2014 Gator Commitment #2: QB Will Grier of Davidson Day High School, Davidson NC

[CharlesUF09]

Without a real elite WR, it's hard to say what Alabama really wanted to be on offense this year. They seemed to vary from game to game.

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by CharlesUF09

Without a real elite WR, it's hard to say what Alabama really wanted to be on offense this year. They seemed to vary from game to game.

Cooper is an elite WR IMO. Saban is still building his program. They want to run between the tackles then play action pass and go down the field. They did that well this year. One piece they still need on offense is a big threat at TE. They will have that next year when OJ Howard enrolls.

[CharlesUF09]

First, I have my doubts about Cooper being an elite WR. He's only a freshman, in fairness to him, so it could turn out that way. He's not a physically dominating WR. He has good hands, and he gets under balls pretty well.

Alabama did go for more deep passes this year, but I don't think that means you have moved out of the range of game manager at QB mindset (see Trent Dilfer with the Ravens.)

Alabama is a run first team under Saban and with the O-line and RBs they've always had, it's not that surprising. But they had the potential for a very good passing game in 2010 that they hardly utilized. Doug Nussmeier ran a pass heavy offense at Washington though, and that seems to have entered into Alabama's offense a bit. AJ McCarron may get to throw a few more deep balls now, but the base offense is still not as balanced as it could be. Pease's offense on the other hand at Boise was very balanced.

The Florida offense this year was the opposite of balanced though. It was Georgia Tech level of passing. It was what Muschamp had to defend against from Alabama when he was at Texas. For that kind of offense, it really is more of a game manager thing. I'm somewhat concerned it'll be hard to get a guy who throws as much as Grier does when showing him the offense he could run.

You could say receivers, O-line, etc. didn't allow that this year, but I think that's a tough pitch to a recruit. Future promises that all the position around the QB will improve.

Like I said though, a solid offensive performance against Louisville will hopefully make the FSU game less like an aberration and more like what we want to do going forward.

[LimeyGator]

Originally Posted by CharlesUF09

First, I have my doubts about Cooper being an elite WR. He's only a freshman, in fairness to him, so it could turn out that way. He's not a physically dominating WR. He has good hands, and he gets under balls pretty well.

Alabama did go for more deep passes this year, but I don't think that means you have moved out of the range of game manager at QB mindset (see Trent Dilfer with the Ravens.)

Alabama is a run first team under Saban and with the O-line and RBs they've always had, it's not that surprising. But they had the potential for a very good passing game in 2010 that they hardly utilized. Doug Nussmeier ran a pass heavy offense at Washington though, and that seems to have entered into Alabama's offense a bit. AJ McCarron may get to throw a few more deep balls now, but the base offense is still not as balanced as it could be. Pease's offense on the other hand at Boise was very balanced.

The Florida offense this year was the opposite of balanced though. It was Georgia Tech level of passing. It was what Muschamp had to defend against from Alabama when he was at Texas. For that kind of offense, it really is more of a game manager thing. I'm somewhat concerned it'll be hard to get a guy who throws as much as Grier does when showing him the offense he could run.

You could say receivers, O-line, etc. didn't allow that this year, but I think that's a tough pitch to a recruit. Future promises that all the position around the QB will improve.

Like I said though, a solid offensive performance against Louisville will hopefully make the FSU game less like an aberration and more like what we want to do going forward.

I hear what you're saying, but I can't agree and would actually counter that the exact opposite is true. I work with kids and potential is far, far easier to sell to them than reality. If Grier is looking at the recruits on board, having Humphries as his potential LT, and guys like Dunker, Johnson, Dillard and an otherwise beefy, (by then) experienced OL in front of him, it has too look encouraging. Having Fulwood, Robinson and Bailey around him to throw to and a running game to utilise has got to be another positive.

The pieces are in place. Driskel/Brissett will be Seniors and if he thinks he can beat out "less heralded" guys like Staver and Morninweg, then there's an awful lot to like about the Gators. Having an absurdly strong defense will also be a plus point in terms of knowing he's going to see plenty of field.

He's also a smart, focussed kid. Dare I say it, his athleticism and ability to move makes him quite a Driskel-esque guy - what more credibility can Pease sell to him than to say "Hey, look at what we want out of our QB!" than to point at JD.

Potential is one of the easiest things to sell of all. Grier's not going to be throwing behind today's (albeit much improved on last year...) OL. He's not going to be throwing to the current receivers, except maybe Pittman/Andrades. Even the greatest apologist can look beyond our passing attack this year and sell Grier as the fix to the problem. Reading about his motivations makes me believe that's got to be very tempting. Pease is not a fool - he knows why we ran so much this year but I don't believe for one second he's happy about it. He's selling UF to recruits pretty hard on the maybe, not the now!

[CharlesUF09]

The thing is, I think he can sell on both with a strong showing in the Sugar Bowl and (since Grier is a '14 guy) next year's offense. The FSU game gave me a ton of hope. We came out passing the ball. We were very balanced that game, and I'm sure a QB would see that and be like, that's a good amount of passing where I could have a serious positive impact.

If we do the same for Louisville, I think the impression going into the offseason is that the way we were most of this year is not what we wanted to be, but it took time to get there (which is a very sensible opinion.)

