GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we bring you Friday predictions for the Florida Gators vs. Kentucky game on Saturday night.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the keys for both the offense and defense on Saturday against Kentucky.
Andrew and Nick also give you their three players to watch in the game, plus we make our predictions for the Florida game and other games across the country.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, it’s back, Friday prediction time. Got this game this weekend. Gators-Kentucky. Is the streak going to continue? I think so. Anyway, we’ll break this game down a little bit more for you, give you our predictions, pick a little bit of games. Not a good week this week for games. Last weekend was really good. This week, by my count, Nick, from looking, it’s only two top 25 games where they play each other this weekend.
Nick:Is there even two? I thought it was only …
Andrew:Georgia-South Carolina and USC-Stanford.
Nick:Okay. Yeah. It’s a rough go. That changed sort of recently. It used to be the Week 1 games you wouldn’t have any of those marquee games, and then all of a sudden that Chick-Fil-A game in Atlanta started happening, and then now Week 1 you kind of get some of these superstar games, and then Week 2 everyone is, all right, we went on the road and played a neutral site game, so give me that directional school in Week 2. You see it this week.
But hey, college football is back, so we’re going to keep complaining to a minimum, and we’ve got football this week. We’ve got a good game. Might not be a good game to people who aren’t fans of the two schools, but I’m looking forward to opening SEC play.
Andrew:Then that South Carolina-Georgia game, it’s a game. I don’t know how good of a game it’s going to be. I personally think Georgia runs away, not to give away my pick. That’s a little bit of good action for the SEC.
Like you said, I think you’ll get a better feel for how Florida is this week. Still don’t know how much you’ll be able to take from the offense, except for whether it improves this week or doesn’t this week. I still think that you will get some direction, but not a ton. Just because I think Florida’s offensive line should be better than the defensive line, and Florida’s defensive line should be better than Kentucky’s offensive line. Again, Florida can come out, put on a good show, erase the last two years that were, let’s just call it what it is, lucky to get out with the streak still alive for Florida.
Nick:Yeah. I think this week, I mean, if Florida comes out and lays an egg this week it takes away all the good feelings that you had from last Saturday. Like I said on the Wednesday podcast, and I’ve said, I think, probably the last two years, there’s more pressure on Florida to not be the first team to lose this game than there is on Kentucky to end the streak, I think.
Andrew:We talked about that with Jen the other day. Who’s the pressure on? Probably on Florida more so than it is Kentucky, simply because you don’t want to be the team that lets the streak go. Then again, if you’re Kentucky, you want to be the team that breaks the streak. Kentucky could not win another game this year, but if they end the streak, fans are going to probably be happy. So, again, I don’t know.
Let’s just go ahead and get a little bit deeper into this game, Nick. Obviously, we know about Kentucky on offense. It’s going to be the Benny Snell show for the most part. Again, I don’t think Kentucky can beat Florida. I don’t think any team can beat Florida defensively by just being one-dimensional. So, I think Kentucky is going to have to get Terry Wilson more involved in this game at the quarterback spot, but if what Jen says is correct, and that is the playbook has to be simplified, and he can only read half the field at a time, I think it’s going to be a long day for him passing the ball.
Nick:Looking back at their game against Central Michigan, 27 1st downs is impressive. What is that? Almost 7 yards a carry is impressive. Then you go to the passing yards, and 15 of 27, two touchdowns, a pick, only 128 yards of those 15, so you’re not taking big shots. You’re not making huge plays in the passing game against a team that you probably should have. I think it’s just you’re looking at a team with Terry Wilson not really a great passer right now. He had 11 completions for 78 yards and two picks. That will probably be the guy, based on what Jen said, the guy mainly playing for Florida, and really it’s keeping contain, keeping him from using his legs to hurt you.
Andrew:I mean, that’s the biggest thing. 20 attempts in the game and 125, 6.3 yards per carry rushing for him. You don’t expect him to get that, by any means. When you go to Terry Wilson and 11 of 18 for just 78 yards, that’s not going to get the job done. For me, and it’s kind of a reoccurring theme we talk about, but for me for Florida, and that is the defensive ends, the defensive line in general, and then really the outside linebackers really need to keep contain in this game, because Wilson is capable of running the ball. Had 9 carries, 38 yards last week. He is capable of keeping it and running. You don’t want to let the outside containment go. It’s something Florida did a very good job with last week for the most part, one or two times that it got out of control late in the game with the younger guys. For me, Nick, that’s going to be a big, big key.
