On Monday
the calendar flipped to July, which means you can now say “the Gators open the
season next month” without someone giving you a funny look back.
Florida
hosts Toledo on Aug. 31 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to kick off head coach Will
Muschamp’s third season.
Muschamp
is 18-8 in his first two seasons and led the Gators to an 11-2 record and No. 9
ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll in 2012.
Muschamp
spent part of Tuesday afternoon in a meeting to introduce the newcomers to
their new teammates. While eight players in Florida’s 2013 signing class
enrolled in January (RB Kelvin Taylor, WR Demarcus Robinson, OL Tyler Moore, LB
Alex Anzalone, LB Daniel McMillian, DL Darious Cummings, DL Joey Ivie and LB
Matt Rolin), 20 more players have arrived and started summer B semester classes
Monday.
The latest
wave of players to join the program includes four receivers (Alvin Bailey,
Ahmad Fulwood, Marqui Hawkins, Chris Thompson), four defensive backs (Vernon
Hargreaves III, Marcell Harris, Keanu Neal, Nick Washington), four defensive
linemen (Jay-nard Bostwick, Caleb Brantley, Antonio Riles, Jordan Sherit),
three offensive linemen (Octavius Jackson, Cameron Dillard, Trenton Brown),
linebacker Jarrad Davis, quarterback Max Staver, running back Adam Lane, punter
Johnny Townsend and combo-athlete Trevon Young.
Now that
they are here, they can forget how many stars they earned on the recruiting
trail and start to compete for playing time.
That is a
key part of Muschamp’s message to newcomers.
“I always
tell them: ‘We’re going to promise you an opportunity. I’m not going to promise
you anything past that,’ ‘’ Muschamp said on National Signing Day. “So you
better understand you’re going to compete at Florida.”
In
Muschamp’s world the best players in practice play regardless of class and
players can lose their starting job with a poor week Monday through Thursday.
Matt
Jones, D.J. Humphries, Dante Fowler Jr., Antonio Morrison and Jonathan Bullard
all contributed as true freshmen in 2012 and for the Gators to duplicate or
exceed their success from last season, they will need players in Tuesday’s
introduction session to emerge as solid contributors.
Florida
lost seven starters on defense, including All-American safety Matt Elam and
All-SEC defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. Offensively, Florida’s top losses were
running back Mike Gillislee, tight end Jordan Reed, offensive linemen Xavier
Nixon and James Wilson, and kicker Caleb Sturgis.
Perhaps
more than any other group of newcomers, the receivers will be watched closely
when fall camp opens the first week of August. Junior starting quarterback Jeff
Driskel is back and second-year offensive coordinator Brent Pease is looking to
open up the passing game in Driskel’s second season as the starter.
Robinson
made a strong impression in spring practice and Muschamp would like to see the
others take his lead in fall camp.
“Those are
five guys that want to come in here and compete,’’ Muschamp said of the
receivers. “I tell them you’re the one that will determine how much you play,
not me.”
Muschamp’s
optimism is high for a signing class that ranked in the top five in the country
by most of the major recruiting services.
“We will
know about this class in two or three years,’’ Muschamp said. “A lot of these
guys were guys that have been committed to us for a long time and never took
other visits and there [wasn’t] a lot of flash in their recruiting process.
That’s the kind of guys you want.”
With the
newcomers on campus, the next major event on the Florida football calendar is
July 16 when Muschamp and selected players head to Hoover, Ala., for SEC Media
Days.
