GC VIP Stadium Road Audibles — 4/27/20 Edition

Almost six weeks ago, I wrote a piece for GC about how Florida was in a better place than most of its opponents after the loss of spring practice. Ah, what simple times those were.

At this point, we’re staring down the likely possibility that there won’t be a 2020 college football season in fall of 2020. The FBS conference commissioners all agree that if there aren’t students on campus, there won’t be sports going on. It only takes one school per conference to not open for the fall semester for its conference’s season to be put on ice. If Dr. Fauci and other health experts are right that the novel coronavirus will come back in the fall if there’s a lull in the summertime, it’s not hard to see how campuses will end up closed in at least some number of states.

There has been a lot of chatter lately that there will be a season starting early next year. Early January seems a bit ambitious to me because teams will need training camps to get in shape and back on the same page. It’d be a difficult ask to have them come around Christmastime to do all that, and doing it earlier in December isn’t feasible if campus is still closed because that’s the tail end of the fall semester/quarter.

However, pushing it back to late January or early February will cause a conflict with the NFL Draft.

I don’t expect the NFL to push its 2021 draft back to accommodate a moved college football season. Even if it does, the Combine generally happens about two months before the draft. Draft-eligible players will want to focus on preparing for that event and other workouts for pro teams (if, unlike this year, such workouts even happen next year).

A truncated ten-week college season starting the first Saturday in February would end on Saturday, April 10. A regularly-scheduled draft would happen two weeks later, which doesn’t seem entirely compatible with the college season. So how far back would NFL events have to go in order to keep the normal spacing of things?

Take a few weeks off before bowls to allow for March Madness to get clear airwaves and you’re looking at postseason college games in early May. Now we’re looking at a Combine in June and the draft two months after that in August. That timeline doesn’t work for the NFL.

So while some of Florida’s advantages I mentioned in the no-spring-practice piece still stand — continuity in scheme and coaching staff, mainly — having a veteran team with pro talent may be a drawback for a season starting early next year. Anyone who thinks they want to get drafted in 2021 probably should bypass the college season and exclusively train for the Combine and workouts.

Here is my initial pass on what draft eligible players on Florida’s next team should probably do. I made a “get advice” category because I think in this weird scheduling scenario, the NFL would let players get their potential draft grades before the season (rather than after the season when they declare, as happens now). Anyone not listed would go in the “definitely stay and play” bucket either because they aren’t a pro prospect this time around or at all or because they need a good showing to try to get an undrafted free agent contract. Names are in alphabetical order.

Sit out: Kyree Campbell, Trevon Grimes, Jeremiah Moon, Kyle Pitts, Brad Stewart, Kyle Trask

Tough judgment call: Zach Carter, Tedarrell Slaton, Kadarius Toney, Marco Wilson

Get advice: Brenton Cox, Shawn Davis, Brett Heggie

Everyone in the “sit out” listing are guys who I think have done enough and/or have the pro-ready physical traits to get drafted somewhere. “Somewhere” might still mean the seventh round, but I think they would get picked.

The “tough judgment call” guys are also ones who I think could get drafted. However, I think they could significantly improve their stock by putting in a good showing on UF’s next team.

The “get advice” guys are exactly what you’d think. They are marginal draft prospects, far from guaranteed, and will need to hear from the actual pro scouts and teams whether they’re safely in the draft or not.

The ones in the middle really would be in a pickle. If ever there were circumstances in which a healthy player could get drafted without doing the Combine/pro day routine, it’d be just the scenario we’re talking about here. These players, if they play, might improve their stock and still hear their name on draft day, or they might get hurt and/or in Wilson and Carter’s case come back for a fall 2021 campaign. Wilson is the epitome of this dilemma: he has injury history and came back specifically to play another season to get drafted higher.

Cox is sort of there too, or at least is different than the other guys listed in the final category. He has the talent and tools to be a pro player, but how high will a guy be after being a backup as a true freshman and then not playing for two years? He at least is in a stronger position than fellow 5-star transfers Lorenzo Lingard and Justin Shorter, who really don’t have much of anything on tape in college. Some players do end up drafted as much on their potential than their actual performance, but it’s not many and not usually early in the proceedings.

Just for fun — or really not fun, depending on your perspective — here’s what the starting lineup might look like if everyone from the “sit out” category actually did so.

QB – Emory Jones
RB – Dameon Pierce
WR – Kadarius Toney
WR – Jacob Copeland
WR – Uh, Rick Wells?
TE – Keon Zipperer

Most of this would be self-explanatory, but the third wideout is hard to peg. Wells has played exceedingly sparingly, but some of last year’s seniors talked him up as a real potential contributor for this year. It gets harder if Toney, who reportedly was strongly considering declaring for this year’s draft, also decides to skip the season. At that point, you’re looking at someone like Trent Whittemore, who earned the most praise during fall camp of the three 2019 wideout signees, or maybe true freshman Xzavier Henderson.

LT – Stone Forsythe
LG – Richard Gouraige
C – Brett Heggie
RG – Ethan White
RT – Jean Delance

There are no new developments here unless Heggie gets a nice grade and decides to train for the pros. Last year’s backup center at the ends of blowouts was former walk-on Tanner Rowell, but you’d probably like to see a younger guy step up and win the job. Kingsley Eguakun was the guy being groomed as center of the future last year, so bet on him.

DE – Zach Carter
NT – Elijah Conliffe
DT – Tedarrell Slaton
Buck – Brenton Cox

The middle of the line is short on experienced depth already. Lose Campbell, and it’s precarious. If Slaton was to be lost, you’re looking at a lot of freshmen in the D-line rotation in the SEC. Not ideal. If Carter were to go for the NFL-now route, you’re then relying on Andrew Chatfield and former Buck linebackers who aren’t as big as you’d like at defensive end. The margin for error here is tiny.

MLB – Ventrell Miller
OLB – James Houston

Like offensive line, there are no changes here. Maybe Mohamoud Diabate wins one of the spots, but that wouldn’t have anything to do with draft considerations.

CB – Marco Wilson
CB – Kaiir Elam
Star – Amari Burney
S – Shawn Davis
S – Donovan Stiner

If Wilson goes pro, his spot goes to either Chester Kimbrough or Jaydon Hill. If Davis was to leave, then Trey Dean gets his spot.

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