Neipling joins the podcast to preview Florida Gators/Arkansas

Gator Country brings you a new podcast as Chad Neipling joins us to help us continue to break down the Florida Gators vs. Arkansas game on Saturday in Fayetteville.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre ask Neipling to give us the key match-ups for the game, plus his take on Florida’s defense this season.

Andrew and Nick also update the status of several injured players, plus update you on the status of Mark Thompson and Jordan Cronkrite.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Wednesday before Arkansas. I’m excited to go out there. Never been.

Nick:It will be my first time too. Normally I get in early, get in like Thursday. I don’t get in until super late Friday, so I’ll have to do some exploring of Fayetteville on Sunday.

Andrew:I thought you had to leave at like 6:30 in the morning?

Nick:No. PM.

Andrew:PM. Okay. There you go. That will be it. It’s going to be a little different weather than it is in Jacksonville last week.

Nick:It doesn’t look too bad, definitely colder at night though.

Andrew:Yes. Definitely colder. I think it’s going to be something like 70 during the day, so it should be beautiful weather. I’m ready. As Coach Mac says, “It’s going to be pretty cool to see them run out of the hog pen.”

Nick:I’m interested to see what kind of traditions they have.

Andrew:The hog pen. We’re going to be interested to see them run out of the hog pen. Hopefully it doesn’t stink like a hog pen.

Nick:It might.

Andrew:I think we’re going to hear a lot of, “Woo, pig suey.”

Nick:If you don’t do that again, that would be great.

Andrew:Woo, pig suey.

Nick:That was too soon.

Andrew:We’re going to get that a lot this week, just because I think it’s pretty cool. Woo, pig suey. Alright, Nick, let’s talk. Coach Mac, well first off, we’re going to have our good buddy, Chad, on today from out in Arkansas. He does some stuff with Gridiron now, does some radio. Really good friend of ours since about three years ago when we met him at SEC Media Days. Good friend of ours, great guy, great family guy. Just a great overall guy.

Nick:Yeah. It must be three years ago now. Great guy. He’s had both of us on his shows in the past, and not often that we get to bring him on. It’s a unique West matchup for Florida.

Andrew:It’s weird, because I feel like we kind of have a lot of friends out in Arkansas, and you and I have never had the chance to cover a Florida/Arkansas game.

Nick:No, we did in 2013, but we weren’t podcasting back then.

Andrew:There you go. That’s there. Let’s just go ahead and get into some news and notes here before we get Chad on. Mac speaks on Monday. I think the biggest thing that came out of that was Mark Thompson being back. I think you and I both kind of agreed that we thought he would be back, maybe, or we knew he was going to be back. We just weren’t sure if it was going to be this game, or if it was going to be next game, how it was going to be.

Nick:I think you kind of hit the nail on the head on Monday when you said, Mac’s kind of shown that one game is his kind of deal. Jordan Scarlett missed the bowl game. It seems like Mac likes that Mark didn’t try to lie about it, didn’t try to cover it up. He liked that about Jordan Scarlett, didn’t try to lie about it, didn’t try to cover it up. You just kind of screwed up, time to face the consequences. I think that plays into it too. I think Mac would have treated it differently had there been some kind of lie, or had there been more to the story than just I got pulled over, and there was weed in the car.

Andrew:Yeah. Could have been a lot different had he been off campus as well.

Nick:Also true.

Andrew:Anyway, that’s that. Also, little bit of news we had breaking on the site on Tuesday was Jordan Cronkrite practiced. I really don’t know what is going on. I’ve heard a lot. I mean, we know what’s going on, that is that he supposedly left the team last week for a little bit, but now he’s practicing. I don’t know personally his status for Saturday. I haven’t been able to figure that out yet. Maybe by the time you’re listening to this on Wednesday it’s out there. If so, keep up with Gator Country, and we’ll tell you that, but I personally think Cronkrite probably transfers at the end of the year, but it’s probably a good move on his part to at least finish the year out.

Nick:Yeah. I want to dive into this more after we talk with Chad, but it’s not an injury.

Andrew:Never was.

Nick:So, to me, I think it gets into this area, and I kind of mentioned it, maybe just in talking to you, it kind of gets into an area of what kind of precedents are you going to set as a coach? Of course, we need to talk about that more, because there’s all kinds of details that get into that.

Andrew:Right. We’ll do that. Let’s just go ahead. We’ll go to Chad now. I know he’s waiting on us. We’ll go to Chad. We’ll get Chad’s take on the game. We’ll come back, and we’ll talk some injuries. We’ll talk more of this Cronkrite situation, and what it kind of means to have Mark back as well. Sound good?

Nick:Gucci.

Andrew:I like it. Gucci. My man is a savage. Here we go. Let’s go to Chad.

Nick:Happy to be joined by Chad Neipling. Chad writes at GridironNow.com. He is on the radio, and he is a good friend of Andrew and I, courtesy and thanks to SEC Media Days. Chad, how’s it going?

Chad:Good, man. Thanks for having me on. Ready to talk about this game we’ve got coming up this Saturday.

