Post spring Florida Gators mailbag podcast edition

GatorCountry brings you a special Florida Gators mailbag edition of the podcast as we answer your questions on the football team and on recruiting.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the most important questions on the offense at Florida, plus some facility questions from our members.

Andrew and Nick also break down how the diamond teams did this past weekend, plus Andrew talks Tennessee spring game and the rivalry talk that has been going on.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with my man, Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, good weekend on the diamonds. Not so good on the gym floor. Tennis does well. I would say for the most part a good weekend in Gainesville.

Nick:                         Yeah. Good weekend in Gainesville. Shout out to the gymnasts, specifically Bridget Sloan. Maybe you didn’t win a championship, but winning three out of four for a senior class, three national championships in a four year career is pretty impressive.

Andrew:                 I saw a stat. She had won 9 championship rings while at Florida, because she won the all-around this weekend as well. Nine championship rings, one more and she’d have had a handful. Maybe she’s saving that last one for like a wedding ring. We’ll play it off. That’s what Bridget wants to do. Bridget, we got you. We’ll take care of you. Nick, I don’t want to go into this too, too much, but there’s something, someone hit on the message board, and someone hit it to me on Twitter. They said, “Where would you rank Bridget as far as Gator athletes go?” Of course, I don’t want to debate this much, because we’ve got a lot of things to talk about, but I somewhat think we overlook a career like Bridget Sloan, or some of these softball girls, or the tennis girls when they were doing really well. I think maybe we overlook some of these ladies that are doing really well. Bridget Sloan, I mean, like I just said, nine national championship rings. You’d be hard fought to find too many better winning athletes at Florida.

Nick:                         Yeah. It’s always tough, I think, when you start comparing athletes in different sports. To way, where do they fit in all time, all programs? It’s so hard to compare a football player to a softball player to someone who’s running track or swimming, but as far as gymnasts, if not the top overall maybe, then on a very short list up top would be Bridget Sloan.

Andrew:                 I agree. It’s tough. Tim Tebow, how do you compare Tebow’s career to Bridget Sloan’s? Tebow only had a chance for four national championships. You can’t really compare that. It is interesting. Nine championship rings. That’s awesome. That’s a great career. Congrats to her, and you and I both, we follow them on social media, that kind of stuff, and she was the life of the program. It’ll be big shoes to fill, but three out of four, and finishing fourth in the national championship, not too, too bad.

Nick:                         No. Not at all. She finished her career off, I think it was with a 10 on the bars?

Andrew:                 Something like that. I really don’t know. When it got ugly I kind of turned it off. Not to go into too much of a rant, because Florida was bad on Saturday night, but I hate sports that are judged by judges. It is awful. You can’t tell me that there’s not some gimmicks in there, some crookedness going into that. I don’t know. Florida didn’t do well. They’re not national champions. They didn’t perform like national champions, but I hate sports judged. Let’s just win it on the field or the meet or somewhere like that.

Nick:                         It’s always kind of weird to get subjective. You get that French judge from the Olympics, the figure skating judge. It’s always weird. I’m like you. I don’t like it. Let somebody else. It becomes subjective, and that’s tough. Our whole podcast today was question and answer time.

Andrew:                 So you don’t want my rant?

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 But you have to, no, I wanted to hit on this a little bit more though with you real quick. Are we at the point now where things judged like that are almost outdated? Is that something that hurts the sports like that? Instant reply, that kind of stuff, you and I are baseball junkies. We love and breathe baseball, and the human error of umpiring is in question now. I mean, is that something that maybe they should look at that judging? I don’t know how you do it, but that’s something different.

Nick:                         That’s the thing. I don’t know how you would do it otherwise. I mean, what’s your scoring method then?

Andrew:                 I don’t know.

Nick:                         In football, baseball, softball, the scoring is very easy. Somebody touches home, that’s a run. The ball crosses that white line, that’s a touchdown. It goes through those double things, it’s either an extra point or three points.

Andrew:                 Maybe we should let a robot or a computer do it.

Nick:                         Then robots are going to take over the world. That’d be the first step.

Andrew:                 They are. Do you want to do mailbag first, or do you want to do recap the diamond?

Nick:                         Let’s jump in the mailbag, and then we’ll retouch, touch on everything that went on the diamond this week.

Andrew:                 Touch all four bases, because both teams did a lot of that this weekend. Fire away. Go to the first question.

Nick:                         First question, and thank you everyone for answering. We’re going to cover some here, and then I’m going to cover the rest of them in print. This one was from BHernie22, scale of 1-10, how worried are you guys about the depth at corner behind Tabor and Wilson? I’ll amend the question a little bit. I’ll say Tabor, Wilson, and Dawson as the two outside, and then the nickel back. Frankly, there is no depth.

Andrew:                 Is it 1-10, I mean, can we go way over that?

