A calm and competent winner

Let the record reflect the college legend of a legendary high school quarterback was established on the very day a strong cold front moved through Northeast Florida. It was the first of November on the banks of the Saint Johns River and a 38-hot warm front came barreling up from the University City in the form of Thunder (number 24, Matt Jones), and Lightning (number 21, Kelvin Taylor). Thunder and Lightning delivered the bullets that demolished the opposition Saturday. But the field general who pulled the trigger that killed the opposition wore number three. He’s Russell-Wilson-short, but much like the pro quarterback he emulates on the field, he’s an assassin.

Just ask the South Florida high school fans who saw him murder team after team after team.

Treon Harris took the Georgia Bulldogs down on Saturday, bullet by bullet. Displaying the calm competence Gator Nation has been longing for, Treon the Transcendent delivered. Now, throughout all of Gator Nation, there is hope for the future.

The day mirrored the cold yet frenetic competence of a true freshman quarterback that Gator Nation has been starving to watch, cheer and fall in love with. Treon Harris, a young man I dubbed Treon the Transcendent weeks ago after hitting two touchdown passes in two passing attempts in his Florida Field debut, topped that legendary but somewhat unimportant (or, so people said) performance with a games-long command of the quarterback position that was a sight for sore eyes among suffering fans within Gator Nation.

And he did it against the hated Georgia Bulldogs.

In his first SEC start.

On national television.

Thank you, Treon. Thank you, thank you, thank you. As I’ll explain later, Harris has been conveniently overlooked and minimized for his contribution to this crucial Gator victory. What the conventional wisdom is conveniently forgetting is this: Georgia opened with a six-play drive, then punted. Florida opened with a three-and-out. Uh oh. Then UGA put together an 8-play drive of 85 yards and now there’s a 7-0 Georgia lead.

Context, remember?

Florida followed that with another three-and-out, highlighted by a deep passing attempt from Treon to Demarcus Robinson that was in my direct line of sight. Not really close to completion. Oh, boy. Georgia followed that up with a 6-play drive but was stopped on an absolutely crucial third-and-two for a one-yard gain. The Dawgs, however, had amassed 140 yards or so of total offense and had dominated the quarter.

But then our true freshman quarterback, making his first start ever for our beloved Gators, in the Florida-Georgia game, on national television . . . showed the first sign of settling down and settling into the game. Two Matt Jones runs left us with a third-and-three. Treon then executed a draw play magnificently for a 12-yard gain. First down, Florida. I said to myself at that moment, here’s where we bust ‘em up and bust ‘em up good with a mix of running and passing. Matt Jones immediately popped off another 10-yard gain.

Then disaster struck.

A bad exchange killed our brief momentum, the resulting fumble gave UGA the ball at our 48 yard line. They then promptly ran off a 7-play drive. In the midst of that drive, I said to the folks around me, “This could get ugly.” Looking around our side of the stadium, that was very clearly the mood of everyone present. Before the game had commenced, many other Gators had conceded the game this week and some of them were ticketholders that sold their tickets to Dawg fans. There were more than a few seated around me. But our defense rose up, thankfully, and Georgia missed their field goal attempt.

At this very moment is where the importance of calm, competent leadership at the quarterback position has to be fully appreciated. This game felt like it was about to get out of hand. The wind was howling, and the Dawg fans were extremely confident. Gooooooo, JahJuh BullllllllllllDawgs was echoing throughout the stadium. In the face of all that, my man Treon Harris took the field with his teammates at the Florida 22. The Gators were down on the South endzone side of EverBank Field, where the Georgia band was seated. It was the beginning of the second quarter, and Georgia smelled blood. The band was blaring, the Dawg defense was hopping around, barking and all of that.

“What the hell are you going to do, fresh meat?” they seemed to be saying.

And then Treon showed ‘em.

Harris executed the Gator offense with precision immediately after that disastrous fumble. That’s the very definition of calm, competent leadership. The importance of which cannot be overestimated, ladies and gentlemen. Kelvin Taylor helped him out and busted off some nice runs but suddenly it was third-and-seven at the Georgia 48. Treon then executed a beautiful pass out in the flat to Matt Jones that hit him in-stride (how long have we been waiting for that?) and Jones took it 12 yards for a first down.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I exhaled after that play.

It told me that Treon was locked in and comfortable, as I had hoped (and, in truth, prayed!) and the earlier fumble was a complete non-issue. That drive would eventually stall, Mike McNeely would then etch himself into Florida-Georgia history, and – at 7-7 — all Gators in the stadium turned to each other and kinda-sorta said, “Ain’t this something!?!”

But it was the next Gator possession that defined Treon’s performance in his first Florida-Georgia game. After the defense again stopped Georgia (and I’m taking nothing from them; they were absolutely magnificent in this game), Florida took the ball at the Gator 36. Kelvin Taylor ripped off a 44-yard run. Suddenly, we’re at the Georgia 15. Matt Jones runs up the middle for no gain. Thankfully, the coaches showed enough confidence in Treon to allow a passing play and Treon delivered beautifully. I don’t know what the first read was, don’t care. What I know is that Treon instinctively flowed with the play, and then spotted Latroy Pittman (a receiver who has not inspired confidence this season) on a crossing pattern and hit him with professional-level precision down at the two-yard-line. Kelvin then took the rock in for the go-ahead touchdown.