Andrew:Yeah.

Nick:This will be the fourth ranked opponent in a row that Arkansas faces.

Chad:Yeah, it is. They’ve faced some doozies so far this season. You’re talking about A&M, Alabama, TCU at one point that was ranked. They faced them. Of course, Auburn was ranked. They’ve had their fair share of ranked opponents, including Old Miss. So they’ve had quite a few this season already. That took a toll on them on that eight game run that they had, and you saw that against Auburn, going there and playing on the plains. I think a lot of guys were playing that probably shouldn’t have been playing. In particular, Jake Raulerson, a right guard, Texas transfer, had a banged up ankle and was playing in that game. Probably had no business playing in it. A few other guys, Jeremy Sprinkle’s been fighting it at tight end, been fighting an ankle injury so far this year, off and on. You’ve had a couple other guys that have been banged up a little bit.

They’ve went through a gauntlet, and this bye week couldn’t have come at a better time, because they needed to get back together, especially after Austin Allen went down in the Auburn game due to that coverage that the offensive line was unable to kind of give him and uphold. That’s been kind of a problem this season. A lot of ranked teams, a lot of talent this team has seen so far, and it’s been rough for Arkansas this year.

Andrew:Nick and I, at the beginning of the year, we kind of had this game penciled in as a game to watch, in particular for Florida, for being kind of a trap game. I don’t want to say that the game lost a little bit of its luster, but in a way it kind of has. It kind of is not as talked about as maybe we all thought it would be. People in Gainesville are happy to go out there, but I think the luster of the big game, with Arkansas losing last the few, has kind of hurt things.

Chad:Yeah. You hit the nail on the head. I think if you would have went into this game and saw Arkansas with some wins under their belt, if they’d went to the plains and beat Auburn, if they’d had the win over Ole Miss, that would have put them at what? 2-2 in the SEC, as far as SEC play is concerned. That would have probably made this game pretty formidable, because they’ve been looking at going 3-2, and their record would have reflected that.

So right now they’re just not. This team isn’t where they should be. Defensively they’re struggling a little bit. We’ve seen that. They’re twelfth in total defense in the conference right now. They’re giving up 428 yards per game, and that’s a lot. You start going back, 2014 was about the last time they had a really good defense, and that was the first year Rob Smith took over as the coordinator. Since then it’s just been kind of a downward spiral, despite that offensively they’ve been putting up crazy numbers.

Austin Allen’s been putting up a lot of numbers, and he’s statistically the stat monster for every category in a quarterback, but that being said, if your defense can’t bend, don’t break, and at least get a couple stops on the field, then it’s really hard to win games in the SEC. You guys know that more than anybody down there in Florida. You guys always have a really stout defense, and I think that’s really the big matchup for this game is defense and offensive lines and kind of where they are in this state so far in the SEC.

Nick:We’ve definitely been critical of Florida’s offensive line. We’re surprised to see them kind of show up against Georgia, but when I start looking at some of the numbers, one that really sticks out to me is probably, two that stick out to me. First is sacks. Arkansas has allowed 21 sacks this year. To me, that’s a little high, especially with Florida. They’ve kind of found about 10 guys that they’re confident with throwing in there, and they’re pretty deep at defensive end. Florida has 21 sacks on the year, third in the SEC. So keeping Allen upright, to me that’s an issue.

Then also, you look at 3rd downs. Florida right now is first in the SEC. They’re converting on about half of their 3rd downs, and Arkansas is the worst team in the SEC, giving up 48.51% on defense of 3rd down conversions. So to me, that’s going to be an issue. I talked about Arkansas being the best team in the SEC as far as time of possession, but if you can’t get Florida off the field on 3rd down, that kind of plays away from your game of control the ball, run the ball, and then hit off that play action.

Chad:It’s almost a double-edged sword. Bret Bielema talks about the fact that that is their DNA. It’s what makes up Arkansas’s program, but at the same time, it’s that conservative, time grinding drive sometimes that really catches them. You look at Ole Miss, they did that coming out in the 3rd quarter, and it caught up to them. Ole Miss was able to catch up and score. Of course, it put them in that situation where they had to get the drive there in the 4th quarter, and you saw that. That’s something that’s happened a couple times this season where they get into the 3rd quarter, and they decide they’re going to try to grind it out a little bit, and eat up the clock.

They’ll try to run, but here’s the thing, if you can stop Arkansas at the run, and you can keep them below 150 on the ground, the game is over for them. If they can’t come at you balanced that is a huge problem, and that’s one of the reasons why on 3rd downs they’re having such deficiency, because those 1st and 2nd downs are so critical for Bielema and his offense and the way they run things with Dan Enos. These guys like to come out, and they’re methodical about it, and if they can’t get an advantage, if they can’t get three, four yards on each one of those first two downs, then that puts them in those 3rd and long situations, and that’s where they have really struggled this season. So I think that’s an issue where Arkansas is going to continue to have problems.

