Florida’s offense did a 180 at Wednesday’s practice. Dominated in the Saturday scrimmage by the defense, the offense turned things around Wednesday with its most productive day of the spring, highlighted by an outstanding day for running backs Emmanuel Moody and Mike Gillislee, who combined for 154 yards during the non-goal line portion of the scrimmage.
Gillislee finished the day with eight carries for 93 yards while Moody had seven carries for 61. Additionally, Trey Burton had four carries for 62 yards. Chris Rainey, playing the Percy position, had a very productive day with two carries for 14 yards to go with four catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.
John Brantley completed seven of eight passes for 95 yards and a 25-yard touchdown pass to Rainey, who turned a 10-yard safety valve into a scoring play. Trey Burton was 1-2 for 13 yards and a touchdown to freshman Robert Clark.
“I thought Saturday was exceptionally poor,” offensive coordinator Steve Addazio said. “In the realm of poor it was exceptionally poor. We made a few plays down here today. It was good to see Chris Rainey kind of back and doing a few things. It was good to see Trey Burton and Jordan Reed. What we’re trying to do is move forward and really package things that really fit each group that’s out there as opposed to running install plays. We featured some more of those wildcat plays with those young guys to give them a chance for some success that way. With Johnny (Brantley) we tried to run a few things we wanted to look at.”
QUARTERBACKS: Although Brantley had three passes picked during the seven-on-seven drills, he was very efficient running the offense during the full contact part of the scrimmage. Brantley’s best play of the day came early in the scrimmage when he read an all-out blitz up the middle, took one step back and fired a sidearm pass to Rainey in the flat. Rainey made the catch, made two defenders look silly and then turned on the jets to turn a screen pass into a 20-yard gain. It was an excellent read by Brantley and Rainey showed what happens when he gets the ball in space.
Brantley also had a great throw on a play action slant to Deonte Thompson, who got inside position on Janoris Jenkins to make the catch for a 17-yard gain.
During the seven-on-seven, Brantley also had two touchdown passes to Thompson and touchdown passes to Omarius Hines and Frankie Hammond on corner routes. Brantley also had a touchdown pass to Robert Clark, who made the catch of the day on a diving reception on a corner route from 25 yards out.
Burton’s only completion of the day during the 11-on-11 scrimmage was a well thrown slant to Clark. Burton took three steps and zinged the ball in the middle of the field before any defenders could react. It was a nice read and an accurate although not pretty throw to Clark.
Burton was at his best running the ball. He had a 25-yard touchdown run on a first down in the red zone in which he made the right read on the option and tucked the ball ran when the defensive end went with Mike Gillislee.
Tight end Jordan Reed saw some snaps in the wildcat formation, carrying three times for 15 yards. He also had an 11-yard catch. Reed and Burton could give the Gators the option to run some power plays the way Tim Tebow came in as a true freshman in 2006.
“We’ve expanded since ’06 so some of those plays that we’re running with Trey we didn’t have in ’06,” Addazio said. “We’re going to have a pretty good wildcat package because we have some pretty good wildcat personnel.”
RUNNING BACKS: Moody had one of the better practices he’s ever had at Florida. He ran the ball with authority, showed nice moves once he got past the line of scrimmage and the ability to re-accelerate and get to full speed after contact. His best play of the day was a 25-yard run (would have been longer except the whistle blew) in which he squeezed through a hole on the left side of the line and then got to full speed in two strides. Once he got into the secondary there was no catching him.
Gillislee turned a toss sweep into a 30-yard gain when he blew past a linebacker and instinctively cut to the sideline where he turned the play in to a footrace. Gillislee had five carries for better than 10 yards.
“I thought Moody ran it really well; I thought Gillislee ran it well,” Addazio said. “Those were some strong runs in there … pretty consistently strong runs and we’re missing some people up front. I thought they ran with a low pad level. Those were some really strong runs. That was actually a real bright spot right there.”
The Gators ran a lot of two-back formations with a fullback in as a lead blocker. Addazio was extremely pleased with the play of fullback Steve Wilks, who had another good day in the I-formation. T.J. Pridemore showed his versatility by lining up as a fullback and then shifting into a traditional tight end.
“Wilks has been a real bright light,” Addazio said. “We’ve got two fullbacks right now.”
RECEIVERS: This was Rainey’s day to show what he can do with the ball in his hands in open space. He’s got the ability to turn nothing into something as he showed on the 25-yard touchdown catch. It started out as a safety valve pass when Brantley turned to the left and found Rainey out of the backfield after going through his progressions. Rainey made the catch, got free with a quick move toward the inside and then made Matt Elam miss when he cut back inside to get into the end zone without being touched.
During the seven-on-seven, Rainey had a terrific catch when Brantley hit him stride for what would have been a 30-yard touchdown play.
Reed and Gerald Christian both had their moments at tight end but Addazio said the Gators are still searching for an answer for a blocking tight end in goal line situations. Since Reed and Christian are both undersized (both less than 240 pounds), the answer in the fall could very well be Earl Okine and Matt Patchan, both 6-7 and more than 280 pounds.
“We have to have a point tight end for that package [at the goal line],” Addazio said. “That’s obviously a thing we’re working on. We’ve got Matt Patchan coming back and we’re working with Earl Okine to give us that point tight end. If you’re going to run that package you need that and that has to happen. Jordan Reed kind of gives you that ability to have that movement guy kind of like (Aaron) Hernandez was. If we can fix those pieces right there we can have a strong attack.”
Addazio said that there is a possibility that Okine could move permanently to tight end although he’s doing well on defense. He said that Patchan will be an offensive tackle who is a tight end in goal line situations.
Carl Moore missed practice for the second straight day. Addazio said Moore is taking care of some personal issues.
“He’s just working on some personal business right now, that’s all,” Addazio said.
OFFENSIVE LINE: James Wilson was dinged up and missed practice Wednesday but his place on the first team offensive line was taken by Jon Halapio, whose play drew praise from Addazio, who doubles as the offensive line coach.
“James Wilson was out today and I thought Jon Halapio has stepped up a little bit,” Addazio said. “He gave us a little something. There are some little signs there.”
The first unit line Wednesday had Mike Pouncey at center, Halapio and Mo Hurt at the guards, and Xavier Nixon and Marcus Gilbert at the tackles. This is a unit that worked very well together and the proof was in the production — 24 carries for 245 yards in the 11-on-11 along with 108 passing yards in an efficient 10 attempts.
Addazio was pleased with the continued development of sophomore Nick Alajajian at center. Alajajian was commandeered from tackle to be the backup center a week ago and he’s been learning the position on the fly, doing it this week with a sprained ankle.
“The kid’s done a great job with it but we just moved him to center last Wednesday,” Addazio said. “He had never been a center before and he rolled his ankle and most people wouldn’t practice but he’s out there anyway. I really think he’s done a great job. What’s really important is the willingness to make the position change and the toughness to endure what he’s doing.”
SPECIAL TEAMS: Chris Rainey and Mike Gillislee ran 1-2 running back kickoffs while Rainey and Janoris Jenkins ran back punts.
INJURY UPDATE: Addazio said that both Matt Patchan and wide receiver Andre Debose are looking good and should be ready to go in the fall.
“At this point they look great, they really do look good,” Addazio said.
Stephen Alli (wide receiver) has a groin injury that has kept him out of practice this week. It’s unclear if he will return this spring.