Florida Gators Thoughts of the Week: August 5 – 10

By
Daniel Thompson
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It is finally here. Football is finally here. It is glorious. For the next 26 Sunday’s in a row there will be a football game and soon, for four months there will be football every Saturday, too. And sometimes on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We made it, folks.

We’ve started to read practice reports. We’ve started to see mock depth charts. And we’ve finally started to see just the beginning of the Jim McElwain era.

On the other hand, we’ve seen another transfer; another few injuries; and another press conference that angered reporters because coach McElwain didn’t quite answer the question or explain in more detail.

Needless to say, football season is here and its exciting.

 

Why Adam Lane’s Transfer Matters

While the writing was on the wall, really since Jim McElwain got hired, that Adam Lane would likely transfer from Florida, it is still a tough pill to swallow – simply because of the unknown.

Many reporters, analysts, and fans said “meh” about the transfer and quite a few said he didn’t have much of a role at Florida with the rise of freshman Jordan Scarlett – I postulate that it is more impactful than most of led on.

While Adam Lane only played in seven games last season, he had the highest yard per carry average of any player with at least 20 carries on the Gators and would have ranked 12th nationally in the same statistic with 7.54 yards per rush.

He was shifty, small, had a low center of gravity and ran like a bowling ball, and more importantly, had experience.

Entering this season, the Gators will rely on Kelvin Taylor, who has two seasons under his belt, and Mark Herndon, a former walk-on, to be the veterans of the running core, while giving freshmen Jordan Scarlett and Jordan Cronkrite the opportunity to run. While both Jordan’s are talented, neither has taken a game snap and college is quite a bit different no matter how good a player is, obviously. What if Taylor and/or Scarlett were to get injured – then what?

I may be in the minority, but selfishly for the Gators, having Lane would have been good depth by a good player that could perform and be relied upon to run, score, and block.

I wish him the best on his “family issues”.

 

Why Jim McElwain’s Press Conferences Don’t Bother Me

Lots of folks, mainly reporters, have complained that they don’t like Jim McElwain’s press conferences – primarily because he doesn’t share quite enough information.

I argue, however, that as the CEO of the football team – he doesn’t have to and shouldn’t. I couldn’t really put my thoughts into words organically, so I had to come up with an example.

An example: Companies that are publically traded are similar to the Florida Gators football team. I view Jim McElwain’s job similar to how a company must abide under SEC regulation, where there is no rule requiring the disclosure of a CEO (or employees health status) unless they are completely unable to perform their responsibilities for a significant period of time which could affect operating results – the football comparison would be when a player tears a muscle, has a surgery, etc. Just like Jim McElwain, CEOs (and boards) are usually very reactive and often misleading because many times they are private matters and need to be handled as such. Further, it is not always in the best interest to share private information because it may not affect operating results and could put them at a competitive disadvantage. Disclosing every injury isn’t necessary because teams may take that information to target a player with a hurt arm, knee, or leg; just like disclosing certain information about an executive’s health status may not be the best public message – like it or not.

So while I understand why a reporter may be upset that they are not completely told the truth all the time, it is not in Jim McElwain’s best interest and if we have learned anything from Jim McElwain is that his best interest often trumps your best interest.

 

Florida is #DBU, Right Now

There has been a debate in college football full of #hottakes about what school is #DBU or “Defensive Back University”. While LSU, Virginia Tech, Florida, and others have debated for the last three months about it, according to ProFootballFocus’ new statistics, Florida has the lead going into the 2015 season.

ProFootballFocus (PFF) has named two Gators players as top-10 cornerbacks in college football: Vernon Hargreaves (first) and Jalen Tabor (fourth). PFF gives each player a score on a 1 to 100 scale and they use a weighted depreciation over the past two years with more weight given to recent games, with every single play being given a score of -2 to +2 – somewhat confusing, but they are the math folks.

Hargreaves, arguably, the best defensive back in college football, scored a 96.7 out of 100, which was 7.1 points higher than William Parks from Arizona, who was second. Jalen Tabor, the only underclassman on the top-10, had a score of 86.1, just 0.6 points behind possible first round pick next season Cameron Sutton, of Tennessee. While advanced statistics don’t show everything, they do show that Florida is loaded in the defensive backfield next season.

 

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Song of the Week

As you all know, Chris Janson, is one of my favorite artists. I showed you “Buy Me a Boat” long before it became a hit and here I am going to do it again, with a new song called “Outlaw Ways”. Check it out:

Daniel Thompson
Daniel Thompson
Dan Thompson is a 2010 graduate of the University Florida, graduating with a degree in Economics and a degree in Political Science. During this time at UF, Dan worked three years for the Florida Gator Football team as a recruiting ambassador. Dan dealt daily with prospects, NCAA guidelines, and coaching staff. Dan was also involved in Florida Blue Key, Student Government and Greek Life. Currently, Dan oversees the IT consulting practice of a Tampa-based company. Dan enjoys golfing, country music, bourbon, travel, oysters, and a medium-rare steak. Dan can be found on Twitter at @DK_Thompson.

1 COMMENT

  1. My feeling about Mac’s pressers is that he shouldn’t play the clueless coach when discussing things he doesn’t want to discuss, like injuries. He should just say he doesn’t discuss details about injuries and move on to the next question. The aw shucks, I’m not a doctor schtick is unprofessional and unnecessary. Of course he knows the specifics of an injury. Reporters are professionals, so treat them that way. His schtick can come off condescending, which is not a good look.