Also, I do look forward to seeing more of that star blitz from Chauncey, or some of the defensive backs blitzing, in that 3-4 scheme when Grantham starts dropping back those bucks into coverage. That could be a big key as well.
Nick:Looking at Wilson, just a sophomore. Todd Grantham, this is when you kind of want to disguise and do a lot of those things. It’s not even so much that it’s exotic. It’s just showing a look to make a quarterback see one thing, and then quickly changing it to something else. Not showing a blitz from the outside. Maybe showing a blitz with that buck, and then having him drop back. It’s stuff like that.
Andrew:Right. Confusing. That just is what it is. When you look at what Kentucky can do with the running game, they’re going to have to get creative with it, so you’re going to have to play sound defensive with that. Again, if I’m Grantham, which I’m sure he’s going to do, and that is Terry Wilson is going to have to beat me through the air. There’s going to be 8-9 guys in the box and say, beat me if you can. I trust my corners and my secondary to beat you. I trust my defensive line to get to Terry Wilson before he can throw it, and if he does have time to throw it, I trust Marco and CJ and Jeawon out there, those guys, to cover the Kentucky receivers.
Nick:I’m going to be interested to see the flip side of that. How will Florida do, their receivers and Feleipe, how will they do against these older bigger, mentioned on the Monday or Wednesday podcast that these guys are 6’2”, 6’3”, 190-200 pounds. These are some big corners. How will Van Jefferson and Trevon Grimes and Tyrie Cleveland, how will those guys do on the outside?
Andrew:That’s going to be a key, of course, in the game, vice versa with that. We can go ahead and start talking about Florida’s offense versus Kentucky’s defense. Kentucky last week gave up 255 yards of offense, which doesn’t sound that bad, and really wasn’t that bad. 146 on the ground, 136 through the air. I think when you look at this game, if Florida can get the offensive line to be aggressive in their blocks, then I think you have to look at Florida trying to get the ground game going, loosen up that secondary a little bit, and then you start throwing the ball with Feleipe.
I do think that it will be more balanced this week than it was last week, simply because I think Mullen got his point across, and also Mullen got Feleipe comfortable into the offense, and that was big for him, in a game against Charleston Southern that you should have been able to not only run the ball but pass the ball.
Nick:I would say I agree with that, and if not balanced, even more unbalanced towards the running game this week. That’s kind of what we expected going into the first game, but it makes total sense. Going into that first game, you know you can run the ball. You could probably run the ball for 350 yards, if you wanted to, against that Charleston Southern team. But does that accomplish what you want? What you want is getting the fans excited. What you want is to get your quarterback confident.
It’s not just your quarterback confidence, but also get the players around Feleipe confident in Feleipe. Listen, they’ll never say it publicly, but when you watch the way he played last year, there had to be some kind of doubt in your mind, even if you’re his teammate, about what he’s capable of and how this season would go. You kind of take that away with his performance last week.
So, I get why you come out and you have that kind of game plan where you’re throwing the ball around and stuff like that. Especially a game like that where if it’s not working we know we can go back to the running game. They’re not going to score on us, and we can win ugly if we need to. This game you don’t mess around like that. It’s an SEC game, and I think you go right with your strength, and your strength is still that running game.
Andrew:When you look at Kentucky’s secondary, three seniors back there. You have your starting safety in Darius West, and then Lonnie Johnson and Chris Westry, the two corners. Three seniors back there, so you got veterans.
Nick:An older, bigger group of guys. To me, that’s a good test. I don’t know what, and I’ll ask you this too, I don’t know what, from Feleipe, I don’t know what would make me say, I’m on. I did the radio here in Gainesville, and people around town have been asking me, are you on the Feleipe Franks bandwagon? I said, not yet. I said, that was a really bad team they played. I don’t know what I would need to see against Kentucky for me to jump on. I guess I pose that question to you.
Andrew:I said it just a second ago, and that is I don’t know if you can say he’s on after beating this Kentucky team, simply because it’s not the best team in the SEC. It’s not the best defense. It’s a very senior, older group, like you say, but I think that there is another step to be taken as far as this approach goes. I say this loosely, but we would see Feleipe have good times last year, and you can never repeat that. Not that he ever had a full game of good game, but he would have moments in the game, or he’d have halves where he would do okay, and he couldn’t repeat it.
