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.

Orange and Blue Game Wrapup

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to the Orange and Blue Game. That’s one of the few sucky things about living in Charlotte (besides all the ACC fans): I can’t just go to Gainesville whenever I want.

Anyway, my parents and brother did make the game. Rather than give a rundown of all the media coverage of the game, I’ll instead tell you what they told me.

My brother was very disappointed that Tim Tebow didn’t do any downfield throwing. He said Timmy mostly was tossing swing passes, though he did run around a bit. That is, of course, until he got tagged by a defender. Ultimately though, this day wasn’t really about him.

It was John Brantley’s day. Urban Meyer has raved about Brantley’s performance in recent weeks, and for the most part he came through. My parents said his favorite target was Frankie Hammond, who had no trouble getting behind the reserve DBs according to my brother.

They also said that Tebow was conversing with Meyer the whole time while Brantley was playing, almost as though he was an assistant coach. That wouldn’t surprise me at all, and there’s precendent for it. Meyer made Chris Leak a big part of game planning in 2006, even letting Leak script the first 10 or 15 plays of the national title game himself.

My brother said one thing that stood out to him that few of the media reports mentioned was that there were some issues with shotgun snaps. Redshirt freshman Sam Robey is said to have won the starting center role not so much because he outplayed Maurkice Pouncey (because he didn’t), but because he played well enough to move Maurkice back to guard where the coaches want him. Robey apparently had issues with snapping it right into Tebow’s hands, but theoretically an off season’s worth of practice ought to straighten that out by the fall.

Walk on RB Christopher Scott ran hard and was productive, they said. Whether he’ll play much in the fall remains to be seen, but think about this for a second. The Gators now have a walk on who is behind three or four (depending on incoming freshman Mike Gillislee) other guys who is able to be a productive back against the defense. Compare that to the situation in 2005-06 (run it Wynnside!) and be grateful. Oh, and Chris Rainey still has the best moves on the team.

With all of the defensive starters injured or taking the day off, the offense was able to move nicely. Even so, there were still starter-caliber guys like Dorian Munroe available and playing. My guess is the backups are probably still a top-50 defense in the country, so it does at least give an indication that the offense progressed through the spring.

My parents are going to Meyer’s upcoming speaking engagement in Orlando, so if he says anything interesting I’ll pass it along.

Clarifying What a “Spread Offense” Entails

While reading the excellent interview Bruins Nation had with Rick Neuheisel, I came upon the final question of part one. It basically was, “Hey Rick, what do you think of the spread offense?”

Neuheisel ends up giving a fairly long and winding explanation of why he chooses a pro style offense rather than a spread scheme. I’m going to chop it up into mincemeat for a second to illustrate a point:

“The key to the spread offense, and the reason why its successful, is that it adds an extra player. It diminishes the need for great offensive linemen, because you’ve got a little longer because you are always in the gun…

“The problem at UCLA is that you have to beat the Trojans. And it’s also the benefit at UCLA, because when you beat them, you’re going to be among the nation’s elite. So you have to be a physical offense...

“I was the benefactor of a type of spread offense, even though it was an option offense, it’s the same math in terms of the quarterback’s [being] a runner…

“There were some components of the spread offense in what we did last year. We got into the old wildcat stuff…”

The picture of the spread offense that Neuheisel paints is one that involves a running quarterback, the shotgun as the exclusive setup, an offense that isn’t physical, and the wildcat formation.

Basically what he described is the Rich Rodriguez/Urban Meyer style offense (except for the part about the spread not being physical). However, that’s not necessarily what a spread offense is.

I know Neuheisel is a bright guy, and I wasn’t there when the interview was conducted. Maybe something about the session led him to think of the spread in those terms. However, that’s an awfully narrow definition of a very broad concept.

The term “spread” dates back at least to 1952, and I’m sure it’s been around longer than that. The spread isn’t an offense; it’s a formation and a philosophy.

For the record, this is a spread formation:

This is not:

That’s all there is to it. There is no other distinction between spread and non-spread. A spread formation uses most of the horizontal space on the field and a non-spread formation does not. Nearly every offense uses some spread formations, and many spread-based offenses use some non-spread formations.

The idea behind a spread-based offense is to make the defense cover the entire field. Contrary to what Neuheisel may have made it sound like, a spread formation is an excellent choice for physical running up the middle. That’s because with the defense spread out, there are fewer guys in the middle of the field to try to stop the ball carrier.