I get that potential in some forms is easy to sell, especially when you're talking about the potential of the player involved. But when you see Jeff, who was the number 1 dual threat QB coming out of high school, just not getting the chance to pass that much, it's not so much "You can fix this" it's "It'll be different when you're here." In my experience with kids, potential is a lot harder to sell than a tangible, short term, series of goals you can set and make. We can start by showing it with a win against Louisville where we show a balanced offense with a nice mid range passing game and some play action deep balls.

[GATORAZ]

Recruiting is about relationships. Grier has seen this team play all year and up until this point he has the Gators on top that makes me think that throwing the ball 50 times a game does not mean a lot to him. The other schools he is looking at throw the ball more yet Florida is a head. We are not going to put a gameplan around throwing the ball to gain a recruit. This offense will always be heavy on the power run game and then the play action pass.

[rserina]

Originally Posted by GATORAZ

Recruiting is about relationships. Grier has seen this team play all year and up until this point he has the Gators on top that makes me think that throwing the ball 50 times a game does not mean a lot to him. The other schools he is looking at throw the ball more yet Florida is a head. We are not going to put a gameplan around throwing the ball to gain a recruit. This offense will always be heavy on the power run game and then the play action pass.

True, and that may cost us a kid now and again, but the same is true for every system. We lost traditional power backs or downfield receivers under Meyer, just as we would have lost Tebow under Spurrier. It happens. But, as we saw with Brantley, if you commit to a system in your recruiting on one side of the ball, you can't change the scheme because of one player.

[UFreak]

I'm not disagreeing with either of you, but I do think it is reasonable to tell a QB or WR recruit that we plan to be more balanced in the future. I do think we will throw the ball more in the future. I think it is not unrealistic to have one of our future offenses have a QB who throws for at least 2,500 yards and even approach getting close to 3,000 yards.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by rserina

We have Air Raid film and Boise film. Since we just hauled in a pretty solid receiver class, seems kind of silly to say we can't recruit non-RBs.

You really think Boom will ever let Pease run an air raid or BSU style attack here? If not are you saying he should lie to recruits?

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by UFreak

I'm not disagreeing with either of you, but I do think it is reasonable to tell a QB or WR recruit that we plan to be more balanced in the future. I do think we will throw the ball more in the future. I think it is not unrealistic to have one of our future offenses have a QB who throws for at least 2,500 yards and even approach getting close to 3,000 yards.

Once we get the right players in we will be a much more balanced football team. The offense will look a lot different in 2014.

[Gator4Christ]

Didn't Muschamp say himself that while his mainstay is to run the football, he wanted to have an explosive offense and big plays, etc? Takes personnel and that is quickly being resolved building on that foundation

[CharlesUF09]

I think Muschamp would like to run the football, but every coach wants to be able to run the football well. That's like saying every coach wants to be able to have a game without injury. Having a solid run game just makes life easier as a coach. That being said, very few teams can succeed without balance on offense as you will, eventually, meet a team that has an excellent run defense or just has your run scheme worked out and you'll need to pass the ball.

What we heard from Pease about these last few weeks (before FSU) is that his main goal has been to do enough to put enough points on the board for the defense to win the game. What did we see against FSU though? Not that. It wasn't the air raid, but those first few Florida drives against FSU are, what I think anyway, Pease probably wants to do against a defense that is supposed to be very good and an offense that can potentially put up more than 20 on Florida's defense. And what kind of offense is that? A very balanced one. Not just power running and throwing off the play action. Throwing on fist down against man to man coverage using routes that beat man to man (slants, outs) while moving the pocket around. Long, well executed, balanced drives with a nice short-mid range passing game. That seems like the goal to me. Pro style in the way San Francisco is now playing and less pro style in the Tampa Bucs during the late 90s/early 2000s.

[GATORAZ]

Deana King ‏@NCPreps
Davidson Day (NC) Jr QB Will Grier will announce his college decision on Wednesday. @RivalsWoody @rivalsmike

I would think we get this one but you never know these days

[MadduxFanII]

Well, he's already visited and he's still interested, so we've dodged that landmine.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by GATORAZ

Deana King ‏@NCPreps
Davidson Day (NC) Jr QB Will Grier will announce his college decision on Wednesday. @RivalsWoody @rivalsmike

I would think we get this one but you never know these days

Who else do you think might get him?

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by Gatorrick22

Who else do you think might get him?

Nobody he was supposed to visit UNC this weekend but dont think he actually went. Also UNC has offed 2 QB's in the past 3 weeks which tells me they are not confident in getting Grier.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by GATORAZ

Nobody he was supposed to visit UNC this weekend but dont think he actually went. Also UNC has offed 2 QB's in the past 3 weeks which tells me they are not confident in getting Grier.

Good............I hope we land him.

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by Gatorrick22

Good............I hope we land him.

It is huge for recruiting for 2014. He will be the face of the class and help being in other recruits.

[woltes]

Florida loses two recruits after they visit and the world is ending. Give me a break with Florida lost two commits after a visit. The only reason they lost Powell is because Florida had signed two many LB's and he couldn't hang. Robinson left becuase he clearly doesn't know what he wants to do. Last I checked Florida has landed plenty of top prospects this year that have visitied this awesome University. Just wanted to get that off my chest! Come one down Will Grier!

[CharlesUF09]

Grier will help a lot with recruiting offensive skill players for next year as well.