BR Article-Florida Football: 6 Reasons Why Gators Shouldn't Give Up on Jeff Driskel

[CAGator93]

The Sugar Bowl was one of our 2 biggest games this year?

If you say so....

[gatrfanzz]

I think the first year O coordinator carries most of the blame for not continuing the development of the passing game after the Tenn game period. Also it is the hbc philosophy to pound the ball. I would say that JD had his hands tied somewhat.

[gator34654]

Yeah, the sugar bowl, guess JD was the only one that didn't show up. Love how you force JD bad qb in your narrative. I was at the game. Yes, he made a few bad throws, but also some good ones. The vast majority of the time he had zero time, thanks esp to a LT that was a turnstile. Jeff had no running game, and still uf had no answers to 8 men in a box. No one isn't saying JD has arrived. Truth be told the entire team needs to improve. How bout wait till the end of his jr year before wanting to replace him.

[whitelakegator]

Originally Posted by gator34654

Yeah, the sugar bowl, guess JD was the only one that didn't show up. Love how you force JD bad qb in your narrative. I was at the game. Yes, he made a few bad throws, but also some good ones. The vast majority of the time he had zero time, thanks esp to a LT that was a turnstile. Jeff had no running game, and still uf had no answers to 8 men in a box. No one isn't saying JD has arrived. Truth be told the entire team needs to improve. How bout wait till the end of his jr year before wanting to replace him.

Do you remember when the corner blitzed in the SB and JD never ever even looked that way. Never read the play. THAT is what I am talking about. And why wouldn't any team put 8 in the box and blitz the crap out of him. He hasn't shown he can make the throws down field. Until he shows opposing defenses otherwise...expect a ton of pressure constantly.

And waiting till the END of someone's junior year if they are your guy or not would be a huge black mark for this staff. If we are triple digits again next year and he's starting as a senior then that's on our staff for not having another solid QB. Heck, if we are 75 or worse then I say get rid of him.

[GatorByte]

Originally Posted by GatorLaw

I can't imagine that anyone would seriously think we should give up on Driskel at this point. He took his lumps as a first year/sophomore starter but he gained valuable experience and did enough things right to show that the potential is there.

I'm not saying that we should give up on Driskel and completely discount the promise of his experience, but I can give you 3 examples of first-year starters that had better success at the position this past season: Marcus Mariota (Rivals 3 star, won Fiesta Bowl), Everett Golson (Rivals 3 star, went to BCSCG), and Johnny Manziel (Rivals 3 star, Heisman Trophy, won Cotton Bowl). We undoubtedly had a tougher schedule than a couple of those teams though.

Of these few mentioned above, Driskel's QB rating is only very slightly better than Golson. Based on individual play, I'd say Driskel belongs in a conversation with those other guys only relative to how well his team did overall (you could definitely argue against me on this with Golson). Certainly we shouldn't give up on Driskel. Is it wrong though to consider what else we have?

Originally Posted by GatorLaw

Why would a coach want to throw that experience and potential away and start all over again with another first-year starter, especially when we don't have some super-duper backup QB waiting in the wings.

How do you know we don't have a "super-duper backup QB" waiting in the wings? Based off how many stars our guys have coming out of high school? I'll remind you that the 3 players above were all Rivals 3 star players. How many did Jeff have?

I liked what I have seen in Spring games from Tyler Murphy, although it is becoming clear he is never going to get to play here. Skyler Mornhinweg was committed for a period of time to a guy now coaching in the Super Bowl and later pre-scandal Penn State, along with having some impressive video and an NFL coordinator bloodline... are we writing him off because he isn't "super-duper" enough for UF?

What about Jacob Guy, who turned down D1 offers to walk on here and was targeted by Coach Pease? How about the incoming pro-style QB Max Staver at 6'5 235? Is it because nobody here is sporting more than 3 stars?

[DrewLaing]

I didn't realize UF fans were "giving up" on Driskel already after a 11-2 season in his first year as a starter

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by samit23

Who has given up on him? 11-2 as a true soph w/o a WR? JD is going to be one of the bet QBs in CFB next year.

