Six.
That’s the number of passes freshman quarterback Treon Harris was called on to make during the Florida Gators 38-20 win over Georgia.
Four of those passes came within the first 20 plays of the game and Harris attempted just one pass in the final half of the game. It was the first start of his career but the coaching staff didn’t learn much about what their new starting quarterback can handle.
“I don’t know that I look at it as a soft transition per se,” offensive coordinator Kurt Roper said. “I’m glad we were able to run the football and not have to put him in a lot of third-and-longs in open field or third-and-longs where we’re in the lower red and having to make tight throws versus eight-man coverage or goal-line coverage and things like that.”
The last three years of Treon Harris’ life he was the man leading Booker T. Washington to two-straight state championships and a national championship. He won 36-consecutive games as the starting quarterback and became accustomed to having the weight of his team on his shoulders.
The gameplan against Georgia changed once Florida figured out that they would be able to run the ball so effectively.
“It just never presented itself on Saturday,” Muschamp said when asked why Harris only threw six passes. “You felt like, ‘why change what we’re doing here?’ Things were really working for us. Continuing to move the chains and convert on third down.”
The Gators may not have needed to throw the football very much to come away with a win against Georgia but a 10-to-1 run to pass ratio is not a sustainable method of winning football games on a week-to-week basis. Florida knows that they will need to be more balanced offensively.
“That’s something we definitely have to get going,” senior offensive tackle Chaz Green said. “It will be critical in some big games down the road. I think it’s something we definitely have to work on. I have faith in Treon and any quarterback back there.”
Harris did, however, show some moxy and poise last Saturday. His number may have only been called a handful of times but the freshman quarterback was calm and collected leading the huddle and the offense. Muschamp and Green both commented on how well Harris handled the situation with Muschamp saying if Harris was indeed nervous he did a great job of hiding it.
A particular play — when Max Garcia’s snap sailed over Harris’ head — stand out. Harris bolted back some ten yards before scooping the ball up and getting back most of the lost yardage.
That kind of playmaking ability is what the coaching staff and players have talked about. Harris seemingly can create something where there is nothing.
The time will come.
Last Saturday — after watching film of Georgia’s rushing attack this season — the Gators defense made it a point to shut down the rushing attack and make Hutson Mason beat them. They were able to do just than and the result was disastrous for the Bulldogs. After watching Florida run the ball 60 times in Harris’ first start, teams will undoubtedly begin to gameplan differently for the Gators.
It may not be this week when the Gators face the SEC’s 10th best rushing defense but there will be a team on the schedule that sells out to stop the run and makes Treon Harris beat them. Roper knows that day is coming and he’s confident in his 19-year old signal caller.
“There’s no doubt Treon is going to have to be a playmaker in the passing game,” he said. “[He’s] Going to have to be.”