Tired and breathing heavily, David Nelson looked down the Florida Gators bench to fellow wide receiver Riley Cooper last Saturday during the Charleston Southern game.
“That was so much easier than practice,” Nelson said to Cooper.
That’s how the Florida players have learned the new Banzai offense. They put in hours of work on the hurry-up offense at the end of practice when everyone is gasping for air, and those hours are paying off.
The goal of the Florida coaches is to make practices so hard that when the players experience the situations in the game, it almost seems easy.
“It was difficult just for the conditioning,” Nelson said. “The way coach (Urban) Meyer likes to do it is by making the practices a lot harder than the games. He likes to make it seem like before the play is over, we’re hearing ‘Banzai’ and we’re running to the line of scrimmage. Things are going a lot faster and tempo is going faster in practice. In the game, it’s just so much easier and slower. Coach Meyer does a great job of getting us in shape.”
The Banzai is just another option for the offensive coaches to use. Its usage truly depends on the flow of the game. If the offense is sputtering and needs a spark, the coaches may decide to use it. If they can tell the opposing defense is winded, they could call on the Banzai to finish off the drive.
But not many people expected it to be this important. The Florida coaches studied it in the offseason after having difficulty defensively preparing for Oklahoma.
“At the beginning, we were just testing it out,” Nelson said. “I think the coaches kind of liked how it was going with the flow of the game. They talked to the defensive coaches about how difficult it was for their defense to get lined up even when they knew it was coming. The coaches liked it a little more and researched some more. As camp went on, we did more and more with it. Now it seems like every play we do is in Banzai. We’re not going to do it that much in the game, but it’s good for conditioning.”
Troy got the attention of Florida simply by its game with Louisiana State last season. The Trojans outplayed the Tigers in Baton Rouge only to give up the lead late in the game. Florida took that to heart and scored a 56-6 victory over Troy last Saturday.
Cooper and Nelson not only are doing their share on the game-day field but also on the practice field during the week, working with their backups and the younger wide receivers. Nelson has even picked up a new nickname over the past few weeks – “Baby G,” a reference to position coach Billy Gonzales.
For as many years as Nelson has been on campus, he has learned the intricacies of the Florida spread offense. He now knows all the routes at every wide receiver position on the field
“I’ve been here for a while and know all the plays and techniques,” Nelson said. “I can pretty much tell the guys before Coach G will. I like to help them out. Coach G likes to present it in a different way than I do. He’s more in your face and I’m more in a helpful tone. I’ve just been here so long and know all the offense.”
Sometimes Nelson offers help at the line of scrimmage right before the ball is snapped. He helps out the young wide receiver who has forgotten his assignment or missed the signal from the sidelines.
“Sometimes we’ll be lining up at the line of scrimmage during a game and a receiver will just ask me the play,” Nelson said. “If they didn’t see the signs, they’ll ask me and I’ll tell them at the line. Guys trust me on the field and know that I’ll help them.”
The senior receiver may be one of the more knowledge players on the offense now, but he doesn’t encourage younger players to become like him. It was Nelson’s junior season before he began to contribute to the team.
He points to other players who have made significant impacts early in their career as examples the younger receivers should follow.
“I always tell the guys to not follow in my footsteps because it took me a long time to get to where I am,” Nelson said. “Even now I’m not satisfied with what’s going on. I try to help them out as much as I can, but I always tell them not to do what I did, follow what guys like Percy Harvin did. I give examples of guys I’ve seen be successful like Dallas Baker.”
Even if it took him time to contribute, David Nelson is selling himself short.