Their protection, a lot of teams they’ve faced this season have blitzed them on these 3rd downs. I know Alabama blitzed them more than they had at any point up until that part of the season, until they played them. Enos had talked about that. A lot of teams, that’s what they do. You look at Auburn, they consistently were stunting and blitzing, and the offensive line, a lot of times they look lost. Give it to Austin Allen, because he’ll stay in there to the last second. He’ll take a hit to make the throw and make the play, but if you can’t continuously get those plays off, and the defense can make the breaks and make the big plays and the passing game to prevent those big plays from happening, then Arkansas, ultimately they stall the drive.

They chew up clock, but at the same time it hurts them, because a team like an Auburn can score so fast. Florida can turn around with the playmakers they’ve got, and they can score quickly on you. Again, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s a stat they like to hang their hat on, but it also can affect them negatively.

Nick:Looking at Allen, what has made him effective? I guess, what’s the extent of that injury? Is it something the bye week kind of took care of? Just a bump and bruise as you go through the SEC schedule?

Chad:Yeah. The thought was, during the game, when he came down, Lawson hit him there in the back of the leg, and the thought was that, even himself, he thought at first it was pretty bad. He was quoted as just saying that when we met with there and did the interviews. At first he thought it was going to be pretty bad himself. Of course, they checked him out, and he put the brace on. You could tell towards the 4th quarter that brace was really hindering him as far as his ability to move around and try to make plays. He started putting some leverage on it, and you could tell, as his leg started to swell a little bit, especially down towards that ankle area, it really started to hurt his throwing progression, and also hurt his fundamentals, his technique. He was making mistakes that he normally wouldn’t make.

Outside of that, if you look at him up until that point, and he is okay. He’s good to go right now. I know Bielema had said if they were having to play last week they would have had to have gone with either Ty or another guy. They would have had to look at another situation for the starting quarterback, but he is going to be good to go for Saturday.

That’s the element that you have to try to stop if you’re an opposing team. You’ve got to find a way to get to him. A lot of teams have, but at the same time he’ll make you pay. Like I said, he’ll stay into the pocket and make that throw up until the last second. That’s always been kind of his thing. He’s a lot tougher guy. He has a different character than Brandon did. He’s fiery. He’ll get in there, and he’ll bark at the guys. He just has a different personality. So a lot of times that kind of bleeds off for the team, and kind of gets that passion, but when you’ve got a defense you’ve got to face like Florida’s you better have it buttoned up on the offensive side.

Andrew:That’s what I was going to say a little bit is you kind of see, and I think it works out well for Florida, in that they took on Georgia last week, who I think is very similar to Arkansas, in that they’re a young team with a young quarterback. Eason’s a little bit younger, but still at times Florida was bringing eight guys. They were jailbreak rushing the passer, and I think that’s kind of what’s going to happen with Allen this week. Then again, when you look at it, maybe Arkansas isn’t like Georgia, because it kind of seems like things are flipped this year where Arkansas’s a better passing team then they are a running team.

Chad:Yeah. Definitely. If you go, and you look at them statistically, especially at the start of the season, through the first four or five games, if I would have told you, “Look, Arkansas is a phenomenal passing team, but their run game absolutely stinks,” you would have looked at me kind of funny, because that would have been a crazy projection. You turn around, and you look at them right now, their passing attack has been phenomenal.

Again, he’s been one of the better passers this season. He’s utilizing a lot of guys on the field. He utilizes the tight ends, which is something that you see a lot. Austin Cantrell, at 270 plus, 6’4”, 6’5”, tight end, he’s one of the guys that gets moving. He runs about a 4.6, and that’s a ton of weight to have thrown at you when he gets moving. Jeremy Sprinkle, who goes over the top, big guy, another 6’5”, 6’6” tight end that they like to go to. They’ve got Keon Hatcher, Drew Morgan.

The thing about these guys, they’re not Ardarius Stewart. They’re not Calvin Ridley type of guys, as far as the wide receiver playmakers are concerned, but they’re very good, and they’re very buttoned up when it comes to technique and being able to get physical with secondary players, and being able to get that release and be able to get an advantage. They’ll go up for the ball. That’s where they’re different, and you’ll look at guys like Keon and Drew Morgan, they fight for more yardage. So those guys make Austin look good.

Even with the bye week, Austin is still #3 in the SEC as far as quarterbacks are concerned. He only averages about 256 yards per game, but his QB rating is about 149, and that’s where he’s really effective is his completion percentage, which sits around about 62, 63%, and that’s an area where he can really hurt you. He is methodical with his passing, goes through the reads. Again, very fiery guy. He doesn’t want to lose, and in all aspects of it he is the leader of that Razorback team. He’s the heartbeat of that Razorback team. People like to see it when he gets fired up, because you know the team’s going to start feeling it too.

Andrew:That’s what I wanted to kind of hit on a little bit was you get the chance to watch, you watch a lot of football for your show, that thing. You see Florida’s defense. How great do you think this defense is? I’ve said it to Nick before, I think this is one of the legendary defenses you’ll see in years. It’s just that good. Run defense, pass defense. In your opinion, how good is this defense?

