.

There are some possibilities for running against them.

It’s one thing to look at numbers all the time, and something else entirely to see a team play. It may have something to do with how pass-heavy the Red Raiders are, but the Oklahoma run defense didn’t appear to be that fearsome. They missed some open field tackles that I would have expected them to make.

The Sooners did a good job of stopping the screen pass game, which Tech often uses in place of a traditional run game. On the other hand, the Red Raiders enjoyed some success in traditional rushing with RBs Shannon Woods and Barron Batch going for 4.9 and 5.9 yards per carry respectively.

Woods and Batch are nice backs, but they do not have the speed or explosiveness of Percy Harvin, Chris Rainey, or Jeff Demps. Emmanuel Moody is probably an upgrade too. Florida will have a lot a success running the ball if Oklahoma hasn’t shored up its rush defense in the time since.

The best defense is a good offense.

You’ve heard this phrase a million times, but in this game it was true. Texas Tech didn’t score until the second quarter, but it moved the ball well enough to have it for a little over half of the first quarter. With the Sooners’ offense on the sideline more often than not, it was only able to manage a single touchdown.

When the second quarter came around, the Red Raiders ended up having the ball for only about a third of it. Thanks to some turnovers and a downturn for the offense, Oklahoma exploded for 35 points in that second period alone. It was the knockout blow.

This may seem like a cliche (because it is) and fairly obvious (because it is), but it is relevant because Florida’s offense can chew up clock with the best of them. UF is understandably known for long runs and big plays, but the power running and short passing game can grind out yards too.

Don’t be surprised to see the Gators come out and try to run between the tackles early and not just because the mini Woody Hayes in the back of Urban Meyer’s mind tells him he must at the beginning of nearly every game. It will also be to keep the offensive Sooner Schooner parked in neutral.

Conclusion

Watching for details in a 65-21 blowout reveals all kinds of things you would normally miss as you dismiss the game as not worth watching anymore. I have an even greater appreciation for how effortless Oklahoma can make offensive football look, and it can do it to a degree not even this year’s Florida team can match.

I cannot wait for this game to come to see how everything turns out.

No Need to Worry About Percy

Percy Harvin is at 90% right now, but he hasn’t done any contact drills since his injury back in November.

That sentence might be worrisome for some people. It certainly is for at least CBS’ Dennis Dodd. When you’re talking about a team’s best receiver and a prominent rushing threat, 90% and no contact drills in almost a month and a half is usually not good news.

This is Percy Harvin we’re talking about though. He’s been less than 100% more often than not when he plays, and he’s yet to play a full season. He has missed time in the spring, summer, fall and winter at times throughout his career. If there’s a day on the calendar, chances are Harvin has felt pain on it during the past three years.

That fact is why I am not concerned about 90% and no contact drills in over a month. It’s Harvin’ modus operandi, and he still has been one of college football’s most electrifying players during his stay in Gainesville. His performance makes me think he’s a bit like Peter Gibbons in Office Space: he misses practice, but he doesn’t really miss practice.

Quite a few pixels and a few gallons of ink have given their existences to describe the freshman speedsters Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps in Florida’s backfield, and for good reason. They are lightning quick and elusive, able to take it to the house from just about anywhere on the field.

Neither is Percy Harvin though, and No. 1 reminds you almost every time he touches the ball. Rainey and Demps can evade tackles, but Harvin can break them too. He has the best first step in the game, meaning he gets to his top speed (which is quite possibly higher than Rainey’s and Demps’) faster than the other two. Neither the Gators nor anyone else in the nation has another player exactly like him.

The second of these two runs is what happens when Harvin decides to issue a friendly reminder as to why he’s the best of the bunch.

Missouri has someone similar in Jeremy Maclin, though Maclin doesn’t carry the ball as often as Harvin does. Some Oklahoma players have tried to downplay Harvin’s threat as a player by saying they’ll be ready thanks to having seen Maclin.

I have seen him play too and believe me, Jeremy Maclin is a certified playmaker. He has a chance to go in the first round of the NFL draft, and if you ask me he’s as good or better than recent, similar early rounders Ted Ginn, Jr. and DeSean Jackson.

Maclin is not Harvin though. He doesn’t have Harvin’s first step, and he doesn’t have Harvin’s power. I’ll put it this way: both Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden made comments this season saying they would have loved to see what Harvin could do just as a running back in a conventional I-formation offense. I don’t think you’ll find anyone out there who would say the same thing about Maclin.

So no, I am not concerned about Harvin’s lack of playing time. It’s nothing new to him, so he knows how to deal with it by now. If he’s playing, and he will be, then he’ll be a difference maker. It’s what he does.

As a side note, have a look at all of the injuries UF has had to overcome this season. The Gators have collectively missed 103 games due to health issues by the Gainesville Sun’s Pat Dooley’s count, and that’s not counting Jim Barrie (out for season: ACL) who likely would never had played anyway.

It’s pretty remarkable that they are where they are with all of those guys missing for so long.