Monday, August 16, 2010

LA ESQUINA (RE-LOADED)


Welcome back after a long off-season folks. We all have to get ready for Gator Football A.T. (After Tebow) and there’s no better way to move forward then to start thinking about the upcoming season and new rising stars of the program. I hope everyone has had a chance to decompress, recharge and is looking forward to the 2010 campaign as much as I am. We are going to cover a few key topics in this issue, mainly (1) John Brantley, (2) Position Battles, (3) the Freshman, (4) the Now or Never players and (4) Expectations for 2010. Ain’t nuttin to it but to do it…here we go:

BRANTLEY

Everybody knows that Brantley comes from a long line of Gator sports royalty. His dad was a Quarterback at UF and his uncle was a linebacker for the Gators and went on to have a very successful career in the NFL for the Bucs. He’s had 3 years to learn the system, get physically and mentally stronger and most importantly, learn from Tim Tebow. Early reports from practice are that he is starting to come out of his shell a little bit and is really beginning to own his new leadership role. This is his team and he is starting to vocalize and project that more and more. We know he has a gun and is very accurate. We know he understands Urban’s spread offense. We know his teammates believe in him. The flipside to that is that he is following a legend (never good) and is completely unproven when it counts. On 3rd and 8 in the 4th quarter with 5 minutes left when we are down against Alabama and Dan’ta Hightower is coming in free from the A gap on a monster blitz…is JB going to stand tall and deliver or buckle? I don’t know.

I do know this, he has a lot of weapons around him, he needs to rely on them early in the season and not try to make every play, he is a better athlete than people give him credit for (apparently he has a little more straight line speed than Tebow, although obviously nowhere near the caliber of overall runner) and Urban Meyer deeply trusts him. Lets hope for the best with JB but the truth is only time will tell. I will say this though, having the luxury of not playing the former high school Gatorade national player of the year for 3 years is a testament to the type of program Urban has built. It shows the tremendous depth we have been able to stockpile. By all accounts that kid could have started at about 90% of the teams in Division I-A from day one, yet Brantley was willing to patiently wait and endure all of the hardships and demands of the program for 3 years in order to play quarterback for the University of Florida. Truly refreshing in the “me” first, play me or I’ll transfer era of college football. Now go out there and start throwing mother f*cking darts JB!

On a quick side note, you know the sorority house chicken heads are circling him like piranhas. Happy hunting ladies.

POSITION BATTLES

The most intense battles are by all accounts taking place at linebacker. You have A.J. Jones and Brandon Hicks coming back, who should (and I say that cautiously) have their two outside LB spots locked up and then you have the mother of all battles at middle linebacker. Who is going to replace Brandon “Poke You In The Eye” Spikes? (Who by all accounts is having a really good training camp with the Pats and may even start for them this year). Behind door# 1 we have Jon Bostic from Wellington (shout out to my peeps in Palm Beach). He is built like a true middle linebacker, weighing in the 240 range and very fast. This guy just looks like a middle linebacker. After last year everyone assumed it was but a formality that he would start this year.

But in the words of the immortal dunce Lee Corso…not so fast my friends: Behind door# 2, coming straight at you is Jelani “Flash” Jenkins. The 5 star top 5 overall recruit from Maryland who redshirted last year. He came in kind of light for a LB, weighing around 205…but folks, after going through our vaunted strength and conditioning program with the hard ass of hard asses Mick Marotti, he is up in the mid 220s now and has been able to preserve what new Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin called “just absolute flat out speed.” The way the coaches talk about this guy it’s as if he’s Jeff Demps playing linebacker. I don’t think you necessarily need to be a big orangutan to be a successful MLB, look at Patrick Willis for the 49ers…he is the best in the business right now and gets it done with speed and instincts more so than size. If you read between the lines, it sounds like Flash will be the starter in the middle on opening day. Although, it’s going to be hard to keep Bostic off the field. A.J. Jones and Brandon Hicks better watch out! And don’t forget Dee Finley. He was moved from safety to LB this year and is really starting to pick up his play after adding much needed weight. We have some nice freshman here as well, Michael Taylor who coach Meyer compared to a Ryan Stamper type and Darren Kitchens…a really gifted athlete from Homestead who, when it’s all said and done, might be the surprise under cover recruit in last year’s class.