Chad:It’s solid. That Florida defense right now, there’s a reason why they have the high rank. There’s a reason why Florida’s defense leads in total defense right now, lead the SEC. There’s a reason that they’re one of the best in the country. This team right now, if I’m not mistaken, last I checked it’s second in the country in total defense, and that’s just phenomenal. They only allow about 239 yards per game, and that’s something. On top of that, you’re averaging three sacks.

Offensively, with the issues that Arkansas’s had on that offensive line, guys, you’ve got to know that that’s a matchup that Arkansas has to be very leery of. I think what you will see, when you’re talking about that, and you’re talking about this matchup and the fact that you’re going to be seeing seven, eight guys in the box coming in, and they’re going to put this pressure on Austin, you’ll see guys like Sprinkle. You’ll see guys, Austin Cantrell. They’ll line up at the fullback position. They may go with some two tight end sets. You’ll see guys like Kendrick Jackson and Hayden that will be back there at that fullback position, and they may put the two tight ends out there as well. They’ll go with some I formations, things where they can try to levee to their advantage.

In those situations they’re going to try to get as much push as they can, and that’s been an issue as well for the offensive line. You hear Kurt Anderson, who’s a former Buffalo Bills offensive lineman, who’s now the offensive line coach here, talk about strain, and that’s something where these offensive linemen get in there, and they literally have to push until the very last second, and that’s something that some of them are not used to, because there’s three guys on there that this is their first time having any starting experience in the SEC. They lost a lot on that offensive line, Tretola, Kirkland, all those guys are gone. Now you’ve got three guys that are new faces.

Again, like I said, that right side of the offensive line has been very problematic for Arkansas this season. That’s an area where, if I’m Florida, I’m attacking that all game, and I’m sending guys. I’m just bull rushing guys on that right side, and I’m putting it right through on that right guard, and I’m coming after them down after down after down.

Nick:Alright. This is the time where we always ask for a prediction. I think Florida opened up as a four point favorite. I think that went down to about 3.5. If you’re comfortable with it, do you want to make a prediction for Florida and Arkansas?

Chad:Yeah. Here’s the thing with the scores, the scores always bite me in the rear end when I make predictions.

Nick:Me too. I don’t even give a score ever. Andrew’s bold enough to give a score when we do it for Florida, but I never give a score.

Andrew:I did say 24-10, Florida beat Georgia.

Nick:Yeah. He’s wrong more often than he’s right, but that was impressive. That’s also the reason I don’t give scores.

Chad:I would have said last week that I thought Arkansas was going to go down to Auburn and give them a fight, and, man, I’m glad I did not make any kind of predictions, because that was nuts.

Andrew:I picked Arkansas.

Chad:That was a big mistake. I thought they would go down and battle these guy, but, obviously, not. I think they left that team somewhere in Montgomery. That being said, I just, at this point, with what I’ve seen, and if I’m going to be completely unbiased and give you just an unbiased opinion, from what I’ve seen of Arkansas so far this season, I do think that they will fight in this game. They are going to give Florida a battle, but I think at the end of the day Florida’s defense is going to catch up to this offense, and that’s going to be the problem. If they can’t move the ball, Arkansas’s defense is just laden with a lot of issues. The front, it just seems like on the 1st downs on fronts you’re just not seeing a lot of blitzing at all, if any.

Again, the 4-2-5 has been detrimental for them. Quarterbacks that typically don’t have big running games have had huge running games against Arkansas. You go back, and you look at Trevor Knight, who can run. He had a season high of 156 against them. This is a defense that I feel like if it comes down to the defense having to be the ones that has to pull up and shore up so that Arkansas can get in the game, it’s not a situation I’d want to be in. I just don’t think that they’ve got enough horses to beat Florida at this point. From what I’ve seen, I’m not confident in Arkansas.

That being said, Bielema, his record, they’ll put that out there. Coming off bye weeks, coming off of losses in the SEC, and coming off bye weeks, he’s got a really good record. Again, if they do pull it off, it’s going to be close. I’m talking Ole Miss close, 33-30 type of win. At this point I’m going with Florida, just because I haven’t seen enough of Arkansas to say that I’m confident enough to believe that they can beat a talented Florida football team.

Andrew:Let me just throw this out there. If Luke Del Rio throws for 150 yards, the world’s coming to an end.

Chad:Let me tell you, they will make him look like he’s a Heisman candidate when it’s all said and done. It’s been that type of year.

Andrew:If so, Josh Dobbs is bringing his spaceship and picking us all up to take us back to his world, because it ain’t happening.

Chad:I’m looking forward to it.

Andrew:We appreciate it so much. As always, we appreciate your friendship, and we appreciate having you on. We’ll see you in Fayetteville on Saturday.

Nick:Why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you on Twitter, and find your work too.

Chad:Fine me on Twitter @SEC_Chad. You can find me on Gridiron Now putting some stuff out. Kind of been lax a little bit lately with putting things out. I’ve got other commitments that I have to attend to outside of sports writing that take up a lot of that. Sometimes I jump on Twitter during the day. I’ve had to turn my notifications off, because it was getting crazy at one point. I try to keep track as much as possible, but hit me up on Twitter. I love to talk to the fans across the conference. I’ve always enjoyed that. There are great fans out there. Florida fan base has always been good to me. A lot of that’s because of you guys, so I’ve always enjoyed interacting with them. I look forward to talking to you guys this weekend and seeing you guys. Hopefully we’ll be able to go and get a brew after we get through with the football game.

