Finally: Some Gator-centric FOOTBALL NEWS worth discussing...

[DRU2012]

This is interesting...not sure how significant, but potentially, well, like I said, "interesting":
Looks like we really WILL have a battle at QB come spring and (especially by) fall. Grier has put on weight and strength, and it turns out Coach Mac and his new OC are big time enamored of his arm--not so surprising with their previous experience and respective tendencies in offensive scheme and philosophy. Let's face it, arm-strength and accuracy left a bit to be desired at times with Treon last year as time went on--though NO one can doubt his overall instincts, talent and heart. Grier will be given every shot, looks like--and may well really come on by late-summer, when practice experience with the new offense begins to really tell. We have learned far too much last few years about how "theoretical talent" fails to match actual in-game performance, but a real competition between two good ones at QB--not to mention a true quality back-up waiting in the wings--can make a huge difference in a long, tough season. Gonna be "interesting", right?

 

[miltongator]

Not only keeping tabs on the QB battle, but also watching an offensive system that hopefully will be a VAST improvement over the last couple of years....can't wait.

 

[DRU2012]

...One more thing to watch in this regard--just over the horizon may loom the shadow of ANOTHER "top national prospect": Rex Culpepper has us in his "top 3", and as a "legacy" (Mom AND of course Dad, a Gator star and longtime NFL standout) he's not-surprisingly a self-professed "lifelong Gator fan"--and says he'd "be honored" if we were to make him the first QB-target of the new UF-regime. Coach Mac has apparently been in touch with him PERSONALLY on a regular basis since the day after he signed his Head Coaching contract here. Sounds very much like Rex is ours for the asking/taking, bearing in mind that (damnit) Meyer and the Poison Nuts--and perhaps less worrisome, Va Tech--are also wooing him big time. Young Culpepper is a bright, thoughtful kid who says he'd prefer to take his time making this decision, but understands that that isn't really to his or anyone else's advantage, or even much of an option past a certain point in the modern recruiting/being-ready-soon-as-possible scene. With that in mind and his senior prep year beginning in the Fall, he has intimated that he expects to make a decision by this summer.
Now, Grier came out of the Florida high school wars the top QB in the state, consensus 2nd-highest-rated one in the nation, having broken virtually all of TT's Fla.-records...and on paper at least he appears to have all the skills that would make him a perfect fit in Coach Mac's wide-ranging, high-flying variant of the modern pro "fling-it-but-still-mobile"-style of offense. But we know far too much already about the difference between "promise on paper" and reality to count on any of that--not that alone, anyway, and we do still have the still somewhat rough-hewn but clearly-talented and now relatively-experienced Harris coming in, determined and with that invaluable "season under his belt". At "worst" (BEST?), at least one of the current two battlers blossoms, flourishes, with Rex learning/waiting-in-the-wings for a shot that comes in his redshirt-sophomore year?
Ok--getting WAY ahead of myself, as usual. But that doesn't make me wrong--OR that this staff isn't thinking just that way. They oughta be.

 

[Leakfan12]

I hope Grier delivers because we're been burned before with Brantley 4 and Driskel.

 

[DRU2012]

I hope Grier delivers because we're been burned before with Brantley 4 and Driskel.

God, ain't THAT the truth???
(I doubt Coach Mac banks on just that, on EITHER of the ones he inherited. He'll go aggressively to get at least one 4-star-or-better QB, one that fits his "mold" as a big, strong mobile-but-mainly-DROPBACK passer, in his 2016 class of recruits, no matter how well either or both of the two we've got perform into and thru' the coming season.)

 

[Escambia94]

I fully expect a Muschamp-esque train wreck this first year. The plot to the 2015 season will look similar to previous seasons--lack of depth on both sides of the line of scrimmage, uncertainty with special teams, new offense, questionable quarterback skill, and uncertain wide receiver skill.

Harris or Grier could emerge as the leader of the team, and I do not care which one wins as long the named starter earns the starting role through superior play in practice and on the field.