For me, it’s more about consistency, and let’s see last week build on this week. Let’s see what he did last week continue onto this week. I don’t need to see 80-yard bombs. There’s no doubt in my opinion Feleipe Franks can throw an 80-yard touchdown against any team in America to anyone. There’s just no question for me. His arm strength is there. For me, against a team like Kentucky, who’s veteran, make the right reads. If the deep slant is not open to Tyrie, hit the underneath pass to Scarlett or Lamical or one of your tight ends. The play we talked about last week to Lucas Krull, instead of trying to fit it into a small window, take the wide-open receiver. Maybe gain 10 yards less, but still get a big play.
So, for me it’s just another step with Feleipe. Don’t take a step backwards. Continue taking steps forwards, because in a couple weeks you’re going to face a Tennessee defense that’s better than anything you faced so far this year, per se. Then you’re going to face Mississippi State, and then you’re going to face LSU, and we both know those two defenses are better. Continue taking steps forward, so when you go into those games you’re more confident, and you’ve improved.
Nick:Okay. I can see that. I think, if I see from Feleipe, not the five touchdowns, but if I see the small things that he was doing, the sensing pressure, stepping up in the pocket, staying calm, running when he needs to. I still think there was some staring down of receivers. But if I see those little things that weren’t there at all last year that we saw, I think then I’ll start to come around and say, listen, maybe he gets it now.
Andrew:Listen, five touchdowns probably isn’t going to happen.
Nick:No.
Andrew:Again, you should have more touchdowns against Charleston Southern. You should have more touchdowns against Colorado State next week. That’s fine. For me, stats aren’t going to tell me everything I need to know about Feleipe. Last year, you look at the Tennessee game, you look at the stats there, and they were decent. You and I both know that for the majority ofthe game he didn’t play well. So, for me stats don’t tell everything, and I know they don’t for you as well.
Like you say, I need to see the little things from him, and, again, running the ball and him getting the guys in the correct position, getting the offense moving quickly. For me, that’s a positive step forward for Feleipe, and also I want to see does the pace continue where Mullen and Brian Johnson and Billy and John Hevesy and those guys are getting the plays in to where Feleipehas 18, 20 seconds to snap the ball, instead of five or six seconds like he did last year.
Nick:That’s another thing. It’s something that we talked about with the players in the off season, after a couple guys remarked that it’s easier, I guess just the verbiage was simpler, and that was a big help. Especially with a young quarterback, you don’t want them to feel rushed. You start to get that deer in the headlights look, because by the time you’re getting to under center or getting lined up behind the center it’s 4, 3, 2, 1. Then you start already panicking before you even start the play. When the play is in, and you have time, you’re just hanging around. Just playing ball at that point.
Andrew:The thing for Feleipe too is he’s able to get up to the line of scrimmage, and he’s able to kind of see some things. Also, he’s kind of able to, and don’t take this the wrong way when I say this, but as a young quarterback he’s able to think about it for a second. He’s able to process the play a little bit more, instead of having to hurry up, forget his mindset, forget his thoughts, just let’s get the play off real quick. I don’t think people understand how important that is, especially for a young guy.
Nick:That’s huge. That’s huge for a young guy. It was maddening at times last year, just almost like going slow for the sake of going slow. I think when you look at the difference in Feleipe and just how the offense moved last year, when they used tempo, and when they moved the tempo up and were moving quick last week. It’s just like night and day. I don’t understand why the last staff didn’t understand it. That’s why they’re not here anymore, I guess. I love the new tempo. At some points, trying to tweet and look up stats during the game, by the time I looked up the next play was already starting, and that hasn’t been the case in games.
Andrew:No, for sure. Let’s go a little bit deeper into this. For me, Nick, that is going to be offensive line this week is going to be key. You got, Nick, I’m going to butcher this name like usual, is it Josh Paschal? The outside linebacker for Kentucky. Am I pronouncing that right?
Nick:It sounds right to me.
