Captains Named
Urban Meyer does captains a little differently than most coaches do. He has his players vote on who will be captains for the year, and then each week he selects players from that group to go out for the coin toss. They’re all technically captains the whole year, but only a few get to be captain for a particular game. It’s kind of confusing, but they make it work.
This year’s captains are senior DT Javier Estopinan, injured senior TE Cornelius Ingram, senior RB Kestahn Moore, senior WR Louis Murphy, senior long snapper James Smith, junior LB Brandon Spikes, junior LB Ryan Stamper, senior OG Jim Tartt, junior QB Tim Tebow, senior OT Phil Trautwein, and senior OL Jason Watkins.
The captains for each game are announced during the week leading up to them.
Wide Receivers
Percy Harvin has been back practicing again, though not participating in everything. Tebow remarked that Harvin looks extra fast because he hasn’t been practicing as much as everyone else.
Harvin already knows the offense and has great rapport with his quarterback, so the lack of practice is not really a concern. Being fully healthy is the most important goal, so Meyer has yet to fully commit to Harvin playing against Hawaii.
JuCo transfer Carl Moore had a rough spring, which he attributes to the complexity of the Florida offense compared to his junior college offense. Murphy took him under his wing a bit during the offseason, and now Moore is said to be one of Tebow’s favorite targets.
Meyer has gone so far as to compare Moore to Dallas Baker. Urban is very reluctant to compare players to his favorite guys from past teams, and Baker was certainly one of those favorite players, so that says a lot.
Moore, Murphy, Riley Cooper, and Deonte Thompson have separated themselves from the rest of the receiving corps, and along with Harvin make up perhaps the most formidable top five receiver group of any team in the country.
Running Backs
For the first time in his tenure at Florida, Meyer
- B/R Ticket Guide
However, he also has indicated that up to four running backs could be used regularly, and Chris Rainey has said the goal is to get the backs as a unit over 1,000 yards collectively.
Kestahn Moore and Moody figure to be the workhorses, with Rainey and Jeff Demps as speed backs. If either Moore or Moody catch fumblitis or otherwise upset the coaches, Mon Williams could step up in place.
We also know that Harvin will be getting carries, potentially up to 15 a game, and Tebow of course will be doing some running of his own.
Defense
Meyer thinks DE Jermaine Cunningham was just OK last season, but he should be “better than OK” in 2008. Freshman DE Earl Okine will probably redshirt thanks to some lingering injuries and the emergence of fellow freshman DE William Green.
It is almost certain at this point that Major Wright and Ahmad Black will be the starters at safety, with highly-touted freshman Will Hill as a backup. This is partly due to strong play by Black and partly to inconsistency in Hill’s play.
Special Teams
The Gainesville Sun put up an excellent article on the Gators’ special teams. Did you know UF led the SEC in punt blocks last season with four?
Brandon James will still be returning kicks and punts. He was so effective a season ago that opponents began kicking away from him or doing squib kicks to keep him from ripping off a long return. Rainey and Demps are also expected to put in some return work.
Meyer says that senior Jonathan Phillips is slightly ahead for the starting placekicker job. Competitor Caleb Sturgis should see the field regardless doing kickoffs since he has the stronger leg of the two.
Et Cetera
The quarterbacking situations for the Gators’ first two opponents are looking shaky. Newly-named Hawai’i starter Brent Rausch has missed a recent practice with a strained arm, a serious deal for the leader of a pass-heavy offense.
Meanwhile, Miami redshirt freshman Robert Marve has been suspended for the first game against Charleston Southern because of an arrest last Halloween. The coaches did not tell him until last Friday that he would be suspended so as not to affect his motivation in trying to win the starter’s role over true freshman Jacory Harris.
The Gators did not practice last Thursday due to Tropical Storm Fay. Practice on Friday was in sloppy conditions, but no one complained or slacked, much to the coaches’ delight.
There have been many reports that last year’s team did not handle the recent success well and didn’t always put forth maximum effort in practice. Giving good effort in adverse conditions is a great sign for this year’s team.
Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen has been getting help from Dirk Koetter in understanding the new NFL-style 40-second play clock. Koetter is a former head coach of Boise State and Arizona State and is now the offensive coordinator for the nearby Jacksonville Jaguars.