Nick:                         Worried is 10, because there’s no depth. I even asked Quincy Wilson. I said, “It’s kind of weird you guys have had depth back there.” I was like, “Where are you guys right now?” He’s like, I think his quote’s something like, “Jalen and I, just we’re going to have to play a lot. We’re going to have to play every down, and we understand that. There’s just not much behind us.” You know, you lose two guys you thought would be contributing this year. You lose them before last season, and now you’re in a situation where you’ve really got three, and then some younger guys who aren’t ready yet, in my opinion.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Worried is definitely the mindset. Not to get off the beaten path, but someone asked me. They were like, “What’s your biggest concern with the defense?” I’m like, “Not the starters. It’s the second string.” There’s a ton of question marks, and it’s not even at just DB. Defensive line’s another question, but since we’re asking DB here. I think it’s Chris Williamson is a guy, and I know he didn’t have a good spring, or a great spring. I still expect him to be a good football player. He’s a hell of an athlete, very quick, good hits. I think he’s going to be fine. Burnett is working really hard from everything I’ve been told, that kind of stuff. Then I think you kind of look at, like Chauncey Gardner. I guess that’s the thing. Do you bump Chauncey down, that kind of stuff? That for me is the biggest question mark. Where does Chauncey end up? Is his future at defensive back, at corner, or is it at safety? Where is it? I’m not sure. For me that’s the question mark is where he goes, but Williamson and Burnett, and then I guess there are guys that are going to come in the summer.

Nick:                         Yeah. I really think Chauncey’s role is going to be at safety, at least for now, because when you’re looking at that secondary at least you’re thinking, okay, we have Jalen and Quincy, and Duke. So, we’re comfortable there. We’re more comfortable with those three names than we are with the guys next to Marcus Maye at safety. So I think that’s why that move was made so quickly, and then you get into a situation where it’s weird. You don’t try to put a lot on a freshman’s plate, but if one of those guys were to get hurt I think you would see Gardner have to slide down.

Andrew:                 That was kind of where I was aiming at a little bit. Okay, if, Lord forbid, Quincy Wilson goes down with a sprained ankle, and he misses.

Nick:                         It could easily be three weeks.

Andrew:                 Right. I’m saying something minor where he misses the second half of the LSU game. Okay. Are you bringing Chauncey in to play that corner? Are you bringing Chris Williamson? That’s my question. Where is Chauncey Gardner? Is he your next best option on the board to go play corner, or is strictly a safety? Where is that? That’s my biggest question mark is where are you going with Chauncey? Is he going to be a guy like a Duke Dawson that is your first guy off the bench, or is he going to be a guy that just goes there? I don’t know. Maybe this is the case. We’ll talk about this in a second. I know there’s another question in this. Does it depend on those three guys that are coming in at safety? Does Chauncey Gardner’s future depend on that? Maybe.

Nick:                         Then I think, so we’ve talked about it a bunch, but it’s easier to play early when you’re farther away from the ball, but everyone that plays defensive back will tell you your footwork and your stuff, if you’re not doing it every day, your technique’s going to get rusty.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Even if that is, that is where Chauncey played. That’s where he’s probably most comfortable, but if you’re not doing it every day, you’re going to get rusty, and then how much does it take you to get back into it? Is it one play? Is it one quarter? Is it two games? Then you start getting into an issue of maybe there’s somebody else that’s maybe not as good of a player, but a better fit right now, because at least they’ve been practicing there.

Andrew:                 Right. Well, the one thing that I will say is this. You and I, I think, talked about this on podcast a couple weeks ago, but Torrian Gray likes his DBs to be able to play safety and corner. So maybe this is the, I don’t want to say new era of Florida DBs, but maybe that’s something Torrian Gray is doing is having Chauncey do a little of both in skill position drills, that kind of stuff. I know as far as scrimmage and teamwork it was more of him playing safety, but maybe that’s something that’s there. Then CJ McWilliams is another guy that early enrolled. I think you and I both agree that we don’t expect him to play his first year, and then Quincy Litton is a guy, played corner, played safety. I think he’s more of a safety. So I’m not seeing the depth at corner outside of Williamson, Burnett, and Chauncey. Here’s the thing too. Do you maybe move Duke to corner and Chauncey to nickel if that was to happen?

Nick:                         Yeah, that’s also a possibility. I know that Duke’s been playing both, so that could be a possibility also.

Andrew:                 Right. Exactly. Then we see Marcus Maye slide down, but I think Marcus Maye has got to be your last resort sliding down.

Nick:                         Absolute last resort. Here we go. We’ve been pretty long winded about it, but very concerned is the answer.

Andrew:                 Absolutely.

Nick:                         There is no depth there.

