Gator Country

Florida redshirt sophomore wide receiver T.J. Lawrence catches a pass while redshirt sophomore cornerback Jeremy Brown defends during the Gators' first day of spring practice on Wednesday at the Sanders football practice fields. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

Chuck Heater and Steve Addazio, two coaches who have Midwest coaching stops on their football resume, still can’t believe their good fortune being on coach Urban Meyer’s staff at the University of Florida, which conducted the first of its 15 spring practices on a dreary and overcast St. Patrick’s Day.

You can be sure that Heater and Addazio love it in Gainesville, where the first practice ended shortly before 6 p.m. with the thermometer barely getting over 60 degrees in the midst of a chilling rainstorm. Heater played for the late Bo Schembechler at Michigan, where it was a balmy 64 degrees; Addazio has South Bend and Syracuse, N.Y., among his “tropical” coaching stops. Yesterday, they were golfing in South Bend, where the temperature was 70 degrees, 10 degrees warmer than it was in sunny Syracuse.

Hey, sometimes you have to give up the comforts of life to enjoy the fruits of your profession, and there aren’t any college football programs in the United States that are better stocked by the Sunshine State’s athletic gardens than Florida.

“This is a great football program,” said Addazio, who has relinquished his “interim head coach” title now that good friend Meyer is back in the saddle again. For the most part since Florida’s 51-24 victory over Cincinnati in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, Addazio was the program’s caretaker and he was credited by some for keeping Florida’s recruitment of the Class of 2010 on course.

“We’ve had a great bowl game, we’ve had a great offseason and now it’s time to go have a great spring practice and become a great football team,” continued the offensive line/offensive coordinator who Meyer refers to as “Vitamin A.”

Heater, the assistant defensive coordinator and tutor of Florida’s safeties, has learned a lot during his 34 years as an assistant and he’s pumped that he will be learning even more this spring as new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and linebacker coach D.J. Durkin bring fresh ideas to the table.

“At my age (57) you never stop learning,” Heater joked. “There’s an influx of new ideas. There’s a lot of things that we are sold on and a lot of things we’ve got to integrate. We’ve got a good mixture of guys. I’m fired up … (but) the bottom line is you need to line up and tackle.”

Most of the attention this spring will be on redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley, who finally gets to step outside of Tim Tebow’s shadow and show his passing talents and leadership qualities.

“John Brantley had a great offseason and he’s going to be a great player,” Addazio said. “He can throw and he’s an athletic guy. He can do a lot of things. He’s ready to rise up and roll.”

Trey Burton, one of 11 early enrollees from the Class of 2010, was working behind Brantley, allowing last season’s No. 3 quarterback, Jordan Reed, to work out with the tight ends and wide receivers. Early-enrollee Gerald Christian and returnee Desmond Parks also will see action at the position with Reed, who was wearing No. 11 – the uniform number worn by former Heisman Tophy winner and coach Steve Spurrier and the last couple of years by Riley Cooper.

Football coaches will tell you that they enjoy spring practice because it’s when they get to do some real coaching and some experimenting.

On the defensive side of the line of scrimmage, with the departure of linebackers Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper, the Gators are addressing some depth issues by moving some players around. Dee Finley has moved from safety to linebacker, outside linebacker Brandon Hicks was getting some work on the inside and A.J. Jones was going to be schooled to play all three linebacker positions, ala Stamper.

“Ryan was so valuable to us and we feel A.J. can be the same,” Heater said. “Spring is an information gathering time. You want to know who your players are.”

By April 10 with spring drills conclude with the Orange and Blue Game, Meyer, Addazio, Heater and the other coaches should know who those players will be.

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