Andrew:Okay. I don’t know. Then they have the big defensive lineman, Quinton Bohanna, inside. Both of those guys, when you look back at what they did last year, both of them had pretty decent years last year. Josh was one of their leading sack getters for the team. That’s big on Martez, and you know, Martez has taken a lot of heat on social media this week for his play last week. Rightfully so. He didn’t have a great week last week. It’s a process with the offensive line, I feel like, with John Hevesy, and I think it’s teaching moments that I think will help him this week hopefully get over that hump. Not just Martez, but the whole offensive line in general.
Nick:Is that your key then?
Andrew:Probably. If I’m pointing at a key on offense, it’s offensive line.
Nick:Okay. I think the key would be, for me, the offensive line. Then my key on defense would probably be creating turnovers, which they were only able to create one, or two. Two, the fumble and the interception late. But create turnovers, and then keeping contain, because you got a quarterback that’s mobile. I thought we saw a better job of that. I mean, there were some suspect tackling, but I thought we saw a better job of those guys keeping contain.
Andrew:No doubt.
Nick:Especially when we talked about one of the keys, with that shotgun triple option, was being sound in the game plan, your fundamentals, not overshooting your gaps, not getting out of your assignment. I think that’s another key this week when you have a quarterback that can’t throw and needs to run. You need to force them. Listen, Benny Snell is not going to beat us. We’re going to try to take him out of the game, and we’re going to make your quarterback beat us. Then that next aspect is he’s not going to beat us with his legs. He’s going to have to beat us with his arms. With his arm. He’s not throwing with two arms.
Andrew:The defense in general, Antonneous Clayton had one. I’m trying to think. I’m trying to think back. There was three or four times late in the game, third or fourth quarter, there was some missed assignments. I know Clayton had one or two, and I’m trying to think back. It was late in the game. I don’t remember Moon or Polite or any of those guys having that issue in the game. Again, like you say, that’s key forcing those guys in there.
Turnovers are always key, not to discredit your point or anything. To me, you always have to win the turnover battle.
Nick:Yeah. Kentucky won a game with a -4 turnover margin last week, and that’s because of who they’re playing.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:In a game like this, you’re right.
Andrew:Again, the special teams, Nick. You got to continue to win special teams. When you’re looking at a team like Kentucky that’s coming in a big underdog, win special teams. Don’t give up any cheap points, and don’t give up any cheap yards.
Nick:Yeah. That’s something, I don’t think I’m too early on it. I am fully on the special teams bandwagon with this coaching staff. When you say that, to me, it’s not even like a concern in my head. Whereas last year, it would be like you have to do something on special teams. You know what I mean? You have to get a big play, some momentum shifting play, on special teams. You can’t lose those hidden yards. For me, right now, even though it’s only been one game, I have no concerns about special teams.
Andrew:I don’t either. Again, it’s just one of those things where I think that the importance they put on it, and the personnel they put on it, I think at the end of the day it’s going to be the key. It showed last week when Zach Carter blocked the field goal. Moon blocked the extra point, and then Damien Pierce had that monster hit on special teams.
Nick:That’s how you get on the field. That’s how you make a name for yourself right there.
Andrew:Right after that is when he gets on the field and has his long runs.
Nick:Yup. That was an immediate reaction by the coaching staff to say, we’re going to make a statement here, and he made that play. Now, go on and get in there and play offense.
Andrew:Right. Exactly. Last keys for you, Nick? I’m trying to think if I have anything else for me in the game. I am looking forward to kind of seeing how a guy like Kadarius Toney responds once he gets back out there. Looking forward to seeing how the defensive line continues to rotate. There’s a couple of things that I’m looking forward to seeing, which young guys actually play in a game like this. Then another thing that I’m looking forward to seeing is does Emory Jones have a package? I don’t know now if he does, after seeing some things, talking to some people. I don’t know if he does anymore.
Nick:What makes you say that? What do you mean by doesn’t have a package? You think that this week we see one quarterback?
Andrew:I don’t know. We were talking in the off season, and even last week, that maybe he has a package to come in and just the ball a little bit. I don’t know if he does that. I don’t know if he does right now, honestly. It’s something that I know is being talked about, but I’m not sold that it happens just yet.
Nick:Do you think he is going to be a guy that will be redshirting?
Andrew:I think it’s a possibility.
Nick:Very interesting.
Andrew:I think it’s a possibility. We’ll see.
Nick:Very interesting, Mr. Spivey.
Andrew:Like I said, there’s a lot of questions of the young guys. Who gets in? Does Damien Pierce find a way to get in and find some way to play on offense? I don’t know. I think right now probably not. I think he’s just special teams, but we’ll see.
