HOOVER, Ala. — New Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain has a daily reminder of the expectations that he will be held to at the University of Florida. He can’t run from them, as the bronze statues — Steve Spurrier’s in particular — line Gale Lemerand Drive on his way in to work each morning.
“I drive in to work every day and there’s his statue,” McElwain said of the bronze statue celebrating Spurrier’s Heisman season as a Florida Gator. “It’s pretty cool.”
Spurrier was the first person to win a Heisman trophy and coach a Heisman winner at the same school and it’s the offense that Spurrier brought to Florida that changed the landscape of the Southeastern Conference. Spurrier’s scheme and out of the box play calling were revolutionary but he had the players to execute his crazy ideas and make them work on the field.
The last four seasons the Gators have been void of both the playmakers and the creative minds capable of getting the ball to guys who can make an impact. McElwain knows that Florida’s offense the last four years is the reason he took the podium at the Hyatt Regency Hotel representing Florida and he knows if he doesn’t change that offense a new guy will be taking the podium in a few years.
“We need some guys offensively to really step up and play with consistency and detail,” McElwain said of the offense.
Fans know about redshirt senior Jake McGee and junior Demarcus Robinson, but there is a lesser-known player that McElwain believes can take the offense to another level, an X-factor, type of player that can provide electricity to an offense that has been living in a mud hut for years.
“He’s a guy you look to highlight a little bit on offense coming out of spring,” McElwain said of Powell. “We saw enough to where we’re going to be able to use this guy in a lot of different spots.”
Powell played running back his entire life before being moved to wide receiver last season. “I’ve never played receiver a day in my life until I got to college,” he said. “I just took the role and told coach that I was going to do everything that I can.”
Powell embraced the change last season, with a different coaching staff. The position change came with the expectations that he would be featured in the offense. At running back, Powell had to battle Matt Jones and Kelvin Taylor for reps, but at receiver, the field was wide open. Each week leading up to games we would be told about how well Powell was practicing and how there were plays designed for him.
Powell had just 31 touches as a freshman (16 rushes, 15 catches) and never had double-digit touches in a game for the 96th ranked offense in the country. It’s not like other guys on the team were earning or more deserving of getting the ball. I don’t have an answer for why Powell would seemingly disappear on Saturday and neither does he.
“I heard it every week, ‘we’re gonna run this, do that’ and it never happened. I t never happened.”
Could that have been a fatal flaw? Perhaps, but Florida’s offense was built on fatal flaws. It isn’t, however, a mistake that Jim McElwain intends on making himself.
“For us, we need to create explosive plays,” McElwain said. Is Brandon Powell a guy that can do that, “I certainly think so.”
As a player, of course Powell is ready to be featured more. What player wouldn’t want to be a bigger part of the game plan? After a year of empty promises, Powell isn’t taking anything for granted. He knows that the coaching staff cannot put in the work for him; he needs to hold up his end of the bargain.
“If I just put in the work and every time I get the ball I make a big play I think I can be that guy.”
It would be very cool if he were one of the kids to have a break-out year. Hard worker, ton of talent. Robinson, McGee, Powell, couple -few decent running backs. Someone else needs to emerge as well-the coaches and their play-calling. That mid-summer positive mojo is starting to excite me!! Here’s to this year being a nice refreshing change for the better. :) Go Gators.
I really wish someone in media would get to the bottom of the Florida offense during the Muschamp era and tell us the real answer. Brandon Powell’s comment was telling but there is ‘the rest of the story’. He said he heard every week ‘we’re gonna run this, run that and it never happened. It never happened’. I just want to know ‘why’.
It is all academic now. Looking forward to the Gator Mac Attack. May take some time but this is the right direction. Mac handled Hoover very well. Can’t wait until the season is here.
Rigator1: You raise an issue that remains of interest to many Gator Nation. Bottom Line: We, the public, will never get an answer. The Reason: To get an answer a reporter would , to some degree, need to question the judgment of the sainted one, Jeremy Foley. You know, the best AD in the history of all sports. Any local reporter who got involved with that would be out of a job in short order. The Obvious: Muschamp would have been a great hire if we were after an DC. From ‘day-one’ he had no business being the head coach at UF. That soon became obvious to nearly everyone except Foley Cultists and, of course, Mr. Foley. So, officially, the Foley-Muschamp era never happened. Time to move on or get blocked.