Thoughts of the Week: August 21 – August 28

We made it, y’all! Football season started last night and we are officially one day away from the start of the Florida Gator football – one of the most important years in Florida’s 100+ year football history.

Here are some thoughts on the week. Comment, opine, and give me your feedback.

‘Thoughts of the Week’ Moving Days

With the start of the football season here, this article will move to Tuesday mornings. In the new Tuesday article you will see my thoughts on the previous Gators game – usually statistical analysis – thoughts on the upcoming game, as well as, opinions on the goings on in the world. Of course, you will still see the “Must Read Articles of the Week” and “Song of the Week”, while also seeing GIFs, videos, and more. You all will get the same ole Dan Thompson statistical analysis mixed in with my current format to give you something (hopefully) worth reading each week.

If there is anything you would like to see, or not see, in future articles please let me know. This article is your oyster.

Depth Chart Observations

When the depth chart was released on Tuesday there were few eyebrow raises. Quarterback, running back, wide receiver, most of the offensive line, defensive line, and linebacker positions were all figured out before the release – but a few things did catch my eye.

  1. Clay Burton over Jake McGee? – Is it because he is a senior? The offense doesn’t rely heavily on blocking from Burton, so I am a bit confused. I wouldn’t necessarily say Clay Burton has proven that has outright “earned” the role during his career at UF, nor did he during the offseason. A fun fact: Jake McGee had more catches in the first game of last season than Burton did in all of last year – exactly the role a tight end plays in Kurt Roper’s offense.
  2. Trip Thurman/Trenton Brown over Tyler Moore? I figured Moore would be an exceptional SEC guard during the 2013 Orange and Blue Game when I saw him getting blown up at tackle. He has the size, feet, and ability to be a great guard, just didn’t have the speed to play tackle, so I was shocked to see that he wasn’t a shoe-in to be a starting guard. I am not sold on Thurman and based on practice reports there wasn’t much of a reason to be, so I am pretty surprised, to say the least, that Tyler Moore likely will not start on Saturday.
  3. Kicking still not decided? I hate the idea of kicking by committee, so I guess I am more disappointed than anything that it will be either Kyle Christy OR Johnny Townsend and Austin Hardin OR Frankie Velez. I figured over the last eight months somebody would step-up and take over, but I guess I was wrong and don’t want to admit that I am still very worried about the Gators kicking situation.
  4. Latroy Pittman starting? I thought we would see limited Pittman throughout the rest of his career after only four career catches, off-the-field issues, and overall, I thought there were better options. But I am happy for Pittman. At the “Y”, he offers big match-up issues and has a good skillset if he can put it all together – I guess I just expected the “Y” to be more of a true “speedy-slot” role in the Roper offense. I really thought we would see Debose here, to be honest.
  5. Marcell Harris is third on the safety depth chart? Man…I remember talking with Nick de la Torre about who would be better Keanu Neal vs. Marcel Harris before last season (of course, I had Neal, he had Harris) and now one is starting and one may only see time on special teams. While I know Harris was recovering from an injury last season, I just expected a bigger splash out of him – maybe he just needs more time.

Upset Pick of the Week

There are not a ton of games this week that have, in my opinion, upset potential. Sure, maybe Utah State over Tennessee is intriguing because Chuckie Keeton is a heckuva quarterback, but I think Tennessee pulls it out by 10.

But my upset pick of the week is an FCS over FBS pick with… North Dakota State beating Iowa State. Sure, Iowa State is not a huge juggernaut, but the FCS National Champion Bison will pull-off the upset because they have a great defense that returns six starters and because they have beaten an FBS team every year since 2010.

If you like to bet money on sports, this is a good one to take on the upset.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Update

As of Thursday, they had raised $94.3 million due to the Ice Bucket Challenge…awesome!

Top-6 Gator Freshmen Impact Players

This list is my prediction on which Gators will have the biggest impact this season.

  1. Treon Harris
  2. Brandon Powell
  3. JC Jackson
  4. Jalen Tabor
  5. Duke Dawson
  6. CJ Worton

Must Read Articles of the Week

Song of the Week

My favorite artist is Eric Church – without a doubt. He was a great voice, has great lyrics, has an insatiable energy, and is one of the best performers I have ever seen.

His newest CD The Outsiders was much different than his previous three albums and I struggled to like it as much as some of his others. I felt like he tried a bit to hard to be different, but none the less, it had some really great songs and Church showed why he is one of the best in the business.

This song is a very different taste of Church, but let me know your thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1l8P1JqPxc

Daniel Thompson
Dan Thompson is a 2010 graduate of the University Florida, graduating with a degree in Economics and a degree in Political Science. During this time at UF, Dan worked three years for the Florida Gator Football team as a recruiting ambassador. Dan dealt daily with prospects, NCAA guidelines, and coaching staff. Dan was also involved in Florida Blue Key, Student Government and Greek Life. Currently, Dan oversees the IT consulting practice of a Tampa-based company. Dan enjoys golfing, country music, bourbon, travel, oysters, and a medium-rare steak. Dan can be found on Twitter at @DK_Thompson.

1 COMMENT

  1. DT: Good job this week. I’m looking forward to some statistical analysis, mainly because I’m ready for us to have some statisticals to talk about lol

    I’m a big fan of Eric Church as well, and I actually liked his new Outsiders album. On my ride into work this morning I heard a newer guy, who is going to do some great things in the country segment. His name is Chase Bryant and he’s only 21. He sang a couple songs live on the radio show, and he’s got one of the better voices I’ve heard out of a country singer, and again it was straight acoustic over the radio which impressed me even more. But one thing that’s sort of unique about him is that he is left handed, but plays a right handed guitar upside down. He didn’t have a left handed guitar when he was learning so he had to make do with what he had. I would recommend checking him out if you haven’t already heard him, he’s well worth it.