GC VIP Stadium Road Audibles — 11/4/19 Edition

It tells you something about how expectations have changed that the Gators held Georgia to 24 points and yet everyone is mad about the defense. That anger is justified, by the way, when Florida gave up approximately 218 third down conversions in the contest.

One of my things as a writer is providing context and perspective. Never get too high or too low. It probably costs me some amount of readership because people love themselves some hot takes, but you as a paying Gator Country member are a discerning fan with exquisite taste. I trust you appreciate taking a step back even during the thick of the season.

Now, I’m going to list what the Florida defense had up the middle in each unit between 2008 and 2016. That was a golden age of Gator defense, albeit with something of a down year in 2010. And I’m ad libbing a bit with the defensive tackles because of how Muschamp gave out titles but I’m not including Bucks in the linebackers.

  • 2008: DT: Lawrence Marsh, Terron Sanders; LB: Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, A.J. Jones; S: Major Wright, Ahmad Black
  • 2009: DT: Omar Hunter, Jaye Howard; LB: Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, A.J. Jones; S: Ahmad Black, Will Hill
  • 2010: DT: Omar Hunter, Jaye Howard; LB: Jon Bostic, Jelani Jenkins, A.J. Jones; S: Ahmad Black, Will Hill
  • 2011: DT: Sharrif Floyd, Jaye Howard; LB: Jon Bostic, Jelani Jenkins, Lerentee McCray; S: Matt Elam, Pop Saunders
  • 2012: DT: Sharrif Floyd, Omar Hunter; LB: Jon Bostic, Jelani Jenkins, Darrin Kitchens; S: Matt Elam, Josh Evans
  • 2013: DT: Dominique Easley, Damien Jacobs; LB: Antonio Morrison, Neiron Ball, Ronald Powell; S: Marcus Maye, Cody Riggs
  • 2014: DT: Darious Cummings, Leon Orr; LB: Antonio Morrison, Neiron Ball, Michael Taylor; S: Keanu Neal, Jabari Gorman
  • 2015: DT: Joey Ivie, Caleb Brantley; LB: Antonio Morrison, Jarrad Davis, Alex Anzalone; S: Keanu Neal, Nick Washington
  • 2016: DT: Joey Ivie, Caleb Brantley; LB: David Reese, Daniel McMillian, Kylan Johnson; S: Duke Dawson, Marcell Harris

Now, peruse those lineups and ask yourself which of the players on this year’s team would you substitute in on those lineups. Would you put Kyree Campbell or Adam Shuler into any of them? Would you put David Reese, Amari Burney, Ventrell Miller, or James Houston into any of them? Would you put Brad Stewart, Shawn Davis, Jeawon Taylor, or Donovan Stiner into any of them?

Are there any shifts where you would replace all of them with 2019 players? How many would you replace none of them?

Campbell and Shuler are the best of the current outfits I’ve named. I could see putting either in for, say, an Omar Hunter or Joey Ivie or the like.

Reese is the best of the linebackers, but I couldn’t put him in any of these other than 2016 for obvious reasons. I love the guy, but is he better than Spikes, Bostic, or Morrison? Nope. Florida has been so blessed at middle linebacker that Reese counts as a lower selection there. Burney is still learning linebacker and has started to moonlight back at star again. Miller and Houston aren’t close to overtaking anyone listed above.

And safety? Stewart might wiggle his way in for one or two, but the rest of the four-man rotation wouldn’t. Davis has made some big plays, but as we saw with the coverage bust, he’s not all the way there yet even as a junior. I’ll reserve comment about the other two of the four.

You’ve probably guessed my point by now. Compared to the players Florida has had in the recent past, the current defense is seeing guys who would’ve been backups play lots of snaps.

When everyone is healthy and they play all together (and offensive lines don’t get away with holding Shuler every fifth snap), the 2019 defense can be a nasty unit to go up against. The “healthy” part has been an issue, though, and there just isn’t the depth to compensate.

I think a lot of the problems have come from Todd Grantham’s plan to rush four and let them take care of things. That worked a treat against Miami with ten sacks, but never again have Jonathan Greenard and Jabari Zuniga both been 100%.

Without them both at 100%, the defensive front just isn’t good enough to get pressure against good lines — not that Miami had one, by the way. Zach Carter isn’t at their level if he’ll ever get there, and Luke Ancrum is a career backup for a reason. Jeremiah Moon is a nice piece but has played an increasing amount of pass coverage. Khris Bogle and Mohamoud Diabate are promising but are still a bit light as true freshmen.

That’s what we saw against Georgia and its skilled and elephantine offensive line. When the Gators rushed four, the pressure didn’t get home. When they sent five with, for instance, Reese, the Bulldogs just blocked them one-on-one. If the extra guy didn’t come from an unexpected place, Jake Fromm had forever to throw.

Why hasn’t Grantham adjusted to the realities of not having full-strength Greenard and Zuniga? Only he can answer that fully. What I can offer is that there may not be a lot of adjustments to make. So much of the defense is already backup-caliber based on The Gator Standard, and then you have things like Trey Dean playing out of position at star on top of that.

Top-shelf offenses will beat this Gator defense for those reasons. They just will. LSU did it, and while UGA didn’t shred them, the death by a thousand third down papercuts was brutal to watch. The fortunate thing is only Mizzou has a really functional offense of the remaining opponents, and even then only sometimes. If Florida gets to a bowl against one of the offensively challenged Big Ten teams, an 11-2 finish is still on the table.

But this year’s Florida team isn’t elite because its defense isn’t elite. It just doesn’t have the players that the great Gator defenses do, and only a top-to-bottom great offense can compensate for that. As you no doubt have noticed, UF doesn’t have one of those thanks to the offensive line.

The Gators are in the top ten but in not the top half of the top ten again. That’s about where they’ve been recruiting the last three years, so it’s an appropriate spot for them to end up. Once the recruiting moves up further, so can the team as a whole.

David Wunderlich
David Wunderlich is a born-and-raised Gator and a proud Florida alum. He has been writing about Florida and SEC football since 2006. He currently lives in Naples Italy, at least until the Navy stations his wife elsewhere. You can follow him on Twitter @Year2