Football is in the air. In less than a month, the Gators will open fall camp with nobody knowing what to expect from them.
On one hand, the Gators came six points and a thrown shoe away from making their first College Football Playoff appearance in 2020. They improved one of the worst defenses in school history by adding a pair of transfers on the defensive line, hiring two new coaches and signing an excellent recruiting class in the secondary.
On the other hand, the offense carried the 2020 team, and most of the key players from that historically great offense are in the NFL now.
While we won’t know for sure what the 2021 Gators will look like until the opener against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 4, we should start to get some answers in fall camp.
In the third part of our fall camp preview series, we take a look at five players who could earn significantly more playing time this season with a strong showing in fall camp.
Cornerback Avery Helm
As a freshman from Missouri City, Texas, Helm only saw action in 2020 during the Cotton Bowl fiasco against Oklahoma.
There’s a chance he could play in every game this time around.
The Gators need someone to fill the starting spot opposite of Kaiir Elam. Jaydon Hill exited the spring as the presumptive starter, and most expect five-star freshman Jason Marshall to take the reins at some point.
Don’t count out Helm, though, as he received some first-team reps during the spring as well.
He’s one of the most athletic players on the roster. He posted a 40-inch vertical jump in April, according to a tweet from his father.
Gators testing this week!! FMB_HELM with the 40 inch vertical today!! Go Gators!! pic.twitter.com/xs8wCIqkzF
— Avery Helm (@AveryHelm1) April 13, 2021
New cornerbacks coach Jules Montinar also posted a clip of him running the 40-yard dash and suggested that he ran a 4.3.
@FMB_Helm 4.3?🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🦾#GoGators #DBU pic.twitter.com/jgoQ31WSKC
— Jules Montinar (@CoachJulesM) April 13, 2021
There’s always a spot in the rotation for somebody who’s that freaky of an athlete.
Even if he doesn’t win the starting job, Helm still has a chance to earn a spot in the rotation this season with a strong showing in fall camp.
Running Back Lorenzo Lingard
Gators fans were excited to watch a former five-star running back who transferred in from an ACC school shine with UF this spring.
As it turns out, they picked the wrong one.
While Clemson transfer Demarkcus Bowman missed most of the spring with an injury, Lingard, a Miami transfer, stole the show. Based on observations from the portions of practice streamed on Instagram and Gator Country’s insider reports, Lingard was perhaps the most effective running back in the spring.
Some of that had to do with the offensive line’s struggles making it nearly impossible to run up the middle, but Lingard deserves a ton of credit as well.
He was buried on the depth chart last season and carried the ball just five times for 32 yards. That can be attributed to him being a little hesitant following a torn ligament in his knee that he suffered in 2018 and the lack of practice time last offseason. With his confidence seemingly all the way back in his knee and a full offseason of workouts, you should expect to see him play the best football of his career.
Lingard is a speedy runner with the ability to make defenders miss and break off long runs. He could also be a weapon as a receiver out of the backfield.
The competition will be stiff in the fall. Dameon Pierce, Nay’Quan Wright and Malik Davis aren’t going anywhere, and Bowman could be a factor if he’s healthy.
If Lingard performs as well in fall camp as he did in the spring, he will have a spot in the rotation.
Defensive Back Mordecai McDaniel
McDaniel played in 10 games as a freshman in 2020, but most of his snaps came on special teams. He only recorded four tackles, all in the final two games.
His production could go way up this season with every major contributor in the secondary leaving from last year’s unit except for Kaiir Elam, Rashad Torrence and Trey Dean.
McDaniel’s greatest strength is his versatility. He came to UF as a four-star safety but trained at STAR, the Gators’ version of the nickelback, in the spring. The Gators expect their STARs to do a little bit of everything, from playing man coverage, dropping into a zone, blitzing and helping in run support.
That should fit McDaniel’s abilities well. He was a high school track champion in Washington, D.C., and he’s very physical when it comes to flying downhill and making a big hit on a running back.
Tre’Vez Johnson enters the fall as the starter at STAR, but he doesn’t appear to have that type of a grip on the job. McDaniel could push him in fall camp.
As injuries inevitably pile up in the secondary during the season, they could easily move McDaniel back to safety if they want to. He could be a valuable member of the secondary if the coaches deploy him correctly.
He does need to improve his tackling and coverage techniques, as he can’t rely on pure athleticism and relentlessness at this level.
If he does those things, you’re going to see a lot more of No. 32 this season.
Offensive Lineman Michael Tarquin
Dan Mullen and offensive line coach John Hevesy have been as patient as possible with right tackle Jean Delance. Delance started all 25 games over the past two seasons despite being obviously being the weakest link up front. They welcomed him back for a “super senior” season this year.
Still, you have to think their patience will run out eventually if Delance doesn’t show rapid improvement this fall.
This is where Tarquin comes in. The redshirt sophomore played in all 12 games in 2020 but mostly on special teams. He’s 6-foot-5 and 306 pounds, highly athletic and known as an extremely physical run blocker.
His biggest weakness is his pass protection. With Kyle Trask operating a pass-heavy attack the last two years, it made sense to keep Tarquin off the field in favor of the more experienced Delance. But with the offense expected to feature the run game more prominently this season, this could be Tarquin’s time to shine.
If Tarquin performs well in fall camp and displays an increased mastery of pass-protection techniques, he could position himself as the right tackle of the future.
While Delance figures to be the opening-day starter, given his history, the future might come sooner rather than later.
Wide Receiver Trent Whittemore
The Gators need some new targets to emerge for quarterback Emory Jones with Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes off to the NFL. Jacob Copeland, Xzavier Henderson and Justin Shorter seem to have generated most of the buzz this offseason.
But don’t overlook Whittemore.
The redshirt sophomore has an extremely quick burst and some of the best hands on the team, as evidenced by his incredible leaping catch between two defenders against South Carolina. Later in that game, he caught his first career touchdown while stumbling in the back of the end zone.
At 6-foot-4 and with a basketball background, he can go up and get the ball over defensive backs and create big plays. He’s a willing blocker, an absolute must to play for Mullen and receivers coach Billy Gonzales. As the son of a high school coach, he possesses an advanced knowledge of the game. He did a nice job of locating the chains and extending himself to pick up a couple of first downs last season.
Perhaps most significant as it relates to his 2021 playing time, he’s one of the only natural slot receivers on the roster. UF has plenty of guys they can rotate in on the outside, but Whittemore is one of their few playmakers that can get the ball in space and turn it into a long gain after the catch.
He caught just 10 passes for 128 yards last season. He could exceed those numbers by the end of the third game.
Whittemore enters the fall as the likely starter in the slot, but he needs a strong camp to cement his status.