Are the Gators making a mistake covering Rashad Greene?

Against Alabama, the Florida Gators played some zone defenses and didn’t have their best cornerback — Vernon Hargreaves — cover Alabama’s best receiver Amari Cooper exclusively.

Cooper had a career day against the Gators, catching 10 passes for 201 yards and three scores.

This week, Florida will face a similarly lethal receiver in Florida State senior Rashad Greene, who ranks 10th in the country averaging 104.4 receiving yards per game and he became Florida State’s all-time leader in receptions last week against Boston College. On the season, Greene has 83 catches for 1,148 yards and five scores.

Greene had to leave the game briefly with an elbow injury but x-rays were negative and he returned to action and is expected to be able to fully participate this week.

Cooper is in a league of his own but Greene is a more than capable receiver who has had at least 100 receiving yards in seven games this season. Despite being able to readily identify the most lethal receiver on Florida State’s roster, the Gators won’t change their defensive philosophy to cover Greene this week.

“Based on coverage and call and situation, it will be different. They are going to be matched up on each other at times,” defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin said of Hargreaves and Greene. “There will be times where he won’t be. It won’t be one of those deals where he’s with him the whole game.”

The past four years the Gators have gone by a motto in practice of wanting to get “good on good” work done — meaning they want the first team offense and defense to go up against each other. This motto, apparently, doesn’t carry over to the field on Saturday.

“There are other things we want to do. We don’t want to sacrifice that,” Durkin said. “Sometimes you do that and all of a sudden you’re putting other guys in spots they haven’t been in before and uncomfortable. I think the main thing is being able to execute.

“Obviously, he’s a great receiver and he’s the guy they go to. We feel good about Vernon as a cover guy, but we don’t want to sacrifice the whole integrity of what we do defensively to say that’s the matchup.”

The Gators made the mistake of not playing their best on an opponent’s best throughout the course of the game and they’re about to do the same this week in Tallahassee.

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

5 COMMENTS

  1. I hate to see Brian Poole victimized so many times in the slot. He’s really good a good football player, but he struggles against a lot of those quick guys. Perhaps we can do somethings to mix up the look some, but the biggest thing will be the pressure. If JW has time to throw, we’re toast!

    • The Poole thing could be a problem but in reading Durkins entire quotes it sounds like there is more risk of players blowing assignments when switching roles all over the field if Hargreaves shadows someone than just Poole getting burned in the slot.

  2. I don’t think it really matters. Winston is so good that it doesn’t matter what Hargreaves does. We saw that last year with Hargreaves covering well and Winston still putting it in a place you can’t defend. The best hope is that FSU’s receivers drop passes like they did against Boston College. Out of the 32 passes Winston threw, maybe four were off target. This was on a bum ankle, which in a normal human being affects your ability to throw. Winston is not nything close to being ordinary, though.

    • Winston is human. He’s just like any other quaterback who has played the game. If we pressure him he will make mistakes. Even Tom Brady and Peyton Manning make mistakes when pressured.