He’s been bruised and battered and busted up. A major part of his supporting cast — including key playmakers — has been missing. Some say he is a misfit in the Spread Option. His dreams of being the next great Gator quarterback have been on hold, if not dashed. He has been second-guessed, criticized and under-appreciated. Maybe even his future status as an NFL player has taken a hit.
However, to paraphrase Mark Twain’s famous quote, rumors of Johnny Brantley’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
He’s still standing tall in the pocket.
Not only was his position as starter over two others secured by comments from his coach and teammates Monday, but JB IV also reclaimed his turf as a team leader and heartily endorsed the three-headed quarterback system if it helps his team win.
Hey, I realize rhetoric is all part of the game in college football, and we can’t take everything we hear in a press conference literally, but check out these comments right here in black and white:
“One’s very clear; it’s a single wing quarterback that can throw. I mean that’s very clear. One’s an option quarterback, and one’s a drop-back quarterback and ‘THE’ quarterback.” —- Urban Meyer.
“John Brantley is our starting quarterback and he’s going to stay that way. All of them played good … John has been real good with it. John plays a big key and a big role in our team. He threw the ball real well Saturday. We want to keep him happy because he’s a great player.” — Mike Pouncey.
“I guess that means I’m the leader of the ship. That’s the role I’ve taken on this offseason and all summer and coming into camp and everything, so that’s the way I still look at it – that I still need to lead this team even though I’m not taking all the snaps. And that’s fine with me. I’ve just got to be able to lead the troops, I guess you could say, and keep this thing rolling.” — Johnny Brantley
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As long as I can remember in the centuries that I’ve been covering football, the backup quarterback has been the most popular player on the roster in difficult times.
There is this misguided belief that the other guy is always going to do better, which is sometimes the case, but often not. So Brantley has endured the slings and arrows of critics who were unhappy with the offense and felt he was the proverbial round peg in the square hole.
History will be the judge of that, but in the meantime, Brantley has to contend with the onslaught of three other names by the Monday Morning Quarterbacks – one of them who is not even in school yet. JB IV’s got Backup A, Backup B and soon to be Backup C is a recruit on the way.
Backup A used to be option quarterback Trey Burton, who has certainly been spectacular as a freshman, but on the Fan’s Darling Index has recently moved slightly behind Jordan Reed, who was certainly impressive in his first real outing as Urban’s single wing QB. And, oh yeah, some people have already penciled in the name of Jeff Driskel as next year’s starter.
This is what Johnny Brantley waited three years for?
Yes, and that’s why he still has to be the leader, because he’s the most invested of the three.
And, as Meyer says, JB IV is taking one for the team:
“You can expect that out of John. Everybody knows John Brantley. He saw we were struggling. It would be different if we had that 240-pound tailback that was a Heisman candidate. That doesn’t exist here right now … His objective is to help Florida win…That tells you the character of him and his family because I am sure he is just taking shots across the bow. I think he is a very focused guy and I don’t see that at all with him. I talk to him quite often. I see a guy that wants to help Florida win.”
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Johnny Brantley’s legacy was all spelled out in advance by his heritage, plus he had the credentials coming out of Trinity Catholic to back it up. He just had the misfortune of playing behind a legend – and a guy who never wanted to come out of the game.
Burton’s performance has been like hitting the lottery on a Quick Pick: Nobody had any idea Trey was not only going to contribute, but wind up being the jackpot.
There was undeniable evidence that the presence of Reed in the single wing slot changed entirely the way teams have to play the Gators because immediately it goes from singular to multi-dimensional. Once he got past the health issues, he become instant offense.
So naturally there is going to be clamoring for more.
Coupled with the up-tempo offense and the flip-flopping of Brantley and Burton, this new-fangled Rube Goldberg-like contraption is yet another generation of a Meyer offense that only he and his offensive staff have in their heads.
Even though it may look like they sometimes make it up as they are going along, there is method to this madness.
Without the willingness of the three young men to share the spotlight, however, this Three-Headed Quarterback could never exist, let along succeed.
Pouncey put it best: “Obviously, they put all the extra work in. All of those guys are unselfish guys. All they want to do is win, so we praise them for that. As long as they keep up the good work, we’ll keep doing good.”
If there is any other good news it’s time timing – it appears to be shaping up for what Jeremy Foley and Urban Meyer are calling “Championship Week in Gainesville, Florida” again.
How would you like to be South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson trying to come up with a plan to stop Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps, Johnny Brantley, Trey Burton and Jordan Reed – all on the field at once?
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If you’ve ever been the parent of an athlete or somebody trying to become one, you understand the agony of seeing your son or daughter struggle or fall short of his or her expections. Except most of us didn’t haven’t to read about it the next day in the newspaper, or in the next hour on the internet, or hear about it on a talk show.
On top of that, if you happened to have coached him or her yourself, there is the additional challenge of being there for them in their hour of need.
John Brantley III is certainly familiar with those emotions. To say that he has always been happy with the progress of the Gator offense would be probably be a bit of a stretch, although even his closest friends have a hard time getting him to be critical. To say that he hasn’t understood the reason for the frustration by Gator coaches would also not be accurate. He’s a coach.
After weeks of struggling, I asked him how he felt about the new up-tempo offense and Johnny’s role.
First and foremost, once he got through gloating about the Gators beating Georgia and commending the coaches for finding a way to get the offense unstuck, he did admit at the appropriate time he and his son would sit and talk about how he liked the new system. It was a simple and very understated comment – one that most parents would likely endorse. Who amongst us wouldn’t say the same thing? And that was a public statement made candidly on Gator Country TV.
Somehow some of that may have gotten scrambled once it reached the masses, because there have been rumors surfacing lately that Johnny might considering leaving Florida after this season, perhaps even transferring to a I-AA school so that he could play and prepare for the NFL.
Finally, I asked John III, the dad, if that was true and he vehemently denied it with this statement:
“That’s what is wrong with our country and kids today, (they) run from competing. Johnny will stay a Gator, playing or on the bench!”
I take him at his word.
And I am left to wonder that if Florida beats South Carolina Saturday, gets to Atlanta and maybe even finds a way to win the SEC championship – go ahead and laugh, but it’s possible – whether any of all this will even be remembered.