Its that time again!! Chomp Chomp!

[InkedAdrenaline]

Drove up to the orng & blue spring opener today. We had a good turn out with 53k fans there. A few former Gators made there way out too, including Tebow, Pouncey twins, Cooper, Wuerfell.

My perceptions:

Defensive looks GReAT! Very fast, explosive, and following the ball good.

Brantley - nothing changed. He was benched quick.

Driskel - A BEAST!...Big, fast, a good passer.

Also our other qbs we have recently picked up look good as well.

We will def be moving in the right direction this season. CHOMP CHOMP!!

(it was totally wierd watching the gators play under center though LOL)

 

[Leakfan12]

If Brantley was benched quickly in the spring game I don't see him lasting the season.

 

[Escambia94]

• Brantley was not benched--he was only slotted to play a couple series before letting the other QBs have some snaps.
• Brantley did not shine, but it did not look like the Coach was trying to show off a lot in this scrimmage anyway.
• Even with a vanilla defense, we can see that Easley and Powell are outright beasts.
• Murphy surprised the heck out of me. Great in the pocket, or on the run. He likes being on the run, which might prove useful if that offensive line continues to be problematic.
• Driskel just needs to work out some timing on deep passes. He looks good on short and medium passes, and has great lateral movement under a collapsing pocket (JB4, take a hint).
• Rainey is alright up the gut, but we need Gillislee or Burton to run those plays or pound a hole for Rainey/Demps.
• Our receivers need to work a little harder for the ball. In a spread, the QB is supposed to hit the WR; in a pro-style the WR is supposed to hit the spot and fight for the ball.
• Brantley has far too many balls being batted into his face. He needs to shift into the passing lane, step up into the passing lane, move the pocket, slide out of the pocket, or drop back further.

 

[DRU2012]

As I've said elsewhere (here, but a diff. thread), it looks to be "same ol' same ol'" with JB...in fact, beyond his "anti-presence", ie. that overall feeling of "Oh oh, here we go again" that hangs over the field when he's on it, he quickly and perfectly (and for our purposes here, I guess, conveniently) demonstrated how that manifests from a practical POV in two early plays. The underthrow on the long ball, first play-from-scrimmage, then the towering overthrow to the WAY open receiver over-the-middle. In neither case was he pressured; he had all the time in the world and didn't get it done. These plays were scripted and set up for him ahead of time in the early going precisely TO build his confidence, and everything and everyone BUT the QB went like clockwork and did their jobs; all Coach was left with was to brush it aside with "That first one should have been caught" (where the WR DID adjust and come back for it after getting a step-and-a-half on the defender), not mentioning the underthrow , and ignoring the other entirely (sure, it made 10 or 12 stumbling yards with no one near him, but a decent throw with a little touch would have been a big-gainer).
Just a handful of such missed opportunities, 2 or 3 per half, would likely make the difference in an SEC contest while the game is still in doubt--John Brantley isn't even offering us the FALSE hope of "practice excellence" anymore. We're all hoping that he ends up being "good enough" this season, at least runs things with enough calm efficiency of experience to "not lose the games", as some have taken from the coaches' reactions to his fairly lackluster performance on Sat. Still, as much as we may be hoping that with a healthy backfield and O-line Weis may work wonders with the whole package by the Fall, personally I'm counting on he and Coach Muschamp already quietly preparing a "Plan B", being a lot more ready to recognize and move to a viable, practical alternative if things go south at that ooh-so-important position.

 

[dizzle498]

Ya, I don't think Brantley was benched, but I don't think that JB will last very long either...If there is one thing that is for sure about Charlie Weis, he is a "I will do it my way" type coach, Brantley is not his QB, so I don't see him lasting very long. That is unfortunate cause Brantley brings so much to the table. It might be a long change over in Gainsville.

 

[robdog]

Maybe they will have a 2 QB system this year?

 

[DRU2012]

If they do, it will only be a stop-gap adjustment to Brantley's apparent failure to get it done--if he doesn't seize the role, it'll just be a matter of "not losing games" with the offense 'til the heir-apparent, whomever that may turn out to be, is fully up to speed and therefore "seizes it" himself, don't you think?
In fact, if Brantley isn't the CLEAR "man in charge" at QB, leading the team and running the offense efficiently through the early part of the season (right up to and including Tennesee), you may very well see that "2-QB-system" before then--in fact, if that's what happens, I'd read that as a clear signal of where things are headed.

 

[robdog]

So IF we see the 2 QB system are we calling next year a "rebuilding" year? I hate to look at it that way, but I am not sure how we can be dominant in that type of system.

 

[Escambia94]

I do not picture Charlie Weis as a 2-QB kind of coach. I think he will do what coaches did back in the day--start Brantley until he fails, then start Murphy until he fails, then start Driskell/Brissett until he fails, and so on. The Gators are not the only team with multiple QBs capable of starting, nor are they the only team with no clear number one. Coach Meyer and the Dazzler got too close to their players and the politics of Gainesville football to make the hard decision, such as benching Brantley, or forcing Burton to throw and prove his worth as the number two QB, or demanding that Reed learn the plays as the number three QB, or offering a scholarship to Provancha and moving him up.

Brantley is a good kid, but this is football. He needs to really show up with guns blazing on Day 1 of the season and pick on Florida Atlantic. Anything less than a 300-yard, 3-TD, 0-INT performance out of Brantley on September 3rd is probably going to be viewed as a failure. That gives Murphy a chance to test out his mettle against UAB before we start our SEC gauntlet.

If I were coach, I would announce that Brantley is the starter for game 1, but that position will not be guaranteed for game 2. I do not buy into the 70% passing in practice and "Practice Heisman" hype that surrounds Brantley. As a fan, I only give him September 3 to win my support.

 

[DRU2012]

Right on--as I've also said, that "70% completion rate in practice"-canard is just what it sounds like: a feel-good, positive-spin soft-sell designed to calm everyone, most of all Brantley himself, for the meanwhile, while #12 either actually pulls it together and/or the others get up-to-speed. I understand the thinking, given the circumstances, but C'MON!:
"Uh, y'all haven't seen any of it, but he's been pretty damn consistent in practice this Spring..."--like we haven't heard THAT before!
(And anyway, when you stop and think about what they are really saying, it isn't all that strong or reassuring--"fairly consistent" in closed practices is their big endorsement? Comes up just short of "damning with feint praise"...)

 

[robdog]

So here's to hoping he was holding back during the Spring game?

 

[Escambia94]

If the #GatorNation just got duped in the spring game in order to surprise everyone, that is fine as long as we are #winning. We had better be making #Tiger#Blood on October 8th and 15th.