Andrew:                 I guess the reason we were long winded is there’s so many different scenarios that could be worked out that right now, what are we? April 17th, 18th. I don’t know what today is.

Nick:                         It’s the 17th. They’ll be listening on the 18th.

Andrew:                 April 18th, I think there is several different ways this could go, and then I guess it’s a kind of thing like the quarterback play. Are we looking at Quincy or Tabor missing a quarter, four games, five games? What are you missing? If it’s a quarter, maybe you stick Chris Williamson out there or McArthur Burnett, and just say, I really hope he can hold his own. Then if it’s four games maybe you bump somebody else. Like you said, concerned is the pretty straightforward answer.

Nick:                         Yeah. Very concerned about that depth there, but you’ve got two great guys. You’ve got two great guys, another very good player in Duke Dawson. You’ve got three very good players, so maybe you won’t need depth.

Andrew:                 Give us a good question here. We’ve got to liven the mood up a little bit.

Nick:                         Are we expecting any big contributors enrolling in the summer?

Andrew:                 I like this question. I like this question. I feel like this is my cup of tea. As Coach Mac would say, that’s pretty cool. I’m going to run though a couple guys. How many can I give you? Three?

Nick:                         You can give me three.

Andrew:                 I’m going to go three here. I’m going to go with Joseph Putu. We just talked about that need for a DB. I think Joseph Putu, he’s a Juco guy. Now, he did play at North Dakota Western, Arizona something, way out in Booneyville up there.

Nick:                         Northeast Southwesterly School.

Andrew:                 Something like that. One of those directions. I’m going to say Putu comes in and can contribute. I don’t know if he starts. I am on record as saying someone besides Marcell and Nick will start at safety, so maybe it’s Putu. So that’s one. My second guy is going to be none other than Tyrie Cleveland. I mean, we all watched the spring game. Is the receiver position way better than it is? Absolutely. Can they still use a big 6’3” body in Tyrie Cleveland? Absolutely. Then the last one is someone that I was very high on all throughout the process, Antonneous Clayton. I think Clayton is a guy that will play a lot like Cece Jefferson and can get some reps and get some pass rushing going. It’s kind of like the thing in baseball where you never can have enough pitching. You never can have enough pass rushers.

Nick:                         That’s true.

Andrew:                 I saved your guy that you wanted, so you can have him.

Nick:                         Who’s my guy?

Andrew:                 Your center.

Nick:                         Oh yeah, well I’m going to touch on. I’m very interested in Putu, but kind of for me almost like a wait and see.

Andrew:                 I feel like we need a good nickname for him when he hits somebody.

Nick:                         Maybe. Put me on the spot there. You know what I mean though? Kind of like a wait and see where I like what I’ve seen, but I want to see how he takes the next level. We talked about it with Mark Thompson coming from Juco, and he’s 6’4”, 240, got to Florida, and now he’s not running like that.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         So kind of what is Putu’s adjustment from where he was to where he’s going to be.

Andrew:                 My thing is this. How will he be able to adjust mentally to the quickness of the game? I can’t imagine, it was North Dakota, right? I’m right, right?

Nick:                         I think so.

Andrew:                 You can’t imagine North Dakota has as complex playbook as Geoff Collins at Florida.

Nick:                         Right.

Andrew:                 So that’s another thing that I’m interested in.

Nick:                         Yeah, especially when you’re looking at, well, maybe we need him to play safety, that becomes a lot different than playing corner.

Andrew:                 Right. Here. Let me throw this question to you. He did play some corner. Do you maybe train him to be that corner if he’s not your starting safety?

Nick:                         Yeah. No, I think you just mentioned a lot about safety, and I think it’s a very real possibility, because of what the depth is at safety, but then I just think, maybe he needs to, you bring in the depth chart, and how he might be needed at safety. Then you bring in the playbook, and can he handle all that mentally? This is a lot to throw at somebody. Maybe push him back out to corner. So to me it’ll be interesting. I need to see him in camp, see how he looks at both positions, or maybe even kind of like the first time we walked out to camp, to spring camp, and Chauncey Gardner’s at safety. I wonder if that’s just for today. Show up to the next practice. He’s still there. Maybe you just even see where they put him.

Andrew:                 Yeah. It’s kind of a deal like a Duke Dawson. You and I were kind of believing he was going to be a corner. First few practices he’s at safety. Saw time at safety his freshman year. I don’t know. We’ll see. Who’s your, you were going to say Brett Heggie. Do you have another one besides Heggie that you’re expecting big things from?

Nick:                         Heggie’s my man.

Andrew:                 That’s kind of weird.

Nick:                         I think if you look at the offensive line, Antonio Riles, I don’t know how you can put him in and where he’s going to play.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Ain’t happening.

Nick:                         So you’ve got a left tackle. You’ve got a right tackle. You’ve got a right guard. You’re looking for a center. Cam Dillard could be the guy. I think he looked better. You said he maybe even looked a little bit better.