That fact is also why many spread teams prefer to have a mobile quarterback. Fewer guys near the line of scrimmage makes for fewer people hanging around to stop a runner behind center. Having a running triggerman is not a requirement though.

For instance, the first neo-spread team in the SEC was Hal Mumme’s Kentucky, and we never saw Tim Couch take off and run much. That branch of spread offense is continued today by Mumme’s former assistant Mike Leach at Texas Tech. You also have teams like Ohio State’s 2006 team which ran a fair bit of spread with Troy Smith rarely participating in designed runs.

The shotgun isn’t even a requirement as Neuheisel made it sound like. Sam Bradford operated from under center a fair bit in Oklahoma’s spread last season. In addition, Paul Johnson’s offense keeps the quarterback under center almost exclusively even though his base flexbone set is is a spread formation.

Finally, the wildcat is a formation and offensive package but it doesn’t have to be run from a spread set or spread offense. Not all spread teams use it either.

No two teams run the exact same spread offense, as every coach has his own take on it. It also must be tailored to personnel. If you want details, there’s a wealth of information on many spread topics at the blog Smart Football (start here, here, and here).

If I wasn’t clear before, let me be so now: I don’t think Rick Neuheisel is unaware of all this. He knows far more about offensive football than I do and he could probably explain it a lot better than I can.

It just disappointed me about the way he used “spread” to mean a lot fo specific things when it doesn’t necessarily. It’s like saying that having a quarterback under center in the I-formation means you’re in a pro style offense, except that the heyday of the Nebraska option was largely done from the I.

In short, just remember that there is no one “spread offense.” There are as many spread offenses as there are teams that run them, and every one has something that makes it unique.

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.

The Florida-Era Steve Spurrier is Officially Gone

The Florida-era Steve Spurrier is completely gone.

I don’t say that lightly, especially because of how big a part of my childhood he was. My first time at the Swamp was the ’89 Florida-Kentucky game when I was four. I’ve been to at least one game there every year since.

On fall Sundays while I was growing up, my family had a custom of eating lunch while watching the Steve Spurrier Show with lunch after church. It was jarring to go from that to Ron Zook’s show, and it never did quite feel right.

I inherited a lot of my attitudes about football from that Steve Spurrier: it’s okay to throw for the endzone late in a blowout if it’s the backup doing it, there’s a certain elegance about getting receivers wide open over and over, he who’s on top gets to talk, etc.

When I saw that he is going to implement a Wildcat formation, I realized that the Spurrier I once knew is gone. I should have known this moment was coming given the state of the South Carolina offense the past couple years, but I figured it was what would happen if he got stuck with only quarterbacks at Noah Brindise-level and below.

I simply cannot fathom the Florida-era Spurrier ever deciding to run many plays without a quarterback on the field. He was a quarterback, loved to teach quarterbacks, and acted like a quarterback from the sideline as he still could read defenses better than most collegiate signal callers. That Spurrier would never have considered the Wildcat because he could get just as many yards on a fade route.

What started in Washington has completed in South Carolina. I am with those who think he thought he could walk into Columbia and win almost as quickly as he did at Florida. It worked before, why can’t it work now?

For one thing, the situations are completely different. Bear Bryant famously called Florida a sleeping giant of a program. Charley Pell and Galen Hall built it up to the point where it could take off, and they brought on the same probation that other big time programs had in the ‘80s while doing it. The cupboards were stocked, and Spurrier was the right guy in the right place at the right time for UF.

The talent level at South Carolina in 2005 was not comparable to that of Florida in 1990. It was comparable to that of Florida in 2005 though, and the Gamecocks’ win that year (in a game that Spurrier outcoached Urban Meyer, no less) showed it.

Three seasons later, the gap between Spurrier’s old program and his current one seems like it could scarcely be wider. Florida has added two more SEC and national titles, and it handed him his worst defeat ever last season to the tune of 56-6. Whatever he’s doing has caused him to fall behind the conference leaders, the opposite direction he wants to go.

Now to help catch up, Spurrier, a guy with six SEC titles, is essentially taking a page out of the playbook of Houston Nutt, a guy with no SEC titles. I can tell you that I would never have expected to see that happen when he took the job four years ago.

I have no doubt that his competitive fire is still burning; I doubt anything will ever extinguish that. The witticisms will still come, as they have periodically through his time in Columbia.

The trend-setting Spurrier though is gone, replaced by a more pragmatic and, yes, trend-following Spurrier. It’s time for all of us to stop expecting to see anything different.

