Bleacher Report - Articles by McLeod Neale

Time For The ACC To Face Reality

McLeod Neale — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:49:09 -0500

The ACC had a great year this year. They really did. It finally seemed as if the ACC would stand up to its big brother and finally live up to the conference it was supposed to be when it expanded back in 2002.

The fact the ACC is now 3-5 this bowl season completely goes against the grain of what has happened the entire season this year for the ACC. It is either that or the ACC had everyone fooled. You pick. Personally, I think it is the latter and not the former.

Proponents of the ACC will mention to you they faced off with the SEC 10 times this year, and won six of those contests. They will also tell you the ACC had a winning record against every other conference in college football. There were many people, including myself, who thought the ACC was the deepest conference this year.

The ACC picked up two of those six SEC wins against a Vanderbilt squad during a span in which Vanderbilt lost six out of its last seven regular season games. They were clearly headed downhill fast after a fast start.

The ACC picked up another one of its wins against a struggling Ole Miss that lost four of its first five games to BCS teams. Since then Ole Miss has not lost a game.

While winning a majority of the games against the SEC is quite an accomplishment for a conference that had a terrible reputation coming into the season, the elite SEC teams proved to be far superior to anything the ACC had to offer.

Alabama ran Clemson out of the Georgia Dome at the start of the season and Florida showed Florida State they are still far away from competing against Gators.

So what does all of this mean? It means the ACC is a conference full of decent teams that have no business being anywhere near the top 10, and were rightfully scheduled to play in early December bowls rather than later bowls.

That point is proven further by the two losses to unranked SEC teams today.

Vanderbilt is not a great team, just a decent team. The fact a decent Vanderbilt team beat one of the two teams in the ACC championship game is very telling about where the top of the conference currently stands.

Furthermore, LSU was a quarterback away from being at a level to compete with the SEC elite. Well it seems as if LSU improved that weakness very quickly with the month or so off they were given before their bowl. It was no fluke Georgia Tech got waxed off the field today. Jordan Jefferson added a missing piece for LSU and they became an elite team overnight just because they improved dramatically at the QB position.

This is why bowl season is great for college football. Teams and conferences get exposed, and ACC fans, your conference got exposed and shown for what it really is: a bunch of decent teams that do not belong anywhere near the top ten.

Charlie Strong to Face Biggest Challenge of Florida Coaching Career

McLeod Neale — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:22:59 -0500

Charlie Strong is preparing for what could be the biggest challenge he will face in his entire coaching career.

Strong must find a way to slow down the most explosive offense in college football history led by Heisman winning QB Sam Bradford, who has led the NCAA in passing efficiency for the second-straight year.

Oklahoma also featured two running backs in their backfield that rushed for over 1,000 yards each. Unfortunately for Oklahoma, one of those running backs, DeMarco Murray, will be sitting on the sideline with an injury.

While Strong's defensive unit ranks within the top 10 in the NCAA's scoring defenses, he has reason to be concerned. His Gator defense has yet to face an offense that is as complete as this Sooners offense.

Then again, Strong can take comfort in the fact that his defense faces an offense everyday in practice that is capable of matching Oklahoma's 3.9 points per possession.

Strong's greatest concern, though, is the fast tempo of Oklahoma's hurry-up offense. This is something that the Gators can attempt to simulate in practice, but it will be difficult for the scout team to match the speed of a unit that has been mastering the no huddle for an entire season.

Florida's offense is exactly what is necessary to compete with this Oklahoma offense. Florida's offense can match Oklahoma score for score while also controlling the ball and the clock. It is paramount for Florida to control the time of possession so that the defense can stay fresh and avoid getting fatigued against this high-tempo Oklahoma offense.

So how might Charlie Strong try to scheme against this Oklahoma offense?

I am glad you asked.

It all starts in the trenches. Oklahoma arguably has the most-veteran offensive line in the nation. Oklahoma's offensive line entered this season with the most combined starts in the NCAA with 130.

Now that number is even higher. Oklahoma might just have to replace all five starters on this unit next year. This veteran unit is led by All-American guard Duke Robinson.

Florida does not exactly have any superstars on the defensive line that have gotten near the amount of attention that Phil Loadholt and Duke Robinson have gotten for Oklahoma's offensive line.

All year people kept writing off Florida's defensive line as the defense's Achilles heel, but surprisingly they did just enough to come up with a win and contribute to one of the nation's top-10 scoring defenses.

While Oklahoma has a great offensive line, Alabama posed a greater challenge with two All-Americans and the Outland Trophy winner Andre Smith. The reason Charlie Strong should be concerned, though, is that his defense is great at stuffing the run, but Florida has not seen an offense that has put an offensive line as good as Oklahoma's in front of a quarterback as good as Sam Bradford.

Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins form one of the top CB duos in the country and they should be able to lock down Oklahoma's top two wide receivers Juaquin Iglesius and Manuel Johnson. More often than not, though, Oklahoma will come out with four wide receivers.

This is where Florida's depth at corner back will come into play. Florida has two serviceable back ups in Markihe Anderson and Wondy Pierre-Louis. Look for Bradford to hit his third and fourth receivers more often in this game than usual because that is where Oklahoma will probably have the most favorable matchups.

Pierre-Louis is considered to be very raw in his skills as a corner, but his size makes him a real asset in this game as the Gators will be challenged by the versatility of tight end Jermaine Gresham who stands at 6'6" and around 261 pounds.

Gresham is a mismatch nightmare due to his combination of size and speed, and he will give any team in college football mismatch problems. All the Gators need to do is contain him for their game plan to be a success.

Strong has a couple of players that he can match up against Gresham in order to give him a tough time. The Gators are fortunate to have two tall cornerbacks, Wondy Pierre-Louis and Moses Jenkins, on the roster that are a good 6'2".

When Gresham motions to the outside these could be favorable matchups for Florida. Gresham definitely has a size advantage here that would cause problems for Florida when Gresham is run blocking, so the Gators can probably find a better matchup.

The second option is strong side linebacker Dustin Doe. Dustin Doe will have a height disadvantage, but he has done very well in coverage tipping lots of balls and even making an interception. Dustin Doe should be able to make Gresham earn every ball he gets.

The most ideal match up, though, is true freshman safety Will Hill, who has the height at 6'4" and the athleticism to stay with Gresham. This match up would very intriguing and could give Gresham some fits getting out into the open.

Safety Major Wright is known for delivering violent hits, and if he is able to land one on Gresham that could really change the game psychologically and set the tone for the rest of the game.

Despite the fact that Florida matches up pretty well in the secondary, Charlie Strong has got to find a way to get pressure on Bradford or it could be a long day. Bradford is just too good of a quarterback, and if given all day to sit back in the pocket he will shred any defense and make them pay.

As the season has progressed Brandon Spikes has been lining up on the line of scrimmage as a speed rusher from the outside. This is something to expect if Florida cannot successfully get pressure from the front four.

Expect Florida to come out in a 3-3-5 or 4-2-5 alignment when Oklahoma lines up with four wide receivers in the game. Florida worked on a 3-3-5 defense in the preseason because many teams in the SEC were making a transition to the spread offense, and this is the defense that most coaches in the college game believe is most suitable to match up with the spread offense.

If Florida cannot get pressure on Bradford, then Strong will have to do a great job of disguising his blitz packages and confusing Bradford with a variety of looks.

The key to stopping Oklahoma on offense is winning first down. This is where the front seven of Florida's defense must step up, and Brandon Spikes must set the tone for the game and get to the ball carrier and force long distances on later downs.

Oklahoma runs the ball 65 percent of the time on first down gaining an average of five yards per carry. This sets up short yardage from the line of scrimmage that allows Oklahoma to be multidimensional with all of their weapons.

If Oklahoma can be held to 2nd-and-long and 3rd-and-long, the offense all of the sudden becomes one-dimensional and that will allow the defense to pin their ears back and go after Bradford.

Once the Gators force Oklahoma to play their hand in a predictable fashion, that is checkmate. Mission accomplished.

A Radical Solution for Everything That Is Wrong With College Football

McLeod Neale — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:15:21 -0400

With the way that all of the conferences looked this weekend, I think that it is appropriate to bring up the issues surrounding the BCS and the structure of conferences.

It seems that college football has fallen into a great imbalance: Ohio State, USC, and Oklahoma have no worthy challengers within their conferences, while the ACC and Big East, albeit with a couple of contenders, have fallen to a level that is below mediocrity.

Then you have the SEC, which has many teams that can win the conference. When they get a shot at all of the marbles, they have collectively gotten the job done an extremely high percentage of the time.

All of this has led to disaster after disaster with the BCS due to the fact that the BCS rankings depend largely on a team's record, which can be greatly affected by the difficulty of the schedule that a team faces that year. That has been the story the past couple of seasons, and the early signs say that it probably won't change.

Something needs to be changed with the current system because the same thing seems to be happening. College football fans are getting tired of the same old arguments and watching the same old teams sit on the top—and watching the same old system get it all wrong.

What is really ironic about the game of college football, though, is that fans whine and gripe about all of the things that are wrong with college football—but at the same time we just can't get enough of it. Now you know the problems that I have with college football, but it is also important to get the ideas of other people.