Andrew:                 Yeah, I thought he did.

Nick:                         After being one of his harsher critics.

Andrew:                 I did. I thought he came off the ball well against Brantley in some of the clips and stuff that we were able to see, and that kind of stuff. I did. I thought he played well there. I thought he was better. Yes, I’m very hard on Dillard. It’s just because it’s the center play, like I just think that the center is where it all is. I mean, that’s the quarterback play.

Nick:                         Okay. So then that leaves us with, we’ll pencil Dillard in there at center, and then you still have that spot of left guard. Someone’s got to fill it. Is it Martez Ivey? What’s his shoulder look like? I feel like you still have one to two spots at center and guard that you can improve on, and Heggie, Florida showed last year they’re not afraid to put a freshman there on the offensive line. Everyone knows how I feel about that. There are exceptions to the rule, but it could be.

Andrew:                 Here’s my thing. If Heggie’s better than Dillard, then let’s go. Let’s go, big fella. Hop in and play center. I mean, center is a lot about being smart and knowing what you’re doing. I mean, you definitely have to face the big hogs up there in the middle, but I’m not ruling out Brett playing ball. He’s 305 now. You and I both watched him in the Under Armour game, and he handled, I mean Shavar Manuel was out of shape in the Under Armour game, but he handled Shavar Manuel well and handled a lot of the other big fellas in Orlando at the Under Armour game.

Nick:                         Yeah. It’s tough at center. I always do this. I always say, you’re not going to play.

Andrew:                 I hate offensive linemen playing as freshman.

Nick:                         I hate it, and then when we’re talking about center, like you said, that’s like quarterback. So now it’s not even, it’s even elevated more of you’re even more responsible for everything that’s going on at center. So that’s tough.

Andrew:                 Outside of left tackle, that’s the worst spot.

Nick:                         What?

Andrew:                 Outside of left tackle that is probably the hardest spot to play early. Left tackle is not from a mental standpoint, but from a you got to kick your ass out there and be ready for that monster defensive end coming off the edge.

Nick:                         Right.

Andrew:                 This ain’t high school ball, big fella.

Nick:                         Again, that’s seen. I think Heggie would be one of mine. The three you mentioned would be mine as well, with probably Tyrie Cleveland up there.

Andrew:                 Okay. What’s your next question?

Nick:                         The Gator team’s biggest weakness on offense and on defense, and why?

Andrew:                 Since we’re getting long winded, and we’ve probably taken up half of our show here, I’m going to try to get short with my answers. I’m going to try to define them as much as I can. Biggest weakness I would say right now is consistency. I would say chemistry between everyone is something that is a weakness right now, and it’s nobody’s fault. It’s just simply that you’ve had, you know, you had two quarterbacks last year. You have a new quarterback this year, even though he was there. You have three new receivers out there. You have a new running back in Mark Thompson, and two running backs that didn’t get a lot of carries, and then you still have an offensive line that’s in progress. I would say chemistry. I know this question might be asking for a certain position, but I would say the chemistry and the consistency would be my biggest weakness heading out of the spring.

Nick:                         That’s a very insightful answer of you, Andrew.

Andrew:                 I’m an insightful guy. They do call me the Goat for a reason, even though I haven’t said that in a while. They do call me the Goat for a reason. I know where you’re going.

Nick:                         Where am I going?

Andrew:                 You’re going for the offensive line, interior.

Nick:                         On offense my biggest weakness is, yeah, is going to be that interior, no. I think right now, I can’t say the whole interior, because right now I think Tyler Jordan’s your best offensive lineman.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Period. So biggest weakness for me…

Andrew:                 While you’re thinking, I’ll say my biggest…

Nick:                         Real quick, defense is easy for me. Safety.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Biggest weakness is going to be safety. I thought earlier in the year it was linebacker depth, less concerned about that now. Who’s playing next to Marcus Maye? That’s the biggest weakness for me on defense. On offense it will probably be left guard, or I can stick with wide receiver. Until you get that consistency that you were talking about, until you get consistency at wide receiver, that’s going to be your biggest weakness.

Andrew:                 You hit on the spot that I was going to hit on. Left guard, until Martez comes back and shows me he can stay healthy and play left guard, that’s a weakness for me. Then, of course, opposite of Marcus Maye is atrocious. You really have two guys who have never earned the ability to play, who I don’t think people trust to play there, and then you have a freshman in Gardner. Then two freshmen coming in in the summer, and a Juco that’s never played above North Dakota, Western Dakota State University. That’s a weakness for me. I don’t know where they go. We’ve talked about that enough. Then left guard. I mean, if Martez Ivey’s not healthy, can you go into the season with Antonio Riles? I don’t know. Nick, did I just like bomb your way?

