Defensive observations: Open practice No. 5

Defensive Observations

  • D.J. Durkin got on the defense as a whole in period four today. The defensive coordinator shouted to his players that they weren’t playing with the type of intensity or tempo that he expects from them.
  • Jalen Tabor struggled somewhat today. He’s good in coverage but has gotten beat several times. He’s not nearly as physical as I thought he would be coming in.
  • Dante Fowler dominated today. He’s too much for Florida’s offensive line to handle and I don’t mean that as an indictment of the offensive line.
  • Bryan Cox Jr. is really taking advantage of extra reps with Jon Bullard playing more inside to fill the void of Leon Orr being out.
  • Nick Washington was in an orange non-contact jersey today but he didn’t seem to have any additional brace on his surgically repaired shoulder. There was more intense hitting today at practice than in previous sessions so it was probably just a precautionary measure.
  • Darious Cummings returned to practice after attending to family matters over the weekend. He had some nice reps today, beating Max Garcia a couple of times that I could see. Cummings is playing both defensive tackle and nose tackle this spring and I think that’s a role that he will fill in the fall as well.
  • Duke Dawson had a very good day. Dawson is a very physical corner and the higher intensity practice today suited him well.
  • Jabari Gorman really struggled in 1-on-1 drills to play with the tight ends. On back-to-back reps Tevin Westbrook and Clay Burton physically dominated him. He was visibly upset with himself following the Burton rep. Gorman has been playing the Matt Elam safety role (Muschamp doesn’t distinguish his safeties as “strong” or “free”) but he will have trouble to physically keep up with the bigger, stronger tight ends.
  • Marcus Maye ended practice with an incredible diving interception. Maye put together a nice practice and almost had another pick in pass skeleton drills.
  • Brad Lawing chewed Caleb Brantley out really good for not giving enough effort during a drill. Brantley has been less than impressive through the first five practices.
  • Another player that has benefited from the pads going on is Antonio Morrison. Morrison is a fierce player behind his pads.
  • Jarrad Davis heard the message and the sophomore linebacker put together his best day of the spring. Davis looks solid in all the linebacker positional drills and even earned a forced fumble today when he ripped a ball out of Kelvin Taylor’s arms.

 

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC