Florida Gators left with insufficient hand

On his way out, Urban Meyer said he was leaving a “broken” program — his words. Sporting News detailed just how Meyer “broke” the Florida program after winning two national championships.

However, on his way out, Will Muschamp — despite compiling a 28-21 (17-15 SEC) record at Florida — insisted that the program was headed in the right direction and had the pieces in place.

“They’ve got a deep and talented roster, so don’t let that new guy tell you he ain’t got any players,” Muschamp said. “I can tell you that right now. There are some good football players in that locker room.”

Sure, the Gators have playmakers at cornerback — plenty to go around — Jon Bullard to go along with a deep defensive line and All-American Vernon Hargreaves but there are glaring holes on the roster, specifically on the offensive side of the ball that never finished ranked inside the top-95 in the country under Muschamp.

“When you look at it, you know, the thing that has been lacking is the numbers and the size of what we’re doing on the other side of the ball,” said McElwain. “It’s probably the reason we’re here. That’s all right man, I’m excited to be here and we’re going to get it taken care of.”

So, in a press conference announcing his departure from Florida, Muschamp tried to paint a picture. Sure, things hadn’t gone the way that anyone wanted them to the past four seasons, but he wanted fans to know that the roster he assembled was deep and talented.

That picture just isn’t true, at least, not in the way that he would like you to believe.

The Gators are currently trying to run a spring camp with seven scholarship linemen. The early departures of D.J. Humphries and Tyler Moore were unexpected but even if those two stay you wouldn’t have enough to run a full scrimmage.

Outside of Demarcus Robinson, can you name a playmaker on offense that you feel confident would be a starter on a top-ranked SEC team? Kelvin Taylor? His 47.08 yards-per-game last season were 20th in the conference and his 4.87 yards-per-carry were 24th, just behind Matt Jones.

Even Muschamp’s bread and butter, the defense, has holes. With Jarrad Davis and Antonio Morrison out this spring, Florida is working with four scholarship linebackers.

“You’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt. And right now, quite honestly, the hand we were dealt is really insufficient at some of the areas,” McElwain said. “And yet, at the same time, that’s what you have. So we’re going to make the best of it.”

That’s what they’re doing, making the best of a bad hand. McElwain was given deuce, seven offsuit and he’s trying to hang in there at a table of sharks.

McElwain estimates that the offense has only installed about 10% of their packages with the halfway mark of spring practice nearing. I mean, look,” he reasoned. “We probably have 10 percent of the package in, maybe 11.6%, I don’t know. Not very much.”

McElwain was dealt a bad hand but he’s doing everything he can to make the best of it. He’s having to be creative when structuring practices, saying this camp won’t look like ones in the future once the troops are replenished. He’s even turning it into a positive on the recruiting trail. Recruits have been coming to Gainesville in droves and the product and numbers that they see on the field are giving them ideas of early playing time and an opportunity to shine.

“I think their opportunity to come see how we practice is awesome,” said McElwain. “And their opportunity to come see maybe where the numbers are on the different lines and see where maybe they might not have to stand in line as long. They might be in the ‘Fast Pass’ line, going right on the ride.”

This first season will be tough, but with the creativity that McElwain and his staff are showing in just being able to get through an entire camp with seven offensive linemen should be encouraging to anyone in Orange and Blue.

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

3 COMMENTS

  1. Nick: Another excellent article. A primary responsibility of the journalist is to inform the reader. You do that consistently. For Coach Mac the first real test will come in the fall. Regaining relevancy in the SEC will be difficult. At best, it will probably take 2-3 years of both good coaching and outstanding recruiting. The last time I suggested this in the ‘comment’ section of Gator Bait the response from many was predicable. Many of these poor souls are already packed and ready to head for Atlanta where, they believe, the Gators will by playing Alabama for the SEC Crown. And then off to play Ohio State for the national championship. Indeed, it could happen. Manifestly, it is not likely to happen next year. Not for a few years, at least.

  2. There are certain areas that we’re left bare, but i’m not sure you can throw that all on the old regime. I think the biggest question mark the old staff has was evaluating talent. It wasn’t as if the prior staff didn’t recruit the position.

    If you look back we’ve lost at least three OL from career ending injuries: Octavius Jackson,Nolan Kelleher and Drew Sarvary. Then you have Jessamen Dunker and Quinteze Williams leave the program and D.J. and Moore leave early for the draft. That’s seven OL that left in a three year span. That’s going to hurt your numbers.

    The previous staff choked on certain players, there’s no doubting that, but we’ve struggled with the OL since Summer’s showed up.

    Our biggest issue is guys leaving early for the NFL. The cats like Powell, Jones, Purifoy, Roberson, Moore, even Jenkins, who’s been a huge surprise for the fins, could have helped the program by staying another year. If Morrison doesn’t get hurt, he’s likely gone this year.

    Losing guys like that after a successful junior year hurts, because staying that extra year gives them the experience, the understanding and the reps to take the program over the hump.

    That’s the difference.