Nick:                         I mean, like you can. You can do it. Is it advisable to do that? No.

Andrew:                 Is Florida the best football team with Antonio Riles?

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 See, that’s my thing. If you tell me you go in with Sharpe and Dillard and Jordan and Fred Thompson, I’m like, okay. I can live with that. Fred Johnson is going to get you good and bad. Tyler Jordan’s going to be good. Cam Dillard’s going to do what Cam Dillard does, and that is he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be. He’s going to miss some blocks because he maybe gets out physicaled. Then David Sharpe is really good player. He gets beat sometimes because of bad footwork, but that’s something that’s there. I guess we can agree on that. Left guard, safety, and then, again, my biggest thing was chemistry and consistency.

Nick:                         Alright. Mr. Gator wants to know, now that spring football’s over, do you have a better feeling about this football team compared to last year, or still unsure?

Andrew:                 You want to go, or you want me to go?

Nick:                         I think we have a better feeling about this team, because last year you’re in a feeling out space where you don’t know what the coaching staff is trying to do, what they’re aiming to do. You’re not sure how they want to run offense, how they want to run defense, how they’re going to handle adversity, how they’re going to handle situations. So we definitely have a better grasp of what the vision is, what the direction is. If you’re talking about just the football team, I think you were better in some spots. The schedule is easier. The schedule to me is a little bit different this year when you look, and you get Georgia and Florida State. It’s not going to be a spread offense. You’re going to get Arkansas. You’re not really facing LSU. You’re not really facing these spread teams, so that when we’ve looked in the past, like last year, Jim McElwain said, “We’re going to be in dime a lot, because we really are only playing three teams maybe that are going to try to pound the rock, that are going to try to run the ball.”

Andrew:                 Then you had Ole Miss.

Nick:                         To me, you’re going to have way more of that this year. So how does the linebacker depth hold up? I think I know better what the coaching staff is trying to do. I’m familiar with the players that will be contributors, and I think the schedule is a little bit easier, but I don’t know if, okay, if you’re listening to that you say, okay, Nick said the team’s better. They won 10 games last year. That means they’ll win 11 this year. I’m not saying that. I think a lot of things fell into Florida’s way last year. Obviously one gigantic thing that didn’t, and sort of ended up ruining the season.

Andrew:                 I’m going to make a couple points. This is a better football team April 17th, or whatever day you just told me, April 18th you guys are listening to it, than it was April 18th of 2015. Much better team. I would say twice as better football team. They’re better in just about every position as far as the group goes. Yes, you lose Vernon. Yes, you lose Jonathan Bullard, but as far as a group and a whole at each position you would be hard fought to say you’re better at this position, except for safety. Much better safety with Keanu Neal. Much better, but this schedule’s much easier.

This is a 9 or 10 win football team or bust. I have no problem saying that. If you don’t win 9 or 10 football games, it’s bust. I agree with what you say in that we see what they want to do. Had you told me last year Luke Del Rio was going to be your starting quarterback in that offense, or even Will Grier in the offense, I think you and I both expressed our concerns about how he would be under center. Now that we know what the offense is like, like you say, I think we all feel much better about where it is. The spring, I think we can both agree the spring of 2016 was just smooth flowing and actually looked like a football team. It actually looked like a football program. It didn’t look like a football program in years past. You know what I’m saying? It was a wreck. It was a wreck. It was a lot of, I mean, just look at the spring game. You had a game. You didn’t have a glorified practice.

Nick:                         Those spring games. Those spring games were really bad.

Andrew:                 I’ve got to hit this real quick. No, I’ll tell you what. I’m going to save it. I’m going to save it for the end. I watched Tennessee’s spring game, and I’m going to talk about it.

Nick:                         We’ll let you rant, because I see a lot of football players, even Florida’s players, are getting into it now with Tennessee fans on social media.

Andrew:                 So let’s ramp our questions up. Let’s hit them, because that rant’s going to be fire.

Nick:                         Alright. These are two. They’re very similar, so we’re going to combine these two. Why is UF ranked last in the SEC in facilities? I don’t know if they’re ranked last. I don’t know what ranking that is. Seems we should have been and should be making huge improvements, how do you feel about the dorm renovation? Is it much better, or is it just a Band-Aid? The dorm renovation is much better.

Andrew:                 Heck of a lot better.

Nick:                         What they were in before was kind of what my parents, when my parents were at school at Florida, it’s like cinder block. Almost feels like you’re in like a jail. It’s like cinder block walls, beds that you can hold the person’s hand because the room is so small, when you’re both laying in your own bed from across the room. Now it’s nice.

Andrew:                 Like a mini apartment.