Nick:Yes, sir.

Andrew:There you go, Chad. We appreciate it. We’ll see you on Saturday. Have a good week, man.

Chad:You too, guys. Take care.

Andrew:Alright, guys. We’re back. Good stuff with Chad. Nick, I think he kind of senses the same thing you and I have talked about, in that Arkansas is not as good as they are. Their defense isn’t that good. I will agree with Chad in this, and that is that they have played some good running attacks. We can make what we want about Auburn, but they have improved, and their running game has improved. So I guess it is interesting to see. The one thing for Florida is this, and that is that the offensive line, in my opinion, has really done well the last two games, and I say do well. I meant they’re doing better. Are they great? No. They should take another step forward this week.

Nick:Yeah. You can’t scoff at Auburn. Auburn is running the ball for over 300 yards a game. Leads the SEC in yards per game, in attempts, in touchdowns. Auburn said, “Listen, man, we’re going to go back to it, and as long as it’s working, we ain’t trying to fix it.” So you can’t scoff at that. I mean, they’ve played a tough schedule, Arkansas has. You look at it. Played A&M, that was at a neutral site. That was in Jerry World. Played at TCU, so you have at TCU the second game of the season. A&M, Alabama, Ole Miss is not really looking like a great win anymore, but then at Auburn. It’s been a tough schedule. Then they have LSU after Florida, so it doesn’t get much easier for Bert. I don’t know. I don’t think Florida runs the ball like Auburn does. It’s a completely different scheme, but you look at that.

Andrew:What was it? 543?

Nick:Auburn ran for, I think the total yards was like 500. Auburn ran for 543, and I think their total offense was something crazy too. Yes, 632.

Andrew:Right. I knew it was something crazy. I mean, and that’s kind of Auburn’s mojo. Auburn doesn’t throw the ball a ton. That’s not their cup of tea. I think it’s just another positive for Florida.

Nick:Auburn has thrown the ball 184 times. They have rushed the ball 437 times this year.

Andrew:Del Rio threw 140 times in the Missouri game, it seemed like.

Nick:That’s a rough estimate.

Andrew:I mean, it seemed like it, but you know. I share what Chad says. He says he thinks that it might be a close game. I think it starts out close, and I think Florida ends up pulling away late. You got to think that Austin, no. Is it Austin or Brandon? Austin, right?

Nick:Austin.

Andrew:Brandon’s the one that was gone. Is going to have to throw the ball, and you know what happens when you start having to put the ball up a lot. Not good things.

Nick:Florida likes teams that like to throw. Arkansas actually is the third ranked passing offense, like we said, but it’s something I asked Jim McElwain on Monday. He said, “Yeah. They like to run the ball to set up that play action stuff.” They do have some tight ends, or a tight end in Jeremy Sprinkle. He has eight touchdowns in his last 11 games. I’m hesitant to even mention a tight end after bringing up Nauta last week and getting absolutely nothing. Maybe Florida was listening to the podcast. Maybe Duke Dawson heard me. There is a tight end. I just don’t, I really see Florida being able to stop the run, and then, like Chad said, that right side of the line. Jabari Zuniga is an animal. He’s coming into his own. I think Cece Jefferson kind of started to turn a corner and come into his own.

Andrew:Back at defensive end.

Nick:Yeah. I think Florida has just got too much coming off the edge. I think it’s going to be a long day for Mr. Allen and for Bret and the woo, pig suy nation over there.

Andrew:Are we calling him Bret or Bert?

Nick:Both. Whatever you’re feeling at the time, Bret, Bert.

Andrew:Woo, pig suey.

Nick:That’s got to stop.

Andrew:I like that. Woo, pig suey. I don’t know. I think that Florida could, Jabari could have a big day. He may be setting himself up to be my pick of the week this week, because he was, the stats don’t even show how disruptive he was on Saturday, because it was every play he was back there, almost. Every passing play he was back there, or was about to be back there. I think he ended the day with what? Five quarterback hurries? I think that was being generous, because they could have given him a lot more in the game, and also he was getting absolutely handled as far as holded, in the game.

Nick:Holded?

Andrew:Holded. That was the word of the day. Holded.

Nick:Held?

Andrew:Held.

Nick:Held.

Andrew:I was trying to say something else, and then I thought about the world we live in, and I would have probably made somebody upset when I was going to basically say he was being raped all day, but someone out there would take that the wrong way.

Nick:There we go.

Andrew:Yeah.

Nick:Yeah. He had four quarterback hurries against Georgia. He had two against Missouri, and, like you said, the Georgia offensive linemen probably thought he was cute. They were hugging him all day.

Andrew:They were going steady.

Nick:They were. What is that? Like 1950s? That term.

Andrew:I know it used to be very popular on Saved by the Bell.

