It’s been more than a decade since the Florida Gators (3-3, 2-3) started a freshman quarterback against Georgia but Will Muschamp’s ball club will do just that when the Gators square off against the Bulldogs this Saturday in Jacksonville.
Booker T. Washington product Treon Harris is getting the nod in what will be the first start of his young career. The last time the Gators started a freshman against Georgia Chris Leak lead the orange and blue to a 13-10 victory in 2003.
With Leak on staff and a bye week that allowed Harris to work with the first team offense exclusively the Gators’ coaching staff feels confident in their new signal caller heading into a game that could mathematically eliminate Florida from contending in the SEC East.
“I think he’s got really good understanding of what our base [offense] is,” Roper said of Harris. “And what I’ve been saying all along it’s really not that complicated in the sense of once you get the grasp of the overall scheme. So I think he has a pretty good feel of that.”
Florida’s struggles on the field — other than a poor defensive showing against Alabama — have fallen squarely on the offense. As has become a theme during the Muschamp era, Florida’s offense just can’t seem to get out of their own way and out of the defense’s way long enough to squeak out a couple wins.
Muschamp pointed this out following Florida’s embarrassing showing against Missouri but that game was just like so many others on offense the past four years.
“[Missouri] didn’t have to do much, and they figured that out pretty quickly after it got to be about 28-0,” he said. “They weren’t going to have to do much in the game, so very disappointed in the performance.”
Muschamp and Roper have both pointed to poor quarterback play and turnovers being the issues that have held the offense back. Roper went as far as saying that the offense hasn’t even been able to grow on a week-to-week basis because the mistakes and errors that pile up on Saturday need to be rehashed throughout the week.
The first step in correcting the two-headed monster that has plagued the offense has been made. Treon Harris will start this week and the staff is hopeful that he will be able to provide a spark.
Speaking with Chad Wilson — father of Gators cornerback Quincy Wilson and someone who coached against Harris in high school — last week, he described the kind of playmaker that Harris can be. Wilson says Harris is a nightmare to coach against because just when you think you have him wrapped up for a sack or a loss, he’s able to create something out of nothing and the Gators’ offense is a whole lot of nothing at the moment.
Those instincts and play making ability haven’t gone away. Harris has impressed both his teammates and the coaching staff with his ability to create even when the play design breaks down.
“He makes things happen on the practice field that aren’t necessarily designed and are maybe outside the design,” Roper said. “It’s not different than some of the plays in the game the other night, one of the first moving pocket passes we called, they brought a pressure of the edge and he made a guy miss and just made a play.”
The next thing the Gators need to figure out is how to stop turning the ball over. Florida started the season with just one turnover in their first two contests. They have since made up for lost time, turning the ball over 15 times in the next four games. Georgia comes into the game tied for the biggest turnover margin in the country with a +13.
Not all of those costly turnovers have been Driskel’s fault but a good portion of the turnovers can be credited back to the quarterback position. The Gators need Treon Harris to protect the football first and foremost if they can cut out the turnovers, protect the football and maybe get a little magic from a first time starter they could come away with an upset and the highlight win of the 2014 season.
It wouldn’t be the first time a freshman quarterback from the University of Florida led the Gators to a win over their hated rival.
Great article Nick!