Nick:                         It’s basically a mini apartment. You’re going to have a kitchen, a living room. Everyone’s got their own bedroom, and then you’ve got a bathroom that’s shared. Those are much better. The academic center, I think, that they put $25 million into, that’s being, I think, almost done. That’s going to be completed sometime next fall.

Andrew:                 Either summer or fall.

Nick:                         Academic center is going to be done. They’re still looking into expanding the locker room, training room. When they expand the locker room, that goes into everything, not just the lockers, but that would be possibly weight room.

Andrew:                 Player lounge.

Nick:                         Player lounge. Training areas. That’s like hot tubs, massages, places to get taped, stuff like that. For whatever reason, Florida didn’t feel like they were falling behind, and Jim McElwain was able to come in and show the guys who could make things happen and that were pulling strings.

Andrew:                 Don’t sugarcoat it. Someone got in there and told Jeremy Foley, we’re going to do this. Pay for it.

Nick:                         It had to be done. It got to the point where, I mean, you’re even seeing it now. I can’t remember which recruit it was.

Andrew:                 We’re not talking about that. That’s some bozo, Jacob Mathis from Berkeley Prep. He was butt hurt because he didn’t have a committable offer, so he decided to diss on Florida’s thing. They don’t follow up on that stuff. You can’t take a kid’s word. I mean, it’s like breaking up with your girlfriend. Are you going to really say good things about that ex that cheated on you? Hell no. Come on.

Nick:                         To answer that question, and we have one more before you can rant. Florida’s facilities were not bad, but they were old. So there’s a difference between like it’s bad, and it’s just old, outdated, needs a facelift.

Andrew:                 I agree with that.

Nick:                         It’s not like they were bad or unsafe. It was just that they were old.

Andrew:                 They needed a fresh coat of paint.

Nick:                         They needed to be brought up to the standard of where everything is right now. It’s just, to me it was surprising that it took somebody else, kind of like McElwain, to come in to really stress like this is really important. You’re trying to find a winning culture again, and you’re not starting at the very ground level of it.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s kind of what I’m going to say. I’m going to make it real quick here, super quick. It is, it’s simply a new touchup. It’s keeping up with the Joneses around the country. You poured money into it, and a lot of these kids say, we don’t get the money. If you’re putting the money in the facilities, and they’re able to enjoy that kind of stuff, you hear less and less rants about it. That football standalone facility that Florida’s talking about doing, in my opinion, you find a place to put it. You do it. You take care of things. Believe it or not, and I know someone’s going to argue about this, but football pays the bills, and they deserve the best facilities. Agree or disagree?

Nick:                         We can spend an entire podcast talking about that.

Andrew:                 So we won’t. So hit us with the next question.

Nick:                         Next one is recruiting. Any junior college transfers expected now or before the start of fall camp?

Andrew:                 Junior college guys, I would say defensive tackle Josiah Coatney. He’s playing, Old Miss has got that cha-ching in his head. I won’t say what it was, but cash register. That got in his head, so it looks like he’s going to not go to Florida or Carolina. That was two schools that were thought to be his favorites. So I would say no more Jucos. Would I be surprised if they added a transfer, either a grad transfer or regular transfer, before the season? No. I mean, McElwain added Mason Halter with spring, or early fall, early summer. I wouldn’t rule out any of that, especially if a grad transfer at safety wants to come about. I think you’ll start to see some more transfers now that spring’s over with, so guys that maybe say I’m not going to play here, so I’m going to go ahead. Maybe a guy that’s a safety or maybe a left guard. Maybe one of those guys come about and Florida goes after, but I’ll say no more Jucos.

Nick:                         Yeah. You always could, this is transfer time. End of spring guys start to see some writing on the wall.

Andrew:                 Right. As Mac says, you’re always looking for chances to improve your team. So if some really good player is tired of losing at Tennessee and wants to come to Florida, come on down.

Nick:                         Why not?

Andrew:                 Why not.

Nick:                         That brings us in. What is going on? What is going on with Florida and Tennessee right now on social media? I don’t even know.

Andrew:                 First of all, listen to this. This is funny. So I get an email the other day from a Tennessee radio station wanting me to come on and talk about the rivalry. Me, of all people. Wanted me to come in and talk about why Florida is trash talking Tennessee. I don’t think that was a good idea for Tennessee.

Nick:                         Probably not.

Andrew:                 I’m sitting there thinking about it, and the Tennessee guy, and props to this guy, he goes, I don’t know why Tennessee fans are talking. They’ve lost 11 in a row. I’m sitting here thinking, and I even told the guy, I was like, I’m not sure if you’re a Tennessee fan, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? I will say this. I said this on the show the other day. I’ll say it to you, Nick, as well. Football is fun when that stuff happens. When you’re hearing Jalen Tabor and Jalen Hurd trash talking back and forth, that’s fun. That’s what football is about. I love it. Even if it is Jalen Hurd trash talking, trash talk, dude. It’s a new season. Go for it. I love that stuff. I wish we had more of it.

