Offensive talk and SEC previews: Florida Gators football podcast

Gator Country brings you a new Florida Gators football podcast as we talk about the offensive weapons the Gators have and the ways they can playmakers on the field.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also have a new edition of the buy/sell segment where we discuss some of this week’s key topics from press conferences.

Andrew and Nick also talk recruiting updates, plus give you SEC predictions for this year on both the east and west divisions.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Once again, your man, Andrew Spivey, here, and you guys are listening to us on the last Friday before it’s football season. Next Friday when you guys are listening to it there will already be an SEC game down. So, Nicholas, it is home stretch. The Gators officially started game week prep on Thursday and are back at what I call the football complex, over there at the football practice field. Things are getting real, and the season’s getting very near.

Nick:                         The next time you hear this on a Friday Billy Muschamp will have another conference loss as a head coach in the SEC. Vanderbilt is going to take down South Carolina in the Thursday opener.

Andrew:                 Yes. It is not going to be pretty. I had to do a radio show, Nick, the other day, and it’s kind of funny, because the guy was in Arkansas, and he goes, “I got to ask you a question.” I said, “Okay,” and he said, “Did you laugh, and did the Florida fan base laugh, when Will Muschamp got a job?” He said, “I’m not sure, honestly, how he got a job, and I don’t even care about the guy.” That’s kind of how Will Muschamp is viewed right now.

Nick:                         I think most of the fan base just laughed. That’s going to be a train wreck. Will Muschamp at South Carolina is going to be an absolute train wreck.

Andrew:                 Right. The guy had a good point. He said, “You couldn’t win at Florida with all the talent there. What makes you think you’re going to win at South Carolina with…” Yeah.

Nick:                         You’re not. Florida, the University of Florida is one of the easiest places to win in the country, when you consider recruiting, resources, everything included. The University of Florida is up there as one of the easiest places to win football games in the country. South Carolina is one of the most difficult. Jadeveon Clowney and Marcus Lattimore aren’t coming out of that state every year. Will Muschamp is not going to be the head coach at South Carolina very long.

Andrew:                 And with the recent success of Clemson, I mean.

Nick:                         God. If Muschamp couldn’t get kids to stay in the state of Florida, they were going to Clemson from Florida when he was recruiting them to Florida. Now he’s going into some kid into their living room and saying, “Come to South Carolina. Don’t go to Clemson.” Yeah, okay, Coach.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s the thing. It’s even harder to win now at South Carolina than it was maybe five years ago when Dabo just got there and things were, I don’t want to say bad, but they definitely weren’t very good at Clemson. It’s definitely tougher. We’ll talk about that in a few minutes. We’ll kind of talk season, SEC season, maybe get some sleeper picks and that kind of stuff. We’ll also do a little buy and sell segment. Nick, you guys are listening to this on Friday; we’re taping it on Thursday. Muschamp spoke on Thursday again. There’s a couple of news that came out. I guess they’re not really news, but it is news, and that is that today, still, on Thursday there’s no resolution in the Antonio Callaway thing. I’m starting to really wonder if I wasn’t correct when I said he wouldn’t play for Game 1.

Nick:                         I’m really not sure. Who the hell is going to be able to play Game 1? C’yontai, CJ Worton with his ankle sprain could be out. You’re going to be missing probably, maybe, Tyrie Cleveland, Rick Wells. They haven’t been practicing.

Andrew:                 That’s what I was going to say. Where are they at?

Nick:                         Who the hell? There’s a lot of stuff going around. I mentioned this to you last week. There’s just like a black cloud. There’s just like something bad just hanging around this team, and I don’t know what it is. It’s just there’s been, I think, two eventful of an off season, maybe. Then getting into some injuries, stuff like that, but to me there’s just something going on. There’s some bad juju hanging over this team’s head right now.

Andrew:                 I mean, it has to play of a mindset somewhat. I mean, let’s just be honest. Antonio Callaway is what? Maybe the fourth best player on the team? Maybe. Quincy, Jalen, Jarrad, Marcus.