Sent from my iPhone using GatorCountry

This sounds a lot like the people who were predicting Brantley would break out and be a Heisman candidate under Weis, if JD can improve to being a below average QB or even an average QB that would be a huge boost.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by whitelakegator

Do you remember when the corner blitzed in the SB and JD never ever even looked that way. Never read the play. THAT is what I am talking about. And why wouldn't any team put 8 in the box and blitz the crap out of him. He hasn't shown he can make the throws down field. Until he shows opposing defenses otherwise...expect a ton of pressure constantly.

And waiting till the END of someone's junior year if they are your guy or not would be a huge black mark for this staff. If we are triple digits again next year and he's starting as a senior then that's on our staff for not having another solid QB. Heck, if we are 75 or worse then I say get rid of him.

We can't get rid of him we have no other options, honestly that's why everyone's blaming the O-line and the WRs because blaming JD is too painful. You do make a good point about defending us- why shouldn't every team just load the box with 8 or 9 guys and blitz- Reed was the one guy who kept them honest last year (he was our only real mismatch, though far, far more people malign him than JD go figure) it remains to be seen if we have anyone who can do that this upcoming season.

[NoahBeanBizzel]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Gonna be a long off-season.

The topic will go away for a few months, but expect it to come back roaring by the time fall practice rolls around. Well, you'll probably see a few of these threads peppered in right before/during/after spring practice, so maybe not.

[RealDeal]

first big game for driskel--sept 7--at miami---their secondary isn't that good so he should light it up. First real test against a good D: oct 12 at lsu---could be rough if he doesn't improve a lot from last year

[swampsupreme]

Originally Posted by nawlinsgator

So you're saying you lost 20 bucks on the Louisville game?

Jeff driskels lack of skill goes beyond the louisville game my friend

[GatorLaw]

Originally Posted by GatorByte

. . . How do you know we don't have a "super-duper backup QB" waiting in the wings? Based off how many stars our guys have coming out of high school? I'll remind you that the 3 players above were all Rivals 3 star players. How many did Jeff have? . . .

By "super duper" I just meant that we don't have some 5 star, All-American QB backing up JD. It's possible Murphy or Mornengweig (sp?) could turn out to be great if they had a chance. But since they were behind not only JD but also JB I have to think the coaches haven't seen enough there to give them a shot.

[GeomatGator]

Jeff Driskel should start because he is by far the best QB we have on roster for the next 2 years. Which is sad.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Yeah it's sad when your best QB was a 5-star guy who could only beat out another 4-star/5-star guy.

Seriously, folks.

[whitelakegator]

Originally Posted by GatorLaw

By "super duper" I just meant that we don't have some 5 star, All-American QB backing up JD. It's possible Murphy or Mornengweig (sp?) could turn out to be great if they had a chance. But since they were behind not only JD but also JB I have to think the coaches haven't seen enough there to give them a shot.

Shane Matthews was 4th on the depth chart if I remember correctly. I'll reiterate one last time...if you are 115th or 116th in passing or however bad it was...that's not just an o line problem or wide receivers problem. That is a quarterback problem.

I know some are afraid to even attempt that thought but at this point we can only hope for the best. JD needs to work his behind off as we all wait with bated breath.

[PSGator66]

I didn't know that anyone was giving up on Jeff! I thought he played very well in his first full year as a starter and expect even better next year.

[gator07]

He played a near-perfect game against Tennessee. Every thing else was hit or miss. Very inconsistent. Flashes of brilliance mixed with mediocre and even poor play at times.

I wouldn't give up on him. The potential is obviously there. The coaches need to just coach him up.

[1gatorbear]

I'm not giving up on Jeff, because for one, he is the best option we have. The Miami game will tell alot about what type qb he will be for us moving forward.

[ofmgator]

Anyone who thinks JD didn't play well last year is an out and out idiot! Was he perfect...hell no. Can he improve...hell yes. Go back and check Florida football and see how many 11 win seasons we've had before you make dumb statements! We lost to Louisville because their QB could not miss an open player...why? because our DB's were no where to be seen until the 4th quarter when our D began to play and the offense was better too. Get off Driskel and question the game plan and the lethargy of the entire team.

[Swampmaster]

who's giving up---he just needs to up his game in 2013---fewer sacks, better reads, better throws---very simple.