Nick:They were trying to hold his books going to class?

Andrew:They were trying to be that guy for him.

Nick:Yeah. I just think Florida’s got too much defensively, and Chad had said this to me before we started taping, he said, “Arkansas might be able to hang around, but end of the day I don’t think they have the horses to run with Florida for four quarters.”

Andrew:Right. The thing is this, and that is that it’s not usually Bret, or Bert, that he doesn’t have a running game. I mean, he’s had some teams that have been outmatched by a lot of teams, but he’s still been able to run the ball. He’s not able to run the ball this year.

Let’s go back to what we were talking about previously, before we brought on Chad. That’s the Cronkrite, Mark Thompson thing. I know your opinion is that he kind of quit on his team a little bit. I’m not disagreeing with you on that, because he did. My thing is this, and that is that he did, and I don’t think this has been reported anywhere, so I guess we’re breaking news, but he did meet with Mac and Skip on Wednesday of last week before the Georgia game. I think he kind of expressed some of his concerns or whatever, and Mac, like he always does, kind of told him to take some little bit of time and figure out what he wants. The biggest thing going on with Jordan Cronkrite right now is he’s got people telling him he should be playing because of who he is. That’s not a good advice he’s getting.

Nick:No. Here’s where I’ll play devil’s advocate a little bit.

Andrew:Okay.

Nick:So you basically have a player that walked away from his team, walked out on his team.

Andrew:Right.

Nick:Said, “I’m not getting my way. I’m out of here.”

Andrew:Right.

Nick:Kind of like a little Leon Orr situation almost, minus the bust.

Andrew:Yes, minus the bust. Has he landed yet? Has he arrived back in Gainesville yet?

Nick:He’s playing for the Dolphins now.

Andrew:Okay.

Nick:As a coach, you don’t want to send a message that that’s okay, but do you want to send the authoritarian, you crossed me, so it’s done? Delete your number from my phone. Unfollowed you on social media. Not happening. To me, it’s kind of do you show a compassionate side, or does that give the wrong message to other players? Hey, Coach, he quit on us, why is he back here? You know what I’m trying to say?

Andrew:Let me ask you this. That is, should it be, because this is where I think that your leadership comes in. I think it almost has to be a vote. Do you want this guy back, or not? Now, here’s the thing too, that is that Mac preaches family. That’s what he preaches as well, and I think, Nick, you and I can both probably agree on this, and that is everyone at some point in time has, I don’t want to say quit, because I don’t think either one of us has quit anything, but maybe gotten upset about something and done some things and said some things we shouldn’t have. So maybe that’s a lesson here. I don’t know. I will say this, and that is that I think that, whether Jordan transfers or not at the end of the year, which I think you and I are in agreement that he probably will, it’s best for him that he plays, and I can’t say that Florida doesn’t need him, because Florida was scary short on depth on Saturday with Mark Herndon being limited. Banged ankle by Perine or anything, a concussion or anything like that to one of those guys, and you’re in scary shape.

Nick:I think even before the year started you and I said, “I don’t think Scarlett and Cronkrite make it through the year. I don’t think they’re both on the team as juniors.”

Andrew:Right. I think we still stick with that, in that we did think both of those guys were going to contribute. You and I were both very, I guess the best way to say it is under-wowed by what Scarlett did last year, and expected him to bounce back. He did. You and I, I think, both thought that maybe Cronkrite had overachieved a little bit. Is that the best way to say it? I mean, I think that’s the best way I can say it is that I think he did well, but I don’t think he was ever as good as he was made out to be.

Nick:Cronkrite?

Andrew:Yes.

Nick:Okay. I thought you were talking about Scarlett. I was like, what?

Andrew:No. No. I said, I think Scarlett underachieved last year, and I think Cronkrite maybe over.

Nick:We talked about that too. He kind of got into a situation where he was feeling bad abut himself, because he wasn’t getting the carries, and this is a guy who’s been the man since he was in eighth grade.

Andrew:Exactly.

Nick:There was an adjustment period. That’s the other thing. I mean, he never quit or anything like that, but he went through something similar to what Cronkrite went through, or is going through. Yeah. I was very high on Jordan Scarlett, and people were getting on me saying, “What’s wrong with you? You said he was this, this, and that, and the other thing, and where is he?” I’m like, “I don’t know, man. How are you going to take Kelvin Taylor out? Running for a thousand yards.”

Andrew:Exactly. I don’t know what is going to come of this. To be honest, at this time, we’re talking at 12:30 on Tuesday, taping this, I think Mac’s probably at a wait and see approach, and to see where things go, but it is a positive step that he did practice on Monday.

Nick:Yeah. I think there will be, I think it’s in Mac’s nature to have some kind of earning your way back kind of thing. You remember Demarcus Robinson last year. Mac had washed his hands of D Rob last year, and left it up to the team.

Andrew:Yeah. Seniors. Well, as far as injuries go though, Florida came out of that Georgia game pretty healthy. Surprise.

