2011 Gators

[ABoyNamedSuh]

NOTE: All heights and weights are from www.gatorzone.com and all rankings and ratings are from Scout.


Upcoming important dates:

Pro-Day is set for March 17th (Open to the Public)

Spring game is scheduled for April 10th. (Obviously open to the public, $5 per ticket)


Personnel moves:

Gary Brown has been dismissed from the team.

Patchan might not be back till Fall practice.

Mike Pouncey is moving to C from RG.

Jordan Reed is moving to TE from QB.

Dee Finley is moving over to OLB from S.

Josh Evans is moving to S from CB.

Chris Rainey is going to start this spring with the WRs, working in the slot (Y position).

Am guessing that Travan Van starts out at RB.

We are sitting at 86 schollies by my count.


Coaching changes:

D.J. Durkin was brought in to coach LBs and Special Teams, formerly ST and DE coach at Stanford. (Replaces Vance Bedford, DC at Louisville)

Stan Drayton was brought back to coach RBs formerly same position at Syracuse. (Replacing Kenny Carter, RB and ST coach at Louisville)

Zach Azzani was brought in to coach WRs, formerly same position at Central Michigan. (Replacing Billy Gonzales, WR and passing game coord. at LSU)

Teryl Austin was brought into share Defensive Coordinator position with Chuck Heater, formerly DB coach with Arizona Cardinals. (Replacing Charlie Strong, HBC at Lousiville)


Here is my Pre-Spring game projected Starters:

QB - Brantley

RB - Moody/Demps

FB - Pridemore

WR (X) - Carl Moore

WR (Y) - Andre Debose

WR (Z) - Deonte Thompson

TE - Desmond Parks

LT - Xavier Nixon

LG - James Wilson

C - Mike Pouncey

RG - Carl Johnson

RT - Marcus Gilbert


RE - William Green

DT - Jaye Howard

NT - Omar Hunter

LE - Justin Trattou

Will - Brandon Hicks

Mike - Jon Bostic

Sam - A.J. Jones

CB - Janoris Jenkins

FS - Will Hill

SS - Ahmad Black

CB - Adrian Bushell

K - Caleb Sturgis

P - Chaz Henry

KR - Chris Rainey/Jeff Demps

PR - Soloman Patton


NOTE: Returning starters in Blue


Position battles:

TE: Parks has a year of scout team under his belt. He was RS'd and now has some young guns to compete with in Gerald Christian and Michael McFarland, not to mention Jordan Reed moving over from QB. I gave it to Parks because he has been here for a year, but I liked what I have seen from Gerald Christian in the the Army AA game and senior highlights.

RE aka FOX DE: William Green has been here and the staff has thought highly of him since day one (never RS'd him). He has a little filling out to do but has steadily gained weight and muscle under Coach Marroti. Love his speed, height and wingspan. Think he has game comparable to Jarvis Moss. Kedric Johnson, Ronald Powell and Lynden Trail would be my guesses for competition. Trail is most likely going to RS because he needs to gain some weight to play DE in the SEC. Powell has premium level athleticism and is 6'4 240 right now. I like him taking over at Fox before the season is over.

Y WR aka slot: Andre Debose is the leader, IMO. Granted he was hurt and had surgery to repair a hamstring injury last year, but from reports he is ready to go for spring practice. Chris Rainey is going to be getting some reps here, too. Not sure of the competition here, but if Debose stays healthy I feel like it's his post to lose. Incoming frosh Chris Dunkley and Adrian Coxson might be better suited for X and Z (split end and flanker)positions. One guy that I like, but might also be better suited for X or Z is Omarius Hines. He really impressed me in the limited action he was given. He might outgrow WR, because of how ripped he is.

CB (opposite Janoris): Jeremy Brown, by most accounts, was having the better practices than Janoris when both were freshmen. Injuries have slowed down Bushell, also. I doubt anyone can blame the staff for having them sit behind a couple of seniors (Anderson and Pierre-Louis) and two of the most talented CBs to ever suit up in the O and B, in Jenkins and Haden. Hopefully they will be injury free and we get to see one of them win the job opposite Janoris. I would assume that the main competition will come from incoming blue chippers Jaylen Watkins and Josh Shaw, not to mention Moses Jenkins. I really like the size/speed of Watkins.




