Florida coach Will Muschamp met with the media tonight after a full day of practice to open training camp. Most of the returning players had a session in the morning, while the rest practiced in the evening.
All practices are closed to the media and public, so there’s a limit on how much information can be garnered.
There appeared to be little news after the first day. No injuries.
“We escaped,” Muschamp said.
He looked exhausted, but was happy. Here are some updates:
– True freshman Jacoby Brissett, from Dwyer High School, has some ground to make up as he battles red-shirt freshman Tyler Murphy and freshman Jeff Driskel for the No. 2 quarterback job. Murphy and Driskel both went through spring practices under new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, while Brissett’s first practice was today.
But Brissett does not appear to be lagging behind.
“Just after one day, very pleased with where he is,” Muschamp said. “He certainly has a certain command about him. He’s a guy that is very well respected by his teammates. He’s an outstanding athlete, but he can really throw the football.”
– As for the other freshmen, Muschamp was impressed by TE A.C. Leonard, WR Ja’Juan Story, RB Hunter Joyer, CB Marcus Roberson, CB Loucheiz Purifoy, OG Trip Thurman and LB Graham Stewart.
– He said there was “very good retention” of the system and playbook by the older players and “some decent retention” among the younger ones.
– One guy who looked comfortable was RB Jeff Demps, which is somewhat surprising given that he missed spring practices and was not around much in the summer due to track competitions.
“He looked great, actually. Really good,” Muschamp said. “The players are able to really work with each other in the off-season. The quarterbacks and running backs were getting together on their own on their own time. Really constructive learning as far as those things are concerned. I thought he looked great this morning.”
– Deonte Thompson and Quinton Dunbar have been the two best vertical threats among the receivers, but junior Frankie Hammond has been the most complete.
“He’s been our most consistent receiver,” Muschamp said. “What I said was Quinton and Deonte have been our most vertical threats down the field, big-play receivers. They were more of our vertical guys down the field. But Frankie consistently has been our best receiver as far as catching the ball, finishing plays, blocking — all-around receiver play.”
– He probably will not know how good his pass rush is until Florida actually starts playing games. The force of the pass rush looks like it will be LB/DE Ronald Powell, DT Sharrif Floyd, DT Dominique Easley and DE William Green.