If a group of college football fans were posed with the question, "What is wrong with college football today?" possible answers to that question might sound something like this.

1. The BCS

It stinks, and it is not a fair system. It has failed us many times over again, yet we return to our own vomit every time. It failed us in 2004 when an undefeated team SEC team did not get the chance to compete for a BCS title.

Last season was a disaster. A whole lot of teams had two losses, yet teams got eliminated from the national championship in the conference room, not by losing on the field.

People who justify the BCS say that, although it is not a good system, there are no better alternatives to the BCS, which makes the BCS the lesser of all evils.

There are many college football fans who disagree and would argue that we can find a way that teams are eliminated from championship contention by players on the field, rather than stinky greedy old men in conference rooms.

2. Conference Disparity

If the rest of the country did not know already, after this weekend it should be clear that the SEC is head and shoulders better than every conference in the country. The projected No. 6 SEC team, Alabama, flat-out embarrassed the projected No. 1 ACC team, Clemson.

The Alabama-Clemson game sent a resounding message to the rest of the country: The SEC is light years ahead of everyone else, in a league of its own as the first ever super-conference.

No conference has as many contenders year in and year out. It is pretty clear that six teams have a legitimate shot at winning the conference this year: LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.

Every other conference has a sure pick as to who will most likely win the conference. In the Pac-10 it is USC, in the Big Ten it is Ohio State, in the Big 12 it is Oklahoma, in the Big East it is West Virginia, and in the ACC it is Clemson.

While these conferences are not even close to stacking up against the SEC, there still are individual teams around the country that stack up pretty well against the best SEC teams.

The ironic thing is that the SEC now is what the ACC was supposed to become after adding Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College: the super-conference of college football.

The thing that people fail to realize, though, is that the SEC is so far ahead in many more ways than just the teams it puts on the football field. The SEC collectively has the best stadiums, facilities, fan bases, and college towns. They make the most money and are the ones that rule college football. This is what every conference should strive to be.

While there are teams out there that can compete individually with the SEC schools in all of these aspects, no conference has had a higher rate of success as a whole.

The Big 12 has received a lot of hype this offseason, but one thing is pretty evident after Week One: There are quite a few pretenders in this conference. The conference knows where the best football is played, and that is why they go after SEC defensive coordinators like Bob Stoops, Will Muschamp, and Bo Pelini.

Bob Stoops, the former defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators who won a national title with the Gators in 1996, has been the real deal at Oklahoma and leads the NCAA in win percentage since arriving in Norman. Stoops has dominated the conference because his teams know how to do something that the rest of the pretenders in the conference do not: play solid defense.

Missouri and Texas Tech showed their defensive weaknesses in Week One, when Texas Tech yielded 24 points to FCS team Eastern Washington and Missouri allowed Illinois' run-first QB "Juice" Williams to pass for 451 yards through the air for five TDs, which in turn allowed the Illinois offense to put up 42 points on the scoreboard.

The fact is that this conference does not know how to play solid defense, and that is why the smart teams like Texas and Nebraska are going after SEC defensive coordinators. A thorough comparison of Bob Stoops and Mike Leach is even more evidence for the old saying, "defense wins championships."

3. SEC! SEC! SEC!

I know that everyone has heard the chant, and it really gets on your nerves if you are a Pac-10, Big Ten, ACC, Big East, or Big 12 fan. Why are there SEC fans? I don't think you will ever hear anyone chanting "Pac-10," "Big Ten," "Big 12," "ACC," or "Big East." It is a strange phenomenon that is unique to the SEC.

What happened to hating your rival at all costs? Could you imagine a Michigan fan pulling for Ohio State in any game? Yuck...

Well, there are (fill in the blank with SEC team) fans out there that will pull for (fill in the blank with rivaling SEC team) in certain games.

4. It is all about the money

Despite all of the things that are fundamentally wrong with college football, in the eyes of a few, there is one thing that is right with college football that trumps all of the other things that are wrong about it: It makes a heck of a lot of money.

The sad fact is that it is all about money. No matter how much we cry, nothing will change. The only way change will happen is if the right people are convinced that their wallets will be padded and lined.

5. Older discontinued rivalries

Many football fans long for the rivalries of the past. Some examples of these rivalries include Florida and Miami, Clemson and Georgia, USF and UCF, and Pitt and Penn State, among many others. These rivalries have been sacrificed due to conference restructuring and other reasons.

6. Conference Championship Game?

The rules are different for every conference. The number of teams in every conference may vary, and some teams play in conference championships, while others do not. Can we get some consistency please?

7. Out of Conference (OOC) scheduling: I wish I could see my team play (fill in the blank)

SEC teams play against patsies for their OOC games, and they always play them at home and get the opportunity to pad their stats. Meanwhile, my team goes out on the road and plays tough OOC teams that they can't pad their stats against.

Big problems deserve big answers, and that is why the answer to this problem has to be very radical—but in order to get to our solution, we must first understand our problem. All of these problems stem from one main problem: the money.

Money is why we have the BCS problem, and the BCS problem is further magnified by conference disparity, which, when paired with a flawed system like the BCS, formed the lethal combination that brought about the infamous SEC chant.

No one has proposed a feasible solution to these problems because they do not address the root of the problem. The only problem that people have attempted to address is the BCS problem, but in order to address the BCS problem we have to address the money problem.

So our dilemma is that we need to either find a new, fair system that can make more money than the BCS, and thus line the pockets of the right people who have the ability to make things happen, or we can find a way to tweak the current system so that games are decided on the field.

I think that a little bit of both can happen. You can tweak the current system and make the system a whole lot fairer while simultaneously bringing in more money during the process.

When it comes to making money in college football, there is no better place to look than the SEC. The way to make money in college football is to do things the way that the SEC does it.

I know this is going to sound really cliché, but I am going to say it anyway: What college football needs is an SEC makeover.

What I mean is that college football should be restructured into four super conferences. The winners of these super-conferences would then enter a four-team playoff at the end of the year, which would determine the national champion.

This system would still keep the current bowl system and just incorporate the four-team playoff into the major bowl games, where traditional bowl tie-ins would still apply, while conference runner-ups would get automatic bids to other bowls. The BCS system would not change much at all.

In essence this is the "plus one" game that many people said that they would be open to in the first place. You could still keep the tradition of the Rose Bowl, as that would be a semifinal game every year as the showdown between the Pac-10 and Big Ten champs, while the SEC and Big 12 would have a showdown in the Fiesta as has been custom in the past.

The other major bowls could be filled with the conference runner-ups, and the same bowl system would still be intact. This is something that almost became a reality this offseason with the plus one format.

The slight difference is that condensing the conferences down to four super-conferences makes it a perfect system that would work every time, rather than it just being another system that is labeled as the lesser of two evils.

The way that college football would be restructured would aim to meet the following goals.

1. Structure college football into four super-conferences, which I call the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-10, which contain either four divisions of four teams per division or two divisions of eight teams per division.

The conference champion could be determined in the same sort of manner that the Big 12, ACC, and SEC currently are in the case the conferences are split into two divisions. It could also be determined in a four-team mini-playoff format if the conference is structured into four divisions.

2. Keep as many rivalries in the same conference as possible. No team would have multiple rivals outside of their conference. There would only be one maximum OOC rival. The goal would be to renew rivalries of the past and to maintain current rivalries.

3. Make conferences as equal in strength as possible. This will give the conferences an SEC-like effect in terms of schedule strength and feeling of accomplishment of winning a conference championship.

This would be the equivalent of making the Final Four in basketball. Winning your division would be the equivalent of making the Sweet 16. This system would still make every game of the season important due to the fact that conference seeding would be on the line.

One of the casualties that come along with playing in a weaker conference is that the value and appreciation that comes with winning that conference's championship gets diminished as the strength of the conference diminishes. Super-conferences would make conference championships mean a lot more.

At the same time, in a four-division system, a division championship would be something that could be in reach most years for the good teams.

4. Structure the conferences and divisions in a way that is geographically friendly to the teams that play in them.

5. Balance the combined economic strength of the teams in their respective conferences.

6. Either establish three levels—I-A, I-AA (current minor conference I-A teams and weak major conference I-A schools), and I-AAA (current I-AA schools)—within Division I football, or lump together all of the teams that would hypothetically be in I-AA and I-AAA and put them all into the FCS, leaving only the super-conference teams in the FBS.

7. Depending on which format is used (four divisions/two divisions) teams would be required to play 12 games against:

A) Every team in their division (either three games or seven games).

B) A permanent opponent within the conference from another division (one game).

C) Either four teams from another division (rotates annually) that everyone else in your division will also play (in years that one of those teams is the permanent opponent, another team within the conference may be selected), in addition to a team from one of the other two divisions (rotates annually) or one opponent from the other division that rotates annually (either five games or one game).

4) One team from every other conference (one permanent and two rotating).

So who would be in what conference? Considering many factors, this is what I thought would be the best way to break up the conferences.