Nick:                         There will never be a lack of trash talk between Florida and Tennessee.

Andrew:                 No, but what I’m saying is with players.

Nick:                         For me, personally, even being an athlete, when someone’s beating me 11 times in a row, I’m not talking to them. I’m not talking about them. I’m not saying anything until I beat them and have something to say.

Andrew:                 I mean, I think people know. I mean, I think you probably knew this already, but Jalen Tabor might have just won over my heart. He may have won over my heart. No. So I got to talk about this spring game. What are we in here, like 35 minutes here, 38.

Nick:                         What did they have, like 90 points at half time?

Andrew:                 They did fantasy football so Butch could win another damn spring national championship. He wanted to have the most points scored, so the bozo’s over here giving points to sacks. If you touched the quarterback, or if you touched the offensive lineman, you were probably getting a half a point. You put your pants on right? Half a point. You put your helmet on? Half a point. It was something like 50-41 at half time. What are you doing, Butch? It’s really a seven on seven football where you get points for tackling, but here’s my thing. That team’s still not very good. The team’s still not very good. I don’t know what the SEC Network and ESPN has got these guys predicting on. Nick, our good friend Barrett, from Bleacher Report, very good friend of mine, fellow Braves fan, I love Barrett. Barrett’s a good friend of mine. He’s drinking that Kool-Aid as well. We’re going to have to get him on here soon, because I’ve got to figure out what in the world they’re selling up there. They must be giving away money to predict them to win.

Nick:                         Barrett, it’s funny, because every year it seems like, it seems more so than it is, that Tennessee gets picked to win the SEC, to do this, to do that, and people yell at Barrett all the time, and he reminds them, I picked Tennessee to finish third in the SEC last year. He’s like, I didn’t pick them to win. I don’t know why you’re yelling at me.

Andrew:                 I don’t remember that, and I like Barrett, but Barrett told us at SEC Media Days over and over Tennessee was going to win the SEC East, and I remember him saying that, because I remember laughing at him, because I don’t know. It is what it is. Tennessee ain’t winning the SEC. Jalen Tabor, keep doing your thing, bro. If nobody has your back, Andrew Spivey’s got your back, because I hate the Vols.

Nick:                         I am really looking forward to that trip. I remember last year.

Andrew:                 I’m going. I’ve already made the decision I’m going. I will be in Knoxville. I may have to have Secret Service.

Nick:                         See if Gator Country will buy you like a security guard to walk around with you.

Andrew:                 I’m going to have to like get the Secret Service that comes out with all these president candidates. Get the people to walk around with me. If anyone gives me a blank stare, got you.

Nick:                         That’s how it works?

Andrew:                 Yeah. Got you. Look, we got like eight minutes here. Let’s talk diamonds real quick. Gator baseball. Sweep week, my good friend. Florida-Florida State softball gets, I don’t even want to get started, dumbass umpire that called the game. Rain delay with one out in the bottom of the ninth, second and third. Let Florida score and be done with it. Florida hosts #5, Louisiana Lafayette, this weekend. It was ugly, Nick. It was ugly.

Nick:                         What led into, tell people why in the middle of the SEC schedule is Florida not playing an SEC school? They probably don’t know.

Andrew:                 Vanderbilt doesn’t have a softball team. So there’s 13 softball teams, so you get a weekend off. Tim Walton, much like Sulley, much like Billy Donovan used to do, he isn’t going to play North Dakota Western Dakota State, whatever. He’s going to play the big dogs, and he gets #5, Louisiana Lafayette, who came in with the #1 scoring offense in the country, #1 batting average in the country, #4 pitching staff in the country, a pitcher who hasn’t lost this year. She picks up two losses this weekend, and they get outscored 22-2 over the weekend.

Nick:                         That’s embarrassing.

Andrew:                 That’s very embarrassing. For everyone that wants to talk about those bats for Florida, you may want to rethink your argument.

Nick:                         The girls, especially your girl Kvistad. I never say that right.

Andrew:                 Ten homeruns now. Crushing the ball. Aubrey Munro, known for her catching, is coming around, six game hitting streak there as well. Gourley, Delanie 12 innings this weekend of one run ball, including coming in at a bases loaded no out jam and just striking out the next three.

