GAINESVILLE — When Florida coach Will Muschamp had a chance to talk about his wide receivers in front of 900 reporters at SEC Media Days, he highlighted senior Deonte Thompson and redshirt freshman Quinton Dunbar as his most explosive threats.
It appears those two currently are the Gators' best downfield options, but junior Frankie Hammond has outperformed both dating back to the spring.
"Frankie's been fine; he's been our most consistent receiver," Muschamp said. "Quinton and Deonte have been our most vertical threats down the field, big-play receivers. ... but Frankie consistently has been our best receiver as far as catching the ball, finishing plays, blocking - all-around receiver play."
Even with that reassurance from his head coach, Hammond has ratcheted up his urgency as camp begins. Seeing Dunbar, who is two years younger, surge up the depth chart had something to do with that.
"He made a lot of plays in practice, so he should be ready to produce," Hammond said of Dunbar.
"I have to fight off the young guys. I've only got so much time here, so I definitely have to get ready in a hurry."
Hammond is a valuable target in the short game, but he also considers himself a viable deep receiver at 5-foot-11, 188 pounds. He was slightly bothered that Muschamp did not group him in with Thompson and Dunbar, but believes he will prove himself before Florida opens the season against Florida Atlantic Sept. 3.
"Yeah, it got to me, but the season is not here yet," he said. "We haven't run out on the field yet and actually played football. The fact that he said that - really, I wouldn't pay it no mind. There's still a lot of football to be played. We still have two weeks of camp."
After sitting out the first two games of last season, he finished fourth on the team with 276 receiving yards on 22 catches. Former coach Urban Meyer suspended him and revoked his scholarship for a semester because he was arrested for DUI last summer.
Meyer told Hammond he would have to earn his playing time essentially as a walk-on and was pleased with his response, crediting his "unselfish contributions to the team." Hammond humbly worked his way back into good standing and went back on scholarship in January.
One of those contributions was his blocking. Hammond had a reputation as the team's best blocking receiver last year, which should give him an edge over his teammates as they fight for positioning on the depth chart.
His competition for a big role in the offense starts with Thompson and Dunbar, but there are six other scholarship receivers on the roster.
Omarius Hines, also a redshirt junior, is Florida's biggest receiver at 6-2, 211 pounds and had similar statistics to Hammond's last year. True freshman Ja'Juan Story is 6-3, 201 pounds and could make an early impact. Muschamp said he, "looks like a guy that eventually can help us. How quickly that'll happen, I don't know."
Sophomores Andre Debose and Dwyer's Robert Clark are built more like Hammond and will be vying for some of his snaps in training camp.
"It's on all of our minds because everybody wants to be that go-to guy," Hammond said. "Going into camp, nothing is set in stone, and that makes everybody want to go harder and give that extra effort."