SEC

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Miami, UNC, Georgia Tech, NC State, Virginia, USF, Louisville, UCF

Big Ten

Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue, Boston College, Maryland, West Virginia, Pitt, Rutgers, UConn, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Notre Dame

Big 12

Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State

Pac-10

USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Colorado

The Evolution Of College Football: The Reign Of The Spread Offense

McLeod Neale — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:31:57 -0400

Every college football fan loves to debate who the best college football teams of all time are. These debates are fun to have, but it is an impossible task to figure out how teams from separate times would perform against each other.

While teams of the past have had great athletes, it is hard to know how defenses of the past would hold up against the newer offensive schemes of later teams.

Time and time again in college football, it has been proven that brains can overcome gaps in talent—i.e. Boise State and Oklahoma.

One thing is clear about the state of college football today, though. The spread offense is king.

In order to continue we need to define what "spread offense" really means. There are many versions of the spread offense, but they are all based on similar principles. The three main principles are:

1. Spreading the field with more WR's instead of having a FB and/or TE(s) in the game.

2. Dual threat QB

3. Using WR's and RB's interchangeably, and using WR's to run the ball

According to my criteria, last year:

-spread offenses accounted for four of the top five, six of the top 10, and 11 of the top 20 offenses in yards per game last year.

-four of the top six rushing offenses in yards per game, were spread offenses.

-the top three passing offenses in yards per game, were spread offenses

-10 of the top 13 offenses in points per game, were spread offenses

I beleive that spread offense principles first appeared in the late 80's and early 90's under Steve Spurrier.

Spurrier was known for what was called the "Fun 'N Gun" offense that was a pass happy offense with sets of four and five WR's on the field at the same time. That offense proved to be deadly and is known for transforming the way that football was played in the SEC.

Let's fast forward to the last couple of years of college football now.

The most dominant team in I-AA football, Appalachian State, runs the spread offense, and has won three straight National Championships and a victory over ranked Michigan last year.

Two of the past three minor conference teams to earn a bid to a BCS bowl game have incorporated principles of the spread into their offensive schemes.

Even the best teams in I-A football have had a difficult time dealing with the spread offense. No one is immune, including teams like USC, Oklahoma, and Ohio State.

The most dominant team of the decade is probably USC. Even USC used Reggie Bush in a more versatile role that had him lining up as a RB and WR like Percy Harvin does at Florida right now.

USC has the best athletes in the country going there, and their fans will probably tell you that they play best in big games against ranked games. They have done well in big games as USC has only lost two games against ranked teams since 2003.

The thing that USC fans won't tell you though is that the two ranked teams that USC lost to in that span, Oregon and Texas, both used spread offense principles.

Spread offenses have also ravaged the two traditional powerhouse teams in the Big 10, Michigan and Ohio State.

Last year, Michigan, a preseason top five team, lost its first two games, against App State and Oregon, two teams that ran versions of the spread offense. They went on to win their next eight games. Michigan allowed over 33 points against three of the four spread offenses that they faced last year.

Ohio State has also struggled quite a bit too. In the last three years Ohio State has lost five games. Four of those teams have incorporated spread offense principles. Those four losses include Texas in 2005, Florida in 2006, and Illinois and LSU in 2007.

Oklahoma is not immune either. All you have to do is go back to the last game that Oklahoma played last year. WVU ran them off of the field.

Texas Tech with Mike Leach's pass happy attack has also gotten the best of the Sooners two of the past three years. Other spread teams that Oklahoma has lost to include Oregon and Texas, when they had Vince Young.

Now to fast forward to this year. The two best conferences in the nation are considered to be the SEC and the Big XII.

The Big XII was able to make a jump last year due to its high-powered offenses. The Big XII has at least three teams—Texas Tech, Kansas, and Missouri—that incorporated spread principles last year.

The SEC has at least four teams—LSU, Florida, Arkansas, and South Carolina—that did the same.

Tennessee and Auburn are hoping that changing to the spread offense will pay off this year. Tennessee has hired Dave Clawson, former coach at the University of Richmond who ran a very successful spread offense.

Auburn hired former Troy offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, whose offense last year averaged over 30 points per game against three ranked SEC teams.

The other conferences look as if they are farther behind and do not have as many teams that run the spread or some form of it.

Are the principles of the spread offense the reason that the SEC and Big XII are the better conferences at the moment? It could be, but what exactly makes the spread offense so dangerous?

In order to understand the spread offense, we have to understand the offenses that preceded it. The modern football fan, looks at an offensive football player and labels him as a QB, RB, FB, WR, TE, or OL. That is because the roles of each position were very specific and each player had one job and it is very specific.

The spread offense effectively destroys all position distinctions except for the offensive line. In order to fully understand what the spread offense is and how the spread offense works, you need to throw football terminology out of the window.

All there is are linemen and play makers. Instead of looking at what position an athlete plays, you need to look at a player for his overall skill set in the areas of running, passing, receiving, and blocking.

Those are the four things that offensive football players are asked to do, and the spread offense asks football players to diversify their skill set rather than specialize in one area. That is why the perfect word to describe the spread offense is "versatility."

It really is no different than a small forward in basketball: It is a position that requires a nice blend of post and perimeter skills. While there are better shooters and post players out there, a big guy with decent post and guard skills can easily be the most dangerous guy on the court.

The spread offense seeks to cause problems for defenses in the same sort of manner. Here are the possible scenarios:

1. A lot of offenses that put three or four WR's on the field still like to keep a RB in the backfield and run the ball. That means that it is crucial that your WR's are good blockers.

If you have a player that is good at both receiving and blocking it creates issues just like a guard who can play in the post. A LB may not be able to cover the WR, but at the same time a CB may not be able to shed the block. So now you have issues as a defensive coordinator. It also makes it even more crucial for the RB to be a good blocker in case if there is a blitz.

2. The same thing happens with a dual threat QB. It creates a delimma due to the fact that the defense has to simultaneously drop back in coverage and cover the run, as if the QB is a speedy RB. This is the type of problem that Vince Young, Dennis Dixon, and Pat White created for defenses.

3. What creates real headaches is when you have a player like Percy Harvin, Reggie Bush, or CJ Spiller that could line up as WR's or RB's. If they line up as RB's it would be nice to have a LB in the game, but at the same time if they line up at WR you want a CB in the game. You also have the issue of the RB catching the ball out of the backfield too. It is just a losing situation for a lot of teams.

4. I have also noticed that additional mismatch problems arise when you put undersized TE's into the game. This essentially makes them a hybrid of a TE and WR and it creates a problem because they are faster and thus are a mismatch for safeties and LB's.

Now that we know the issues the spread offense causes, is the spread offense unstoppable?

I do know that many people are now incorporating the 3-3-5 or 4-2-5 defenses in order to stop the spread. It is only part of the solution, though. The real issue is dealing with the versatility of athletes at certain positions.

In order to fight against offenses that use versatile offensive players, you have to fight back with versatile defensive players. This is something that I think that can only be cured by recruiting, which is the life-blood of college football programs, and realizing that there is not a certain mold that players have to fit into at whatever position that they are being recruited for.

Coaches are going to have to find players that are hybrids of different positions on defense in order to match up against offenses that have players that are hybrids of multiple offensive positions. Until that happens, though, I really cannot see the spread offense being stopped.

Could Florida's Will Hill Be the Hottest Freshman in the Country This Year?

McLeod Neale — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:19:30 -0400

Now more than ever, the nation has its eye on the true freshmen going to campuses all over the country. This is due to the fact that sites like Scout, Rivals, and ESPN are now covering recruiting more than ever before.

With the increased coverage that has resulted in a lot of hype surrounding these freshmen, the nation is eager to figure out who will be the next breakout player that could have college football debuts similar to players like Knowshon Moreno, Percy Harvin, Chris Wells, LeSean McCoy, Eric Berry, or Michael Crabtree.

There is obviously a built-in advantage for players that have a redshirt year under their belts, like Knowshon Moreno, Michael Crabtree, and Sam Bradford had last year. This is due to the fact that they have a whole year devoted to gaining weight and sculpting their bodies for the college game.

Additionally, these players have more time to get an understanding of the offensive or defensive schemes for their respective teams, which is a huge advantage.

Some redshirt freshmen that could have promising seasons ahead of them include Florida's Chris Rainey and Georgia's Caleb King. There will probably be a whole lot of other breakout redshirt freshmen too.

Redshirt freshmen primed for breakout seasons are harder to identify because there is not as much hype and national attention surrounding them coming out of high school. They typically are not well-hyped—if they were, then they probably would not have been redshirted.

Due to the difficulty of identifying breakout fredshirt freshmen, I am going to look exclusively at the true freshmen that are likely to have breakout seasons like Percy Harvin, Chris Wells, and Eric Berry have had.

Some names that you will hear a lot of hype about coming into the 2008-2009 college football season are names like DeQuan Bowers, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Arthur Brown, Darrell Scott, and Terrelle Pryor. If you do not believe that these guys are well known and hyped coming out of high school, then just watch this video:

There is a pretty good chance that all of those guys are going to have great seasons, but I want to make the case for someone else that has every reason to be as hyped as those guys, but for one reason or another is not receiving as much national attention. It may be because he ended his recruitment early or because there are not as many YouTube videos of him out there.

Although he was a redshirt freshman, one of last year's biggest impact freshmen was Georgia's Knowshon Moreno, who is from the state of New Jersey. Can the state of New Jersey make it two years in a row that it produces one of the nation's biggest breakout players in college football?

