On the final day of practice with no pads, the Florida offense practiced a little-used formation from last season and a freshman playmaker emerged.
Here is the Friday report of Florida’s second practice of the spring.
QUARTERBACK: John Brantley looked much improved from his first day of practice. I’ve been really impressed with the sharpness on the ball when he throws the out and corner routes. This is a key throw that scouts in the NFL look for, and Brantley will pass those tests with flying colors. There was a play in seven-on-seven where he showed his intelligence with the ball. He rolled out left to avoid the pass rush, carefully dissecting what he saw on the move. Then he set his feet and threw back across his body, hitting Justin Williams in stride for a completion. It seems sometimes like Brantley sees things in slow motion, anticipating where the receiver will get open.
Trey Burton had a much better day than his Wednesday practice. The freshman has an unusual throwing motion but he delivered the ball on the money during seven-on-seven and the short full scrimmage on Friday. He made some nice throws over the top of defenders in one-on-ones. He had a nice connection with Solomon Patton, which may be something Florida fans get used to seeing over the next few years.
The quarterbacks also worked a lot from under center. They spent a few periods of practice taking snaps from under center and handing off to running backs. The quarterbacks later took snaps under an imaginary center in seven-on-seven and took snaps under center in the short full scrimmage. You could have counted the number of times they worked from under center last spring on one hand.
RUNNING BACK: There still isn’t a lot to say here until the shoulder pads go on about the running backs. Emmanuel Moody hasn’t gotten many reps in passing drills, but he did make a catch out of the slot today. To be fair, Mike Gillislee hasn’t been easily spotted either. It’s just a tough time to notice their productivity when they aren’t running against a defense. We should know more about them after Saturday morning’s goal line scrimmage.
WIDE RECEIVER: My MVP of Friday’s offense came in Solomon Patton. He is going to play right away this fall. During one-on-ones, he scored three touchdowns. The first one came as he ran a stop-and-go route right by Will Hill for an easy touchdown. Right after Patton made his move, Urban Meyer screamed “whoa, whoa, whoa” because he was so impressed with the move. Patton gets to full speed in no time.
The second time came on a post pattern on Josh Evans for a touchdown. The third might have been the most impressive. Coach Meyer apparently got sick of seeing Patton burning the safeties, so he stuck Janoris Jenkins on him. Jenkins was playing bump coverage and initially pushed Patton two yards behind the line of scrimmage. Patton then ran right around him, and Burton placed the ball perfectly over his shoulder for a touchdown. As Patton was running back to the group, Meyer puts his two arms up in the air to signify a touchdown.
Robert Clark is a guy I think will have a significant role in this offense. He’s another one who could play the slot. While the wide receivers were working on running routes with the quarterbacks, Clark ran a skinny post from the slot position and looked like he was shot out of a cannon.
Carl Moore also had a few nice catches today. He ran a comeback route ten yards down the field and dove for a ball towards the sidelines. He’s got the frame to be the big wide receiver in the offense, but he needs a big spring to earn it.
Deonte Thompson was much more consistent on Friday than his first practice. He started the full scrimmage with three straight catches, two of them coming in traffic where he ripped the ball away from a defensive back. He’s got strong hands that make him a big target for the quarterback.
TIGHT END: It was another tremendous practice for Jordan Reed. He’s going to be an interesting one to watch this spring because of his potential. He’ll make plays every once in a while that make it easy to understand why Coach Meyer compared him to Cornelius Ingram after Wednesday’s practice. He’s got an athletic frame that allows him to go up and catch overthrown balls.
Gerald Christian may not have the speed that Reed has, but he’s certainly got the ball skills. Brantley overthrew him on a ball Friday, and Christian jumped up and made a one-hand catch, only to lose the ball when he hit the ground. He has surprising athleticism for his chiseled frame.
It sounds ridiculous to compare them to a duo the Gators had so recently, but Reed could into the Ingram part of the offense with Christian becomes the Aaron Hernandez.
OFFENSIVE LINE: This is the other difficult position to judge without pads, but here is the way they lined up today. Xavier Nixon was at left tackle, James Wilson was at left guard, Mike Pouncey was at center, Maurice Hurt was at right guard and Marcus Gilbert was at right tackle. Carl Johnson was dressed but didn’t practice for the second-straight day.
We did see Sam Robey in the pit for most of practice, and he had a brace on his left knee. I would assume it was nothing serious because he looked to be walking fine. During the full scrimmage, the offensive line played well, but the contact was only limited because the coaching staff instructed them to keep the defensive players up and off the ground.