Looks Like Phillips Will Be Back

In a case of the rich getting richer, it looks like Florida’s place kicker Jonathan Phillips will be back for another year.

The SEC granted him a medical hardship for missing nearly all of the 2007 season, clearing the way for his return for a sixth season. He wasn’t even going to return for last year if it wasn’t for Urban Meyer convincing him to postpone law school. It looks like the head coach is getting two years for his efforts.

Phillips was 12-of-13 on field goals last season, though his longest was just 40 yards. He made all of his 79 extra point attempts except the fateful one that was blocked against Ole Miss (and the Swiss cheese line was at fault for that one).

I would expect to see him work on his range to become a threat from beyond 40 yards. His backup is true sophomore Caleb Sturgis, a guy with a big leg who at least last season didn’t have adequate accuracy yet.

How to Setup a Perfect Option Play

As unbelievable as it would have sounded in 1996, Florida has turned into one of the best option football teams in the country. The Gators use it about as effectively as anyone else, and it is a major part of the offense.

Since Florida doesn’t use the option as its primary offensive play like Nebraska used to or Navy currently does, it can be even more effective than normal if the Gators set it up properly. Of course, having devastating backfield speed helps it succeed as well.

Here I’ll show you how Florida set up an option play against LSU this past season to score a back breaking touchdown.

This is the play prior to the option. TE Aaron Hernandez is lined up on the left side of the line, but the formation’s prominent feature is the bunch of receivers on the right. RB Chris Rainey is in the backfield to QB Tim Tebow’s left.

What ends up happening is a rather pedestrian hand off to Rainey who gets a rather pedestrian three yards. The receivers did a pretty good job of blocking for him, but the middle linebacker followed Rainey the whole way and made the stop.

The next play is from the right hash in practically the same formation.

This time the running back is Jeff Demps, and he lines up on Tebow’s right. Otherwise, the formation is identical. It’s an unlikely proposition though that Florida would run the same play twice in a row, especially since the right side is now the short side of the field. Urban Meyer’s philosophy is to get players into open space, after all.

Anyway, LSU lines up in exactly the same defense and prepares to defend the formation exactly the same way. The Tigers are in a basic 4-3 defense with the safeties in cover 2. Each safety will move forward to provide support on his side.

Hernandez will peel off of the line immediately to block the outside linebacker. LT Phil Trautwein will go upfield to take on the middle linebacker. The two guards will go for the two defensive tackles, but C Mike Pouncey pulls away and shoots between the defensive end and left DT. His target is actually the left safety.

As is often done on option plays, the defensive end will not be blocked. He must decide to play the quarterback or running back, and if all goes according to plan for the offense, whoever he doesn’t go for will spring for a big gain.

Here we can see Hernandez engaging the linebacker on the left, and he will drive him towards the sideline. Trautwein has already taken out the middle linebacker. Mike Pouncey can be seen running through the line to go take on the safety.

Right guard Maurkice Pouncey tried to cut block his defensive tackle by diving at his feet. After all, since the play is to the left, he doesn’t have to get much of a block. However, the tackle sidesteps the cut block and can be seen pursuing Tebow.

At this point, LSU would seem to have defeated the play because the tackle can go for Tebow and the end can go for Demps. The only problem with that is that the end doesn’t know it, and he stays locked on the quarterback.

Tebow pitches to Demps, and the running back uses his speed to go right by the defensive end. There’s plenty of open space ahead for him to run in.

Now out in the open field, Demps is running towards the sideline. He had to swing wide of the DE, and that is also the direction the blockers are going in.

Demps is not content simply to head out of bounds for a big gain though. He knows he has excellent speed to get even more. So, he cuts back once he has cleared the DE and is behind the blocks. Hernandez has done a great job of keeping his man contained and Mike Pouncey is about to push the safety over.

In the upper right you can see a couple other LSU defenders coming over to try to help, but it is far too late at this point for them to be of assistance. Demps is too fast for that.

The safety that Mike Pouncey blocked is in the bottom middle, getting back up to his feet after having been knocked over. All of the defensive linemen and linebackers who had been in pursuit can be seen in the bottom right as they slow down. They know they can’t catch up.

That leaves one man to beat: the other safety. Once he recognized that the play was not to his side, he made a beeline to the other and as you can see, he took an excellent angle.

Unfortunately for him, Demps turns on his afterburners at about the 15 yard line. The diminutive ball carrier also changes his angle to go more towards the corner to escape the oncoming defender. The safety finally catches up at the one yard line, just in time to give Demps a helpful shove in the back as he crosses the goal line.