Nick, let’s move on to pick some good old games here this week.
Nick:Okay. I’m going to throw another pick on you late that we didn’t talk about, but it’s a big one this week.
Andrew:Here we go.
Nick:First game, we’ll go the ones probably least interesting to the people listening. USC and Stanford, at Stanford. Stanford won a game last week. Let me pull these stats up. Very un-Stanford like. When you think about Stanford, you think that power running game. When you look at their total offense, Stanford had 28 rushes for 50 yards.
Andrew:Wow.
Nick:They were 21-31 passing for 332 yards and four touchdowns. No touchdowns on the ground. Very un-Stanford like game.
Andrew:They don’t have McCaffery.
Nick:Against San Diego State.
Andrew:I’m going to go USC in this game. I don’t know if it’s close. Maybe double digits.
Nick:Really?
Andrew:Maybe. I don’t know. I’m going USC.
Nick:#17, Southern Cal. Who did they play last week? They had UNLV?
Andrew:Yes.
Nick:#10, Stanford. I’ll go with USC.
Andrew:Okay. I like that. What you got next?
Nick:UCLA, the fighting Chip Kellys, after losing in Week 1, are heading to Oklahoma, heading to Norman.
Andrew:Are you asking me to pick this game or pick how many points they get beat by?
Nick:God, just pick it. Oklahoma, both of us.
Andrew:I mean, Oklahoma is going to win this game, and it’s going to be nasty. UCLA sucks.
Nick:Yeah. Oklahoma. Georgia at South Carolina. Big top 25 matchup here.
Andrew:You know this hurts. You know this hurts. I don’t want to pick this game. I really don’t want to.
Nick:Come on. It’s the fighting Willy Muschamps.
Andrew:I mean, this is tough for me, because I know who’s going to win this game. It’s going to be Georgia, but I just don’t like saying those words, Georgia wins. I don’t like saying that, but Georgia wins. Nick, I’m just not sold on South Carolina. People continue to say they’re the #2 team in the East, and it’s not close, this, that, and the other. I just continue to ask, where do you get that from? What on earth makes you believe South Carolina’s offense is good?
Nick:Just people saying it’s …
Andrew:Bentley?
Nick:Deebo’s back. Stuff like that. But I’m not buying it.
Andrew:I’m not either. Georgia wins by 17.
Nick:Yeah. I’m going to go double-digit win for the Bulldoggies.
Andrew:It sucks to say. God, it sucks to say.
Nick:First big game for Jimbo Fisher in College Station, a team he’s familiar with, very familiar with, Clemson hits the road to take on A&M.
Andrew:This game is going to be closer than a lot of people expect, in my opinion.
Nick:One of the toughest places to play in the country.
Andrew:One of the toughest places to play in the country. Jimbo knows Clemson a little bit. Let’s also face it, SEC ball is different than ACC ball. SEC linemen at A&M are going to be tougher. Kellen Mond looked a little bit better last week, even though the opponent wasn’t very good. I’ll go ahead and say it, I do, I think this game is closer than many people expect. Still got Clemson winning, but I don’t know if it’s even a double-digitwin for Clemson.
Nick:You’re saying one possession game.
Andrew:Yeah. I would say that.
Nick:Okay. I’m going with Clemson. I don’t think it’s going to be that close.
Andrew:Okay. What are you thinking? 14, 17, 20?
Nick:I’m thinking two touchdowns.
Andrew:I mean, I could see two touchdowns, easily. I just, I do, I think it’s a little bit closer, and I think Jimbo knowing the opponent will be a big key. Also, like you say, it’s not easy to go into Texas A&M and win games.
Nick:No. Not easy, but I’m a believer in that Clemson team right now.
Andrew:I am too. I just think that it’s early in the season still, a tough road game, and Jimbo knows them. I think it’s a little bit closer than expected. Still got Clemson winning though.
Nick:Yeah.
Andrew:What’s the next one?
Nick:Then we’re on Kentucky-Florida.
Andrew:You said you were throwing one out at me.
Nick:Oh, okay. Yeah. Almost forgot about that. We’re going UFC this weekend, UFC 228. Tyron Woodley hasn’t fought in a while. He’s the welterweight champion at 170. He’s facing an up and comer, guy named Darren Till out of Liverpool, England. Till beat Donald Cerrone, I think that was about a year ago. TKO’d Donald Cerrone, who I know you like. That’s the main event this week. 228 UFC. It will be on Saturday night. Tryon Woodley vs. Darren Till.