Nick:                         He’s the best offensive player.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Of course, he’s going to play this season, but is it going to be Week 1? I mean, is it going to be Week 2 against Kentucky? Florida needs that. Then a guy that, I mean, I would say we pretty much took it for granted he was going to play this year, in Tyrie Cleveland, is missing, and it kind of seemed on Thursday like it wasn’t an injury anymore. It might have been back to the arrest thing. Is it the arrest thing? I’m going to be quite honest and say I have no clue, no damn clue. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on.

Nick:                         There has been no updates for a month now. The last thing to go in was just Bill Cervone, who is the state attorney, putting in officially, this is my email. This is where you should be sending updates, whatever it is, any filing, stuff like that. That was the last update, and that was July 27. So been well over a year, a year, jeez. Been well over a month, and no idea. It definitely was not an injury talk, because Jim McElwain would have pointed out, it’s an injury; still dealing with that hamstring thing. Not what he said today, which was simply, they’ve got some stuff going on, and that’s Jim McElwain code for, they’re dealing with stuff off the field.

Andrew:                 Exactly. To me, those are the two things that, the injury situations suck. There’s no doubt about that; they suck. Those are things that really you can’t control. The off season mess, it kind of reminds me, and, no, I’m not; I’m not even going to say that. I’m not going to say what I was going to say. It just isn’t what you want heading into the season with a lot of question marks that are there. Now, I still think this team’s going to be very good, and I still think they’re going to win 9 to 10 games. I do, but I do think that it’s a little bit concerning to me that there hasn’t been a resolve in the Antonio Callaway thing. I mean, what are we now? Two weeks since the filing that he was innocent at the student hearing?

Nick:                         Yeah. That was on the 12th. We’re taping this, almost two weeks. It’ll be two weeks Friday.

Andrew:                 Friday, when you guys are listening to it. To me that’s what’s kind of weird, and the thing is, for McElwain here, there’s nothing he can do. His hands are tied in this situation. This is a university deal. He can’t get involved.

Nick:                         Yeah. I don’t understand why. The only thought would be, so Antonio Callaway admitted to being high, admitted to smoking that night. Then my question is, is the SEC drug testing before the SEC Championship game? Because the night in question was before the SEC Championship game. Are they drug testing in Atlanta?

Andrew:                 It’s Cam Robinson.

Nick:                         Yeah. Is the NCAA drug testing before a bowl game? Florida was in a bowl game. So to me there’s questions, and does the smoking marijuana part, was there a failed drug test? What’s going on with that? It’s not waiting for the appeal. That was a 10 day process, so that was done. You had 10 days to file an appeal, so that was done the 22nd.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         So no idea what it is, but the longer it goes, and the closer you get, the more concerning it gets. So when he’s cleared on the 12th, it’s great. A week later, when Jim McElwain says, “We don’t know,” then it starts to be a little concerning. Now you’re nine days, eight days away from the first game, you’re concerned. I don’t want to hear, we don’t need him for U Mass.

Andrew:                 It has nothing to do with U Mass.

Nick:                         Has nothing to do with who you’re playing. You could be playing the Carolina Panthers Week 1, and I’m still concerned. I’m concerned either way. Why is there no resolution yet?

Andrew:                 Right. Here’s the thing. He’s in school. He was in school Monday when classes started. So you have to think, it’s not something that’s big that’s going to keep him out of school, because he’s in school. So what is it? If it is a failed drug test or whatever, I personally think McElwain would come out and say, “He’s good to go,” or something to the extent of he still has to face consequences for his actions, or something. To me, I don’t know this for sure, it sounded still like Mac had not heard word back from the university on Callaway’s clearance. Is that kind of the way you took it, Nick?

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s the way I take it, and it’s starting to feel a little uneasy. Not fishy, because I mean I don’t think there’s anything.

Andrew:                 I do think there is something fishy, and I say that, and I don’t mean fishy in that he’s going to get in trouble, more trouble, or anything else, but I do think something is weird that there has been no update on it. My thing is this, and I hate talking about this, because however you say it it comes off bad, but it’s sort of like now he’s starting to get punished for something that he was proven not to have done.

Nick:                         No. I mean, the head coach is literally giving you nothing. So you don’t know if he’s being punished for that. You don’t know if he’s being punished for something else.

Andrew:                 I’m saying from the university. If the university is continuing to drag their feet on this, why? Why are they dragging their feet on something he was proven innocent for?