For whatever it’s worth, Florida is a 34-and-a-half-point favorite over Hawai’i. I don’t gamble, but personally I’d take the over. The Gators put up 59 on Troy, Tennessee, and FAU last season. This year’s offense (which will be even better) should be able to put up 60 or 70 on Hawai’i if they want to, and the defense isn’t going to let the Warriors get to 30 points.
Raycom Sports (formerly Lincoln Financial Sports and Jefferson Pilot Sports before that) has renewed its partnership with Yahoo! Sports this season. If you don’t have a Raycom affiliate in your area and would like to see the Gators eviscerate Hawai’i, you can stream the game live from here.
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2 months ago
Very informative. I am undecided on whether Meyer should try to play Harvin. If Harvin is not 100%, I think Meyer should sit him. Florida has plenty of other playmakers and the experience would help a lot of those guys.
I am really excited for the start of the season. Florida will get a good chance to test its pass defense against a pass-happy Hawaii team.
from 2 months ago
Dr. Pete Indelicato is one of the best team doctors around, so I'll trust him to make the right call. If Harvin dresses, he'll play. I selfishly hope he does because this might be the only game I make it to this season.
2 months ago
Florida's real deep w/ lots of talent all over the field. Hopefully the injury bug stays clear. Great article and very informative.
2 months ago
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date, David! Good article.
By the way, thanks for the link to the Hawaii game. That's a big help!
from 2 months ago
Those webcasts are really handy for SEC fans outside the southeast.
2 months ago
Hey David, I just read today that Brandon Spikes may be held out of the Hawaii game due to a foot injury. Its nothing serious, but I think they are going to be cautious like they are doing with Harvin.
I guess Stamper will fill in for him?
from 2 months ago
As far as I know Stamper is the #2 at MLB. It's even more of a shame now that Beal is out for the year because he was battling for that backup spot and could've seen a lot of time.
2 months ago
Who backs up Stamper? Hicks or Edwards? Is Pridemore playing FB or LB?
from 2 months ago
Pridemore will be FB and special teams. I don't think there's officially anyone behind Stamper, and I sure hope we never find out who is.
2 months ago
Edwards has been slowed by an injury as well with Hicks being praised for his offseason at linebacker. And I believe that Harvin should either sit or see just a little bit of game action to get some more timing down against a defense other than his own while seeing how he does with contact. We do have plenty of playmakers to compete against Hawaii as well as just about any team in the nation, but Harvin has been there before and he will still be a level above any other playmaker throughout the season. Spikes can afford to sit out as well as Miami will be a good test against Javaris James and company to get ready for Arian Foster and the UT Vols.
The Hawaii game will be fun to watch in that our front seven will get a chance to apply pressure to the QB during passing situations. It will also be nice to see how the secondary plays against a team that passes 70% of the time or more. There's no reason not to get everyone in the mix to gain more experience especially Will Hill and Janoris Jenkins.
With Meyer being so excited about the running backs and the secondary, that makes me really excited because he is not shy to say when a specific player or group is inadequate. He is high on the improvement of these guys and I don't expect it to take long for Moody to take the starting RB job from Keshtahn Moore with the way he has been performing lately. Moore will still be utilized as a fullback because he can be a gamebreaker from that position as the rest of the field will be loaded.
A note to the author...Florida's senior kicker's name is Jonathon Phillips, not Brandon.
2 months ago
Oh yeah...and I can't wait for Florida to unveil it's new 3-3-5 defense with Cunningham, Dunlap, and Marsh on the line. Apparently, it's been successful at practice, but I don't know what to expect against SEC teams.
from 2 months ago
As many have reported, the 3-3-5 is what West Virginia has been running for the past couple years. WVU used it to become a top-ten defense in both scoring and total.
However, UF is only going to use it in spots. The base defense will still be a 4-3.
2 months ago
Nice article, David. I can't wait to see them in action. I completely agree with you about our offense. If we want, we can totally embarrass Hawaii by racking up against their defense.
Thank you!!! I didn't know Yahoo was going to cover this one, and, being in Idaho, no one in the area is showing the game. You've saved the beginning of my college football season!
from 2 months ago
That link will work for every Raycom game the whole season, so if the Gators end up on Raycom again (like the Vandy game or something) it'll be streamed from there too.
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