Andrew:I’ll let you pick this one first.
Nick:No.
Andrew:No. I’m letting you pick.
Nick:You’re picking first.
Andrew:No. I picked first on all the other games.
Nick:We picked all the same ones.
Andrew:It doesn’t matter. I’m over here doing a quick little look at the matchup lines. Go ahead.
Nick:It’s even. This is a really tough match. Darren Till is kind of in the position that Tryon Woodley had been in for a lot of his career, where he’s young and hungry. I think Till is only 24 or 25 years old.
Andrew:25. Yeah. That’s what I was looking at.
Nick:25. Woodley is a little bit older, and it’s kind of that Woodley’s been talking and talking. He feels disrespected by the UFC, because he’s not getting pushed like Conor McGregor, like Ronda did, some of these other fighters. He’s been a champion for a while. I think he’s, what is he on? There’s a draw in there with Stephen Thompson. Then they had to go do it again. He hasn’t lost a fight since 2014.
Andrew:I’m going Woodley.
Nick:I’m going to go with, the reason I’m going to pick Tyron Woodley is I think Woodley could win in more areas than Darren Till. Darren Till really is just a striker at this point in his career, and I think Woodley can push the pace a little bit. He’s a wrestler. He can take the fight to areas where Till is not greatand not comfortable.
Andrew:Yeah. I got to stick with the champion. Just the respect factor. You and I have talked about that a little bit before. My question to you, Nick, on UFC is how long before Brock gets back?
Nick:I think Brock’s a sideshow. I’m not a Brock fan.
Andrew:I’m not a Brock fan either. I’m just asking how long before he gets back.
Nick:I don’t know. I don’t even know what the whole USADA suspensions are, if he’s done with that, or if he’s still serving his suspension.
Andrew:He’s in the Watch program, whatever that means. He has to take the test for six months and yada, yada.
Nick:Yeah. I don’t know if he’ll ever be …
Andrew:I think he’s a sideshow. I’m going to go Woodley this weekend. Hopefully the Florida-Kentucky game is over early, and we can get some work done.
Nick:Yeah.
Andrew:Here we go. Florida-Kentucky. We’re both going Florida. Give me, real quick, you don’t have to give me the score, but give me baseline of win margin.
Nick:I think Florida wins this one by three scores, 17 or more. I think the Kentucky team last year was more talented. I think the coaching staff at Florida this year is better, and I think Florida has the same team, the same players, and now they’re being put in positions. I don’t see this one really being that close. I’ve got Florida winning by 14 at least, 14, 17, 20 points.
Andrew:42-10, Florida. It’s not close.
Nick:I don’t see this being a close game either. I see Florida really kind of being able to stop Benny Snell and forcing Kentucky to try to win the game with their quarterback, and I just don’t see Kentucky being able to do that right now.
Andrew:I don’t either. One-dimensional offenses just are not going to work against this defense. This is quickly becoming that elite defense that Florida’s been known for. The thing that’s frightening is Cece Jefferson still hasn’t played. You and I can debate whether he’ll start over Jachai Polite or not. Don’t think he will. Cece Jefferson is still a damn good football player, and he hasn’t played. David Reese still hasn’t played. This defense is quickly turning into one of the best units in football overall, and I don’t see Kentucky putting much offense against this team, especially unless Terry Wilson just could come out and show that he didn’t show anything Week 1.
Nick:I don’t think they were hiding anything, especially coming from behind trying to win a game. I don’t think they were saving anything.
Andrew:I don’t either. I get first pick this week. My first pick is going to go to the receiver, Mr. Van Jefferson. We talk about the big physical defenders for Kentucky. Van showed last week he can big and physical and catch those slant passes, that kind of stuff. With the offensive line struggling a little bit, especially in the red zone, that could be a big play again this week. For me, Van Jefferson gets on the board again this week.
Nick:I’m going back to the well, my St. Thomas boy. I think this week, like we said before, I think last week there 20 guys that touched the ball. I think that number shrinks when you start getting into these games. Even though neither of us think Kentucky is going to put up a huge fight against Florida, I think you start to see that number shrink a little bit. I think Jordan Scarlett becomes a bigger part of the offense. Everything I’ve heard all off season was that the coaching staff loves him. I mean, he only had six carries in that first game. I think that number has to be in double digits this week.
