Gator Country

Florida Gators true freshman Latroy Pittman shows up at No. 2 on the depth chart at receiver, but has been impressing coaches enough since spring practices that he's expected to see significant playing time. / Gator Country photo by Ben Cornfield

Florida football coach Will Muschamp announced the official 2012 depth chart while meeting with the media on Monday.

As reported last week, he did not name a starter at quarterback. Gators sophomore quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel both will play in the opener, and it could be Wednesday or Thursday before the starter is announced.

Other than that, the announced two-deep roster did feature many interesting details while providing a glimpse into how players performed during fall camp.

Now, this is only the starters for Week 1 vs. Bowling Green at 3:30 p.m. in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Many of the positions will be won or lost as players continue battling for time each week. Competition brings out the best in most players, something Muschamp and staff certainly know how to exploit to get the most out of players on a daily basis.

Senior Mike Gillislee is the No. 1 running back, which is no surprise. There was some debate as to who would be the No. 2 running back, and Muschamp settled that by sliding Mack Brown into that spot. True freshman Matt Jones is expected to play a lot as well, but not putting him at No. 2 can only serve as motivation.

Only two starters were listed at receiver with Frankie Hammond Jr. and Quinton Dunbar. Andre Debose and Latroy Pittman ar the co-backups for Hammond while Solomon Patton will backup Dunbar.

There’s also a Flanker listed with Trey Burton as the starter and Omarius Hines as the backup.

At tight end, Jordan Reed is the starter ahead of Clay Burton, although either could start depending on the situation and formation. The same is true at fullback with Hunter Joyer listed as the starter and Trey Burton as the backup.

Along the offensive front, Xavier Nixon will start at left tackle, James Wilson at left guard, Jonotthan Harrison at center, Jon Halapio at right guard and Chaz Green at right tackle. Kyle Koehne, who can play all five positions, is listed as the backup at left tackle. Another thing to note is true freshman Jessamen Dunker is listed as the No. 2 right guard.

The defensive “front 7” featured few surprises in terms of starters or reserves. It’s also not a surprise to see junior college transfer Damien Jacobs backing up Sharrif Floyd at tackle and Dante Fowler Jr backing up Lerentee McCray at the coveted Buck position.

One interesting note is that there is an “OR” listed between Marcus Roberson and Cody Riggs at one of the cornerback positions. It was thought that Roberson had solidified himself as the starter, but apparently not. Roberson suffered a neck injury last season and was not cleared for contact in the spring. He’s reportedly playing at full speed this fall, though.

The big question would be who would start at the opposite corner. There’s nothing new to report there because there is an “OR” listed for Louchiez Purifoy and Jaylen Watkins, so either one could start.

There was no surprise as far as the starters at safety with Matt Elam at strong and Josh Evans at free. Valdez Showers is No. 2 at strong safety while Jabari Gorman is No 2 at free safety.

Another interesting note is the Nickel and Dime positions were included as Muschamp said the team could be in those packages for 80 percent of the time through the first few games against opponents that feature pass-heavy offensive attacks.

Matt Elam is listed as the starter at both Nickel and Dime, with Watkins backing him up at Nickel and true freshman Brian Poole backing him up at Dime.

On special teams, there was little to note other than Debose and Patton being listed at the kickoff returners after Gillislee was previously reported to be working back there.

About the author

MikeCapshaw

Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting.

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