Tee It Up: High Time To Talk Gator Football

I'm liking what im reading..I know were in a rebuild year.Brantley is my BIG question.Was he under to much pressure coming in behind Tim Tebow?Did that effect his game?Or was it just to much for him to be in the spotlight of the Swamp people?I honestly don't know.I'm really hoping he has the chance with his style of offense to have a great year.All i know IS our OFFENSE has got to put points on the board early in the game and continue throughout. 8-4 is as high as I'm going.If we could get that i would be VERY proud.The other thing that is in question is the on the field leadership(THE FIRE, THE WANT, THE NEED!!!!!) I'm sorry to say it but the emotion level to me was way down last year.I want to see the FIRE of the offense that they CAN NOT and WILL NOT be stopped.The FIRE of the defense that WILL NOT LET YOU SCORE ....The HEART looked missing from our young men.I hope they regain it this year.<CHOMP CHOMP>.
I live in South Ga. I'm surrounded by Bullfrogs and Semiholes .I've been a GATOR since the early 80's.It's not a Tebow thing.It's a SWAMP THING...
PS thank you Mr. DRU2012 we went to the fan day two weeks ago i got to meet several of them Gators.Coach BOOM even signed our hats after the lady told him not to because of extra time it took.MY KIND OF GUY.I told him welcome to the SWAMP Sir He smiled and winked.I seen THE FIRE in his eyes.I hope it is contagious...

I think it is a combination of factors. The first factor we assume that bothered Brantley is following Tebow's footsteps; however, he beat out Tebow in the Orange and Blue Debut '09 and he broke Tebow's high school records. The second factor we assume is the offensive scheme. Believe it or not, Brantley can run. He ran when he was the backup, and he ran on occasion in high school. He had three years to learn the spread-option, zone-read from the greatest Gator QB in history. The third factor is personnel around him. This is probably what did him in. Wuerffel and Leak were both quieter QBs like Brantley, yet they made the people around them better. Brantley just does not do that. He fires a perfect pass into Brickhands Deonte Thompson's chest, Brickhands drops it, and Brantley does not try SOMETHING ELSE. Maybe Brickhands wants the ball to come in over the shoulder on a fly route, or to his left on a wheel, or after he raises his hand. Other quarterbacks know that passing and receiving is a two-person activity. Brantley just fires away and if the player on the other end catches it, the announcer calls it a beautiful reception. If the receiver misses, then it is a beautiful miscue. That is not not leadership. A leader does not HAVE to be like Tim Tebow with the rah-rah-sis-boom-bah, go -get-'em attitude. You can be a quiet leader, especially in the pro-style offense. Brantley will be fine. He may not throw for 300 like I guess for game 1, but he will definitely throw for more than 113 like last year. It is a rebuilding year, but they are not rebuilding from scratch.

I hope we will see more screen plays to our running backs. If they got the hands they got the speed to turn it into something big.I think the little things will help build him up once more.Don't get me wrong I LOVE the long ball passing game but just moving the ball keeps everything rolling. I would like to see just one QB one the field for the whole game.I never liked the idea of switching them in and out.I know it's worked for some but I just don't know if it's good for your starter to be sitting on the bench while his "back up" is on the field.
Esc I love the term Brickhands lolol your to much but so correct.I read alot of posts on here because ya'll don't sugar coat or cut anyone who isn't deserving of it. A call it like you see it bunch.I'm with it..I look forward to seeing if one of you has posted something eles.

Personally, I don't care if we move the ball with screens, deep passes, running quarterbacks, or hook-and-ladder, as long as the ball is moving forwards.

The only reason we rotated quarterbacks is that none of them were sufficient for that awesomely complex offense. Dive left, dive right, draw middle, -10 yard self pass--these are complex plays that no single quarterback can master. Think about it. Can YOU run all of those plays? I can't! This year, my gut tells me that if the number 1 QB isn't cutting the mustard, #2 takes over. If he can't hack it, then we go on to #3. No rotation...just a change in depth chart. My gut tells me that all four QBs are good enough to start in the SEC, but that one of them will rise to the top.