Andrew:Yup. I’m going to go back to the well and say Lamical Perine has a big game, because I feel like him and Scarlett together are that one-two punch. I think this is the week LP gets into the end zone. Double down on that. Double down on the running game. If the running game don’t work this week, guys, don’t worry, I’m not picking the running backs again.
Nick:My next one is going to be Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. When we talk about that star position, and what we said, what I said and what you said, about keeping contain, you saw already how they’re going to be using Chauncey. It’s going to be blitzing. It’s going to be in coverage, and he’s really found a home. That fits exactly his skillset. That’s where he should have been all along, in this nickel, star role. I’m going to go with Chauncey Gardner. I think he gets his hands on one this week.
Andrew:Let me say something real quick on Chauncey. Some people were ating me on Twitter about my comment on Wednesday when I told Jen just to tell people to laugh when they hear Chauncey Gardner’s comments. That was no shot at Chauncey. That was simply Chauncey likes to talk. I’ve been very vocal that Chauncey talks too much at times. That’s just my opinion. I do, I think he talks too much at times. I did say on Wednesday I liked him calling out they’re going to get a win. It’s nothing personal for me. He just talks too much at times.
Chauncey Gardner has taken a major step on the field and has really turned into a good player, like Nick said. That role is really good for him. Someone said that it was personal for me and Chauncey. Not personal at all. Just at times he talks too much for me. Pretty straight shooter. Nick will tell you, I don’t have a filter, and if I don’t like something I usually say it. I do. I think Chauncey is going to be a good player this week.
Nick:When Andrew Spivey doesn’t like something, people know about it.
Andrew:People know about it. There you go. Again, it’s nothing personal. I have nothing against Chauncey. Nothing. Zero. It’s just, like I said, talk gets on my nerves sometimes.
My last pick, Nick, is I think Terry Wilson tries to force some things, and Marco gets #1 this week. He gets that first pick on the board, gets to play a little bit more this week. I think the running game is not there, they force a little bit, and Marco gets a pick.
Nick:You ready for this one?
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:Is Gator Nation ready for this one?
Andrew:Has the times turned?
Nick:I’m going with Feleipe Franks.
Andrew:Holy cow! He went it. As everyone said, the week would be when Nick de la Torre picked Feleipe Franks. Feleipehas arrived when he picked him. Feleipe, you have arrived.
Nick:I don’t know. I don’t know why I’m picking him. It was a gut pick. Going with my gut here. Feleipe Franks.
Andrew:Roll the dice, my friend.
Nick:Yup.
Andrew:Roll it. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out. We’ll see everyone on Monday, have a reaction podcast to the game, have some recruiting notes as well.
Real quick on some recruiting notes, Florida has got a couple of targets coming in. Little Elam is coming in. Florida’s going to also host Tennessee safety commit Aaron Beasley this weekend. Your SCA boy, defensive end Braylen Ingraham is coming in. Then also will be hosting Alabama defensive end commit, Justin Eboigbe. I’m not even sure how to say it. Sorry, Justin. He’s a very good defensive end out of Georgia. No clue how to say his name, and I apologize for that. I’m trying to think real quick off the top of my head. Trey Knox coming in on an unofficial visit, and then Mr. Recruiter, Diwun Black, will be back in town. Another big week for recruiting.
We’ll have reactions, stories, all that good stuff on Saturday after the game, as well as Nick and Baileigh’s good football stuff. Nick, tell them where they can find all that good stuff.
Nick:www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form. For all of you people who have been patiently waiting, podcast is now on Google Play. It’s on Stitcher, and it’s on TuneIn. You can find the podcast wherever you choose to listen to podcasts. We finally got it all up and going. Of course, on iTunes. On any of those, just search @GatorCountry, and you will find the podcast. Subscribe. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountryon Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC, and he’s @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew:Props to Mr. Ray. Got all the good stuff going. He has plenty more things planned. It’s exciting time over at Gator Country. If you or your friends haven’t checked us out yet, come give us a try. We may be able to hook you up with some kind of deal or something. As always, guys, we appreciate you. Go Braves, and chomp, chomp.
Nick:You stay classy, Gator Country.