I think that the answer is a big YES, and I want to make the case that Florida's most highly touted freshman prospect, safety Will Hill of St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City, NJ, will be one of the nation's biggest impact players, if not the top impact player, as a freshman for the 2008-2009 season.

Take the time to familiarize yourself with the name and face of Will Hill right now. It is going to happen sooner or later, so you might as well just quit procrastinating.

Here are three reasons why Will Hill could and probably will have a better freshman season than all of the other highly regarded players coming out of high school.

1. Skill

Will Hill is second to none when it comes to skills. He was considered by those to be knowledgeable on the subject of high school football to be a consensus All-American at most positions that he played in high school, which included running back, quarterback, wide receiver, cornerback, safety, kick returner, and punt returner.

ESPN ranked Will Hill as the top safety in the country and the third overall player coming out of high school, behind only Julio Jones and DeQuan Bowers. Rivals additionally ranked Will Hill as the top athlete in the country.

ESPN's evaluation of Will Hill clearly tells you everything that you need to know about the young man's skills:

"This young man can play any skill position he wants and be an impact player at the college level at all of them. Yes, Hill is that good folks. Big, physical, athletic, rangy, fast—you name the adjective, it fits him...

"On defense, he is a headhunter with a great motor and ability to match-up with speedy wideouts if necessary. He has a nose for the ball and great instincts in coverage. Times hits well and is always around the ball. Fills the lane in run support and is a reliable open-field tackler.

"You would not have a problem moving him to the perimeter for a few snaps at cornerback to match-up in press because he is so physical. Simply put, Hill is one of the most, if not the most dynamic player in this class and is certainly the most versatile. Exceptional player."

That is ESPN's opinion, but thanks to YouTube, maybe the best thing since sliced bread, you can watch a short video make your own evaluation:

Sorry if that was not enough film for you, but you are going to have to deal with it, because there really is not much film of Will Hill on YouTube.

2. Opportunity

Players who have a chance to start from day one have the best chance to make an impact that the college football world will take notice of. The door is wide open for the super phenom freshman safety that is already widely known as Will "The Thrill" Hill to the devout followers of Florida football.

Going into the offseason, safety was considered one of the deepest positions on the team. A number of things occurred that made that depth disappear in a matter of only a couple of months. You can read more about in my articles, Florida Football: Depth at Safety Major Concern for the Gators and Florida Gators Football: Freshman WR T.J. Lawrence To Get a Look at Safety.

Even for extremely talented freshmen, it is rare to start from the opening snap. Will Hill has the opportunity to start from day one, something that gives him a leg up on almost every freshman in the country.

To find out why he should be in position to start from day one, we need to go to my third reason as to why Will Hill could stand out from the rest of the freshmen in the country.

3. Coaching and Training

This is the factor that should set Will Hill apart from the rest of the pack by a mile. Another thing to look at is whether a player is an early entry or not. That technically makes them redshirt freshmen, but it gives the freshman extra time to get acclimated, participate in spring ball, and sculpt their bodies with the strength and conditioning staff before their debuts on the gridiron.

While Will Hill has been deprived of the advantage of enrolling early, he has spent his extra time on something else that should definitely give him an advantage over every player that is coming into college football. Hill has spent much of the offseason at Sports University in Fairfield, NJ. There he has been working on his game by doing things like speed training, football drills, and lifting weights.

On top of that, he also has been learning from Sam Garnes, a former NFL safety who had a seven-year career with the Giants and Jets. Thus, Will Hill will be going into college having learned many important aspects of the position, which means the learning curve will not be much of a problem at all.

Hill's time with Sam Garnes should enable him to get on the field faster because he already has a head start on learning the safety position at the college level.

Will Hill also got the opportunity to work against Taj Smith, a former Syracuse wide receiver who went undrafted in this year's draft but was later signed by the Green Bay Packers. It was a great opportunity for Hill as he held his own against Taj Smith. Despite the fact that Taj Smith had a college football career under his belt to go along with being six years older than Hill, the match was considered a draw.

Florida Gators Give Freshman Wide Receiver a Look at Safety

McLeod Neale — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:47:12 -0400

Due to the loss of players like Jamar Hornsby, Dorian Munroe, Dee Finley, Jeremy Finch, and John Curtis, true freshman wide receiver TJ Lawrence is getting a look at Safety.

The safety position has become a position of concern, as Florida has lost almost all of its depth entirely due to a rough offseason.

To get more details on how this concern at Safety came about, please read my article, Florida Football: Depth at Safety Major Concern for the Gators.

This move should be no surprise, due to the fact that Lawrence was being recruited by many big-time programs to play safety.

In fact, some very knowledgeable people out there think that Lawrence is a better talent at safety than at wide receiver, even though he was originally recruited as wide receiver by the Gators.

He could end up at either position at Florida. Here is a great video of TJ Lawrence in his junior year of high school that shows his ball skills as Safety:

The best way to describe TJ Lawrence at wide receiver is the same way that I like to describe Florida senior wide receiver Louis Murphy.

There is not one aspect of his game that is absolutely jaw-dropping, but the reason he is such a great talent is that he does so many things well. He is simply a well-rounded player, and that is what makes him so good.

Both players are being overlooked because the focus is on other players. Louis Murphy is a superb talent that any other coach in the SEC would love to have due to his hands, height, and speed, but not many people know about him due to the hype that surrounds Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.

Similarly, TJ Lawrence is being overshadowed by two great talents entering the SEC, in Alabama's Julio Jones and Georgia's AJ Green. Here is some additional footage of TJ Lawrence in action at wide receiver and safety:

The safety position is more promising at this point than it was when I wrote that previous article. Walk-on John Curtis, who is probably ahead of Ahmad Black on the depth chart, may not be out as long as anticipated. That is good news for the Gators.

Curtis was next in line after Dorian Munroe went down with a knee injury, but he had a knee injury of his own. If Curtis can make it back before the season starts, it should give the Gators more depth than I originally anticipated.

The other news is that Cooper will not move to safety. If any additional depth is needed, there is a good chance that AJ Jones could also make a move back to safety.

Georgia Bulldogs Football: Is Leadership an Issue?

McLeod Neale — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:01:37 -0400

There have been many teams that are the best in the country top to bottom, regardless of sport, that have fallen short of the ultimate prize. There are a number of reasons that could hold a team like Georgia back.

The most common ones that I have heard are the schedule is too hard and the WRs stink.

I want to propose another reason that probably outweighs those two combined as to why Georgia will fall short: Lack of Leadership.

It is quite simple actually. Mark Richt's team should not need different jerseys and endzone dances to get ready for the game.

I believe that has to do with the fact that Georgia does not have players that are ready to step up and be leaders. They should be ready to play, no matter what they are wearing or what they do in the endzone.

Mark Richt is obviously a leader as the head coach, but he needs some help from a few players and the way that things are looking it seems as if he is the only leader on the team. It is somewhat understandable, though, due to the fact that Georgia is such a young team.

If that is not enough to convince you that the Georgia Bulldogs do not have great leadership coming from the players, then all you have to do is look at how their offseason has gone this year.

This is a great indicator of how much leadership comes from the players due to the fact that the coaches are not allowed to contact the players during the offseason. So that means that it is all up to the players to keep each other in line.

It has been a tough offseason in Athens, Ga. Here is what it has looked like:

In January, cornerback Donovan Baldwin and fullback Fred Munzenmaier were arrested for alcohol-related offenses. Baldwin was arrested on DUI charges, while Munzenmaier was arrested for drinking underage, and he will be suspended for the first game.

On May 14, Freshman Offensive Lineman Clint Boling was arrested because he was pulled over for driving recklessly and he refused to take a breathalyzer test. He has been suspended for one game.

On June 5, Defensive End Jeremy Lomax, was pulled over for speeding and having a concealed firearm. He simply was ignorant of the fact that he was not allowed have the gun under his driver's seat.

On the morning of June 27, Sophomore Offensive Linemen Trinton Sturdivant and Justin Anderson were charged with a misdemeanor of simple battery after touching a girl inappropriately. It was reported that they had been drinking. Their punishments are being handled "internally."

On the night of June 28, Sophomore Defensive Lineman Michael Lemon punched Demarius Jackson at least five times in the face, fracturing the victim's left eye socket. Lemon was charged with a felony. He has been kicked off of the team, and was arrested again this morning for drinking underage.

On Aug. 2, junior long-snapper Jeff Henson, who had been charged with a DUI in November, became the eighth Georgia player arrested this offseason.

He was arrested for public intoxication and urinating in public. He has been suspended from the team.

Additionally on Aug. 2, Defensive Back Donovan Baldwin and Linebacker Marcus Dotwin were hospitalized after a brawl. Following the incident, Richt also dismissed Baldwin from the team because it was his second incident this off-season.

While Baldwin and Dotwin were in the hospital many UGA players, like good teammates, visited them to see how they were doing. Just when it seems like things cannot get any worse for the Georgia Bulldogs, on August 3rd, teammate, junior linebacker Darius Dewberry, was visiting his teammates when he decided to vandalize a parking lot control arm and plant container pots causing a whopping $2100 in estimated damages.