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 I don’t know. Couple things that he did talk about, Nick, that we hadn’t talked about, but I really wanted to talk about real quick is getting Massey and Brandon Powell on the field together is something I think you’re going to see a lot this year. Mac has been very high and keen on that the last few days, and I know that’s something that happened during the scrimmage. I think that’s a good thing. I think there’s a lot of things that can be done with those two guys on the field together with their speed.

Nick:                         Yeah. The big thing is, I asked Dre about it today. You, as a former football coach, would know offenses aren’t made to be difficult. They aren’t made to be confusing for the offensive players. So I’m asking Dre, I said, “Hey, you guys do a lot of shifts, a lot of motions, is the offense hard to pick up because of that, or is there just seven different looks you can give to the same play?” Which means you’re not learning seven different plays, but we’re running the same play, but I’m going to start outside and motion into the backfield, or vice versa. He goes, “Sometimes we motion just for the heck of it.” Sometimes the motion means nothing. It’s just a different look.

That, being able to get Massey and Powell on the field, gives you more versatility, and we’re not talking about both of them playing slot. We’re talking about one or the other playing on the outside. We’ve seen both, one of them in the slot, one on the outside, and being able to move guys around like that. Maybe putting Powell and Massey, they’re both former running backs. Massey was a quarterback as well. Putting one of them in the backfield. Would you throw the ball with Massey? There’s just so many options, and what you’re trying to do on offense is to have the defense second guess, maybe have them run a tick slower, and when you start adding in tiny wrinkles like that, that’s where you slow down the defense a little bit and have them start questioning what they practiced all week.

Andrew:                 You get that mismatch. We saw that in…

Nick:                         I didn’t even mention mismatch. Both players are electric with the ball in their hand.

Andrew:                 I want to say it was the LSU game, Nick. Correct me if you remember here, but I remember you and I both looking at each other and saying, Powell got a lot of snaps from the running back position when they would go five wide. They would go five wide, motion him in the backfield, and there was a few plays where he was running the wheel route, your favorite route, from the tailback.

Nick:                         Brandon Powell ran thousands of yards in motion last year for nothing.

Andrew:                 Yup.

Nick:                         Thousands of yards.

Andrew:                 That is a situation where if you line Brandon Powell up at tailback, or you line Dre Massey up at tailback, there’s a possibility you’re getting a linebacker, and I don’t care who you are at linebacker, you’re not covering those two guys at linebacker from the backfield. Just not happening.

Nick:                         Bobby Boucher would.

Andrew:                 I mean, you know what I’m saying? That’s the stuff that you get, much like when Mac shifts his tailbacks out to the X or to the Z. He does that to get a look where he has a linebacker matched up one on one on that running back, much like Alabama did on the first play of the game when poor Antonio Morrison, was it Kenyan Drake that he was matched up on on the first play of the game that was burnt?

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s not a good matchup for Florida.

Andrew:                 I’m saying that’s what Mac does.

Nick:                         Exactly.

Andrew:                 Does a lot of that. I’m excited to see it. I think that while both of those guys lack the size, Mac’s offense does need size in it somewhat, but with the two guys he has now I think there’s a lot of ways just to simply get the ball to those guys in space, because of their size.

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s interesting. With Brandon Powell I think you got to talk about longevity.

Andrew:                 It’s all about staying healthy.

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s really a concern for me. You can say whatever you want. You can say he’s got new shoes, he’s got this, and he’s got that.

Andrew:                 Got to prove it.

Nick:                         This is going into your third year, and each year the same thing has happened, so worry about that. While you can have both of them on the field, use it. Use it and abuse it.

Andrew:                 Right. It’s absolutely, it’s one of those things where, prove it. I mean, it’s the same with Anzalone. It’s the same thing with Martez Ivey. It’s the same thing with a few guys. You continue to get hurt year in and year out, whether it be the same injury or something. You’ve got to prove it. That’s just kind of where it is. Alabama’s kind of going through that right now with our guy, Bo Scarbrough, a guy you and I are both very high on. He just can’t seem to stay healthy.

Nick:                         Yeah. I feel like Bama’s a little deeper.

Andrew:                 Right, but I was using that as an example that he’s a guy. I had read something about that today, and it just came to mind when we were talking about guys that can’t stay healthy. Nick, anything else we’re kind of missing from Mac?

