Sometimes before the sun came up and sometimes during the hottest part of the day, Deonte Thompson led the Florida wide receivers through their summer workouts. Fresh on their mind was always the national perception that their unit could be the weakest on the Florida roster.
“It really does (motivate us),” Thompson said, shaking his head in frustration from hearing it all off-season. “All of us receivers have a chip on our shoulders.”
The chip that has developed was the reason for the long, tenuous workouts. They’ve heard what the national media has said: If there will be a weakness on this Florida football team, it will come from the receivers position.
It’s not difficult to blame people who think that. After losing Louis Murphy and Percy Harvin to the NFL, the lack of experienced playmakers was evident to the doomsayers. The two players combined for 43.4 percent of Florida’s receiving yards last season. The Florida receivers used the national perception to their advantage.
“In the summer time, we’d be out there competing and it would come up all the time,” Thompson said. “We’d be reminding each other, ‘They say we can’t do it.’ We used it to motivate us when the guys got down.”
The expectations for Thompson are simple. Florida coaches and fans expect him to step up into a reliable receiver. Thompson worked last season as the backup in Murphy’s position, and this fall he is working as the starter. The work put in by the third-year sophomore over the off-season is why he believes his role will increase this season.
“I’ve worked a lot harder than any off-season,” Thompson said. “Being with Tim (Tebow) and catching from him every day of the week, plus we’ve been doing six-in-the-morning workouts. Everything has made me better this off-season. This is actually the most we’ve caught in an offseason before. We caught every single day except Saturday and Sunday.
The atmosphere at those throwing sessions allowed the players to work by themselves and build chemistry and timing. Without Harvin and Murphy, it also allowed some leaders to emerge from the group, and Thompson did his best to put himself in that role.
“It was intense,” Thompson said about the workouts. “We would make it fun, and then we would be serious at the same time. We’d have some competitions going, like who would be the first guy to drop a ball. At the same time, it was really competitive.”
During the first day of practice, the players weren’t the only ones who noticed their improvements. Because they put in so much time on the practice fields working on fundamentals, Florida wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales hasn’t been forced to spend time working on the fundamentals of the position. They have been able to work on the more integral parts of the receiver position because the players decided to work by themselves over the summer.
“It’s helped us a lot. Coach (Gonzales) said from the first day that we haven’t been doing too many drills because we came in doing everything right.”
There has also been a noticeable change in Thompson’s persona. In his first two years on campus, he was always shy with the media and seemed to hide in the back of rooms while media talked to more established receivers. Now Thompson’s true personality has come out, joking and shooting the breeze with media members.
Thompson is finally settled. All of the doubts that were put in his head by people surrounding him happened in his first season. Coming in as a top-rated wide receiver, people around Thompson wondered why he wasn’t contributing.
Those voices are now gone.
“The biggest thing I’ve had to overcome here has been when all the outsiders were telling me different things,” Thompson said. “I went through the time when everyone thought I was transferring.”
Happy with his decision to stay, Thompson now seems to be close to securing a starting receiver position. The lessons learned from Murphy last season have boosted Thompson’s play.
When last season was over, the Florida coaches didn’t waste time motivating the receivers to see who would step up for the loss of playmaking Harvin and Murphy brought to the table.
“As soon as it happened, coach was asking us who was going to step up and make the plays now,” Thompson said. “It’s time. As soon as it happened, I saw that as a chance to go.”
No matter what the receivers do this season, it wouldn’t be possible without the leadership provided from Harvin and Murphy last season. Thompson admitted he wouldn’t know defenses as well as he does now if it weren’t for Harvin and Murphy teaching him what to look for.
The nation only saw the duo make plays for the Gators last season, but behind the scenes, they were busy coaching up the next group of receivers to take over.
“Murphy just brought so much leadership,” Thompson said. “He was the leader of the receivers last year. Just watching him, you learn so much. Percy is a beast. Just from talking to him and seeing how he learned from the game, it helped you a lot.”
While Thompson is expected to be a down-the-field threat like Murphy provided the Gators, he wouldn’t mind taking some of Harvin’s plays as well.
“I see myself doing a little of both,” Thompson said. “Right now we’ve got me working outside in Murphy’s spot and working at that real hard. I think as the season goes I might be doing a little of both.”
If the receivers step up as much as Thompson expects, there won’t be many weak spots on the team that many have picked to win another national championship. Despite the talent all over the field, Thompson believes it’s what happens in the locker room that makes this team desperate to win another title.
“The team chemistry and everyone being hungry,” Thompson said. “If we keep this going the way it is now, it’ll be hard to stop us. We’re real hungry. You can see it in the guys’ eyes. We want more.”