Here’s the play in real time from both the normal camera angle and the blimp shot. Gary Danielson does a quick rundown of what I laid out here in depth. I like how instead of discussing angles at the end, he opts instead just to say “ZOOM!” If I wasn’t a Gator fan, I’d probably hate him by now.

This touchdown put Florida up 34-14 with a minute to go in the third quarter, effectively icing the game away for good.

Wrap Up

Two main factors helped make this play a success. One is the outstanding speed of Jeff Demps. A slower back would likely have been tackled by the defensive end at the cutback stage, as that window was very small. Plus, someone with less speed would definitely have been tackled short of the goal line by the second safety.

The second factor was the setup for the option with the previous play. That one made it appear that the bunched receivers were there to serve only as blockers, and by running behind them, it drew the defense’s attention like a magician’s beautiful assistant.

While they were blockers the first time, the second time they were only there to keep four extra defenders on that side. It opened up the rest of the field, and by having the quarterback be a threat to run, Florida created a numerical advantage on the left.

Most modern offensive football theory one way or another revolves around creating a numerical advantage. The option is one way to do that, and if you set it up correctly, it can be devastating.

Tebow and the NFL

If you had any doubts about how big a profile Tim Tebow has earned within football circles, have a look at this video from the sidelines of this year’s Super Bowl:

On top of that, at this point just about anyone connected from the NFL (who isn’t directly associated with a team) is getting asked about Tebow’s chances on the next level. The Orlando Sentinel had an opportunity to interview Jon Gruden now that he’s got some time on his hands, and the topic of college football and its most prominent player came up.

One thing Gruden said was that he’s going to take some time to learn the spread offense, and in particular Chip Kelly’s version of it that Oregon runs. When asked if the spread could become a base offense in the NFL, he said “no question.” He was also asked about Tebow’s chances on the next level. Here’s what Gruden replied with:

“…Tim Tebow is so interesting to me. He’s like Brandon Jacobs playing quarterback. He’s 250 pounds. He’s the strongest human being who’s ever played the position. Ever. He will kick the living [expletive] out of a defensive lineman. He’ll fight anybody. He is rare. Tebow is the kind of guy who could revolutionize the game. He’s the ‘wildcat’ who can throw. Most of the teams that have the wildcat back there, it’s Ronnie Brown, it’s Jerious Norwood, it’s whoever you want to say it is. This guy here is 250 pounds of concrete cyanide, man. And he can throw. He throws well enough at any level to play quarterback.

“He can play quarterback in the NFL. When he was a high school senior, they played Armwood in the state championship game. I have tape. He has an 80-yard touchdown run that put them in the lead. When it flipped around, and Armwood had the ball, what position do you think Tebow was playing? He was playing nose guard — and he disrupted about 10 plays. This guy is totally different. He’s got Rich Gannon, Drew Brees, that kind of makeup as a team guy. What he said after the Ole Miss game, I said, ‘That’s my favorite football player I’ve ever seen in my whole life.’ I said, ‘I want Florida to win every game that kid plays from now on.'”

So as you can see, Tebow has a pretty big fan in Gruden.

Florida’s new quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler was also asked about Tebow’s chances on the next level. In his years at Michigan, Loeffler worked with pro-style Wolverine QBs from Tom Brady up through Chad Henne. He spent one year in the NFL with the Lions before taking the UF job. Here are his thoughts on Tim Tebow, NFL quarterback:

“You’re damn right he’ll be a good NFL quarterback. He’s got It. There aren’t too many people across the country who have It. You’re really only looking at five or six great NFL players. There is no question in my mind he will be an NFL player.

“There are several different styles out there, some base fundamentals you have to do. Does he have some things he has to work on? Certainly. Of course. It’s very similar from a guy coming from high school to college. There’s a transition you have to make.

“But can that kid play in the NFL? Absolutely.”

It is pretty well known that Tebow has some things to work on before going to the next level. I have a post already written up that I’m saving for later illustrating how long his delivery is compared to Sam Bradford’s compact windup. Bradford, as you know, is expected to be a top-five draft pick in part thanks to his mechanics.

It is also pretty well known that Urban Meyer thinks this Tebow kid is great just the way he is. When asked about the words of wisdom that Meyer imparted to his new quarterbacks coach, Loeffler says all he got was “don’t screw him up.”

