Florida’s national champions hit the field Wednesday afternoon for the first day of spring football practice, but you never would have been able to tell judging by the level of excitement. It almost looked like the final practice before a rivalry game the way players were flying all over the field and the high level of competition. This might be as talented a team as there has ever been at the University of Florida.
Almost the entire roster was on the field with the exception of a few notable no-shows such as Brandon James, out for the spring and on crutches after surgery to repair a broken foot, and Matt Patchan, who showed up about an hour into practice with a brace from mid-shin to high on his thigh. Patchan was in a scooter accident last week but Coach Urban Meyer said he expects Patchan, who has moved from defense to the offensive line to be ready to go next week.
“He had a scooter accident and they told me he’ll be back in about a week,” Meyer said after practice. “I’m hoping. He’s a fast healer. He’s had a lot of chances to fast heal.”
Defensive end Carlos Dunlap also missed practice with an abdominal strain but he’s expected back next week.
Out for the spring is Brandon Antwine, walking well and still rehabbing from an ACL tear suffered in the Florida State game.
Mike Pouncey, Brandon Hicks and Omarius Hines are all said to be out for the spring but all three were dressed out on a day when the entire team was in shorts.
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The only player that looks bigger than James Wilson is Carl Johnson, who is in great shape at 6-5, 342. Wilson is listed at 6-5, 329. He looks like King Kong walking across the practice field. The scary part is that he still has good mobility with his size. Don’t be surprised if he jumps up and grabs that left guard spot this spring.
I don’t know how it’s possible, but Brandon Spikes actually looks skinny at his listed weight of 258. He’s lean and strong.
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Tim Tebow has a noticeably different throwing motion. I watched him for about ten minutes before I finally figured out what it was. He is taking the ball to his ear more, instead of the long, time-consuming delivery he used effectively over the past few years. His passes weren’t overly accurate today, but he did make some nice throws downfield. Another interesting note that I saw is that Tebow took a lot of snaps from under center. Of course, there wasn’t an offensive line in front of him, but he took the snaps from a trainer a foot in front of him instead of the shotgun snaps he usually takes from a trainer.
Tebow even threw a few spirals today that had little to no wobble on them. New quarterbacks coach Scott Loeffler and Tebow spent a lot of time talking during practice, and it’s obvious their relationship is already strong.
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There was a lot of excitement around Dee Finley today. He’s either going to be the next Louis Oliver type safety at Florida or the next outside linebacker. He is a lot bigger than I expected him to be. Watching him alternating drills with Major Wright, Ahmad Black and Will Hill, there isn’t any drop in athleticism when it gets to Finley. His hands looked a little questionable today, but most of the safeties looked average catching the ball on the first day. Dorian Munroe had a brace on his right knee, but he looked as good as new running around. The depth at safety really is scary.
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The defensive line needs to develop some depth this offseason and there are certainly enough bodies to do it. Dunlap was the only defensive lineman who didn’t practice today, but he was in shorts and a t-shirt watching practice intently. Physically, Jaye Howard looks the part to make a big push for playing time. He did a great job in a pinch last season and looks ready to assert himself as a constant contributor. The 6-3, 296 pounder looks like a Ray McDonald clone, and it goes further than him being listed as a defensive end and tackle on the roster. Jermaine Cunningham still looks like an NFL caliber defensive end.
Watching Lawrence Marsh and Omar Hunter work out, the only real difference between them is height. At 6-4, Marsh has a four-inch height advantage on the redshirt freshman, but both of them have large lower bodies and are difficult to move. Hunter is listed at 308 pounds. Edwin Herbert was a little bit shorter than I expected and he’s not overly thick, but he’s listed at 6-2, 282 pounds. The defensive line did a scoop-and-score drill, and Herbert was easily the most fluid runner of all the defensive tackles.
Earl Okine was out there and looks the part as always. He is listed at 6-7, 274 but said after practice he recently weighed in at 280. If he and Dunlap were both dressed at the same time, they could be confused for each other.
On a recruiting note, Columbia Rock Bridge (MO) defensive lineman Chase Rome was following the lineman to every drill they did.
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The linebackers were working in the pit for a while. The depth chart I was able to pull out of their drills was A.J. Jones, Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper first team. Dustin Doe, Lorenzo Edwards and Lerentee McCray made up the second team. The only linebackers I could see with the third team were Jon Bostic and Brendan Beal splitting time at middle linebacker. Edwards is listed at 236, but he actually looks a little trimmed down from last season. McCray is listed at 227 pounds, but he actually looks bigger than that. I’m shocked at the weight gain he has made since he got on campus last summer when he showed up barely at 200.
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There is a three-way battle for the long snapper position with John Fairbanks (6-4, 284), Mike Williamson (5-11, 210) and Beal (6-3, 241). Beal looked pretty good for a linebacker who didn’t practice snapping at all last year. No matter which one of them wins the job, the first punt or placekick snap of the 2009 season will be the first one in the Urban Meyer era snapped by someone not named James Smith.
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The early-enrolled recruits were all in attendance Wednesday. Jon Bostic looks the part and is a great athlete, but he is obviously still learning the middle linebacker position. Desmond Parks is listed at 6-4, 233 pounds, a gain of about 18 pounds from what he was listed when he arrived on campus. When he is blocking punts, you don’t want to be the punter, as he trampled one during his first day of practice today. Nick Alajajian is listed as 6-4, 288 pounds, but it seemed like it’s his upper body with the most weight. His lower half looks a little thin right now. Jonotthan Harrison is listed at 6-3, 293 pounds but he carries his weight well. I still think the ideal scenario is redshirting Harrison and Alajajian, but I don’t know if that will be possible because of slim depth at offensive tackle.
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Give Markihe Anderson credit for the first interception returned for a touchdown of the spring. He did it during the one-on-one drills, jumping an out route thrown by Tebow and taking it to the house. Adrian Bushell also stood out to me today with his physicality off the line. He came close to making an actual tackle during seven-on-seven, even though players were just in shorts. The defensive backs were all good today and the receivers struggled to get open in one-on-one drills. The only time it happened was when the receivers would run a quick slant or an underneath route that is almost impossible to guard. Joe Haden had at least three pass breakups that I can remember, and Janoris Jenkins had a couple, besides the fact that the quarterbacks rarely threw his way since he had his receivers blanketed.
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The receivers struggled during the first day. They caught the ball well but they had problems getting open. Frankie Hammond showed a ton of athleticism and I really like him as a sleeper this spring. Justin Williams hasn’t gotten a lot of publicity at the slot receiver, but I think he can play that position similar to the role David Nelson played there last year. Williams stays so low after the catch that he’s got more moves than you would expect. Tebow overthrew Williams on a go route, but he still had the ball in his fingers tips until he hit the ground. Besides these two, none of the other receivers did much to stand out.
One new thing I saw in the passing game was a lot of swing routes by the running backs. Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey would take off parallel to the line of scrimmage on the snap, and then catch the ball with plenty of open space in front of them. I wouldn’t be shocked if this is one of their ways to make up for the loss of Percy Harvin.