Then we come to the field corner position. Janoris “I am from the Muck” Jenkins has the boundary corner position locked-down. He is a preseason 1st team SEC corner and is on a short watch list for the Jim Thorpe award (best defensive back in the country). Lets face it, he is a baaad dude. The top contenders for the field corner position are (in no particular order) Jeremy Brown, Moses Jenkins, Josh Shaw and Jaylen Watkins. If you recall, Adrian Bushell, a very promising player who was in line to start got kicked off the team this year for bad grades. It’s sad when these kids don’t get it…he will most likely just fade away into oblivion with nobody hearing from him ever again. If you have a chance to play for Urban and “the Program” you need to claw, kick and fight your way onto the field…it’s a springboard to fame and fortune people…how hard is it to get a B in that Wildlife Issues class? Tighten up. Anyways, Jeremy Brown who came in with Janoris and was actually ahead of him on the depth chart when they were freshman, looks like the early leader to start on the other side. He’s been plagued with chronic back injuries for the past 2 years though and has yet to get on the field. Hopefully he can stay healthy and reach his potential. Moses Jenkins is a senior who hasn’t done much to date other than on special teams. He is tall and lanky and apparently made some big strides recently. Then you have Josh Shaw and Jaylen Watkins who are both true freshman. Shaw was a borderline 5 star from California who was a big get for us this year. Very physically imposing for a corner, looks more like a safety. But Watkins, the slightly lower rated Florida talent (who is much thinner and really needs to get stronger) apparently is more of a natural right now and generally looks to be making more plays out there. At corner, instincts, anticipation and fluid hips are very important and Jaylen Watkins seems like the scrappy little engine that could right now. Don’t count out Cody Riggs, the St. Thomas Aquinas star, but this true freshman has a lot of ground to make up as he didn’t enlist for Spring ball (unlike Shaw and Watkins). Like I said, Jeremy Brown is the early leader but there’s a long evaluation period between now and the first game of the season.

We knew there was going to be a dog fight between James Wilson (Tebow’s former teammate and 5 star lineman from Nease) and Mo Hurt (perfect name) for the right guard spot but what we didn’t know is that Xavier Nixon’s job might be on the line. Matt Patchan is back. Apparently he made a miraculous recovery from that awful knee tare he had last year (where his ACL, MCL and every other CL there is seemed to implode) and is looking real big (at around 300 pounds) and athletic. He had another minor injury setback (fracture in his wrist) but it looks like they are just going to put a cast on him and tell him to keep rocking. This guy can’t catch a break. If you recall he was shot in the shoulder at a party as a freshman, busted his sh*t after falling off a scooter and then had the knee tare prior to this latest injury. Patchan is a really interesting character by all accounts, he is a bit of a nutritionist and monitors every calorie that goes into his body…and also has that crazy white-boy mean streak you need to survive at this level, a la Lattimer from the Program. At the end of the day, I don’t think anybody is really taking Xavier Nixon’s spot, that guy is a future 1st round NFL pick. But it’s amazing that Patchan is even in the conversation after that injury he had.

Who is going to step up at receiver? It’s pretty safe to say that Deonte Thompson will start, however, it gets real murky after that. Either Rainey or Debose in the slot with Carl Moore and Omarius playing as well. Maybe Frankie “DUI” Hammond or Stephen Alli or Dunkley on the outside (although I doubt Dunkley does anything this year). One of those last 3 guys has to emerge. If you put a gun to my head I say the three starters right now are Deonte, Rainey and Carl Moore with Omarious heavily involved in the rotation. I need to go on a tangent for a second about Omarious (my personal favorite). Check out this picture, homeboy has been putting in some work. He is weighing 220 and apparently still runs a sub 4.4 forty. He is so tough to bring down after the catch I can definitely see him running that inside shovel pass play that Hernandez used to run all last year. Big O has indeed been getting some work at tight end as well in the pre-season. I love the way that guy just sheds tacklers (think Anquan Boldin). I just hope his lingering leg swelling issues (yes, leg swelling) don’t come back.

Before I forget, I do predict that Andre Debose will emerge at some point in the season…this guy was supposed to be the closest thing to Percy Harvin 2.0 (sans migraines hopefully) before his hamstring injury that put him out for the season last year. Let’s hope he still has the juice and jiggle. He just looks so thin though…a few trips to Shoney’s bbq can’t hurt…it’s right on Archer Andre, get you some ribs and sweet tea!

The Freshman

This is as highly rated and celebrated a freshman class as there’s ever been at the University of Florida. So many 5 star recruits…so much hype…such high hopes…it’s like our own little version of the Fab Five. Early reports are that Matt Elam is straight up balling at safety and will be the nickel back (i.e. the first db off the bench in passing situations) since Ahmad Black and Will Hill have the safety spots locked-up. None of the 5 star d-lineman enrolled early in the spring so the jury is still out on Ronald Powell, Shariff Floyd and Dominique Easley…YEA RIGHT!!! Who am I kidding…these guys are all natural born ballers.

