Florida Gators Thoughts of the Week: July 28 – August 4

We are in the dog days of summer, but know Florida Gators football is coming on Thursday with the beginning of football practice. Now I am sure that we will have more questions than answers after Thursday and going into the next few weeks, but just be excited that we have something to talk about again.

Practice this season comes with the most questions in recent memory: Who will be the starting quarterback? How will the offensive line perform? How will Austin Hardin do as the starting kicker? How will Kelvin Taylor do as the starting running back? Is Jake McGee fully healthy and ready to go? Who will replace Dante Fowler? Which freshmen will step-up?

We will have lots of questions, but until then, let’s look at one more Thoughts of the Week before the start of football season

 

Promoting the Brand

Ever since he was hired, Jim McElwain has been at the forefront of promoting the Florida Gators brand – not just by continuously explaining how proud he is to be a Gator and what a privilege it is – but in truly overhauling promotional material. We saw earlier this week the offers that Florida handed out on Twitter that were beautifully crafted, designed, and written. Moreover, we saw a better looking media guide, better player edits (used on social media), and most importantly, a consistent brand that did not exist under the last administration.

While branding and advertisement in recruiting may not seem important, it is a huge factor for prospects. They want to share “cool” photos and that helps increase Florida’s brand. They want to picture themselves in Orange and Blue and it simply was not made a priority over the last few years. Prospects want to feel wanted on social media and this staff is doing that.

Florida is re-introducing a beautiful brand that represents a world-class program and it was desperately needed.

 

Absurd: Indiana School District Lowers Athlete GPA

Today I learned one of the most absurd things I have learned in a while: The South Bend, Ind. School Board lowered the minimum standard for athletic participation – pretty drastically. The current 2.0 GPA requirement was lowered to 1.5 for freshman, 1.67 for sophomores and 1.85 for juniors. The requirement remains at 2.0 for seniors. Students are also required to pass 70 percent of their classes.

While, an argument can be made how important athletics is in the development of a student, the most important thing we need to remember is that they are STUDENTS first. A 1.5 GPA? That is the equivalent (in 8 classes) to four D’s and four C’s, which is nowhere near acceptable. What kind of message are you teaching to students? Slack off and you can still be rewarded?

No student that puts in any sort of effort should have a 1.5 GPA, let alone, be allowed to do a sport that is going to take them out of the classroom and eat up valuable after hours time that should rather be spent studying.

 

Jayvaughn Myers is a HUGE Get

While it happened during the middle of the day on a Tuesday without much fanfare, Jayvaughn Myers is, in my opinion, one of the top two prospects Florida has received a commitment from behind Chauncey Gardner.

Myers is a big commitment for a few main reasons:

  1. Florida went head-to-head with Florida State for him and won.
  2. He improves the chances with 5-star WR Nate Craig-Myers, his half-brother, who looked like he was going anywhere, but UF.
  3. Myers has improved drastically over the last year as a player. Many thought he would be a package with his half-brother to get into a better school, but Myers showed out and deserves this spot.
  4. He has great prototypical size at 6-foot-1 and has room to add to his 185-pound frame.
  5. He is very physical at the line of scrimmage and has been great at jamming at the line.

 

Will Grier at 215 pounds

It has been talked ad nauseam recently, but Will Grier at 215 pounds immediately becomes the favorite for the starting quarterback spot. Grier came into UF about 30 pounds underweight, which was a huge reason why he was red-shirted. Grier has better arm strength, height, and accuracy than Treon Harris, and is similarly athletic. He is not necessarily a savior in his redshirt freshman year, but his biggest knock was that he could be broken in half with a hit. I expect to see Grier start the season as the starter.

 

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Daniel Thompson
Dan Thompson is a 2010 graduate of the University Florida, graduating with a degree in Economics and a degree in Political Science. During this time at UF, Dan worked three years for the Florida Gator Football team as a recruiting ambassador. Dan dealt daily with prospects, NCAA guidelines, and coaching staff. Dan was also involved in Florida Blue Key, Student Government and Greek Life. Currently, Dan oversees the IT consulting practice of a Tampa-based company. Dan enjoys golfing, country music, bourbon, travel, oysters, and a medium-rare steak. Dan can be found on Twitter at @DK_Thompson.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Treon didnt beat out Grier last year. The plan the was to red shirt Grier the whole time as said above. He was WAY too skinny. Treon couldnt cosistently hit passes between 10 and 20 yards. All he was asked to do was throw screens or a deep ball that his reciever could go get. Im sure that he has improved in his accuracy but I (like a lot of people) believe that Grier was recuited to be the quarterback of the future.