The Bright Lights & Brantley

[JvilleJohnny]

He has a knack for doing things differently, this Urban Meyer guy. Just like when we saw him in 2006 when he defied coaching logic by playing two quarterbacks, Florida’s unconventional coach is at it again, like a mad scientist on a test-tube tear in a laboratory full of Xs and Os.
The good news is that Meyer is passionately pursuing the task of defining and designing his new offense and “jacked” about the talent surrounding him, as well as renewed in his commitment to find the genie in the bottle.
Meyer’s Spread is now symmetrical, having come full circle as it reverts back to the pocket passer and short-yardage specialist of the Chris Leak era.
Except Urban has one-upped himself: The Florida coach will have a three-headed quarterback in 2010. All of which has him on a buzz, fidgeting in the back room with his “checkers” and presenting himself a whole new set of challenges with this third-generation version of Florida’s Spread.


Read more from Buddy Martin at GC: http://www.gatorcountry.com/football/article/the_bright_lights_brantley/8896#ixzz0lQvLQUXK

 

[O-town Gator]

One of the reasons Urban Meyer is as successful as he is is that he's innovative and always manages to stay one step ahead of the competition when others think they have him figured out.

As much as those who pine for a "pro-style" offense think that's the be-all-and-end-all we're actually starting to see a little of the spread trickle into the NFL, as well as the "wildcat" and some of the other plays one sees at the college level.

Another reason why Meyer's so successful is that he takes the time to assess the talent he has on his roster and models his playbook to tap that talent to it fullest potential, which is an area where Ron Zook failed miserably at UF and now is making the same mistake at Illinois. I've said this many times - he did right by Chris Leak in molding a "hybrid" version of the spread around his skillset as he was not the prototypical spread-option QB, and made it work to his advantage. The addition of Tim Tebow only added another dimension in 2006, and from 2007-2009 we saw how effective the spread could be.

Tebow raised the bar, and now Johnny Brantley and his successors need to measure up to a higher standard at Florida for the rest of the Meyer era. If Johnny and Trey Burton are up to a challenge, they have one on their hands. Based on what I've seen and heard so far, they'll do just fine.

 

[Escambia94]

One of the reasons Urban Meyer is as successful as he is is that he's innovative and always manages to stay one step ahead of the competition when others think they have him figured out.

As much as those who pine for a "pro-style" offense think that's the be-all-and-end-all we're actually starting to see a little of the spread trickle into the NFL, as well as the "wildcat" and some of the other plays one sees at the college level.

Another reason why Meyer's so successful is that he takes the time to assess the talent he has on his roster and models his playbook to tap that talent to it fullest potential, which is an area where Ron Zook failed miserably at UF and now is making the same mistake at Illinois. I've said this many times - he did right by Chris Leak in molding a "hybrid" version of the spread around his skillset as he was not the prototypical spread-option QB, and made it work to his advantage. The addition of Tim Tebow only added another dimension in 2006, and from 2007-2009 we saw how effective the spread could be.

Tebow raised the bar, and now Johnny Brantley and his successors need to measure up to a higher standard at Florida for the rest of the Meyer era. If Johnny and Trey Burton are up to a challenge, they have one on their hands. Based on what I've seen and heard so far, they'll do just fine.

You're right. Meyer is innovative, but Addazzio needs to get up to speed if he is calling in 33% of the plays. Loeffler will be the one who calls the better plays for Brantley, if it isn't Meyer.

I agree that we don't need a pro-style offense, but I do think the coaches should throw in some packages in that pro-style to maximize Brantley's skillset when the defensive matchups aren't there for him to pass out of the spread-option. In the spread, all the defense has to do is line up in a Crimson Tide 3-4 and it will more than likely put Brantley in a run-first option. Line up in an I-formation, and you can still pass against that same defense if the safeties are doing shallow cover. That same Crimson Tide style defense was daring Tebow to throw into shallow coverage that Brantley can probably jam a ball into. I will say that Tebow does show remarkable ability to learn plays quickly. His throwing looked different from the SEC championship to the Sugar Bowl, and I attribute that to Loeffler's more involved coaching at that point. What this means is that if Loeffler would have had more input earlier, he may have been able to get Tebow to make those same throws as Brantley (maybe not as pretty).