Nick:                         It was like squeezing water out of a rock today, but Mac did seem very encouraged about Alex Anzalone and health of his shoulders, as well as Martez Ivey and the health of his shoulders. We’ve talked about it already a bunch, so we don’t need to harp on it, but keeping, not getting, but keeping Alex Anzalone on the field is crucial. When you look at the teams Florida’s going to face this year, the kind of physical power running Florida’s going to have to combat this year, you have to have Alex Anzalone on the field.

Andrew:                 To furthermore that, Nick, and I’ll say this, we’re just talking about mismatches, but Anzalone is one of the few linebackers that can run with some of the elite athletes, being a former running back himself. He’s one of the guys that can actually stay on on 3rd down in pass situations.

Nick:                         Listen, man, Alex Anzalone is Florida’s best linebacker, and Alex Anzalone was Florida’s best linebacker last year. You can’t replace him. Last year you were able to because Jarrad Davis was able to step in and play alongside Antonio Morrison. This year you don’t have that. You’re going to a freshman. So you got to really hope that he’s able to stay healthy.

Andrew:                 Like I said, he is one of those guys that can—

Nick:                         Keep him off special teams.

Andrew:                 Oh yeah, but he’s one of those guys that saves one of your DBs. You don’t particularly have to go replace him with a DB in the dime as much. He can guard a tight end. He’s one of the few linebackers in the SEC that can do that.

Nick:                         Yeah. I like it. I like Florida’s chances with him. I like Florida’s chances with him and Jarrad Davis healthy.

Andrew:                 You want to go to our buy and sell segment, or you want to talk a little recruiting real quick?

Nick:                         It depends. We’ll go recruiting. Can you shed some light for us on the Adarius “Sour” Lemons situation that happened and sent Twitter into a frenzy?

Andrew:                 It should be back to good Lemons; he’s back in the class.

Nick:                         It was Sour Lemons, and then Ripe Lemons, and when life gives you Lemons. It was Beyoncé’s Lemonade. There was a lot of stuff going on.

Andrew:                 Lord. I mean, the biggest thing was he got in some off the field trouble. Nick, you and I, we try not to speak on that stuff. He’s in high school. He is suspended for one high school football game this week, on Friday. If you really want to know, a good poster on Gator Country posted all the details. You can check it out, www.GatorCountry.com. You can check it out there. Basically, it was a big misunderstanding in that when Florida found out about it, supposedly they talked to Adarius and expressed to Adarius that that crap doesn’t fly at the University of Florida. Adarius took that as they didn’t want him, so he quickly decommitted, and then called Coach Skipper back the evening and expressed that he really wanted to be a Gator. What did he have to do to get back in the class? The question was, why did you leave? We just want to help you right now.

According to his high school coach, who was telling me this situation, it was just basically a misunderstanding on Adarius’s part, and things are back to normal. Being that Adarius does what he has to do off the field to be able to be eligible for the University of Florida, both academically and from a character standpoint, Mac’s way. You talk about the black eye, I think that’s something Mac is trying to clean up, and he isn’t going to bring this black eye in if he doesn’t change his ways. I definitely think it’s a learning tool for this, and hopefully Adarius gets straight. He doesn’t have a great, I would say, home life. So kind of on Adarius and his high school coaches to get it right, and that’s something I know Florida is trying to do as well. In the class. Best thing I can say is to support him and hope he gets right. Too talented to be wasted.

Nick:                         Boom. That was good. Wrapped it all up there.

Andrew:                 Wrapped it all up into a bow tie and tied it up in a knot.

Nick:                         Yeah. What else is going on? Shawn Davis, you know what? I’m done. I’m done with recruiting. He may or may not commit Friday. Who knows? If he does, cool. If he doesn’t, cool. I’m done. Football season’s on. This stuff of will he, won’t he, top 15, top 37, but here are the other eight that I’m also considering outside of the top 37.

Andrew:                 Chill out.

Nick:                         I’m sick of that nonsense. Is Shawn Davis committing Friday, and would it be orange and blue, in your opinion, if you had to guess?

Andrew:                 I will say there is a 99% case he commits. He’s been planning this day since like April.

Nick:                         Months.