Lane Kiffin: Kickin’ Ant Piles and Takin’ Names

One of the endemic problems in Tennessee’s football program over the past few years was a lack of excitement and interest. Even when the Vols surprisingly made the SEC Championship Game in 2007, most people yawned and assumed they’d lose to heavy favorite LSU. The star of Tennessee, as well as that of its coach Phillip Fulmer, had been eclipsed by those of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and LSU within the conference.

When Lane Kiffin took over in Knoxville, he probably knew that. He knows that Tennessee fans are a very passionate bunch, but the program had stagnated into boredom.

That is why I don’t believe for a second that Lane Kiffin did not know that there is no NCAA rule barring coaches from calling players who are on official visits to other schools’ campuses. He has been around the recruiting block enough enough times to know what the rules are, and besides, he passed the NCAA recruiting exam. You know, the one that Steve Spurrier hinted Kiffin might not have taken.

In addition a Tennessee spokeswoman said that the school did not plan on turning in Urban Meyer for calling Nu’Keese Richardson while the receiver was in Knoxville. That notice came a couple hours before Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley issued his statement confirming that it was not, in fact a violation. My guess is that Kiffin invented the “violation” for the purposes of firing up the Tennessee fan base. After all, he said so himself in his public apology.

So no, I don’t believe Kiffin was ignorant of the NCAA rules, as some have him accused him of being. I can buy though that he was not aware of the SEC ethics rule against publicly criticizing other conference coaches. The guy has only been in the league for just over two months, you know. If he knew a reprimand from Mike Slive was coming (and it did), he probably would have held off.

I also might buy that he didn’t know how much of a media firestorm it would create. The SEC is covered like no other league and until you’re in it, it’s probably hard to understand just how close the scrutiny really is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he bad mouthed other Pac-10 schools while at USC booster functions and it wasn’t reported widely, because the media attention out there is not like what it is down here.

Florida wasn’t the only target of Kiffin and his staff though. Lance Thompson, a former Alabama assistant who joined Kiffin’s staff just a few weeks before signing day, jabbed his former employer a bit today as well. Kiffin said that Nick Saban should thank Thompson for eight of the Tide’s 2009 recruits. Thompson also referenced Alabama’s loss to Utah in the Sugar Bowl in a mocking manner.

LSU fans also got ticked off at Kiffin today over former Tiger recruit Janzen Jackson committing to Tennessee. He said he waited until today to announce for his family to be together for it, but also that he had “known for weeks” that he wanted to be a Vol. Jackson reaffirmed his commitment to LSU on Tuesday, but he obviously was lying about it. That has caused some LSU folks to accuse Kiffin of personally orchestrating the episode.

On top of everything today, Kiffin yesterday needed only 40 seconds in his signing day press conference yesterday to boast about turning two former Florida commits to his team. He even tweaked Georgia a bit by implying that Bulldog signee Marlon Brown would have gone to Knoxville if not for his grandmother’s objections.

The end result of it all has been to unite Bama, Florida, and LSU fans against him. This EDSBS commend thread lays that out fairly well, and it even has Georgia fans popping in to warn about what happens when you make Urban Meyer mad (hint: for them the answer was 49-10 plus two timeouts).

It’s not like Tennessee did any better than that the last time the Vols visited Florida Field anyway.

The national reaction has either been the way of those UGA partisans—warning that a hellacious beat down in the Swamp is coming—or to cheer him on for trying to re-energize the Tennessee program. What everyone seems to agree on though is that he’s displaying an inordinate amount of arrogance for someone who has yet to win a game in the SEC and went 5-15 at his previous head coaching gig.

Even the SEC’s prince of arrogance himself, Steve Spurrier, largely held his tongue until he started winning. His only public jab in his inaugural 1990 season that I could find was his famous line about 20 books being destroyed in an Auburn dorm fire (“The real tragedy was that 15 hadn’t been colored yet.”). Florida beat Auburn 48-7 that year and finished first in the conference, though the Gators didn’t officially win it thanks to Galen Hall-era probation.

Considering what the Tennessee roster has right now, it would be a tough task for the Vols to beat anyone 48-7, much less an eight-game winner like that ’90 Auburn team was.

Regardless of what happens from here on out, Kiffin has achieved what I believe to be one of his first goals when arriving in Knoxville, that of raising the profile of his new program. Mission accomplished, Lane, the nation’s eyes are squarely on Tennessee now. Here comes the hard part: capitalizing on it and restoring UT to being a national title contender in the most competitive era the conference has ever known.

Maybe he can do it, maybe he can’t. The one thing we know for sure is that the ride won’t be boring.

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.