Gator Football Spring Practice: Week 1 Review

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

The Offense

Florida is experimenting with a fast-paced, uptempo offense. It is partially a result of seeing Kevin Wilson's Oklahoma offense in the national title game and partially a result of seeing Kevin Wilson's Northwestern offense in 2001.

I took a look at pace earlier this offseason, and I projected that the Gators would have scored about 55 a game last year if they played at Oklahoma's pace.

Urban Meyer may or may not have seen a similar figure from his stats guys, but he seems most interested in the way that an uptempo offense disrupts defenses.

The other big difference is that Tim Tebow will be taking some snaps under center. Tebow says it's happening because it's the way Scot Loeffler is influencing the offense, while Meyer says it's happening to get Tebow more comfortable with it since he'll have to do that in the NFL. It's not that one is wrong and one is right, since the offense has always been a team effort under Meyer.

Many have pointed out that packages with the quarterback under center existed in Meyer's offense in 2005 and 2006 when Chris Leak was running the show. That is true, and the I-formation is also coming back if they can find a fullback.

Behind Tebow, redshirt sophomore QB John Brantley is looking sharp.

Receivers

The question on everyone's mind comes down to this: who will replace Percy Harvin?

Meyer said around national signing day that he sees incoming freshman Andre Debose in that role. So far, that appears likely because no one has stepped up to take control of that role so far. Deonte Thompson, Chris Rainey, and Jeff Demps are the other candidates for that position.

Carl Moore was the invisible man for a lot of last season, which was odd for someone touted as a five-star guy from junior college. He's been looking a lot better this year.

David Nelson and Aaron Hernandez have also looked good catching passes. Justin Williams has been practicing with the first team offense along with Thompson and Nelson. Riley Cooper is playing baseball and is not participating in spring football practice.

Personally, I'm thinking that the 2008 receiving corps is not going to be the best analogue for the 2009 corps in terms of fitting guys into roles.

To me right now, 2006 seems like a better comparison given the personnel and likely ball distribution. Having Nelson as Dallas Baker, Thompson as Bubba Caldwell, Debose as Harvin, Moore as Jemaille Cornelius and so on feels a little more right. We'll see.

Running Backs and Offensive Line

With Rainey rehabbing from surgery and Demps running track, Emmanuel Moody is the only scholarship running back at practice. Fortunately, he's been playing very well so far though the defense has been stuffing him in goal line scenarios.

A probable cause for that is the fact that the offensive line has not been great. Partially that is because both Pouncey brothers are sidelined with injury right now, and the only other returning starter (Carl Johnson) is at a new position.

The younger guys who haven't played much haven't stepped up a whole lot. Things will get better when the Pounceys come back, but they won't solve all the problems alone. It took half the season for last year's line to gel, but hopefully this year's crew will work themselves out a little sooner.

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