When Percy Harvin was a freshman, trying to come back from a severe high ankle sprain, Urban Meyer had to assign managers and trainers to keep his electric playmaker from sneaking into the huddle to get some practice reps. Harvin is dealing with another ankle sprain this week and to make sure he doesn’t sneak into practice or take any risks, Meyer has ordered him into a boot until late in the week.
Harvin sprained his right ankle on the slippery track of Doak Campbell Stadium Saturday in Florida’s 45-15 win over Florida State. His status is questionable for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference Championship Game against Alabama at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta (4 p.m., CBS TV) but if there is any way at all that he can get on the field, Harvin is determined to do it.
“He’s as competitive a human being as I’ve ever been around,” said Meyer at his Monday press conference. “He plays well in this [SEC Championship] game. He’s made that very clear to me a couple thousand times in the last two days.”
The last time Harvin played in the Georgia Dome, the Gators beat Arkansas for the SEC Championship. He was a freshman and the MVP of the game, rushing six times for 105 yards and a touchdown on a 67-yard run and catching five passes for 62 yards and a touchdown on a 37-yard pass from Chris Leak.
Harvin has rushed for 538 yards (8.8 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns while catching 35 passes for 595 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He has scored at least one touchdown in the last 14 games the Gators have played.
Losing Harvin for the Alabama game would be a big loss since he causes so many problems for defenses. As a wide receiver he has to be covered by both a corner and a safety but he often shifts to tailback or runs out of jet sweeps so whenever he is in the game, he is a nightmare for defensive coordinators who have to scramble to match their personnel. Harvin requires so much attention that it opens up space for some of Florida’s other playmakers.
“When you hand it to number one the whole stadium holds its breath,” said Meyer. “The biggest thing you notice is when you play him — when he’s lined up the whole defense kind of [adjusts to him] and I don’t blame them. That’s opened up some other things for us.”
If Harvin can go, Alabama has to adjust its defensive personnel to account for him. If he can’t go, Meyer said the Gators will adjust.
“We don’t replace Percy,” said Meyer. “We manage around him. The good thing is if the cupboard was bare we’d have a management problem. I think we’ll manage.”
While the Gators are trying to come up with alternative game plans for the offense, Florida’s training staff is doing everything it can to get Harvin ready to go. Meyer said the news from the training room Monday was very good.
“We had great news in the training room today,” Meyer said. “It was very positive, I mean very positive … a lot of thumbs up including from the player … big thumbs up and a smile on his face.”
Meyer said he’s certain that Harvin is doing everything he possibly can to get ready to play Saturday and he called Florida’s training staff the “best there is in college football.”
“That’s all positive,” said Meyer. “The negative is that it’s a sprained ankle and we know what sprained ankles mean. We’re going to boot him and he will not do anything until later this week. As of this point I would say he’s questionable.”
HIGH IMPACT QUARTERBACK: Meyer talked about winning the recruiting battle with Alabama to land quarterback Tim Tebow back in December of 2005. It was an intense battle that really wasn’t decided until moments before Tebow announced for the Gators before a packed auditorium at Nease High School and a live audience on ESPN.
Meyer admitted that he had contingency plans in case Tebow signed with Alabama but assistant coach Greg Mattison, who recruited the St. Augustine/Jacksonville area for the Gators, said failure would be disastrous. Just before Tebow announced for the Gators, Alabama’s coaching staff (Mike Shula was the coach at that time) spent 12 hours with Tebow on a final in-home visit. Meyer was in Pennsylvania recruiting another player along with Mattison and he recalls the trip back to Florida. Sitting on the plane ready to leave the airport in Pennsylvania, Meyer recalled the conversation with Mattison, who is now the linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.
“I had convinced myself that if we lose him we’ll still be okay,” said Meyer. “Greg Mattison looks at me as we sit on there — and it’s about five degrees, I’ll never forget this … you can’t turn the heat on until the plane gets going you can’t turn on a plane until it gets going … so we’re sitting there and it’s freezing — and he says, ‘Do you realize that if we don’t get Tim that’ll set the program back 10 years?’ Oh shut up! And he goes, ’10 years!’ I got so upset with him that I grabbed a blanket and didn’t even talk to him the rest of the trip.”
Mattison must have been right. Tebow won the Heisman Trophy last year and he’s making a late season charge this year to become only the second player in history to win it back-to-back. Tebow has accounted for 25 touchdown passes (only two interceptions) and 12 rushing touchdowns this season. In his Florida career, he has accounted for 105 touchdowns (62 passing and 43 rushing).