Dewberry became the sixth player that was either suspended or booted off of the team this off season, when Richt decided to suspend him for the first two games of the year. The hospital decided not to press charges, but on top of the suspension Dewberry's punishment includes extra conditioning at 5:30 AM, 20 hours of community service, a mandatory part-time job to pay off the damages, and mandatory counseling.

The number of offenses is alarming, but the other thing that is alarming is how many of them are alcohol-related. An off season full of booze is not a way to win an SEC or national championship.

It just spells a lot of trouble for a team during the regular season when they are having lots of off-field incidents, and it makes it worse when they are alcohol-related. It has to make you wonder how many people on the team are doing these things and not getting caught.

I am sure that Richt is going to give his team a mouthful about proper off-field conduct when they start practice on Monday afternoon, and his team deserves it.

I am not one who delights in the transgressions of opponents, even if it is a rival like the Georgia Bulldogs, but these signs cannot be promising for Georgia heading into the regular season.

I hope the Bulldogs can get themselves together and behave off of the field, because 2008 seems like it is going to be a great year in college football. It would be such a shame to let off-field incidents ruin the season of such a talented team.

Georgia Bulldogs Team Celebration: Should Mark Richt Have Done It?

McLeod Neale — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:36:38 -0400

More often than not, there are multiple versions to a story.

It is no different with last year's Florida-Georgia game and the controversial endzone celebration that happened in Jacksonville last year.

There is obviously the Georgia Version and the Florida Version of what actually happened. I will give the typical version that I hear from Georgia fans, and then I will give the Florida perspective from my own orange and blue glasses.

Georgia Version:

The Georgia Bulldogs were a talented team, but they did not play with enough emotion for the first part of the year. They lost to South Carolina in week 2, barely beat Bama in OT in week 4, got stomped by Tennessee in week 7, and then they squeaked one out over a Vandy team in week 8. Georgia played the Gators in week 10.

The team was better than they had been playing, and Mark Richt needed to spark the team, so he told the offense to get a celebration penalty on the first touchdown in order to get his team to play with energy.

Well Mark Richt and his entire coaching staff were just as shocked as everyone else in the stadium when his entire team rushed out onto the field. Mark Richt was a genius for making the move, even though he did not know his team was going to celebrate like that.

Georgia went on to blow out the Gators, and did not lose a game the rest of the year. Georgia owned Tebow, sacking him six times and holding him to negative rushing yards.

Tebow's injury is an excuse. Tebow could obviously run since he ran for two TDs. Georgia was the best team in the nation, but got hosed by the BCS.

The celebration was a genius move by Richt, and the only reason Gator fans say anything about the celebration is that they are whiners and they are mad that they lost.

The celebration does not matter because Georgia won, and that is why Gator fans are angry. Georgia now has Florida off of its back and now they own Florida because of what they did in the end zone.

It was simply the highlight of the season, and it symbolizes how Florida no longer owns Georgia, and how the series has evened out recently with Georgia winning two of the last four.

It symbolizes how Georgia has broken free from the losing streak and choking against Florida. Georgia is about to start a win streak. Simply put, that one play represents how much joy it gave Georgia fans to finally beat Florida in a decisive fashion:

And Spurrier is the scum of the earth for what he said he would have done in reaction to what Richt did. He deserves to be beaten up by Herschel Walker.

Florida Version:

The Gators had one of the toughest schedules in the country, and they were the youngest team in the country due mostly to a defense filled with youth. It was a disaster for the Gators as they faced a slew of senior QBs, and that resulted in a defense that allowed more points than any Gator defense since the '60s.

A youthful secondary made one of the worst-ranked pass defenses in the country, but the Gators actually had one of the best rush defenses in the nation.

In a five-week span, the Gators faced Auburn at home, and played LSU, Kentucky, and Georgia on the road. Florida's first loss came against Auburn, where the Gators just came out flat.

The offensive coordinator had emergency surgery hours before the game, and Florida posted its lowest offensive output of the year with 17 points and lost on a last-second field goal.

Auburn had figured a scheme that worked against Florida's spread offense. The next week they went to LSU and were leading the eventual national champions most of the game, but a young defense folded and allowed five fourth-down conversions in a last minute drive that resulted in a touchdown that put the Tigers in the lead.

The next week LSU went to Kentucky and lost, while the Gators were sitting at home. After the bye, the Gators faced one of the hottest teams in the country in Kentucky who had beaten LSU the week before. They were able to overcome Kentucky in a 45-37 win.

The Gators rolled into Jacksonville having lost two out of their past three, and they were very beaten up:

-Four defensive linemen, two of whom were starters, were out for the game, which allowed Moreno to run all over the helpless Gators for 188 yards, while additionally giving Matthew Stafford all of the time in the world to throw the ball.

-Additionally, the Gators had lost FS Major Wright, who led the SEC in forced fumbles last year. He was replaced by Kyle Jackson, who played one of the worst games ever seen by a Florida safety, getting beaten deep in a way that can be described as "taking candy from a baby." This was a huge blow due to the quality of his backup and due to how well he did in run support.

-On top of that, Tim Tebow had a bruised non-throwing shoulder. Mullen and Meyer limited Tebow's ability to run due to the injury. As a result Tim Tebow, was reduced to a single threat as QB, which dramatically damaged the effectiveness of the spread offense. That was a huge blow due to the fact that the defense did not have to deal with a dual threat for most of the game.

The Georgia coaches decided to use the game plan that worked for Auburn. It worked almost as well. While the Gators had seen it before and probably made some offensive adjustments, Tebow was injured and that made up for any improvements that could have been made by the Gators. Thus, the Gators scored their second lowest point total of the year with only 23 points on offense.

The defense probably would have done decently without all of the injuries, but they were doomed from the start with loss of those four linemen and Major Wright. Either way Georgia fielded a better team and had a brilliant game plan. That is why they won. Not the celebration.

The celebration was a classless move by a desperate coach. Richt's team lost to South Carolina in week 2, barely beat Bama in OT in week 4, got stomped by Tennessee in week 7, and then they squeaked one out over a Vandy team in week 8. If he lost to Florida he may have been on his way to losing his job. Richt was desperate.

Richt claimed that he did not know that his sideline was going to empty, and that he was surprised. Well if that was the truth then why didn't his immediate reaction show it? Mark Richt was seen clapping and smiling on the sidelines as it was going on (0:33-0:40):

Is that the type of reaction that you would expect from a person in the state of shock? If it was a surprise, then wouldn't you expect at least one assistant to run out there and try to restrain the players? Certainly at least one person on the coaching staff would have looked as if they were surprised.

Based on the immediate reaction of Richt and his staff, it makes the coach look like a liar. He seems like a man who did what he had to do to win the football game, and then lied and apologized his way out of trouble. The coach, and a whole lot of players, should have been suspended for at least one game.

Even if Mark Richt did not know what his team was about to do, it happened and Mark Richt allowed it to happen. The unsportsmanlike conduct apparently did not upset him. He could have stopped it, but instead he is sitting on the sideline applauding and smiling while his entire team runs on the field and is taunting and disrespecting the other team.

Even if he did not know it was going to happen, he put his stamp of approval on it by not running out on the field and breaking it up like he did at the Vandy game.

What Richt did at the Vandy game makes him look hypocritical. It sent the message that you only have to have good sportsmanship when you are better than the other team, and it does not matter since it is Florida.

That is what his reactions from the Vandy and Florida games seem to communicate. He simply apologized to the right people to be politically correct. That could be a misinterpretation, but Richt would have helped his cause by reacting the right way.

Actions speak louder than words, and he really was not sorry based on his reaction to the whole thing. He actually seemed to enjoy the whole thing and let it go the way that it was going because he liked it and he would not have to take full responsibility for it.

In hindsight, it is no surprise that Richt would not care what his team did to the Gators. Just look at his resume. In college he played QB at Miami, a team that had developed a reputation for being classless and disrespectful in the 80's, where they have a deep rooted hate for the Gators.

He was the offensive coordinator at FSU where he learned the ways of the master, Bobby Bowden, whose team also celebrated and started an ensuing fight after the "swindle in the swamp" after stomping on the logo in 2003:

I actually do not believe that stuff about Richt and his resume in the last three sentences that I just wrote, but it is the homer in me wants to believe that Richt is the big bad devil that went up to Georgia from Miami and Florida State and should have been kicked out like it happens in the song, but he missed his chance.

It is just a funny coincidence. I actually kind of admired him and had a lot of respect for the guy until that game last year. He took care of that one for me.

It easily could have turned into an FIU-Miami, Florida-Florida State, or Clemson-South Carolina type of brawl, and it could have been a dark spot that followed around Mark Richt for the rest of his coaching career.

Georgia may have won the game, but Urban Meyer's Florida Gators walked off of the field that day as the classier team that was able to have restraint and prevent a fight. It takes two to fight, and Mark Richt is really lucky that the Gators were not up for a fight because then he would have been in a fight of his own, over his job.

Trust me when I say that if Spurrier were still the coach at Florida, Mark Richt would be somewhere else right now. Spurrier's comments were a relief to Bulldog fans due to the fact that they were now able to somehow legitimize what Richt did because he did not stoop to Spurrier's level.