Andrew:                 April. I mean, I want him. I’ll say it on the next podcast what I really think about this commitment and waiting so long. Florida has a really good shot at landing Shawn Davis, and he’s a good player, very talented player at 5’11”. Big physical corner that I think has a very, very high upside there. Also, another guy that kind of waiting on his decision is defensive tackle Fred Hansard. Who knows when that’s coming? I mean, it was supposed to be three weeks ago, two weeks ago, a week ago. Then it was supposed to be this week. Now supposedly next week. When he commits, he commits. It’s Florida or Rutgers, and the Gators have been the team that have had the momentum. Rutgers is gaining the momentum, but right now I think Florida has a great shot with him. When he commits, don’t ask. Don’t know.

Nick:                         On the next podcast I will release my top 25 schools that I’m considering committing to.

Andrew:                 #1’s got to be Hawaii.

Nick:                         So make sure to tune in. Not going to talk about who. There will be no interviews after, and please respect my decision?

Andrew:                 That is the funniest thing, though, when they say, “No interviews, please.” Then you look a day later, and there’s four interviews. It’s kind of like, okay. Here’s my thing. Prospects, if you’re listening to this, just take this one piece of advice from me. I could honestly, really and truly, care less, if you tell me you don’t want to do an interview I respect that. Nick, you know that. My suggestion is, if that is the case, just privately send a message to the reporters you usually speak to with a statement or some answers. Let them put it out, and I guarantee you, never mind. Most, there’s a few people that wouldn’t respect it. Most people would just respect that, put out the story. Prospects, realize that we have a job to do. Fans are going to ask us for those answers. If you guys would just do that it would take a lot of pressure off of you.

Nick:                         Are we done with recruiting?

Andrew:                 We’re done with recruiting. Let’s go to buy and sell. Nick, I’ve been on this, and I got some things for you. I’m sure you got some.

Nick:                         You have told me, so here we go, as just being open, being transparent. Spivey, I didn’t know we were doing buy, sell today. So I have no idea what he’s about to ask.

Andrew:                 No idea. I’ve got these. My wild ass mind is coming, so here we go. Nick, this is a question, and I think I’m going to surprise you with my answer, but three years ago you lost a bet to me about this guy. Marcell Harris, you were bound and determined he was going to be the guy, better than Keanu Neal, everything else. It hasn’t happened. Buy or sell that this is finally hitting, the light bulb’s coming on for the young man?

Nick:                         Sell.

Andrew:                 Sell?

Nick:                         Sell. Nope. Sorry.

Andrew:                 Sell for Marcell, or sell as in you’re not buying it?

Nick:                         Sell, sell. Selling Marcell. He’ll be fine on special teams. What you’ve seen from him defensively, that’s what you’re going to continue to see. That’s him. That’s him as a player. That’s what he is, and that’s fine, but it’s not good enough. So he’s going to play fine on special teams, contribute there, but sell. Not going to buy what Mac is saying about him as far as being a huge contributor. He might have to contribute, because of the numbers, but it’s not at a level of where Keanu Neal played. It’s not anything like that.

Andrew:                 I’m going to sell that he’s going to be a big contributor. I’m going to buy that he’s gotten a little bit better. Buy that he’s gotten a little bit better. Here’s the thing, though.

Nick:                         I’m out.

Andrew:                 Here’s the thing though, Nick, and this is what I think people need to realize, and this is scary as shit when you say this, if you’re a fan. Him and Marcus Maye on the field together, that’s two strong safeties playing together. It can’t happen. Both of those guys are run stoppers first. No. You can’t. That’s a bad situation, in my opinion, and I’m the biggest Marcus Maye fan there is, and Marcus Maye deserves to play. I’m just saying him and Harris starting together is not a good combo, in my opinion.

Nick:                         No. I think Nick Washington’s going to win that, is going to be starting there.

Andrew:                 I’m in favor of that. That’s not great, but that’s better than the other option.

Nick:                         That’s where you’re at. It’s where you’re at with recruiting right now.

Andrew:                 Chauncey Gardner is your guy here in a couple weeks.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 Yeah?

Nick:                         Yeah. I’d buy that.