Meyer doesn’t question the Heisman Trophy credentials of some of the other frontrunners for college football’s most prestigious award, but he says he’s got the quarterback he wants. He pointed to Saturday’s Florida State game as the perfect example of why Tebow is so valuable.
“Imagine playing a football game the way he did with 500 yards of offense against who we played (Florida State) — a top defense … third or fourth in the country — and we had 500 yards,” said Meyer. “I walked onto the field and my foot sank six inches into the sod. He managed that game. He managed that two-minute drill where on film you can barely see because it’s raining so hard. Heismans and players of the year and all these neat things that go on, as far as who managed that game at that moment, we have our guy. We have the guy we want.”
CHAMPIONS: Grading champion on offense for their performance against Florida State were wide receivers Louis Murphy, Percy Harvin, Riley Cooper, Carl Moore, David Nelson and Deonte Thompson; tight end Aaron Hernandez; tailbacks Chris Rainey, Emmanuel Moody and Brandon James and quarterback Tim Tebow.
Florida’s offensive line — tackles Phil Trautwein and Jason Watkins; guards Carl Johnson and Mike Pouncey; and center Maurkice Pouncey were named Players of the Game.
Grading champion on defense were end Jermaine Cunningham; cornerback Janoris Jenkins; safeties Ahmad Black and Major Wright; and linebackers Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper.
Defensive player of the game was end Carlos Dunlap who registered is eighth and ninth sacks of the season and forced a fumble.
WHAT THE PROGRAM IS ALL ABOUT: Meyer appreciates players that stick it out in the program and keep working to improve even when bigger, stronger or possibly faster players pass them on the depth chart. While some players transferred out rather than work their way up the chart through the special teams and by spending their time in the weight room to get bigger and stronger, fourth year juniors like David Nelson and Ryan Stamper stuck it out.
Now both Nelson and Stamper routinely make contributions that are vital to the team’s success. Neither one could be classified as a star but the team wouldn’t function as well and winning would be more difficult without them.
Nelson came to Florida as a US Army All-America wide receiver. He redshirted as a freshman in 2005 and played mostly on the scout team in 2006. Last season he played on special teams and but he was such a good blocker that he graded champion at wide receiver nearly every game even though he had only four catches for 35 yards. He’s still a special teams demon and he remains one of Florida’s best blocking wide receivers on the perimeter, but now he’s starting to see the ball in the offense. He’s caught seven passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.
“There are certain guys that run from competition,” said Meyer. “They pack their bags and they head to a smaller place or they head to a colder place or head to other places. There are other guys that go into the weight room and work a little harder. They buckle their chin straps a little tighter and realize they’re playing for one of the top programs in America and David Nelson is one of those guys.”
Nelson was a skinny 6-5, 185 when he arrived at Florida. He’s still skinny but he’s added 30 pounds to his frame. He’s stronger and tougher than ever, which was necessary Saturday when he recovered an onside kick attempt in the pouring down rain at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“He basically gets into a fist fight underneath a pile and comes up with the football against FSU in that game in their stadium,” said Meyer. “We go down and score after we get the onside kick. Then on a third down and five he catches a 28-yard pass. He’s got another year of football and he’s going to graduate from the Florida. That’s what this place is all about. This is what we do here.”
Stamper is one of Florida’s most valuable defensive players even though he doesn’t start. He plays all three linebackers positions at such a level that the Gators rarely miss a beat when he’s in the game. Meyer says Stamper is one of the most
“Stamper was elected captain and he doesn’t start a game here because of the respect he’s earned here from the Office of Student Life, to our administration, to our athletic director to our weight coach to our trainers because of the way he handles himself,” said Meyer.
Nelson and Stamper are such good role models and examples that Meyer says he’s always happy to show them off as products of the Florida football program.
“That’s why I like to stick their faces in front of our program because that’s what it’s all about,” said Meyer.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE: Meyer said that Lawrence Marsh will be good to go at 100 percent against Alabama after playing 15 or so snaps last week against FSU after a sprained MCL the week before. The Gators will go with a rotation that includes Marsh, Terron Sanders, Torrey Davis and Jaye Howard. There is a possibility that Dunlap will move inside from defensive end some of the time as well.
Meyer said that there is no need to burn the redshirt off of freshman Omar Hunter, who has battled injuries since August, and that redshirt freshman John Brown (wrist still in a cast) isn’t ready to play football. Matt Patchan, who suffered a tear of his MCL against The Citadel, is out the rest of the season although his injury won’t require surgery.
Also on the injury front, defensive end Duke Lemmens, who has missed the last couple of weeks, will be back and available to play Saturday.