If anything, it made Georgia fans feel better because it gave them somebody to compare Richt to, and anyone is going to look good compared to the guy that runs the score up and said that he would send a third stringer out on the field to start a fight.

It really proves why Spurrier earned the title of "evil genius" because if that really had happened, it would have been a move that is perfectly described by those two words. Thank goodness for Richt that Meyer is only a genius because if he was an evil genius something like this could have happened:

Now You Decide:

Is that celebration something that will turn the rivalry in Georgia's favor as Georgia fans suggest or is this something that will backfire on Richt and the Bulldogs as Jim Rome suggests?

Both sides of the argument are out there now. It is your choice. You can believe whatever you want, and feel free to comment on something if you think I missed anything.

Can the "New" Percy Harvin Win the Heisman Trophy?

McLeod Neale — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:45:18 -0400

I want you to take a good look at the picture above. There is going to be little resemblance between the guy in that jersey and the guy that is going to be wearing No. 1 on the Gator offense in the fall.

In fact, you may not even recognize Percy Harvin when he steps on the field next season. The word coming out of Gainesville is that Percy is going to be meaner, leaner, and faster.

If this is really true, then that is a very scary thought for any defense that faces the Florida offense this year. Percy was a good enough player as it is without any improvement.

Last year, Percy gained 858 yards through the air, and he ran for 764 yards on 83 carries. That is 9.2 yards per carry, folks.

That speaks volumes about how dangerous the guy is. He is easily the most dangerous player in college football. The Heisman is not out of the question.

Percy Harvin is the only player in college football who is a threat every game to rush for over 100 yards and gain over 100 yards in the air. Feel free to correct me on that one if I am wrong, but even if there are other players that are capable of something like that, then it is a very short list.

Gaining 1,000 yards receiving and 1,000 yards rushing is something that is attainable for a player like Percy Harvin, and those type of numbers are good enough to bring home the Heisman.

If you want to get an idea of how improved Percy is going to be, all you have to do is look around the Internet at some of the photos that are surfacing of the guy. This one is kind of scary if you ask me:

http://www.gatorcountry.com/football/article/great_expectations_the_running_backs/4085

He is absolutely jacked right now. It is rumored that he throwing up 405 on his bench press. Urban Meyer calls Percy Harvin the strongest guy pound-for-pound on the Florida roster, and opposing defenses have been burned by the fact that they underestimated Percy Harvin's strength.

That should continue to be an issue for opposing defenses, because Percy Harvin will be checking in for the fall at least 200 pounds. Percy has turned a weakness into a strength, and he may just look more like a featured running back than a receiver when he steps onto the field this fall.

The other thing that is scary is that Percy could be faster this year too. Percy has been sidelined this offseason because he had heel surgery. This has given him the extra time to bulk up, but doctors say that this surgery will fix a heel that has slowed Percy down his entire career at Florida.

Percy is known for making cuts without changing speed at all, and he does it on a dime. It is a gift that few football players have. That is what has made Percy such a dangerous player.

Imagine Percy making those same cuts at faster speeds, and then running over a defensive back, Tebow style, into the endzone. That is the player who is going to wear No. 1 next year.

I am convinced that if the staff really wanted Percy Harvin to win the Heisman, it would happen, but the team comes first, and the Gators want to win championships, not Heisman trophies. Just ask Tim Tebow.

Percy puts a lot more stress on defenses when he lines up as a receiver. That is especially true if newcomers like Chris Rainey and Emmanuel Moody can step up at running back. It is not out of the question, though, that Percy can win the Heisman even if that is not the primary goal of the season.

It should work to his advantage, though, as the Heisman has traditionally gone to the best player on the best team. Tim Tebow broke that trend last year, as he brought the home the Heisman despite being a member of a three-loss team.

So the question is: Will the Heisman go to the best player on the best team or the best player in the country, period? If the Gators take care of business, the answer to that question should not matter, and I do not think that it will.

Florida Gators: The Scariest Team In College Football

McLeod Neale — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:32:17 -0400

It is human nature to be scared of the unknown. I am pretty sure that everyone can agree with that statement.

Do you remember when you were afraid of the dark?

Point proven.

There is no doubt about it. Florida is by far the scariest team coming into this college football season. That is because the Gators have so much talent and it is impossible to know how good this team is going to be this year.

Some of the early preseason magazines predict that the Gators will go all the way, while others point to the four losses that Florida suffered through last season and say that it is ludicrous to think that the Gators could make a run at the national championship.

All I have to say is that Florida was coming off of a nine-win season in 2005 as well, and the defense got significantly better during that off-season. The same logic says that the Gators would not win the national championship in 2006. Go figure...

Offense

Last season the Gators had arguably the most explosive offense in the nation. They finished third in the nation as a scoring offense only behind Kansas and Hawaii. The reason why Florida is so scary is that as good as the Florida offense was last year, it should be significantly better this year.

Most people would refuse to believe that the best offense in the country last year could improve significantly, but with a close up look it is very possible. The Gators add Chris Rainey, Emmanuel Moody, and Mon Williams to the third-ranked rushing attack in the SEC.

I do not think that people realize how much talent that is. Moody was the Pac10 freshman of the year at Southern Cal and is in the mold of a feature back. He brings a nice combination of size and speed.

Chris Rainey is now up to 180 pounds, and he is receiving Percy Harvin comparisons. Harvin averages over nine yards a carry, by the way.

The overlooked guy here is Mon Williams, who was slated to be the starter last year before he tore his ACL. Mon will give the Gators a viable goal-line option from the running back position. That is a whole lot of talent to add to what was already one of the best rushing offenses in the SEC.

The Gators will be better on offense because Tim Tebow will be significantly improved. That is another idea that lots of people would find to be crazy, but it could happen.

Just because Tim Tebow won the Heisman trophy it does not mean that he cannot improve as a quarterback. People seem to forget that Tim was a first-year starter last year as a sophomore. He still has plenty of things to work on.

If you watched Tim Tebow last year in high pressure situations, he had the tendency to zone in on Percy Harvin; if he was not open, then Tebow would tuck it and run. That rendered all of Florida's weapons useless due to the fact that Tebow was not looking for them.

Tebow should be a more seasoned and poised quarterback and he should take his game to another level simply by maturing mentally as a quarterback. Tebow will have better vision this year and now all of the options should be a threat on every play.

Tebow should scramble a lot less, because he will have more confidence and he will not panic and run with the ball as much. Due to the fact that Tebow is a dual threat as a QB, it really did inflate his numbers a little bit as a passer.

In situations where a conventional pocket passer would throw the ball away because they waited too late to throw the ball or because they did not see their receivers, Tim was able to gain yardage on the ground and preserve his passing efficiency and completion percentage numbers because he had the tools as a runner to bail himself out.

I think the fact that Tebow was the leading rusher and only threw two more passes than Matthew Stafford last year proves that point.

This is something that I have not heard anyone mention, but I am going to throw the idea out there that if the order of the games on Florida's schedule were reordered then Florida would have had a 11-2 record last year.

The Gators were on top of the world after defeating Tennessee 59-20 in one of the most lopsided wins in the history of the Florida-Tennessee rivalry. The spread option looked impossible to stop, and Urban Meyer looked like the return of the evil genius himself.

The biggest changing point in Florida's season last year was the Auburn game, though. I will argue that Florida would have beaten Michigan and Georgia if Florida had played those two teams before they played Auburn.

I give credit to Will Muschamp, the best defensive coordinator in college football, for winning those games for Michigan and Georgia. Muschamp found out a way to attack the spread offense that sent a thundering message to the rest of the country in the romping win over Tennessee just a few weeks prior to that game.

That gave Georgia and Michigan the blueprint that they needed to stop Florida's spread attack. If the order of the games had been switched so that the Georgia and Michigan games preceded the Auburn game, then Michigan and Georgia would have been just as helpless as the Tennessee defense because they would not know how to attack the spread.

So why does all of this matter?

Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen have changed the offense in big ways this off season. I will explain that in more detail down below, but the important thing is that Will Muschamp is gone from Auburn and Auburn is not on Florida's schedule. That is a HUGE factor.

So with the Florida offense tweaked to account for the weaknesses that Muschamp was able to point out, will the other defensive coordinators be able to adjust and slow down the Florida offense? I am not so sure that Willie Martinez will be so successful without seeing Muschamp give it a shot before he does.

So what changes is Florida making to the offense that will give defensive coordinators nightmares the night before the game?

Well I believe that the offense is going to be more centered around using Cornelius Ingram and Aaron Hernandez, who form the best tight end tandem in the country. These guys are going to cause all sorts of problems next year due to the fact that they are both athletic enough to line up at WR.

Cornelius was the best two-sport athlete in the nation coming out of high school, and he would probably be starting as a small forward for the Gators if he had stuck with basketball.

Cornelius runs a 4.5 and he is the Gators best red zone option. If he becomes a solid blocker this off season he could be the best TE in the country. He is already regarded by many to be the best TE in the SEC.

Aaron Hernandez has not seen an incredible amount of action, but the fact that he holds the Connecticut record for receiving yards in one season with 1,346 tells you everything that you need to know about his ability to catch the ball. Hernandez also has pretty good speed, as he runs a 4.6.

