By popular demand, Gator Country is refreshing one of its favorite features, this time in a weekly cadence to get everyone over hump day and rolling into the next Gator game day. Ray (Solari), in his everlasting wisdom (?), assigned the bulk of the newsletter to me, David Parker.
Most of the thoughts will revolve around our beloved Gators, of course, but many will stray about the field of college football, as well as other ports of call along the pop culture spectrum.
Following that, you’ll find additional snippets and tidbits from the Gator Country staff and columnists. Sometimes it’s factual stuff, sometimes it’s insider stuff, sometimes it’s something else entirely. But it’s always relevant to the Florida Gators!
We’ll be mailing this out every Wednesday morning just in time with your coffee, tea, or whatever voo-doo you use to get your day started.
Hope you all enjoy. -PD
Thoughts of the Week
I hope it happened. I hope it sunk in. It took until Sunday for me. At some point since Saturday’s game concluded, it should have occurred to every Gator fan on some level.
That was an incredibly important game. An incredibly crucial victory.
It took awhile for it to sink in for me, as I imagine it did for many of you. And it makes sense. We had no championships left to play for in 2018. We just lost two in a row and were still feeling pretty satisfied with the season’s progress that had far outdistanced any reasonable expectation for this year’s progress.
Then there was the first 2.5 quarters of the game itself. We had settled deeply into the resignation that we were going to lose. And it was still okay, because we knew we were still ahead of schedule in the program rebuild. We may have even talked ourselves into thinking that it didn’t much matter if we won or lost Saturday; rubber really hits the road next season.
But it did. Boy howdy. Sure, in 10-15 years from now, it may not seem to have been much of a pivot point. Certainly not the tectonic difference maker the 2005 FSU win was, for instance. But this win – and the exciting comeback fashion in which it unfolded – made a big difference in how this program steps forward.
Call this Game the Momentum Highway, Where We Picked a Lane
Most importantly, it would have stagnated recruiting momentum that has slowed since the Georgia loss. To lose this game would have tossed recruiting back a good bit. The Gator recruiting express wouldn’t have been disabled on the shoulder of the road, but it would definitely have been pushed to the slow lane. While losing a game or two here or there doesn’t make an overt difference in the decision of a recruit, it’s a big part of the momentum that creates the energy around a program and its recruiting efforts. It’s not that the win was a big boost to recruiting at this juncture; it’s that a loss would have been a significant tap of the breaks. The narrative of the season so far is on balance extremely positive. Sure we lost the streak over Kentucky, but it was Week 2, they were pretty good, and it ignited us to two huge wins over ranked conference foes. Sure we lost to Georgia, but it was expected and we gave them twice the game they thought they would get before our quarterback woes and lack of bodies in the secondary finally wore us down. Throw in the goal line stand and the media meme that Georgia suddenly has to worry about us in the rear view mirror next year, and it was as good a loss as we could hope for.
The Missouri game was the first balance tipper in the negative column since the season’s hazy infancy. But it too could be tucked away in the context of the season – bad matchup of NFL quarterback against depleted secondary, and a team that left it all on the field the week before in the most emotionally draining match of the year – without too much negative impact.
But losing to South Carolina would have been damaging. Losing to Muschamp on Florida Field – where as the Gators head coach he couldn’t even beat Georgia Southern – would have been agonizing. Losing 3-straight may have crippled the team’s psyche, and certainly would have projected the final record into the “meh” category. Now with this win, the “wow” category is again within reach for our final win/loss tally.
Now we hold in our hands the opportunity to close out the regular season with 3-straight wins and a thumping of FSU to punctuate how awful their season has been and how terrible their new coaching staff has been. That sort of crescendo to close the season can create a mini- or major explosion to the finish of Florida’s 2019 recruiting class. The fact that it was such a scintillating comeback win just added to the impact of the recruits’ impressions of the game and the program’s direction. This is a team with heart, that has now come back from 17 or more points against a conference foe twice in the same season, and in fact has forged comeback wins in 4 of its 5 SEC victories. It’s a team that has shown flashes of greatness, glimpses into a future of exciting, highly successful football.
