Jordan Reed will take Wildcat snaps for Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE -- Florida's two-headed attack at quarterback is about to sprout a new noggin.

UF coach Urban Meyer said tight end Jordan Reed -- who carried three times for 19 yards against Georgia -- would see more time at the position and would do more than run.

``Yes, he can throw,'' Meyer said. ``We just met and I'm giving you something maybe I shouldn't give you. It's in, it's done, and he will throw the ball next week, how's that? So make sure [Vanderbilt] defends it.''
Reed was expected to be the Gators' wildcat quarterback before a preseason injury handed the job to Trey Burton.

• Freshman safety Jonathan Dowling was kicked off the team for an unspecified violation of team rules, Meyer said. When asked if the move was permanent, Meyer said, ``done.''

• UF punter/kicker Chas Henry was named Southeastern Conference Co-Special Teams Player of the Week and he and Burton were tagged as part of the Tri-Freshman of the Week for their roles in the Gators' win against Georgia.

Frosh Dowling dismissed from Gators for rules violation

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Urban Meyer says freshman safety Jonathan Dowling is no longer on the team because of a rules violation.

Meyer says Dowling has no chance of returning, either. It's unclear what Dowling did to get dismissed.

The 6-foot-3, 184-pound Dowling played in two games this season. He did not even dress the last three games.

Dowling was considered one of the top defensive back prospects in the country last year. He had 58 tackles, 14 interceptions and three blocked punts as a senior at Bradenton's Southeast High.

He's the third player, and second safety, gone from Florida's highly regarded freshman class. Receiver Adrian Coxson and safety Jordan Haden left Gainesville before the season. Coxson enrolled at Maryland.

Georgia assistant seems to give Gators choke sign

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida-Georgia rivalry may have a new twist, this one courtesy of Georgia assistant coach Todd Grantham.

A television snapshot from Sun Sports in Florida shows Grantham, the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, seemingly giving the choke sign as Florida's Chas Henry lined up for the winning field goal Saturday in Jacksonville.

Henry drilled the 37-yarder, ending Florida's three-game losing streak and giving the Gators their 18th win in the last 21 years against Georgia.

Florida coach Urban Meyer and quarterback John Brantley said they heard about it, but neither saw it from across the field.

Georgia was holding its regular Monday practice, and neither Richt nor Grantham was immediately available. Richt doesn't normally speak to the media on Mondays.

Urban Meyer Monday Presser

CHAMPIONS AND AWARDS
After three consecutive losses and an overall lack of things to celebrate post-game, a tough win allowed Meyer to announce that 17 Gators had earned the designation of Champions after Saturday’s win over the Georgia Bulldogs.

Offensively, Meyer named redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Rainey, freshman quarterback Trey Burton and redshirt sophomore WR Frankie Hammond, Jr. as his most valuable players along with senior center Mike Pouncey, redshirt junior QB John Brantley, redshirt senior guard Carl Johnson, redshirt junior WR Deonte Thompson, sophomore tight end Jordan Reed, redshirt senior tackle Marcus Gilbert, redshirt freshman guard Jon Halapio and redshirt junior fullback Steven Wilks as his champions. On the defensive side of the ball, junior safety Will Hill won the MVP award, while senior safety Ahmad Black, junior cornerback Janoris Jenkins, redshirt freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins, and senior defensive ends Justin Trattou and Duke Lemmens were champions.

The Southeastern Conference honored senior punter/kicker Chas Henry with its Co-Special Teams Player of the Week award and Burton with its Tri-Freshman of the Week award on Monday. Henry was 2-of-3 on his field goal attempts including a 37-yard game winner, and Burton rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOUR DEFICIENT AREAS
One week ago, Meyer mentioned four particular areas in which Florida was struggling on offense and needed to drastically improve on in order to turn around the season. Here is how the Gators fared in those four areas against the Bulldogs:

1. Turnovers – 4-to-1 ratio with Brantley’s interception coming when sophomore WR Omarius Hines quit running a route.

2. Big plays – Florida had five against Georgia after none in the previous five games combined – a big turnaround.

3. Pass efficiency – UF’s quarterbacks were 30 points more efficient (120) than average.

4. Red zone efficiency – The Gators converted 5-of-6 red zone opportunities with a miscue coming on a missed field goal by Henry on the first offensive drive of the game.

OFFENSE REBOUNDS, DEFENSE CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE
While the offense spent two weeks of practice being retooled and streamlined, the defense’s goal during the bye week was figuring out how to get off the field on third down. Mississippi State ran the ball down Florida’s throats in its upset victory two weeks ago, and Georgia accomplished a similar feat through the air. Meyer was blunt when speaking about what had to be improved on that side of the ball.

