HOOVER, Ala. — The number of teams that claim the title of defensive back university (DBU) could fill a secondary on its own. An argument can be made for several teams, given the talent that schools like Texas, LSU, Virginia Tech and Florida have put out throughout the years. You can debate who owns the title, but the Florida Gators are absolutely in that debate.
“That’s something we work everyday for, the guys before us and the guys after us, we take pride in that,” senior safety Marcus Maye said of owning the DBU moniker. “We always want to be the best. We come together as a group to be the best secondary is what we work for.”
They added two more first round picks to the résumé this offseason, but losing Vernon Hargreaves and Keanu Neal left Florida in an undesirable and new position — there’s a serious depth issue in the secondary.
The talent is there. Jalen Tabor was named a Sporting News First Team All-American on Monday (despite being snubbed by the Thorpe Award watch list) and Quincy Wilson has been collecting snubs, growing the chip on his shoulder all offseason. Those two are as good a tandem at cornerback in the country. Junior Duke Dawson, finally getting an opportunity at nickel back after the departure of Brian Poole, is poised for a breakout season as well. Dawson has waited, at times bot patiently and impatiently, for an opportunity but he’ll get it in 2016.
Maye also returns. Pro Football Focus rated Maye as one of the best safeties in the country in 2015 and named him an All-American. After that, though, there isn’t much depth or experience.
“No,” Wilson said in the spring when I asked him about depth in the secondary. “There’s not really that much depth, so we all gotta stay healthy.”
It’s a real concern.
Before the 2015 season Florida had a truly embarrassing group of talent in the secondary. Hargreaves, Tabor, Wilson, Dawson, Poole, Maye, Neal, J.C. Jackson and Deiondre Porter gave Florida depth that coaches would give their dominant hand for. Porter and Jackson are no longer with the program after off the field incidents and three others are playing for NFL teams currently. It has some wondering if Florida’s DBU is turning into a DB who?
The players acknowledge the depth issue. As a senior, Maye feels a responsibility to bring the younger players along.
“We take pride in getting the younger guys on board,” he said Monday. “Just showing them how we do things in the secondary. I wouldn’t say it’s so much pressure, but the older guys did it for us, so now we have to do it for the younger guys.”
One of the younger guys that will e counted on early is Chauncey Gardner. The former Under Armour All-American cornerback was quickly moved to safety after enrolling early last spring. Gardner had experience playing nickel and cornerback in high school, and now has a grasp of the concepts and feel of the defense at safety at Florida.
“Chauncey’s had a good offseason,” McElwain said. “Obviously it really helped him going through the spring, both moving in and out of nickel and safety.”
That kind of versatility will be needed. Gardner will be Dawson’s backup at nickel and will also earn playing time at safety. He’s exactly the kind of player new defensive backs coach Torrian Gray is looking for.
“He wants everybody to know what everybody is doing,” Maye said of Gray. “That’s what he teaches us. That’s why he moves people around and stuff like that but he’s big on the safeties knowing what the corners are doing and the corners knowing what the safety is doing. So it just makes everyone be same page and makes it easier with communication and stuff.”
Don’t count Gardner out because he’s a freshman. Neither Nick Washington nor Marcell Harris have locked down the starting safety job next to Maye, leaving an opportunity open for Gardner. The freshman from Cocoa will play in 2016 and he’ll have to. Florida just doesn’t have the depth that they’ve grown accustomed to in the secondary. When healthy, there may not be a better secondary in the SEC, but if even one starter were to go down, the unit would suffer.
Can Florida’s secondary be as good as they have been? Sure. They just can’t afford to have any kind of injuries or off the field issues because the depth simply isn’t there in 2016.