Urban Meyer wants to take advantage of the talent that he has at TE, so now he has installed a two tight end set that can help with running the ball from the running back position.

The thing that is scary about this tandem is that when they both come in the game and they can both line up on the line as blocking TE's or they can split out wide as WR's and create mismatch problems for linebackers.

It is a nightmare for defensive coordinators because if you put an extra defensive back in the game, then the offense can go into their two tight end package at the line of scrimmage, which can cause problems for the defense, but at the same time if you trade that extra defensive back out for a linebacker, then you have a possible mismatch if the TE's all of the sudden split outside as WR's.

To sum it up, the defensive coordinator is in a lose-lose situation. He can't win this battle because the offensive coordinator has a counter move for every personnel set that he sends out onto the field.

The other thing that could take the Florida offense to another level is if Chris Rainey can live up to the hype. This will solve the problem that Florida had last year: Percy Harvin cannot play RB and WR at the same time.

So with Chris Rainey and Percy Harvin on the field at the same time, the problem is potentially solved. You will now get burned if you overanticipate Percy Harvin running the ball when he is lined up as a running back.

Rainey and Harvin pose the same type of problems that Aaron Hernandez and Cornelius Ingram do. They can line up at multiple positions on the field and depending on where they line up that changes the personnel that the defensive coordinator wants in the game.

If one of the two lines up RB, then you want a linebacker in the game, but if both split out wide, then you want a defensive back in the game. Again, the defensive coordinator is in a lose-lose situation.

Now the defensive coordinator is already fighting an unwinnable battle, but there is one more thing that makes every decision that the defensive coordinator makes of the utmost importance. That is the new clock rules.

The new rules do not allow the defense to substitute when the offense goes into no-huddle mode. So consider this scenario. The defensive coordinator puts his personnel in the game, but then he realizes that he needs to substitute because his personnel does not match up well with the offense.

Well the offensive coordinator sees the same thing, so he signals down to the quarterback to institute the no huddle. Now the defense cannot substitute, and the offense is able to march down the field and score because of one substitution mistake the opposing defensive coordinator made. Ouch!

I think that this offense has the potential to be the best that college football has seen, but only time will tell. All this offense needs is a decent defense and it should be good enough to win a national championship and beat any team in the country.

Defense

The Gators allowed more points than any other Gator defense since the '60s last year. It is hard to see the defense not improving significantly just because it was so bad last year.

The Gators had nine new starters on defense last year, and they were considered to be the youngest and the most inexperienced team in the country. Well, Florida is still the youngest team in the country this year, but they return a boatload of starters this year.

They lose Tony Joiner and Derrick Harvey. Both will be missed, but they should not be too difficult to replace.

The expectations for Carlos Dunlap are higher than any other defensive end to come to Florida and deservedly so. Dunlap stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 290 pounds. He clocked a 40 time of a 4.6.

NFL scouts drool when they look at this guy. Many people that follow the Gators closely believe that Carlos Dunlap will be the greatest defensive end ever to step on the field at Florida.

Things have been become more complicated for the Gators at the safety position. You can read all about it in one of my other articles. This is the position of concern, but the Gators could have the answer in the super-phenom Will Hill.

He was a consensus All-American at multiple positions coming out of high school. He may be able to step in right away just like Major Wright did last year. The two could end up being the best safety tandem in the history of the program.

These are the types of question marks that make the Gators a scary team. If it works out for the Gators, then it is the best thing that could have happened, but if it does not then the Gators could be in trouble.

The CB's supposedly played very well in spring practice. Wondy Pierre-Loius has shutdown capabilities and all-freshmen Joe Haden will man the other side.

Florida is being lead by the best middle linebacker in the country in Brandon Spikes. He can do it all.

Also, Florida is looking for five star defensive tackles John Brown, Torrey Davis, and Omar Hunter to give that dominant pressure in the middle of the line to help Spikes roam free.

The talent is there on defense, but will it step up?

Everyone in the country besides the Florida faithful is hoping not, because if it happens, Florida could be a nearly impossible team to beat.

Florida Football: Depth at Safety Major Concern for the Gators

McLeod Neale — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:41:32 -0400

A couple of months ago, if you had asked Urban Meyer what he thought about the safeties, he probably would have told you it that it is one of the positions with the most depth on the Gator roster.

In just a matter of two months, a strength has turned into a weakness for the Gators. Here is how it happened.

1. Last year the Gators had so much depth at safety that they decided to move Jeremy Finch, the top football player out of the state of Indiana, to outside linebacker. Finch decided this offseason that he wanted to go home for family reasons. He is now attending the University of Indiana and will be playing football there in the fall.

Jeremy Finch was expected to make the move back to safety this offseason for the Gators prior to the news that he would part ways with the Gators.

2. Two months ago Jamar Hornsby was kicked off the team because he was using a dead girl's credit card to get free gas.

3. Dee Finley, a senior at Auburn High School last year and one of the most highly touted safeties in the country, did not make it in academically. He will attend prep school and hopes to be attending Florida by January or May.

4. Urban Meyer announced on Saturday that junior Dorian Munroe and walk-on senior John Curtis both suffered ACL injuries. Dorian Munroe's right knee will undergo season-ending surgery. John Curtis' injury is season-ending; even worse, it could be career-threatening.

The Gators have four scholarship safeties on the roster that would be able to play at the moment: Major Wright (So, 6'0", 200); Ahmad Black (So, 5'9", 185); Bryan Thomas (So, 6'1", 197); and Will Hill (Fr, 6'3", 210).

Major Wright has All-American potential at free safety, while Dorian Monroe was slated to take over strong safety from Tony Joiner, who graduated this past year.

Will Hill is a highly-touted recruit from New Jersey. There were multiple positions where Hill was an All-American talent coming out of high school, but most tabbed him as a safety. His dream has been to play side by side with Major Wright, so it looks like he will get his chance to prove himself.

Ahmad Black played cornerback as a true freshman last year, but he made the move to safety this spring. Black supposedly had a great spring at the position. Bryan Thomas has been recovering from an injury that he sustained during the 2006 season.

The Gators are likely to move someone to add depth at the safety position. The rumor is that the Gators will move Cade Holliday, son of former Florida assistant Doc Holliday, who is now at WVU.

Another possible scenario would be to move a corner with the size to play safety, like Moses Jenkins (So, 6'3", 180), from corner to safety. Also, Riley Cooper may end up being able to make the switch from WR to safety because he played safety in high school.

Florida Basketball: A Blueprint for Success

McLeod Neale — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:31:38 -0400

Florida is a football school, but the general perception is that Florida is a basketball school too. Right now it is not far-fetched to think that Florida has a brighter future in basketball than they do in football.

The stage is set for Florida to have dynasties in both sports for a long time, so Florida fans need to jump on the bandwagon for basketball and be Florida basketball fans for life. Florida is going to be loaded for years to come with the talent that Billy Donovan is bringing in. Donovan is proving that he can recruit with the best of them.

Billy Donovan was obviously going to have to rebuild after the Gators won their second straight national championship. Florida had a down year last season, but do not be fooled. Billy Donovan is building a juggernaut down in Florida, and it is something that people should take notice of.

With back to back national championships under their belts and the addition of Shaka Smart to the staff, Billy Donovan and his staff are hitting the recruiting trail as hard as ever, and now he is able to bring in more talent than ever before.

Billy Donovan has the perfect blueprint for what he wants to build, and now it is easier than ever for him to get the pieces that he needs to do it. That blueprint created the team that took him to two national championships.

Here are some important parts of that blueprint.

1. Having the best frontcourt in America

This is something that stands out about Billy Donovan's two national championship teams. Some might even say that Billy Donovan had the best big man tandem in the history of college basketball with Al Horford and Joakim Noah. He also had arguably the best sixth man in the country in the 2006-2007 season with Chris Richards.

One thing you will notice about every big man that has ever played for Billy Donovan is that he can run the floor. I have personally heard Billy Donovan say that he will not recruit a big man that cannot run the floor. Billy Donovan will not recruit slow post men because they are a defensive liability if Florida faces a team that likes to push the ball like North Carolina or UConn.

Billy Donovan likes big athletic post players. This also has something to do with the pick and roll offense that Florida runs. It makes no sense to send a big slow post player to set a pick for a pick and roll because they will not really be a threat to beat their defender on the roll.

It is good news for Gator fans that Billy Donovan may have the most loaded frontcourt in the country a few years down the road. It looks like Donovan has made this recruiting priority number one. Florida is set down low for a very long time. Billy has two sophomores, three freshmen, and three other big men slated to start playing in the 2009-2010 season.

Returning Players:

Florida returns sophomores Chandler Parsons (SF/PF, 6'10") and Alex Tyus (PF, 6'8"). Donovan has praised Parsons for his upside. Parsons has the height of a power forward but the skill set of a small forward. His three-point shot is very dangerous. He is a mismatch nightmare. Look for him to be bigger and have some development in his low post game at the beginning of next season.

Alex Tyus has been gifted with a lot of athleticism, and he really is the only true power forward that Florida has returning on the roster.