2010 Schedule:


September 4th vs. Miami (Ohio)

September 11th vs. South Florida

September 18th @ Tennessee

September 25th vs. Kentucky

October 2nd @ Alabama

October 9th vs. LSU

October 16th vs. Mississippi State (Homecoming)

October 23rd BYE

October 30th vs Georgia (@ Jacksonville)

November 6th @ Vanderbilt

November 13th vs. South Carolina

November 20th vs. Appalachian State(Senior Day)

November 27th @ Florida State


Bold Predictions

Offensive MVP: John Brantley

Defensive MVP: Jon Bostic

Frosh impact player on offense: RS Frosh Andre Debose

Frosh impact player on defense: True Frosh Ronald Powell

I am thinking that we can still win the SEC East and have a rematch against Alabama in Atlanta. Not sure who will win, but do know that Alabama will be favored, and rightfully so. You gotta knock off the king of the hill to be king. I am hoping for a big year from Deonte Thompson and Omar Hunter.

Where all my Draft Countdown Gators at?

[BigJohn98]

Did you just hop on the Gator bandwagon?

[superman8456]

Moving Dominique Easely to DT is going to be a mistake, imo

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Originally Posted by BigJohn98

Did you just hop on the Gator bandwagon?

Ummm.....no. And that was a nice whiff by Reid on Hernandez last year. lol



:P

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Originally Posted by superman8456

Moving Dominique Easely to DT is going to be a mistake, imo

Kid was recruited for that position, specifically. That was a major selling point, having him and Floyd on the inside with Powie (Powell) and Trail on the outside. Granted Powie, Easley and Trail need to put on some weight and Trail most likely will RS this year.

Could you elaborate on your post please? Thanks.

[sbh15]

Originally Posted by superman8456

Moving Dominique Easely to DT is going to be a mistake, imo

Why? He's already verging on being the size of a 3-4 DE at 263, his frame is way more suited for defensive tackle.

[yourfavestoner]

Verrrrrry excited about this team, especially John Brantley.

Also, for your position battles: LT is going to be a fun one between Xavier Nixon and Matt Patchan. Both have first round potential. Patchan actually has top 5 potential.

[ATLDirtyBirds]

Thoughts on the play of Will Hill last year and heading into this year?

[murdamal86]

Originally Posted by ATLDirtyBirds

Thoughts on the play of Will Hill last year and heading into this year?

It's now or never time for him cause Elam is going to close on him QUICK if Hill doesn't make the leap to the All-SEC type player he should be. I think he'll have a great season. He's been waiting his time and last year teams didn't really test us throw the air besides safe throws so his numbers are a bit misleading.

Can't wait to see our running game though

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Originally Posted by yourfavestoner

Verrrrrry excited about this team, especially John Brantley.

Also, for your position battles: LT is going to be a fun one between Xavier Nixon and Matt Patchan. Both have first round potential. Patchan actually has top 5 potential.

From what I have read, Nixon is a lock for LT. Patchan won't be ready for spring ball, also heard that it was a pretty serious knee injury, so don't know if he will be competing with Xavier this year. Hope that he does recover and gets back to 100% soon. Love his makeup and motor.

[Komp]

I thought Nixon played really well for a younger guy last year and naturally will just get better and better as he plays more games.

I like the call on Bostic being the defensive impact player of the year....he just oozes potential...

[GhostDeini]

Originally Posted by yourfavestoner

Verrrrrry excited about this team, especially John Brantley.

Also, for your position battles: LT is going to be a fun one between Xavier Nixon and Matt Patchan. Both have first round potential. Patchan actually has top 5 potential.

Based on what ? Getting Tim Tebeaux almost killed vs. Kentucky ?? GTFOH.

[MiWolves]

Originally Posted by GhostDeini

Based on what ? Getting Tim Tebeaux almost killed vs. Kentucky ?? GTFOH.

You dont't have to be an asshat that was only 1 game

[Da Big Harv]

I like alot of your projected starters only thing I would chance would probably be I think they will shift A.J. Jones to the inside and start him at MIKE and Hicks and Edwards on the outside and rotate Bostic and Jelani in.

I think the DB's should be very terrific with two very experienced and talented safeties and some an incredible freshman DB blass coming in. I think Joshua Shaw will push for time as a freshman as he has a lot of similarities to Josh Haden when he came in as a freshman.

very suprised they didnt take a JUCO QB instead of Murphy with their last scholarship as they are absolutely F'ed if Brantley goes down and he is already a 4th year Junior next year who could leave early for the NFL and I don't think Burton is the future but I guess they were putting all their marbles in the Christian Lemay basket for next year's recruiting.

I also agree with the guy who said Nixon is a lock for LT Pathchan is good but had a very very serious knee injury he might not ever be the same coming back from but he has a very good work ethic and should contribute this year as a blocking TE on certain situations as there biggest TE is 230 pounds.

Speaking of the TE situations I don't expect a TE to be on the field much this year, the two freshman GC and MM are both very talented but TE usually need a year or three to fill out and learn to use there hands to block so I would think there will be a lot of 4 WR sets and 3 WR and 2 RB sets this year.

[SUP]

good write-up

I did find a tiny mistake, in the CB Position Battle part, Bushnell and Browm sat behind SRs Wondy Pierre-Louis and Markihe Anderson. Rickerson got thrown off the team in 08 for beating his GF or some **** like that.

I kinda think it will be Rainey in the Slot though. He started to show some promise in his receiving game towards the end of the year. I also keep hearing how Beal is a ******* beast at Mike but he just cant stay healthy.

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Damn, my bad regarding mixing up Rickerson with Anderson. Good call, sir. Thanks. I fixed it.

Da Big Harv, Bostic is as close a lock for Mike as Nixon is to LT, IMO.

[SUP]

Originally Posted by ABoyNamedSuh

Damn, my bad regarding mixing up Rickerson with Anderson. Good call, sir. Thanks. I fixed it.

Da Big Harv, Bostic is as close a lock for Mike as Nixon is to LT, IMO.

Im excited to see the Offense this year, I think it might be improved over this last seasons.

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Alot of people covering the team, are thinking that it might look alot like our offense when Leak was here. I understand that, but I think we have more talent at the skill positions than when Chris was at QB. But alot depends on the new WR coach, Azzani, and how well our OC Adazzio learned from last year's experience. I want to see us put up points like our 2001 team (Rex and Gaffney) and the 2008 second half offense.

[DeathbyStat]

i see a capital one bowl in their future

[ABoyNamedSuh]

If Bama makes it to the BCS than I see us back in the Sugar.

[SUP]

Originally Posted by ABoyNamedSuh

Alot of people covering the team, are thinking that it might look alot like our offense when Leak was here. I understand that, but I think we have more talent at the skill positions than when Chris was at QB. But alot depends on the new WR coach, Azzani, and how well our OC Adazzio learned from last year's experience. I want to see us put up points like our 2001 team (Rex and Gaffney) and the 2008 second half offense.

We were stacked in 2001 on O. Graham toting the rock, Gaffney, Caldwell and Jacobs putting up huge numbers at Wideout. Rexy playing great. Should of really been undefeated playing the Canes for the MNC, but it didnt happen.

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Spring Practice update:

Patton is killing it so far in the first 2 days. Granted this is mostly 1 on 1 drills with no pads.

Bostic, Beal and Edwards are rotating at Mike with the 1's.

Jordan Reed is now wearing #11 instead of 16. He along with Gerald Christian are rotating at TE with the 1's. Christian is my favorite to win the starting spot.

Edwin Herbert is going to transfer. Kid is a former JuCo and is probably not going to get much if any PT this year at DT.

Rainey has looked good at the Y/slot position.

Deonte still has had some drops.

Elam has been getting a lot of reps at nickel back with the 1's.

Day one starters on D:

D-Line starters, Green, Howard, Hunter, Trattou.

LB starters, Hicks, Bostic, A.J. Jones.

Secondary, Ja. Jenkins, Hill, Black, M. Jenkins.

Jersy numbers for the EE's:

Burton 13
Patton 83
Clark 81
Christian 32
Silberman 77
Orr 68
Ball 48
Elam 22
Haden 39
Shaw 29
Watkins 14

EDIT: also updated the OP with most recent roster (Schollies only) We are sitting at 85 scholarship players now. I figure we might see 2-3 more transfers due to various reasons before fall.

[SUP]

thanks for the updates bro

[The Unseen]

good stuff man

[ABoyNamedSuh]

Desmond Parks is going to have surgery to repair torn ligaments in his wrist. This is believe to have been caused by a collision during the first 2 days of Spring practice with Fr. CB Jaylen Watkins.

Alli has been making great catches and runs during 7 on 7 drills.

At one point duting scrimmages they had Beal and Bostic on the field together.

Okine is hearing it from Coach McCarney. Kid needs to learn how to finish plays.

Burton is looking like he has some wiggle and speed.

Gillislee is really showing how good he can be.


Feel free to ask questions how certain players are doing here in this thread, too. I will try my best to get answers.