Nick:I think they were healthier coming out of the game than they were going into the game. I mean, Mac doesn’t mention Jarrad Davis on the injury report, but Jarrad Davis’s ankle didn’t get better by playing. So he’s still sore. Guys are still going through dings and bruises and stuff like that, but for the most part Florida’s good to go.

Andrew:Yeah. It’s this, and it’s tough to say Jarrad’s ankle will get better as he plays on it. I don’t think he’s going to practice fully any week the rest of the season, probably, but it should continue to get a little better, just like Ivie and Sherit and Bryan Cox should get better as the weeks continue to go on. You can’t say any of these guys are going to miss any action, because you’re getting down to the stretch where you’re like, “This is my final road game. This is my final home game.” Senior Day right around the corner as well.

Nick:Next week.

Andrew:Florida’s in good shape.

Nick:Who gets the biggest ovation on Senior Day?

Andrew:Jarrad Davis.

Nick:100%?

Andrew:I feel like.

Nick:100%? You think.

Andrew:I feel like. If I was to cheer for Senior Day, I mean I do feel like everyone deserves a big ovation. I mean, you play, but I do feel like it’s one of those things where he’s almost become that face of the defense, maybe. Tabor and Wilson get it, but there’s a lot of talk about Jarrad Davis now, up for the Butkus Award. I think he does.

Nick:Okay. Marcus Maye is another guy.

Andrew:See, that’s what I was going to say, but I feel like, and this is just me. Maybe I’m wrong.

Nick:I’m not saying you’re wrong.

Andrew:I’m not saying this. I’m saying maybe I’m wrong about this, but I feel like Marcus gets overshadowed, and I don’t think it’s far, because I’m the biggest Marcus Maye fan there is. I just feel like he doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

Nick:I think he got more last year almost.

Andrew:That’s what I’m saying. I don’t feel like he gets the attention he deserves.

Nick:Ahmad Fulwood?

Andrew:Woo, pig suey.

Nick:No, I do, it’s hard to put words onto it, but I think everything that Jarrad Davis said after the Georgia game, saying like, “I would have thought of myself differently had I missed this game. I would have questioned the kind of man that I was if I would have missed this game.” I think that stuff, along with his play, I think all that goes into it. I think coming back for his senior year, I think that plays into it. Yeah. I think fans appreciate all of that. I think he will be. It will be interesting to see what kind of order they come out in, but yeah. I think he will be the biggest ovation.

Andrew:I mean, and this again, you could tell me Marcus Maye would, and I wouldn’t argue with you, because I think Marcus Maye has been a guy that has been a great Gator, and I think he deserves it, for sure. I just feel like he gets overshadowed in that defensive backfield, and it’s a shame, because he’s going to be a really good football player at the next level.

Nick:Yeah. Chris Thompson should get a big one, hometown kid.

Andrew:I do, I think he will. I think he’ll get a good ovation being the hometown kid. Had a decent little return on Saturday, so maybe so. Hopefully it’s just rocking. I expect it to be a sellout, Nick. I’m expecting that game to be pretty damn good.

Nick:It has to be.

Andrew:Has to be.

Nick:Has to be a sellout. It’s the last home game, last chance to see the Gators, unless you’re driving to Tally or flying to LSU, driving to LSU.

Andrew:Right.

Nick:And there’s some guy back in town.

Andrew:Here’s my question. Does Will Muschamp come out early to applaud his seniors?

Nick:That will be interesting. These are his guys.

Andrew:I’m asking. Just asking. I don’t know.

Nick:I think he will have a moment with them before that, when the teams are out there going through warmups, stretching, stuff like that. I think he’ll have a moment with those guys then.

Andrew:I was going to say, here’s what I think, and that is that he’ll say something before, and definitely probably say something to them afterwards. I don’t think he comes out before. His best option is to stay out the Swamp as much as he can.

Nick:I remember last year, Jeff Dillman grabbed Jarrad Davis after the SEC Championship game. Dillman is the strength and conditioning coach at Alabama now.

Andrew:He’s at South Carolina now.

Nick:Last year he was at Alabama. Right. Followed Muschamp. He grabbed Jarrad Davis, and he was talking to him for three, four minutes. Those are strong relationships they have. Guys like Joey Ivie, Chris Thompson, Jarrad Davis, Daniel McMillian, Ahmad Fulwood, they didn’t commit to Mac. They love Mac. Those guys committed to Muschamp. They’ll definitely have a moment with him next week.

Andrew:Got you. Should be interesting. Anything we’re missing?

Nick:Yes. Johnny Townsend is a semi-finalist or finalist?

Andrew:Neither. He’s just on the awards list.

Nick:They just need to change the award to the Johnny Townsend. Sorry, Ray Guy, let’s change it to the Johnny Townsend Award. Give it to him.

Andrew:Lord. Jarrad Davis also there. Chris Rumph, defensive line coach of the week, and Geoff Collins, defensive coordinator of the week. Some nice awards for some Gator coaches as well. Should be good. Should be a fun week. If you’re going to be out in Fayetteville this weekend, shoot us a message. We’ll say hello.

Nick:Neither of us have been, so, as always, I’ll be asking for food recommendations. Let me know what I should be eating.