This win allows Florida to finish the season like the Snowman’s 18-wheeler plowing through the roadblocks into the Atlanta fairgrounds, sticking it to Big Enos & Little Enos. Had we lost, we may have been sputtering to the finish line on 3 wobbly tires, dragging fenders, like Sheriff Buford T Justice’s ’77 Pontiac LeMans, with Dan Mullin yelling at Todd Grantham to put the evidence in the back seat of the car. This win sets us up for the best possible recruiting haul we could get. The kind of haul that ensures that by 2020, and maybe even as early as next season, the Gators will be setting the pace on the SEC highway in a sleek black Pontiac Trans Am, giving Nick Saban a Big Smokey Red-22. And somewhere the old ball coach of a team named after Bo Darville himself will be watching and grinning ear to ear.
What He Said
Coaches, especially those who are trying to build or rebuild a program in their first year or two, have to say a lot of things they probably don’t really believe. Things about their team’s chances to do this, that or the other. Things that are motivational. The old “fake it ‘til you make it” playbook. Platitudes and clichés that would make Crash Davis hit the showers.
But have you noticed what head coach hasn’t done that this year? Our boy Dan. It’s been so refreshing. And it isn’t just what he says to the media (a collection of scribes who should throw him a party as thanks for finally giving them a Florida coach again who phrases his answers in the form of an answer, and without the sidecar of hostility). It’s what he says to the team. When Mullen told the team at halftime that if they didn’t think they could win, stay in the locker room. He meant it. When he said he wants to kick anyone’s butt who challenges him to a thumb-wrestling contest, he meant it.
Now he isn’t a fool who just says whatever’s on his mind with no filter or prudence, like some head coaches do. When he doesn’t want to answer a question, he tells you or gives an appropriate response to redirect. He doesn’t bark at the questioner like a schoolyard bully, and he doesn’t glaze over, wander his eyes about and start talking about how cool it is to be here, like he just had a stroke or something.
He is a consummate professional and he’s down to Earth. He is exactly what this program needs right now and going forward. The parallels to Spurrier keep stacking up, and this is one of the best ones.
Keeping Up with the Jones’s Redshirt Schedule
While he was always on some fans’ minds and keyboards as the most interesting Gator alive. But Emory Jones has now come front and center in the frame of everyone’s conversation. When will he play? How will they balance the last two redshirt games, or do they yank it off his back? How do things change with the Kyle Trask injury?
With full disclosure that this is all my speculation, just my educated guess based on many things. But I can tell you with full confidence that Emory Jones will play in the FSU game. He was always going to play in the FSU game. That’s an all-hands-on-deck game. That leaves Idaho and the bowl game. Not the most complex mystery, to be sure.
After the Georgia game, I thought he would play in the South Carolina and FSU games, but that was if we beat Georgia. After we lost, South Carolina went out the window, because the only reason to play him in that game would be if we were in the SEC East lead and had to have the game (I assume that if we had beat UGA, we’d have beaten Missouri, but that matters nada now). Being out of the race for any championships, the top priorities of the staff are now recruiting and getting the returning players ready for next year. Emory Jones is one of the biggest names on that list of players because of the importance of the quarterback position and the iron ceiling Feleipe Franks appears to be banging his head on.
Those two priorities dictate that Emory will play against FSU and in the bowl game. FSU is for all the recruiting marbles left to take, and playing in the bowl game means he will get a heavy share of reps in all those extra bowl practices, a springboard to next season’s development.
In fact, if he does not take the field against Idaho, I believe that holding him out of that game and South Carolina informs us a good deal about how highly Mullen regards Jones as a going concern in the quarterback competition.
