By SCOTT CARTER
GatorZone.com Senior Writer
In the middle of the madness in Saturday’s season-opening win over Miami (Ohio), Florida football coach Urban Meyer made sure to find his way over to quarterback John Brantley.
That’s when Meyer tried to do his best Robert De Niro impersonation from “Goodfellas,’’ telling Brantley to “forget about it.’’
Meyer wanted to lighten the mood and calm Brantley, making his first career start, amidst a series of misguided and dropped snaps in the shotgun between Brantley and senior center Mike Pouncey.
“Whenever you hit a storm – and that was a storm – there’s only one thing to do, and that’s to get right back at the fundamentals,’’ Meyer said during his Monday press conference. “The film looked the same way it did in person.’’
To make sure there isn’t a repeat performance in Saturday’s game at The Swamp against USF – the first meeting between the schools – Brantley and Pouncey took to the field Sunday morning to work on their shotgun connection
The two practiced “numerous’’ shotgun snaps according to Brantley, who rallied in Saturday’s 34-12 win to finish 17 of 25 for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
That’s the attitude Meyer is seeking from all the Gators this week in practice.
“Coaching a team that has urgency is a positive thing,’’ Meyer said. “Mistakes are part of football. It’s much easier to coach a team that is urgent. The bottom line is to get it fixed. I’d imagine with the trust of our staff and of our players, we will get most of those things fixed.’’
While the errant snaps dominated the headlines following Saturday’s win, Meyer pointed out the team’s perimeter blocking was also an issue after looking at film. It wasn’t until Jeff Demps’ 72-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that gave the Gators a 27-12 lead did the season-opening crowd of 90,178 at The Swamp finally take a collective breath.
“If we clean up the mechanics and block the edge, early in the first quarter there were a bunch of big plays to be had and we didn’t have them,’’ Meyer said.
As for all those errant snaps, Meyer and his coaching staff identified three key elements: Pouncey’s technique, Brantley’s focus, and the sweat that both players dealt with in the hot and humid September conditions.
They have talked to Pouncey about making sure to keep his wrist locked on the snap, to Brantley about remaining focused on the ball as it floats to him through the air, and to both about ways to prevent moisture from playing a role in the exchanges.
“It wasn’t all Mike’s fault,’’ Brantley said. “It was obviously my fault also.
“I don’t know if it was the heat, the sweaty hands, I don’t know what it was. We’re figuring that out. We are going to eliminate all those for USF.’’
Brantley said the pair passed the first test on Sunday morning, reporting no snap issues in their impromptu practice session.
As he talked about trying to calm Brantley on the sideline during Saturday’s game, Meyer pointed out that overcoming mistakes and moving past the last play was a strong point of former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, who Brantley watched closely the past three years as Tebow's understudy.
Brantley said “forgetting about the last play’’ was message Meyer tried to impart.
“We’ve been working hard at it,’’ Meyer said. “We have two very accountable people that are working hard to getting that thing right.’’