“We’re not playing great defense. It’s just the way it is. We’re not and we have to improve,” he said. “Does that mean we didn’t have some great efforts? We certainly created turnovers and short fields, which our defense has done a decent job of all year. Back to compartmentalize – it’s third downs and red zone. We were 3-of-3 [in red zone scores] we gave up and third downs are not good.”

Asked if he will reevaluate the defense the same as he did the offense, Meyer responded: “I just don’t have time. I’ve never done that. These are the issues, get them cleaned up immediately. We have very good coaches. We just got to clean up a few things because at times we play outstanding defense. It’s getting off the field that has been a situation for us.”

GAME BALL TO MR. ANDREU
To begin his press conference, Meyer handed a game ball to long-time Gainesville Sun writer Robbie Andreu, whose father passed away in October. Today, Nov. 1, also happens to have been his father’s birthday.

QUOTES
Meyer on a special teams gaffe: “We allowed a kickoff return a the most critical time to pop out past the 50, which is something that absolutely cannot happen and will be exposed this week as well – [Vanderbilt] has a fine returner.”

Meyer on Hill: “Played his best football game as a Gator. […] He played well. Move on. Keep playing well. You can’t play good defense without a free safety.”

Meyer on the next game: “The urgency has not left this facility and left this team. We had a good day [Saturday], and we will move forward.”

Meyer on running the ball: “Right now to run the football in college, you need to do some kind of… It’s Oregon, it’s Missouri, it’s Auburn, it’s Florida in the past… You have to be creative to run the ball. Defenses are too good. […] You need to create explosive plays in the run game. I’m not saying it’s impossible, it’s just darn close not having the ability to get some athleticism at quarterback.”

Meyer on saying Georgia victory was his “greatest win:” “Greatest win. Of all time. History of the game. Absolutely. It’s big-picture. Big picture for the most important people – our players. Second most important people – our staff, support. The karma. The eating food that tastes good again. We had a victory meal last night, I think it was about 8:30 at night. I couldn’t tell ya – I have no idea what it was, but it was unbelievable. That’s why. That was a much-needed victory. And the way they did it. When Will Hill intercepted that ball and went 80-some yards – it was 70 people down in the end zone. We needed that as opposed to the dull… My gosh, after a while it’s just beating a dead horse. ‘Let’s get this thing going.’ And we did. And I think Steve [Addazio] and our offensive staff did a brilliant job with the tempo. You don’t have time to be a dullard now. So we’re going.”

Meyer on how the program felt after the last three losses: “It was miserable; however, the 22 other hours were miserable, the two hours [during practice] weren’t miserable because we had guys that weren’t resistive, weren’t defiant, and they were working. You got to take your hat off to guys like Mike Pouncey, Johnny, Trey Burton, Rainey, Demps and just seeing the energy out there – and Deonte. There’s no shortage of good dudes in this program. There might be a shortage of some other things, but there’s no shortage of that. The 22-hour miserable days were only made possible by that two hours of everybody on a mission to get a little better.”

Meyer on if Reed can and will throw: “Yeah, he can throw. Yes. Done. I’m giving you something maybe I shouldn’t give you. It’s in, it’s done and he will throw the ball next week. How’s that? Make sure they defend it.”

Meyer on the team being rejuvinated: “It’s amazing how fragile it is. We all know that we were a couple healthy runners maybe away from winning the third game. Not taking anything away from our opponent – the MSU game. If the ball bounces or, it’s just the game of college football is so fragile. And when you start dealing with noise, it becomes even more fragile. Obviously [winning] cures a lot of evils. It’s easy to be a great leader, great person and great worker when you’re hoisting the crystal ball. It’s somewhat difficult – and that’s why everybody’s made a little differently – when you’re getting hit right square in the mouth. Can you come back and go a little harder? The guys I’ve mentioned, the Champions right here, you can hit those guys square in the mouth and they’re going to come back for more and get a little better…which is kinda cool.”

Meyer on if freshman CB Cody Riggs is now a starter: “No. He played pretty good. He’s certainly in the rotation though.”

Meyer on if Burton playing a large role bothers Brantley: “I think he’s fine. Johnny’s one of those guys, he tells you how he feels and he likes to win games. […] I don’t see a problem, and I look for them.”

Meyer on if playing at Vanderbilt with a smaller crowd during the day is weird: “It is a concern because you know the team you’re playing is one of those teams that’s looking to getcha. And they got the talent to getcha. And they got that offense where they got an athletic quarterback. That’s uncomfortable. Last time was down at Ole Miss – that was bizarre – getting up at 6 a.m. and the whole deal. Nothing we can do about it, just gotta play our tails off.”