Andrew:Anything we should see.

Nick:As far as like in Fayetteville?

Andrew:Yeah.

Nick:I have no idea, but yeah, let us know what we should do while in there, even though it’s a quick turnaround for me.

Andrew:Very quick for that. Nick, tell the people where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. A couple things before you do that, real quick. Got some basketball coming up this week. Nick, you’re going to go check out practice, since Baileigh will be in class. Got some recruiting stuff coming. Should be a good rest of the week on Gator Country.

Nick:I’ll be at basketball open practice. I’ll be at baseball on Tuesday, and I’ll be at football as well. Real quick, I finally found it. Johnny Townsend’s stat, 47.6 yards per punt, 64.7% of his punts have landed inside the 20 yard line, or have been fair caught. He ranks third in the country in yards per punt, and fourth in the country in punt success rate.

Andrew:Cool.

Nick:Pretty super.

Andrew:Pretty super.

Nick:What else? What else do we got? I feel like we still have time.

Andrew:We got a little bit of time here. I did see this stat that just came up. We’re just kind of running this. This is Will Muschamp’s first coaching staff at the University of Florida: himself; T Rob, who is now a South Carolina defensive coordinator; Charlie Weis, who’s out of coaching; Mr. Quinn is the Atlanta Falcons head coach; DJ Durkin, who he didn’t hire but inherited, was a Maryland head coach; Aubrey Hill, who is not coaching college football; Frank Verducci, who has been demoted at Yukon; Brian White, who has been basically demoted to running back coach at Boston College; D Lew is a wide receiver coach, was a tight end coach at Florida; and Bryant Young, who’s out of coaching. Little bit of bright, little bit of eck.

Nick:What’s the bright?

Andrew:Dan Quinn.

Nick:That’s bright.

Andrew:Dan Quinn is the man on that. I feel like Dan Quinn was that guy, and that’s not just because I like the Falcons, but just because he is a very smart defensive guy.

Nick:It’s a little bit because of the Falcons, isn’t it?

Andrew:I mean, I liked him with Seattle.

Nick:If he had gone and taken over for like Sean Payton? You wouldn’t love that.

Andrew:No. I hate the Saints, but I do respect Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn’s second half adjustments are off the charts.

Nick:Yeah. They’re having a very good season. Jack Del Rio’s season is a little bit better, though.

Andrew:What’s his record?

Nick:They’re 6-2, the Raiders are, but one of those two losses was to the Falcons.

Andrew:Real quick on that, I had a good buddy of mine who was sitting next to Del Rio at the game in Jacksonville, and he said that the Jaguars had a couple of their security officers come up and want to take him on the field, and Jack said, “No. I’m a father watching the game from the stands,” and wouldn’t go up on the field. He said he wanted to be a father and act like a normal parent. Kind of thought that was cool. I mean, most people would have went down and not wanted to be around fans and that kind of stuff, but apparently that wasn’t Jack.

Nick:He probably doesn’t get that opportunity very often.

Andrew:I know a couple of weeks ago, during the bye week, I got to sit in the stands for the South Alabama game, and I kind of felt relaxed a little bit. I was like, “I don’t have to type anything. I don’t have to take photos. I can just watch football? Okay.”

Nick:As we wrap up here, I want to commend you. You didn’t bring up Jalen Hurd.

Andrew:Because I don’t really want to talk about that situation, because I think it’s a situation where if we brought it up we were going to have to really discuss some of the things that you and I have heard that haven’t been good for Butch. It’s a dumpster fire over there. That place is shitting the bed.

Nick:Poor guys.

Andrew:Poor guys. Poor guys? They deserve everything they get and more.

Nick:I’m thinking of the writers over there.

Andrew:I don’t like those guys either.

Nick:Thinking of the guys having to cover that mess.

Andrew:I don’t like those guys either. The only guy over there that I like is Vince, our buddy, and the rest of those guys, go to hell.

Nick:Vince, paisan.

Andrew:Paisan is pizza. Pizza rolls from Mack, that’s his favorite place.

Nick:Pepperoni rolls, that’s my jam.

Andrew:Tell the people where they can find us. Get the hell out of here.

Nick:www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. Andrew’s on that Jordan Cronkrite breaking news this week. On iTunes, search @GatorCountry. Podcast is there Monday, Wednesday, Friday 5:00AM. On Twitter, on Facebook, @GatorCountry. On Instagram @TheGatorCountry. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC. Do your social media thing. Hit that follow, like, share, subscribe. Hit it all.

Andrew:Hit it all. Let us know what’s going on. Give us a like on good old iTunes as well. We always appreciate that. Nick, real quick, before we get out of here. You guys are going to be listening to this on Wednesday. That means that the playoff poll came out on Tuesday night. So check out where the Gators should be. I think they’ll be top 10, probably 10.

Nick:I would say 10 would be probably the highest I would put them right now.

Andrew:I think 10. Alright, guys, as always, chomp, chomp. Go Braves. Butch, Mark, your programs suck.

Nick:You stay classy, Gator Country.