Think of Powell as the Jermaine Cunningham type, strong and quick…but more athletic and explosive. He has Cunningham’s body right now, imagine what a few years in the program will do to him…I hope we don’t get him too big though, we need him to be that speedy rush end. Shariff Floyd is the space eater, think Vincent Wilfork. And Easley is a combination of Powell and Floyd, apparently he put on a lot of weight before getting to G-ville and almost weighs as much as Floyd now but has been able to preserve that notorious first step off the line, which by all accounts is second to none for a tackle. I am not really going out on the limb by predicting that Powell will be the best of the three, he was the top high school player in the country last year, at any position. Although right now Easley and Floyd are the ones standing out and may end up being bigger stars, they were all top 10 high school players. I do think Powell will be starting opposite Trattou by the Alabama game -- if not, he’ll be heavily involved in the rotation (sorry Duke but RoPo has LT as in Lawrence Taylor type talent, hopefully without the horse-like cocaine intake and statutory rape charges).

Mack Brown, our lone RB from last year’s class has also shown some flashes early in practice. Besides Elam and maybe one of the three d-lineman I don’t think any other freshman make a big impact this year, we are just too deep and nasty. Look for these guys next year though.

Now or Never

I am talking to Carl Moore, Duke Lemmens and Emmanuel Moody for obvious reasons (they are seniors, this is absolutely it) but I am also talking to you Will Hill. Wake up and show the world what you got this year Thrill! It’s your show, you are starting every game…are you going to be Reggie F*cking Nelson or Kyle F*cking Jackson? You got Ahmad Black out there who gets off the bus looking like a JV player but ends up balling all over the field. And here you are, the top rated athlete in the 2008 class, looking like a physical specimen if I ever saw one, with those lovely predator-esque dreadlocks to boot…now it’s time to be a game changer. You’ve shown flashes of greatness and you’ve had some embarrassing moments (see Alabama game). You have a child now, you have a mouth to feed…are you going to feed your baby Will? ARE YOU GOING TO FEED YOUR SON? Lets go!

I am talking to you William Green…you should have locked up the d-end spot by now. These freshman lineman are going to jump you in the rotation unless you make it happen RIGHT NOW. And most of all, I am glaring, staring and fuming at you Deonte. Lots of cute articles in the paper about how you ran a 4.22 this summer and how you have great hands and are really “impressing” – guess what, talk is cheap. In the infamous words of Rod Tidwell – “SHOW ME THE MONEY”. For such a highly rated player in a position of need you sure have under-delivered. If you don’t get it done this year you’ll be an afterthought. Do you want to be Louis Murphy or David Nelson? Two words for all of these guys this year, “NO EXCUSES”!

EXPECTATIONS FOR 2010

Let’s face it, it’s the University of Florida, expectations are always going to be through the roof. However, considering who we are I do think we are flying a bit under the radar right now. I am not saying that teams aren’t going to get up to play us or that they are going to overlook us, not at all. I do think though that the stress level stemming from the expectations to be perfect is going to be way down. This isn’t last year’s team, coming off a national championship and going to war with Tebow and Spikes. This year’s team is sitting pretty, like a rattle snake just waiting for the right time to strike.

Everybody knows that there are a lot of unknowns and there are going to be some growing pains for this team. If you think we are going to lose 9 NFL players, including Tebow and be as good as we were last year from jump you are out of your little gator mind. I think we’re ranked right in that sweet spot where it’s high enough to help us so that we won’t drop too far if we lose a game and low enough that we don’t have those insane expectations and that big target on our backs (that target is now squarely on Alabama and that little evil Napoleonic Nick Saban, who by the way straight up outcoached Urban in the SEC championship game last year). That series is tied 1-1 between Urban and Saban, this year we will see which coach has made the appropriate adjustments.

Worse case scenario we lose 3 games this year best case scenario is going undefeated (I don’t think that is completely out of the question given the level of talent on this team if John Brantley ends up being who we think he is, although it’s highly unlikely). I think we lose 1 or two games, the first game against Alabama is not going to be as important as people think. We can lose that game and if we win out and beat Bama in a re-match in the SEC championship game we should still get a seat to the big dance.

The strength of this team is the offensive line, if they play how they are capable of and JB shows up, we can beat anybody!

There is a lot of practice left and the main thing is to continue to develop all of the players (especially the freshman who have to learn the playbook and their respective assignments) and most of all, to come out of practice without any huge injuries. Stay healthy boys.

I will leave you with a few little known players who I think will break out this year and really make a name for themselves nationally. Jay Howard, Jelani Jenkins and Jeff Demps. Demps is already fairly well known, but he is going to jump to that next level this year and will be getting Heisman hype when it’s all said and done. He won the indoor and outdoor national titles in track this year and is officially the “fastest man in college football.” With Tebow gone and more carries to go around he will flourish. Another couple of players who could break out are Stephen Alli, Debose and Mike Gillislee, although I am hesitant to put their names in the hat because young players rarely have a big impact at Florida, especially the receivers, it always seems to take them a little longer to come around.

Go Gators!

1 comment:

Caro said...

Another great Esquina. Can't wait.

Go JB.
Go Gators.