Florida is officially 1/3 of the way through its allotted 15 spring practices this spring and on Thursday afternoon new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper met with the media to give his take on how the offense is coming along so far. Roper talked about how the installation portion of his offense is going as well as how UF’s receivers are playing this spring.
Nick de la Torre will have much more from Kurt Roper this afternoon but here’s a quick notebook to get you caught up from today’s press conference.
- Roper says so far the installation is going well and the key is to add more each day to the offense which has been somewhat of a challenge so far.
- One of the things the coaching staff is trying to do is create an offense that is easy to understand but hard to defend against.
- The key in Roper’s offense is getting lined up in a hurry and to do that you must create a simpler system to getting set on offense.
- When fans hear Kurt Roper yelling during practice it’s yelling to fix problems whether it’s alignment or technique.
- Saturday’s scrimmage will tell Roper and the offensive coaches a lot about where the team is because the coaches will not be on the field communicating as much as they usually would during a normal practice.
- The running backs are adapting well to the new offense but things such as footwork and getting the ball from the quarterback is something that will take time. The mesh point between quarterback and running back is different in the spread offense.
- Roper wants the tight ends to be a big part of the offense and this spring they are making strides to become big playmakers.
- Quarterback Jeff Driskel is really talented according to Roper but he’s having to work with him a lot on his fundamentals.
- Driskel, is “talented, he’s really, really gifted” according to Roper.
- Driskel has command of the football and understands coverages so right now his biggest thing is learning the offense.
- Offensive lineman Chaz Green is a guy that’s working hard every day and has become a leader on the offense along with fellow linemen Max Garcia and D.J. Humphries.
- Offensive lineman Trip Thurman is working hard to be good but just hasn’t played as much as the other guys.
- Roper believes that Florida has some guys that can makes plays in space and that are talented.
- Wide receivers Chris Thompson, Demarcus Robinson and Quinton Dunbar were singled out for having a lot speed.