Florida Soccer's Nicky Kit Picks Up Two Weekly Honors

Senior defender Nicky Kit (Livermore, Calif./Granada H.S.) is the CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime Player of the Week after her game-winning goal Friday at No. 17 South Carolina. She also was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Kit’s 20-yard strike off a free kick in the final 10 seconds of the opening half was the decisive goal of the match to decide the 2010 SEC title between the league’s top two teams. The left-back’s shot hit the near post and kicked in, which gave Florida a 1-0 win at South Carolina. It was her second goal of the season, fourth of her career and her first game-winner. She has appeared in every match this season with 14 starts.

CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime	SEC Players of the Week – 11/1/10
Player of the Week	Defensive – Nicky Kit, Florida
D: Nicky Kit, Florida	Offensive– Katy Frierson, Auburn
	Freshman – Elisabeth Sullivan, Mississippi State

The SEC title was Florida’s fifth consecutive and 11^th in the program’s 16-year history.

The Gators now head to the SEC Tournament which begins Wednesday, Nov. 3 in Orange Beach, Ala. Top-seeded Florida will open play at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 3 versus No. 8 seed Vanderbilt. The Gators have won eight SEC Tournament titles with the last coming in 2007.

Volleyball's Anderson, Murphy Named SEC Players of the Week

Florida juniors Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) on Monday earned weekly recognition from the Southeastern Conference for their stellar performances in a pair of wins against South Carolina and Ole Miss this past week, the league offices in Birmingham, Ala., announced.

Murphy was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season and sixth time in her collegiate career, while Anderson was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career and the first time since Dec. 1, 2008.

The pair helped lead No. 1 Florida to a 3-0 sweep of South Carolina in Gainesville last Wednesday night before sweeping then-SEC Western Division leader Ole Miss on Friday night in front of a hostile environment in Oxford, Miss, to improve its record to 20-1 overall and 13-0 in the Southeastern Conference.

Murphy averaged 3.50 kills per set on a team-high .450 hitting percentage with a squad-best 0.83 service aces per set this weekend. She tallied a team-high 4.58 points per set and dished out 4.67 assists per set (as part of a 6-2 offensive scheme), helping lead the Gators’ offense to an impressive .344 team hitting efficiency for the two matches combined. She also added 2.50 digs per set and 0.50 blocks per set over the course of the weekend.

Murphy hit better than .350 in both matches this weekend, including a .562 clip against Ole Miss on Friday night, which marked the sixth time this season that she has hit better than .500. Against the Rebels, Murphy charted her sixth triple-double of the season and her 21st career triple-dip with 10 kills on .562 hitting to go with a team-high 16 assists and a match-high 10 digs for 12.0 total points. She also charted 11 kills on .375 hitting with 12 assists, three service aces, five digs and three blocks vs. South Carolina.

Murphy, who has recorded eight consecutive double-doubles, is the only player to rank among the SEC’s top-10 in kills per set, service aces per set and hitting percentage simultaneously. On the season (all matches combined), Murphy leads the SEC with 0.39 service aces per set, is third in the league with a .382 hitting percentage and ranks eighth in kills per set with 3.23. In conference matches only, Murphy is averaging a league-high 0.49 service aces per set and is hitting at an explosive .416 clip.

Anderson led a powerful Florida blocking brigade last week, averaging a squad-best 1.50 blocks per set. She directed a Gator blocking effort that out-blocked opponents 18.0-3.0 over the course of the week. Under Anderson’s direction, Florida averaged 3.00 blocks per set over the course of the two matches. Due to Florida’s strong blocking efforts, the Gators held both of their opponents to under a .100 hitting efficiency and this week’s opposition hit a combined .062 against Florida in the two matches.

Anderson charted a match-high six blocks against South Carolina last Wednesday night, helping the Gators out-block the Gamecocks 9.0-2.0 and limiting South Carolina to just a .057 hitting efficiency. She then registered three blocks at Ole Miss on Friday night, helping the Gators limit the Rebels to just a .067 hitting clip for the match.

On the season (all matches combined), Anderson ranks first on her team and third in the SEC in blocks per set with 1.15 and, in conference matches only, leads the league with an impressive 1.21 blocks per set. She also averages 1.48 kills per set on a .357 hitting efficiency for the season.

The Gators return to action on Friday, when they travel to Athens, Ga., to take on Georgia. Opening serve in the Ramsey Student Center is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the match will be carried live on 103.7 FM The Gator with Cory Stephens.

For all of the latest information on Florida volleyball, please log on to www.gatorzone.com/volleyball. Follow Florida volleyball on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorMary.

