Although freshman quarterback Jacoby Brissett has had the least amount of time of any of the Gators’ quarterbacks on campus, coach Will Muschamp said the former Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer standout is picking things up quickly.
John Brantley has the starting job, but redshirt freshman Tyler Murphy and true freshman Jeff Driskel are in competition with Brissett for the back-up spot. Driskel enrolled in January while Brissett got to Gainesville this summer.
It wasn’t the first time Brissett had seen the playbook, though. He made a visit to campus during his spring break and Muschamp said he received a video playbook to study on his own.
“Jacoby is very bright, and just after one day is very pleased with where he is,” Muschamp said Saturday night. “He certainly has got a certain command about him. He’s a guy that’s very well respected by his teammates. He is an outstanding athlete, but he really can throw the football.”
Some other notes from Muschamp’s post-practice availability:
Muschamp happy with freshmen
Brissett is off to a good start, but Muschamp said he was pleased with the class in general. As he’s said many times, Florida is thin on the lines of scrimmage and that’s true in that class with only four linemen.
“Other than that, (tight end) A.C. Leonard obviously is a guy we’re excited about,” Muschamp said. “(Receiver) Ja’Juan Story looks like a guy that eventually can help us. How quickly that’ll happen, I don’t know. I love guys that play quarterback in high school because they gotta make a lot of decisions, but he hasn’t played wideout a bunch.
“(Running back) Hunter Joyer did some nice things for us. Both quarterbacks look very good,” he added. “(Guard) Trip Thurman’s done some nice thing for us in the offseason. Pleased with his flexibility, his power and where he is as an athlete. Both corners, (Marcus) Roberson and (Louchiez)Purifoy, we think can be good players. They’re both athletic. They both looked good tonight. The safeties were solid. (Linebacker) Graham Stewart flashed, doing some things instinctively, making some plays in space. He’s got some command, some leadership to him.”
Coaches try to encourage team building
Muschamp has emphasized building team chemistry since he came to Florida, even cancelling meetings one day in the spring to take the team to play paintball. His efforts at uniting the players didn’t stop there. Locker assignments have been redone, with those who typically wouldn’t interact with each other now put together. A players’ lounge has been put back in the locker room, Muschamp said, and they’ll have another one upstairs near the office of Terry Jackson, the team’s life skills director.
“He’s going to have lounge upstairs so when the players are upstairs, they’ve got two different places they can go and relax,” Muschamp said. “When the NCAA did away with athletic dormitories, it’s hurt because generally the class you know are the guys you come in with. You don’t get to know the other guys as well, especially if they’re on the other side of the ball. So we’ve tried to create, we had some leadership groups this summer that were made up of teams. It was kind of a competition that Mickey created for them. But again, it was guys that you would never think would have to interact with each other.”
Injury policy outlined
Muschamp said no one was injured on Saturday and said running back Mack Brown and offensive tackle Matt Patchan, who both missed the spring, participated in everything on the first day. He outlined his policy about announcing injuries going forward, saying, “Our policy is really going to be, we’re going to be as honest as we can. It’s not the NFL. We don’t really have to disclose anything.”