There's the cutting edge, right there: For THIS season's outcome alone, success depends on JB IV "getting it" in a Weis-offense tailored to him, while in the long run, Driskell needs to begin his ascension. You CAN have both (a la Tebow '06, where Leak led us but Tebow got his reps AND played a small-but-important part down in the red zone), but 9-4 or better depends on Brantley becoming an on-field leader and game-manager.
If it heads south, more like a repeat of last year, I take Coach Boom at his word (and everything we've seen so far): the best guy is the one who's getting it done, that's who gets to play, and we'll see a change to "Quarterback-of-the-Future" by Kentucky, latest--then we'll all have to live with the growing pains. However, done right (and it's another reason having WEIS may turn out to be very fortunate), patience and trust CAN forge a winner in the fire, and leave us with fewer questions going into NEXT year. I'm just sayin': the former is preferred for now, of course, but the latter long-term may not be a disaster.

If Brantley puts up gawdy numbers this year, I will be extremely upset with our offensive coaching staff from last year. I almost want a so-so season this year so I can view last season as less of a wasted season.

shandsgator8 said:

If Brantley puts up gawdy numbers this year, I will be extremely upset with our offensive coaching staff from last year. I almost want a so-so season this year so I can view last season as less of a wasted season.

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I am already over last year's offensive coaching staff. It was a wasted season. Period.

Gotta agree with E-: it WAS a wasted season, no matter what happens from here on out.
Here's a thought: in two-plus days it is officially "Old News": you can use it for comparison purposes or even some kind of "symbolic touchstone" for mismanaged mediocrity, but otherwise, it's gone, over and done with...2010 is "The Lost Gator Year", the cheap "it was only a bad dream" plot-device, the "Nevermind!" we-don't-talk-about-it-year. Who's with me?

I'm with you DRU. I think that's exactly the mentality that the coaches, players, and all of the Gator Nation need to have this year. We need to start fresh this year. Don't even look back at the Urban Era. And I better not here anyone say Addazio.

I will look back on the Urban Era from time to time, since it was a great time period. I will conveniently forget about 2010. I may even lie to my grandchildren and tell them the Gators were on NCAA probation in 2010. Nowadays that is less embarrassing than the mismanaged mediocrity we saw. I like that phrase.

To CaliZona: WHO?

( Interestingly, E-94 ALSO proposed some months back we not use that name ever again. Of course, this may cause all kinds of problems finessing that important question, "How's Temple doing?". Oh well...)

He Who Shall Not Be Named may very well succeed at Temple. I wish nothing but the best for him, but it hurts my head thinking about his offense and how he made the Urban Meyer SOZR offense look silly.

Sure: lots of folks would have real problems driving a 6-speed Dino Ferrari, but none at all with a Chevette.

Maybe I'm being too hard on Temple there...OK, make it a "Chevy Impala", but only the 6 cyl. model.

just to get it clear E, I'm not saying we need to totally forget about the Urban Meyer Era, I am just saying that we need to forget about this year. I don't want comparisons to last years team, I just want hard work and success!

CaliZona_Gator said:

just to get it clear E, I'm not saying we need to totally forget about the Urban Meyer Era, I am just saying that we need to forget about this year. I don't want comparisons to last years team, I just want hard work and success!

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Sounds good, but I will still refer to that guy as He Who Shall Not Be Named.

WE ALL give thanks and appreciation to the Urban Meyer of '05 to '09--we will always honor he and the teams he built, coached and led. That's why we prayed and pleaded he'd reconsider his "1st Resignation", the "short, weird one" of Dec. '09, and were so relieved when he apparently did. As it turned out, of course, THAT Urban Meyer never DID return: he'd already "checked out" through 2010, at least that's how it looked to me. Call it an aberration, a regrettable error or a man knowing his own limitations, but in his effective absence he left "that other guy" in charge, and the results pretty much speak for themselves, no?
I think we've arrived at the "effective cure", the way forward. So, as they used to say on "The Sopranos":
"Forget about it!"

RIGHT ON DRU !!!!!!!!!It was The NO Fire Zone lol......