And that’s good news. Because it looks by the day to be more and more likely that we will add – or at least want to add – a high profile, very capable dual threat “free agent” quarterback transfer. The quarterback room in the spring could be Franks, Jones, Trask, incoming signee Jalon Jones and either Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant or Alabama transfer Jalen Hurts. Things are about to get really interesting.
Final Thoughts
— Dan Mullen’s five wins over Power 5 conference teams leads all first-year head coaches this season.
— Mullen is the first head coach in Florida history to win 7 games in his first season inheriting a program that finished .500 or worse the previous year.
— Florida gained over 525 yards against an SEC foe for the second time this year Saturday, marking only the first time since 2007 the program has hit that mark twice or more. That was Mullen’s next-to-last season as Florida’s offensive coordinator.
— Florida’s 33 1st downs tied for the 7th-highest total in UF history, and the most since getting 35 against Mississippi State in 2001.
Music for the Week
Given my references this week, what else could it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAhFtSc70BA
Chomps from the GC Staff & Columnists —
ANDREW SPIVEY
Dan Mullen and the Gators are talking to Kelly Bryant but it looks like Bryant won’t visit Florida for an official visit. Florida could still try to get him down for an unofficial visit.
I’ve been told that Mullen expects most of his freshman to play on Saturday. I personally like the new redshirt rule for this reason. There’s no better way to get a freshmen ready to play next year.
This weekend is a big weekend for Florida in recruiting as they will host Nathan Pickering on campus. Pickering is a Mississippi State recruit who has a long relationship with Mullen.
NICK DE LA TORRE
We’re back on track after a win over South Carolina. Man, that Will Muschamp sure knows how to lose football games in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (jokes!).
With Idaho on the docket this week you should all expect to see a lot of freshmen playing this week. I fully expect to see the debut of Jacob Copeland this week. I think Copeland is finally feeling confident on his knee and that he will be able to play this weekend against Idaho. Additionally I think we’ll see more freshmen play this weekend. David Reese, Iverson Clement, Malik Langham, Griffin McDowell, Richard Gouraige, Dante Lange and Andrew Chatfield are all guys that can play in all three remaining games and still maintain a redshirt.
I don’t anticipate Emory Jones playing this week. I think it’s more beneficial for Jones to play in a rivalry game like he did against Georgia and FSU. Then it’s a complete no-brainer for Jones to play in the bowl game in an extended role. Getting 13 bowl practices and then a bowl game makes sense, too much sense.
DAVID WUNDERLICH
Saturday’s game against Idaho will be another empty-the-bench affair just like the opener against Charleston Southern was. There of course will be intrigue around the quarterback position, with Emory Jones the nominal backup who only has two games left to play to keep his redshirt. Will he get extended time against an FCS opponent or will he be saved for FSU? If the latter, who spells Feleipe Franks when things get out of hand? And staying on offense, I know some fans would like to see a glimpse of Jacob Copeland.
Something I’ll be looking at with even more anticipation is the redshirting freshmen in the secondary. Amari Burney looked like a natural in his brief time at Chauncey Gardner-Johnson’s nickel/Star position against Charleston Southern. Will he continue to look good enough to challenge for big playing time next year? And John Huggins is a safety, a position that hasn’t shined of late. There should be an open competition this offseason. Will he too look like a contender? The second half of this game should provide a preview of some position battles to come.
ERIC FAWCETT
Early season jitters against Florida State were partially melted away with a good performance against Charleston Southern, but there’s some work to be done before the Gators head to the Bahamas. The team is happy with Stokes’ ability to contribute already as they weren’t totally sure where his conditioning would be, and there’s a lot of optimism about where Chase Johnson could be by the end of the year. Andrew Nembhard has also been earning a lot of trust from the staff and might have the starting spot totally locked down.
That’s all, folks!
We’ll send you off with our photo of the week below. Until then, see you in your inbox next Wednesday. : )
All the best,
Your friends at Gator Country…where it’s GREAT to be a FLORIDA GATOR!