Nick:                         Florida did it on the road at Arkansas. So they beat Florida State, swept that season series, and they go to Baum Stadium, which is one of the best stadiums in the entire country. Beautiful stadium, just did some renovations to it, but they handled Arkansas. Other than getting a scare on Thursday night where it’s 11-2 in the eighth inning, and you give up the six spot, other than that Florida handled the Razorbacks, including Alex Faedo, huge bounce back game. He had a career worst performance two weeks ago against Mississippi State, giving up nine earned runs. He struck out 10 over 6.1 on just five hits, allowing only one run. Buddy Reid had a big week. JJ. JJ’s breaking out. Buddy Reid had a great week. Jeremy Vasquez starting to come around a little bit. Pete Alonso hit another homerun. He leads the team in that mark. To me, the bats really are now picking up. In the beginning of the year it was relying on starting pitching and bullpen. The bats are starting to carry their own weight now.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Come alive, for sure. I want to hit on Puk, A.J. Puk, real quick. I thought Puk pitched well for the most part. I hate that we even have to get into this, because I feel like it’s common sense, but maybe not. Maybe you and I just overthink it. Power pitchers like Puk, like Kelly Barnhill in softball, they’re going to have their walks. I mean, it comes with the territory, but I thought Puk did a good job of controlling that. Man, that slider was nasty. Then that little 97 mile an hour fastball in the knees. That was pretty good.

Nick:                         That’s the thing. It’s like you want your cake, and you want to eat it too. You the guy to throw 160 miles an hour, and you want him to put it only on the bottom of the knees, out of either side of the black, and it’s just, listen, power pitchers are going to struggle with location at times. You give up some of that. He’s going to walk a little more, a couple more batters than we would like him to, but he’s throwing 97. He’s got electric stuff around that. To me, it’s just when people yell, that’s what he is. His stuff is different.

Andrew:                 Chances are you’re not going to see a lot of guys barrel up his fastball either, so you should be able to get away with, you’re going to have the walks, but you’re also going to benefit from guys not being able to barrel up his fastball.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 I don’t know. I like it. One quick thing before we get out of here. Softball turned a triple play. It was pretty awesome. That was pretty cool.

Nick:                         Paint it for us. How does that happen?

Andrew:                 So it was line drive to Barnhill. First and second, line drive to Barnhill. She kind of has to go down, and the ball almost goes in the ground. She catches it, throws to second, and the girl on first decides she’s not going back to first. She’s going to stay on second. So a nice little 1, 6, 3 triple play. That’s the first one that I’ve ever seen live in my lifetime. I mean, I’ve seen replays of it, that kind of stuff. That was the first one I’ve ever seen live, and it was pretty cool. It was one of those things it was like, what happened? What was this?

Nick:                         That’s so crazy. That’s kind of like how every time a triple play happens you’re kind of left like sitting there like, what?

Andrew:                 One, two, three? It was like, wait, that’s a triple play. One, two, three.

Nick:                         It’s so funny, because it’s such a unique play, such a rare play, but it seems like when it happens nobody is really sure if it did happen. Everyone’s like looking around at each other, at the umpires. They’re like, is that? That’s three right?

Andrew:                 I kind of had that moment. So I tweeted it, and I put it on the message board, and I’m sitting here like, the Gators softball didn’t tweet anything about it? I’m like, was it really a triple play? So I go back and make sure it was a triple play. Sure enough, it was a triple play, and I’m like, why are we not making a bigger deal out of this? Lordy, but it’s a good week. Real quick, Gators have Jacksonville in softball this week at home, and then they host Mississippi State. Florida softball, just like baseball, tied for the top. Florida in softball has a tie breaker over Auburn. You guys in baseball have South Carolina tied at the top, but you still have that big important three game set coming up in a couple weeks.

Nick:                         In Columbia.

Andrew:                 Should be a big one. So, Nick, we’ll get out of here. Tell everybody where they can find us, and we’ll see you guys on Friday for a preview.

Nick:                         Florida gets JU on Tuesday, and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday back on that weird schedule for the last time this year, Georgia comes down to Gainesville. So be there or be square. As always, www.GatorCountry.com for the latest, greatest breaking anything you need for the Gators. On Twitter, @GatorCountry, @NickdelaTorreGC, @AndrewSpiveyGC, and on Instagram it’s TheGatorCountry.

Andrew:                 That’s right, and find Butch Jones at wanna be spring national champion.com, because him and Mark Richt still suck. As always, chomp, chomp, and, Nick, can I get a go Braves?

Nick:                         You stay classy, Gator Country.

Andrew:                 Sweep city. Stay classy, as my man, Nick, said. Take care.

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.

1 COMMENT

  1. I think the depth at DB is going to be fine. Once Taylor,Lenton,and Putu get there the safety position will be deeper and they will be able to move Gardner to CB if they need to. Burnett has only been in college for a few months and will look a lot different come next fall. Williamson will be fine I think. McWilliams is also coming in, I don’t expect much out of him this year but he’s still there. Then Putu can always play CB if they need him to. They still have 4 DBs coming. 3 of which can play safety,so that will change how Gardner gets used. I’m more worried about how the CB position is going to look next year with Tabor,Wilson,and maybe even Dawson gone(hopefully not).