GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After what the University of Florida
fan base endured last year, anything resembling an offense would have sent the
Orange & Blue Debut crowd home ecstatic Saturday.
So how about 34 points in the fourth quarter?
Or 279 yards and four touchdowns in the final six drives?
It took a while for the Gators -- under new offensive coordinator Brent Pease
-- to find their collective rhythm, but in the end there was entertainment, a
handful of big plays (albeit against some defenders buried deep on the depth
chart), but reason enough for optimism exiting the spring and heading toward
September.
“I’m not really looking for style points,” Gators coach Will Muschamp said
after the Blue squad’s 21-20 win in front of 38,100 on a sun-splashed afternoon
at Florida Field. “I’m looking for production.”
Muschamp is also looking for a starting quarterback and he was more than happy
to see sophomores Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel perform well in their
extensive spring action, thus guaranteeing their spirited QB competition will
continue into fall practice.
“It’s great. I love it,” Brissett said of his duel with Driskel, who two years
ago at Oviedo Hagerty was the top-rated dual-threat quarterback prospect in the
nation. “Coming out every day competing against the No. 1 quarterback in the
country a couple years ago, it don’t get no better.”
“We’re friends,” Driskel said. “We won’t let the rivalry ruin that.”
Building on their respective spring performances should only enhance that
friendship. And rivalry.
Brissett, the 6-foot-3, 229-pounder from West Palm Beach Dwyer, got the first
series of the day and combined to complete nine of 16 passes for 233 yards and
two touchdowns seeing time on both the Orange and Blue squads. The 6-4,
232-pound Driskel, also playing for both squads, went 12 of 14 for 147 yards
and scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard sneak with
53 seconds remaining to give the Orange a 21-14 lead.
But Brissett answered for the Blue with a two-play, 70-yard drive, capped by a
beautiful 34-yard scoring strike to Trey Burton with 23 seconds to go. The Blue
went for the two-point conversion -- and the win -- but Brissett sailed a pass
high for Solomon Patton and out of the end zone.
“I’m really pleased with where we are at this point,” Muschamp said. “I feel
much better standing here today than I did a year ago as far as where we are as
a football team, our physicality as a team and our togetherness as a team as
this moves forward. We’ve got the right kind of guys. We just have to get
better.”
For context, think how far the Gators have come in the last 12 months.
In Muschamp’s first spring game -- and with Charlie Weis in charge of the
offense -- the highlight was a 39-yard touchdown pass from walk-on Chris
Provancha, one of two touchdowns in a 13-10 game. John Brantley, the eventual
starting quarterback for the 2011 squad, went 4-for-14 for 45 yards in that
one.
It was a day that foreshadowed an offense that went on to finish 105th out of
120 FBS teams.
Twelve months later, much has changed. Most notably, the lead characters on
offense and the guy, Pease, scripting the plays.
“I think Brent and I are philosophically on the same page with what we want,”
Muschamp said of the former Boise State coordinator. “We want to be a physical
football team that’s able to run the ball when we need to, that still has the
gadgets and the tricks and [is] efficient in the passing game and [with] what
we need to do as far as converting third downs and stretching the ball down the
field like we did today -- and we made some plays down the field today. ...
We’re a year older and have a lot of guys back that have played now in the
[Southeastern Conference] for a year. I think experience is something we’re
certainly benefiting from at this time.”
The bulk of that experience is built into a defense that returns 10 starters
from a unit that ranked eighth in the nation. Five of those starters were held
out with injuries Saturday, but UF’s depth on that side of the ball was evident
as the two offensive squads totaled just 227 yards and one touchdown -- a
4-yard Brissett-to-Quenton Dunbar pass -- through the first half.
“We have a lot of versatility,” sophomore linebacker Mike Taylor said of the
defense.
That’s what Muschamp wants on offense, but he wants it based on a power,
downhill running game, rather than the perimeter ground schemes the Gators have
run the last few years with their stable of smaller backs.
That element was far from dominating Saturday, with tailback Mike Gillislee,
who emerged from spring as the starter at that spot, carrying six times for 35
yards for a Blue team that averaged four yards on 18 attempts. The Orange
squad, boosted by a 30-yard slot-around dash from Patton, totaled 137 yards on
26 carries, nearly 5 yards a pop.
“The offensive line is probably the strength of our offense,” Driskel said.
“That’s a good thing.”
For sure, Muschamp praised the progress being made the offensive front under
new coach Tim Davis, who is building some depth and togetherness up front.
“These guys have played before,” Muschamp said. “They need to understand how
close-knit a group you have to be as an offensive line to have success. But
experience is No. 1. Tim’s done a really good job and I think these guys
realized last year across the board that not anyone played to their potential,
which means we didn’t do a good job coaching them. And we need to do a better
job playing.”
Everyone does.
Saturday was the start.
The next step, Muschamp said, is for the coaches to step away -- per NCAA rules
-- and turn the team over to the quarterbacks to organize offseason workouts
over the next four months.
“Right now [that is] a huge, huge indicator to see who takes a leg up and see
who's going to get our football out there and do team drills, 11 on 11, and
what we call 'PRP,' a player-run practice.” Muschamp said. “They've got to take
control of our football team.”
They’ve already made it more interesting.