Andrew:                 Okay. You buy that. Okay. I’m going to go into a couple different things here with the buy and sell. I’m going to hit you another player, and then we’re going to talk a couple teams. I got one that has been on me, and you and I have talked about this a little bit. Buy or sell that Jawaan Taylor is this year’s Fred Johnson, in that he is your first guy off the bench at tackle?

Nick:                         Buy.

Andrew:                 Buy?

Nick:                         Buy. Absolutely buy that.

Andrew:                 Do you think he just stays in the backup role, or do you think he ends up taking Fred’s spot?

Nick:                         That probably remains to be seen, because Fred can’t play guard. Fred’s never played guard at Florida.

Andrew:                 Too big.

Nick:                         Has Jawaan been playing guard? They’ve really tried to just keep him at tackle. We talked about it last year with Fred, especially when you’re talking about a freshman on the offensive line playing. You’re trying to put as little on the plate, so they have as least amount to handle, so they’re not overwhelmed, as you can. So you’re not going to ask Jawaan to start playing, we need you to play guard; we need you to play tackle; we need you to learn all this stuff.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         So I don’t know if you would put a freshman over there. I think Fred would really have to be struggling to do that, because you don’t want to thrust a freshman into that kind of pressure too soon.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Especially one that you think is going to be a huge contributor for you either down the line or very soon.

Andrew:                 Here’s the other thing that’s interesting is we know that Martez has been the guy that’s played left tackle when Sharpe’s out. When Sharpe takes a break, Martez, you’re left tackle. So you know that they don’t trust either one of those guys to play left tackle yet, so it’s Martez there. My thing is this, and this is something that I think we’ll learn very clear, and I think it’s something that I don’t even know if Mac and those guys know yet. Is the 6th best player or the 5th best player, after Sharpe, Ivey, Dillard, and Jordan, is the next best player a guard, another guard, or is it Jawaan and Fred? I think that’s the biggest question, and I say that because of this. If the next best player is a guard, you can stick him at left guard, move Martez to right tackle. You fix the problem. If it’s not, then it’s Fred and Jawaan at right tackle.

Nick:                         Right. The suspects there are Buchanan.

Andrew:                 Sandifer.

Nick:                         Sandifer, TJ McCoy really only at center.

Andrew:                 Here’s another thing. Is McCoy really pushing Dillard at center? I don’t know. I don’t think so.

Nick:                         No, no. Pushing no.

Andrew:                 See, I don’t think so either.

Nick:                         See, let’s say this happens, so I don’t even know, let’s say this.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Cam Dillard gets rolled up on, hurts an ankle, hurts a knee. I don’t think TJ McCoy goes in.

Andrew:                 I think Jordan slides.

Nick:                         I think Jordan slides over, and then you put either Sandifer, Buchanan, or McCoy at that guard spot.

Andrew:                 Here, let’s go back to another scenario here. It goes back to another question again. Is McCoy better than Sandifer or Buchanan? Because if so, it may be just as good to let McCoy play center. You could still let Jordan make the calls, and McCoy play center, because he’s used to it. So it’s another question of who is the next best interior lineman. I think that’s the biggest question, and for me that’s what we’ll learn in the U Mass game. You say, it’s U Mass; they suck, but you can learn a lot about your offensive linemen in a game like U Mass, and that is do they know the assignments? If they know the assignments, then it’s simply a lack of doing your job when it comes Kentucky, Tennessee, and so on and so on. I think that’s a big question mark.

Nick:                         Got you.

Andrew:                 So here we go. We’re going to move on to some, two buy and sell questions outside of the SEC, Nick. I mean, outside of the Florida, in the SEC. My first buy and sell is Josh Dobbs, 3,000 passing, 1,000 rushing. Buy or sell?

Nick:                         Tell me why you bring this one up.

Andrew:                 I bring this one up, because our good friend, Barrett, and Barrett knows we’re good friends. You and I are both very good friends with Barrett.

Nick:                         Okay. I just thought the numbers were kind of arbitrary. I didn’t know where you were pulling the numbers from.

Andrew:                 He posted a story saying he believes it’s going to be 3,000 and 1,000 for Dobbs. I don’t see any chance in hell that Josh Dobbs throws for 3,000 yards. He may rush for 1,000. Good. I see no chance in hell he throws from 3,000.