SEC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (WEEK 10 – NOVEMBER 1, 2010)

Offensive: Kelly Murphy, Florida

Defensive: Cassandra Anderson, Florida

Freshman: Raymariely Santos, Arkansas

SEC VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS (AS OF NOV. 1, 2010)

Eastern Division

Team	Overall	SEC
Florida	20-1	13-0
Tennessee	19-5	10-4
Kentucky	7-7	13-11
Georgia	11-14	3-11
South Carolina	5-18	2-11

Western Division

Team	Overall	SEC
LSU	21-2	12-2
Ole Miss	17-6	11-3
Auburn	16-10	7-7
Arkansas	12-13	6-8
Mississippi State	11-13	3-10
Alabama	9-14	1-12

UF Women's Cross Country Wins 2010 SEC Title; Men Take Third at League Meet Monday

The 2010 Florida women’s cross country team turned in championship-worthy performances Monday at Hilton Field and Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., as the Gators won the 2010 SEC Championship team title, their second consecutive, for the fifth time in school history (1984, 1996, 1997, 2009, 2010) and tallied back-to-back titles for the second time in program history.

Of note: Florida’s last three SEC Championship titles have come in Columbia, S. C. – baseball (2010), women’s soccer, which just won the 2010 SEC regular season soccer title in Columbia Friday, and women’s cross country Monday.

The Florida men’s cross country team posted a third-place team finish, its best performance at the SEC Championship meet since 2007. The Gator men’s squad finished in the top five at the conference meet for the 14th consecutive year and in the top three for the ninth consecutive season.

SEC recognizes Henry, Burton

Florida's Chas Henry, who kicked the 37-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Gators over Georgia 34-31 on Saturday, was named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week.

Henry was 2-of-3 on field goals along with punting six times for 281 yards (46.8 avg.), while dropping two inside the 20.

He shares the weekly honors with Auburn return specialist Demond Washington, who returned five kickoffs for 176 yards including a 95-yard return for a TD in Auburn’s 51-31 win at Ole Miss.

UF quarterback Trey Burton was also recognized by the league, getting named Freshman of the Week after rushing for 110 yards on 17 carries and two TDs, catching five passes for 35 yards and was 2-for-2 passing for 26 yards in Florida’s win against Georgia. He shares that honor with Auburn running back Michael Dyer and South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore.

Also winning players of week honors were Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (Offensive player), Mississippi State linebacker Chris White (Defensive player), Mississippi State tackle Derek Sherrod (Offensive lineman) and South Carolina's Devin Taylor (Defensive lineman).

UF Football Game vs. South Carolina To Kick Off At 7:15 p.m.

The start time for the Gator football team's game against South Carolina in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Nov. 13 will be at 7:15 p.m. and the game will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2.

SEC Football Games On Saturday, Nov. 13

Ole Miss at Tennessee – 12 p.m. – CBS Sports

Vanderbilt at Kentucky – 12:21 p.m. – SEC Network

Georgia at Auburn – 3:30 p.m. – CBS Sports

UTEP at Arkansas – 7 p.m. – ESPNU

UL-Monroe at LSU – 7 p.m. – PPV

South Carolina at FLORIDA – 7:15 p.m. – ESPN or ESPN2*

Mississippi State at Alabama – 7:15 p.m. – ESPN or ESPN2*

*The game time for both South Carolina at Florida and Mississippi State at Alabama will be at 7:15 p.m. The network, ESPN or ESPN2, will be decided after the results from the games of Nov. 6.

Recap: Georgia vs. Florida

The Florida Gators snuck by the Georgia Bulldogs 34-31 after an overtime field goal by kicker Chas Henry in an SEC showdown at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.

Trey Burton ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries for Florida (5-3, 3-3 SEC), while quarterback John Brantley threw for 193 yards and one interception on 16-of-25 passing in the win.

Georgia (4-5, 3-4) was led by quarterback Aaron Murray who completed 18 of his 37 passes for 313 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Receiver Orson Charles caught six receptions for 108 yards and one score in the loss.

Neither team was able to put up points in the opening quarter. Rainey opened up the scoring for the Gators with a 20-yard touchdown run and an early 7-0 lead.

Georgia evened the score at seven on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Murray to Tavarres King.

Florida answered back when Jeffery Demps found the end zone after a two-yard run midway through the second quarter. Burton later ran for a one-yard touchdown of his own as the Gators took a 21-7 advantage into the intermission.

Georgia brought the deficit to 21-10 after kicker Blair Walsh connected on a 28-yard field goal, marking the only third quarter points in the affair.

Washaun Ealey ran for a four-yard score for the Bulldogs, but a failed two- point conversion kept Georgia on the wrong end of a 21-16 margin.

Florida lengthened its lead to 24-16 after a 34-yard field goal from Henry.

Georgia fired back after Murray hooked up with Charles for a 29-yard score. Murray then scampered up the middle for a two-point conversion and a 24-24 game.

Burton gave the Gators the 31-24 advantage after rushing for his second touchdown of the day, this time from 51 yards out.

Georgia tied the game once again after Murray connected on a 15-yard score to wide receiver A.J. Green. Neither team was able to grab the lead by the end of regulation, sending the matchup into overtime.

After the Bulldogs were unable to put up points on their overtime possession, the Gators took advantage of the opportunity when Henry booted a 37-yard field goal for the victory.