That’s when the Gator side of the stadium REALLY exploded!

Oh, what a relief it was to watch number three command the Gator offense against those damn Georgia Bulldogs. Oh, what a relief it was to see – live and in living color – calm, competent leadership at the quarterback position. It was absolutely infectious. For intangible reasons alone, Treon Harris was the single most important recruit in our 2014 class. The fact that so many overlooked this legendary Florida high school quarterback is absolutely irrelevant. A prominent Gator sports site doesn’t even include him on their roster of 2014 recruits. When I advised the guy who runs the site of this error back in the summer he assured me it was a simple oversight and certainly not intentional. As of last week, it still had not been updated.

A very telling column written by Mike Bianchi in the Orlando Sentinel after the game may as well serve as a proxy for conventional wisdom concerning Treon Harris’ performance in this Florida-Georgia game:

True freshman quarterback Treon Harris, starting his first game in place of mistake-prone Jeff Driskel, completed only 3 of 6 passes for 27 yards and essentially did nothing except hand off the ball.

What? Did nothing but hand off the ball? Yes, he completed only three passes – but two of those were for first downs and both of those completions were on drives that resulted in the two initial touchdowns for the Gators. Yes, he only rushed six times for 37 yards – but two of *those* rushes were also for first downs. So that’s twelve directly actionable plays by Treon (six passes, six rushes) and one-third of them resulted in first downs for the Gators.

I’d say that’s not only pretty damn efficient but pretty damn important.

However, to understand the casual ridiculousness of this ”all Treon did was hand off the ball” assertion it helps to remember some context, and there are many layers to the context applicable to Treon Harris in the Florida-Georgia game but for the purpose of this column Jeff Driskel and the LSU game come to mind.

It was probably Jeff’s best game of the season (LSU is clearly superior to Kentucky in talent and — IMHO — Jeff squandered so much in the first half of that Kentucky game) that it is also an indication of just how difficult it has been for him this year. He completed 14-of-25 passes for 183 yards with a touchdown, a fumble and two interceptions while leading us on the ground with 21 rushes for 71 yards. But he fumbled early to set LSU up for their first touchdown. Then with us leading 17-14, he throws a deep ball interception. Most damning, though, is that infamous last drive of the game for us. Fifty-five seconds left, score tied 27-27, we take possession at the Florida 42. The worst we can do is go to overtime, the best is win the game. We cannot lose the game. There’s only 55 seconds left. Two safe passes get us to the LSU 45 yard line. About 30-35 seconds remain.

Jeff then promptly throws the game away.

At that moment, I promptly decided that I was done with Jeff Driskel as our starting quarterback. He can certainly makes amends. We may very well need him to rescue us somewhere down the line later this season. But I was done with him as our starting QB, regardless of what decision the coaches would or would not make.

Job number one for the Florida Gator quarterback is to not beat the Florida Gators.

Treon Harris mastered job number one, and then some, against the Georgia Bulldogs.

As a true freshman.

In his first start.

In a conference game.

Against a ranked opponent in the hunt for the college playoffs and a national championship.

In the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

I’m sure I’ll have more on Thunder (Matt Jones) and Lightning (Kelvin Taylor) later but the legendary Florida high school quarterback from Miami is well on his way to building a collegiate legend to complement his high school legend and has already etched himself into Florida-Georgia history.

Happily, I was there to witness it and will talk about it for the rest of my life.

J.B. White
J.B. White is a native Floridian who describes himself as a Florida-Georgia boy; both parents were born and raised in Georgia, but he is 100% Floridian. After graduating from Orange Park High School, he served a tour in the United States Army and in the Active Reserves while a student at U.F., graduating with a Political Science degree in 1985. He then graduated from the FSU College of Law. With two siblings who are practicing attorneys, he laughs off his abject failure on the Florida Bar Exam as a painful gift from God. He is currently on the Board of Directors for CREOLE, Inc., a nonprofit heavily influenced by the University of Florida.

1 COMMENT

  1. I hope this young man can continue to build his confidence as the coaches open up the playbook. If the winning continues -then, J.B. your ‘Transcendent’ title will be appropriately earned. I’m hoping for his continued success. So far, handing off has been his primary job. And, I do appreciate your supporting documentation that it involves more. With our improved line play and the running backs rediscovering their game, he could do quite well if a few guys can help him out on the other end of passes. I’m scared to label anyone the savior until this ship gets off the sand bar. If the last game is any indication-it appears the team and our young QB could be onto something. Right now, I’m praying to ‘the savior’ for our continued success. Win in Tally at the end of the year and another statue needs to be added at the athletic complex. You can officially name that statue: ‘Treon the Transcendent’…at that point the body of work would justify it. Treon is a refreshing change. Good for him, good for us. Go Gators.