Nick:                         I sell that. He came close-ish, not even super close, close-ish to, man, not even. No. I’m going to sell both. Let’s say they play 14 games. 3,000 yards is 214 per game. Last year he threw for 2,291 in 13 games. That’s 176. Quick math, 214, 176, that’s 38 more yards a game. I think he could get to 3,000, but the rushing is not even close. He’s a much better rusher than passer, but in 13 games he had 671 rushing yards. He needs another 329 yards over the course of those games. I’m going to sell that.

Andrew:                 See, that’s me. I don’t see it. There’s no chance for me. Ain’t happening, Captain. No way, shape, or form are you making me believe that. No. No, no, no, and no. Not happening at all for me either, so I’m selling that as well.

My last one was this, and I saw this on Thursday, and I saw five different people outside of Florida say this. Georgia is snubbed from being in the top 15. Do you buy or sell they are snubbed?

Nick:                         What do you mean snubbed?

Andrew:                 That means not ranked in the top 15. They were mad that Georgia wasn’t ranked in the top 15, believing they are a top 15 team.

Nick:                         Some people just need to grow up. Sell. Georgia is not a top 15 football team in the country.

Andrew:                 I agree.

Nick:                         Not even close.

Andrew:                 See, I agree with that. That was my question to you was, how do you get that? You rank Florida 25. You rank Georgia in the top 15? What? They have the same issue, quarterback, except for Florida does have a quarterback that is halfway decent. You’re probably going to rely on a true freshman, or Bryce Ramsey, who was Treon Harris bad last year. No. Georgia doesn’t have the defense Florida does. No. That’s all I got on the buy or sell. Do you have any off the top of your head?

Nick:                         I don’t.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Next week we’ll get into matchups and stuff like that, when we start talking about U Mass and buy/sell.

Andrew:                 We’ll be game week next week, so we’ll be good. Let’s talk real quick. Let’s end the podcast. We got about 10 minutes here. Let’s end this podcast. SEC Network is running through all of their previews, stuff like that. Kirk Herbstreit is on there calling Auburn his sleeper team. Calling their defense. You and I both, I know, disagree full heartedly Auburn is. I don’t even think Auburn wins five football games this year, more or less is a sleeper.

Nick:                         Auburn is trash.

Andrew:                 Yes. My question to you is this, if you had to pick a sleeper team in the SEC this year, who is it?

Nick:                         A sleeper team.

Andrew:                 Guys, if he picks Tennessee he will be cut off this podcast.

Nick:                         No. Tennessee’s not a sleeper. A sleeper team would mean a team like Auburn. Tennessee is expected to win, so they wouldn’t be a sleeper. A sleeper team for me would probably be Arkansas, depending on, or maybe Ole Miss, with Chad Kelly. I don’t see any sleeper teams in the East. I think Kentucky’s going to be a bad football team. I think Missouri’s a bad football team. I think South Carolina’s a bad football team. Vanderbilt has a good defense. I think Vanderbilt, I think Florida will beat Vanderbilt by less than two touchdowns, and people will be really upset about it, but Vanderbilt has a very good defense. They just don’t have the offense to score with people.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         I think Tennessee’s overrated, so that covers the entire East division. You can’t LSU is a sleeper. You can’t say Alabama’s a sleeper.

Andrew:                 Nobody’s picking Alabama, so technically they can be a sleeper.

Nick:                         Alabama’s the #1 team in the country.

Andrew:                 The SEC predictions have them not winning the SEC or winning their own division.

Nick:                         What are you talking about?

Andrew:                 At Media Days.

Nick:                         Media Day, Alabama was picked to win the SEC. LSU was after them. I’m going to go with Arkansas as my sleeper team, a team that could shake things up. Tough schedule for them though.

Andrew:                 I’m going to go Arkansas as well. I think they have a chance to win eight games, and cause some havoc over there. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Arkansas wasn’t second in the West.

Nick:                         It’s pretty tough. You’re going at TCU, Week 2. You’re playing at A&M, which is tough. You do get to host Alabama, and you get to host Ole Miss, but you’ve got, in a four game stretch, you have at Texas A&M, you get a bye week basically with Alcorn State, but then Alabama, Ole Miss back to back. Then at Auburn, so a little tough month from September 24 to October 22 there, but they have a bye week before they play Florida, and Florida has Georgia the week before. They have to travel. Then they have LSU, Mississippi State, at Missouri, but at Missouri. Missouri was a train wreck last year.

Andrew:                 Now, the last one I wanted to ask you was this. Outside of Tennessee, who is the team that you feel is most overrated?

Nick:                         Outside of Tennessee most overrated?

Andrew:                 I mean, we’re both in agreement Tennessee’s overrated.

Nick:                         Yeah. Georgia.

Andrew:                 Georgia?

Nick:                         Georgia. I don’t get it. To me they have the same, if not more, questions than Florida, but are consistently ranked higher than Florida, and I don’t understand it. I mentioned it before, like why are they getting the benefit of the doubt?

Andrew:                 Right. I mean, I think they’re overrated as well, but I’m going to go LSU. #4 in the country is absurd to me.

Nick:                         It’s not, other than the quarterback they’re really deep, good football team, but it’s just like…

Andrew:                 Fine, but here’s the question, and it goes back to this, Nick, and it’s the same thing. It’s the same problem you have last year. It’s the same problem Florida dealt with last year. It’s the same problem everybody in the country deals with. When you don’t have a passing game to respect, they focus on Fournette. They take Fournette, going to give him 150, whatever it is, but Fournette can’t single-handedly get them to be in the playoffs. Just can’t, Nick. It can’t happen. Their defense will take a step back than it was last year, in my opinion.

Nick:                         I don’t see that.

Andrew:                 They’re going to be good. They’re going to be good, but no. It’s absurd to me that they’re #4 in the country with absolutely no quarterback play whatsoever.

Nick:                         Brandon Harris was better than some of Florida’s quarterbacks that they’ve had. Last year 2,100 yards, 13 touchdowns, 6 interceptions. Completed 53% of his passes.

Andrew:                 You’re telling me that Brandon Harris is a good quarterback? I’m just asking.

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I don’t think he’s a good quarterback. I think he can, LSU’s never really leaned on quarterback play. Maybe when you had Jamarcus Russell, but you still ran the ball when you had Jamarcus Russell. I think if he can get out of his way you’ve got Leonard Fournette, Darius Guise. Their receivers are great too, Malachi Dupree. I think there’s so much around Harris where it’s just kind of like, man, don’t blow it; just don’t blow it.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Does that make sense? It’s like what we talk about with Florida. You’re not asking Brandon Harris to win the game.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         You’re just asking him to be competent. Be competent for 60 minutes once a week, because we have enough around you that we don’t need you to win football games. We’re going to do that, as long as you don’t turn the ball over and shoot us in the foot.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         He lit up Florida last year.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I don’t know. My thing is this. Fournette’s already…another fully year of pounding, I just, they’re overrated to me. Again, this is predictions. It is what it is.

Nick:                         It’s opinions. We have different opinions, and that’s what makes it great.

Andrew:                 Right. It just, to me I just don’t see it. It’s like Tennessee, they already have one loss, and they haven’t played a game yet, and that’s Alabama. I mean, they don’t beat Alabama. Les Miles almost got fired because of that. They just don’t. To me, if you’re the #4 team in the country, you don’t mark down a loss automatically. So, no. They’re overrated, in my opinion, and I’m sticking with that. That’s just kind of where I’m at. Anyway, we’re running way out of time here. Nicholas, tell the people where they can find us. We’ll get out of here, and we’ll see everyone on Monday when it is game week.

Nick:                         Www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. On Facebook, @GatorCountry. On Instagram, @TheGatorCountry. On Twitter, @GatorCountry. I am @NickdelaTorreGC on Twitter. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC. Follow us. If you’re listening to the podcast on iTunes, leave a comment. Leave a rating. Let us know how we’re doing.

Andrew:                 That’s right. We’ve had a really good month, couple months here, of people joining the site. Well over 100 people in the last month to month and a half. That is really good to think about. If you haven’t joined us, come join us. It’s game week, and you thought we dominated the off season, come check us out in the season. You’ll really get some domination. Come check us out. Want some deals? Hit me up. Hit Nick up. One of us will get us there. We’ll be ready for game week. As always, guys, go Braves and chomp, chomp.

Nick:                         You stay classy, Gator Country.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.

2 COMMENTS