The Freshmen:

Florida has three big freshmen coming in this year: Kenny Kadji (C, 6'10"), Eloy Vargas (PF, 6'10"), and Allan Chaney (PF, 6'8"). None of them are McDonald's All-Americans, but neither were Noah and Horford. Florida is hoping that Kenny Kadji and Eloy Vargas can make a nice one-two punch like Noah and Horford did.

That may have to wait due to the fact that Vargas and Kadji are the two biggest guys on the roster, but in the long run Vargas is a power forward. Kadji is better in the low post with his back to the basket, while Vargas has a nice mid-range game. Their games should compliment each other very well at Florida. They should be the best big man tandem entering the SEC this year.

Also, Allan Chaney was one of the fastest risers on the AAU circuit last year.

In a year or two:

Florida is also set down low for the recruiting class of 2009 with Erik Murphy (PF, 6'11") and Deshawn Painter (C, 6'9"). Vernon Macklin (6'9"), a former McDonald's All-American who played behind Roy Hibbert at Georgetown, will also become eligible to play the year that this class comes to Florida.

People who have watched Macklin play in scrimmages on campus say that Macklin shows a lot of similarities to Horford. One of those similarities is his passing skills. Even though Macklin has to sit out this year, he is another guy that the other bigs can practice against. He will make the other guys better.

People say that Erik Murphy plays like a European player. He can use both hands equally well and he is just a very fundamental player. He has quite an arsenal at his disposal. He can step outside and hit the three, or he can take you inside and hit the baby hook with either hand. He should end up being considered one of the top ten players in his class, even if he is not right now.

Murphy's performance in the Peach Jam finals makes a great case for Murphy being a top 10 player. Murphy played a fabulous game in the Peach Jam finals against the Atlanta Celtics, where he dominated Derrick Favors (6'9"), the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2009. Murphy scored 25 points while holding Favors to only six points.

Deshawn Painter is a guy that has a lot of potential. He is known for his defense and is one of the best shot blockers in the country. Like Marreese Speights did in high school, Painter will attend Hargrave Military Academy, where he hopes to improve the offensive part of his game over the next year before heading to Florida.

2. Unselfish players that have heart

Unselfish play is one of the things that really stands out about Florida's national championship teams. They were always willing to make that extra pass. The fact that the Gators went two straight years where all five starters individually averaged more than 10 points a game is a testament to how unselfish that team really was.

Last year's team did a pretty good job of sharing the ball as well—six players averaged at least eight points. Billy Donovan is not out there recruiting players that score the most points. He is recruiting the basketball players that work for his system. Donovan also does a great job knowing how recruits will play together on the basketball court.

I think Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Adrian Moss are guys that sum up this category very well. They were guys that just loved to hustle, play great defense, and get up and down the floor. They were willing to sacrifice for the team.

Returning Players:

The definition of unselfishness starts with Nick Calathes. Yes, he led the Gators in scoring last year, but he also led the SEC in assists. Unfortunately for the Gators, but fortunately for Nick, it is very possible that the Gators may lose him to the NBA draft after this year.

The Freshmen:

Eloy Vargas also played high school ball with Kenny Boynton, who most consider to be the best scoring guard in the country. He never really complained about not getting the ball enough. You have to be an unselfish player to play with Kenny Boynton. That is not a hit against Boynton, because he is a guy that should be taking lots of shots.

Ray Shipman seems to be the person that will give the Gators the athleticism and the hustle that Brewer gave to the team. Ray reminds me of Rip Hamilton without the shot. He will be able to run the floor all day long. Ray will bring the intensity to every play.

In a year or two:

It is well known that Deshawn Painter is the fifth scoring option on the Boo Williams team. For a guy as good as Painter, it takes a humble attitude to do that. He is also known for his defensive intensity and rebounding. That is the type of player that Billy Donovan wanted this season: a guy that would run the floor, rebound, hustle, and play good defense.

From what I have heard about Painter, he sounds like a guy like Adrian Moss, who is the poster boy for unselfishness, hard work, and hustling. The exception is that Painter could end up more skilled offensively than Moss, and I will take as many guys like Adrian Moss as I can get, because an attitude like that can be contagious. Adrian Moss does not get the publicity that he deserves for being part of that first national championship team.

Erik Murphy is another unselfish guy. He is considered just as good of a passer as he is a scorer. He is a well-coached player who plays for former NBA player John Carroll. Erik Murphy has the potential to score 25 points like he did against Derrick Favors. However, during the Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, NC, Murphy averaged about 11 points while eight of his teammates averaged over five points, showing that he is able to distribute the ball quite well too.

3. Good three-point shooters:

If you have the best frontcourt in America, that is really going to open things up for the shooters. That was a key part of the second national championship.

I believe the reason that Billy Donovan is making big men the No. 1 recruiting priority is that the three-point line is moving back about a foot. It is going to take time for players to adjust to that, and you cannot rely on shooting three-pointers as much anymore because it is a more difficult shot.

The importance of great three-point shooters is that they are necessary to prevent defenses from collapsing on the big men down low. It also keeps defenses honest on the pick and roll.

In the 2006-2007 season, Billy Donovan had two shooters, Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green, who both shot over 40 percent from three. Lee Humphrey shot 45.9 percent two straight seasons in a row and now holds the all-time record for three-pointers made in the NCAA Tournament.

Taurean Green's strength as a shooter was his ability to hit the shot dribbling off the pick and roll. It ended up being key down the stretch that Florida had three players—Taurean Green, Lee Humphrey, and Corey Brewer—that were capable of knocking down the three-pointer.

Returning Players:

Billy already has two great three-point shooters. Those two guys are Adam Allen and Jai Lucas. They both shot over 40 percent from the three-point line as freshmen. Jai just needs to be confident. That will come with experience.

Walter Hodge was shooting over 40 percent for a while last year, but he was actually shooting over 50 percent the previous year. He should be a guy that can hit somewhere above 40 percent. Chandler Parsons and Nick Calathes should also be able to step up and hit a higher percentage.

I can definitely see Adam Allen stepping into the Lee Humphrey role on offense. He reminds me of how automatic Lee was. We have more shooters on this team than we did on the previous two teams, so it is just a matter of confidence now.

The Freshmen:

I think that Florida is set for a while at the guard position, but there is one freshman that should be very exciting. His name is Erving Walker. He is not very tall, standing at 5'6", but it does not matter because he has a whole lot of game. He has a jump shot that goes beyond the NBA three-point line, so he will not be affected by the new rule at all. Just think Speedy Claxton with a cannon when you think of Erving Walker.

If you ignore his height, Erving Walker is second to none in straight-up basketball skills. It does not matter what team you cheer for—this guy is going to be one of the most enjoyable guys to watch in college basketball the next couple of years.

In a year or two (or three):

It is not a sure thing, but I have a good feeling that Kenny Boynton is going to join his teammate Eloy Vargas at Florida. He will find out how much he misses Eloy on and off the court during this summer and his senior year.

Kenny is the number one scoring guard in the country for the class of 2009. Three-point shooting will not be a problem if he comes to Florida. He is automatic. I would worry about him being one-and-done, but I think that problem between the NBA and the NCAA could be taken care of before Kenny Boynton makes it to Florida.

Florida is also very much in the running for Brandon Knight. It will probably come down to Florida and UConn for his services, but I would put my money on Florida. He plays on the same AAU team as Kenny Boynton, and he is good friends with Eloy Vargas as well. Knight and Boynton would make the best backcourt tandem in the nation if they both went to Florida.

Knight is considered by some to be the top player in the country for the class of 2010. He can do it all. He is a pure point guard that can also score in a variety of ways. He is a little streaky as a three-point shooter, but he is good enough. He has plenty of time to work on his game.

Austin Rivers is one of the top players in the country as a sophomore. He is better than either Brandon Knight or Kenny Boynton right now according to most college scouts. He has a deadly three-point shot.

4. Connections to former NBA players

Billy Donovan realizes that athletes who have had a parent play in the NBA or have been around professional players are going to be more mature basketball players. Al Horford and Taurean Green were both very mature as sophomores in college. Is it a coincidence that they both have fathers who played in the NBA?

Tito Horford is a retired Dominican professional basketball player who played three years in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Washington Bullets. Sidney Green was an All-American at UNLV who was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the fifth overall pick in the 1983 NBA draft. Sidney Green played 10 years in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, and the Charlotte Hornets.

Billy Donovan has continued to recruit these types of players, and it is hard to ignore the trend of recruiting the sons of former NBA players. There also seems to be some correlation with how mature these sort of kids are as basketball players.

It also is a great blessing for the Gators to have much of the class of 2004 back on campus working out and playing pickup with our current guys this summer. Hopefully their work ethic will be contagious. It would be nice to see these guys' hustle rub off on the players in a very similar fashion.

Returning Players:

Nick Calathes had spent time working out and playing with former Florida Gator Jason Williams. Nick has developed a rare sense of the game that is beyond his years. A lot of that probably has to do with spending some time with NBA players like Jason Williams.

Jai has a brother, John Lucas III, that played at Oklahoma State and is remembered for hitting the game-winning shot that knocked out Jameer Nelson's previously undefeated St. Joseph's ball club while simultaneously sending Oklahoma State to the Final Four. He had a brief NBA career with the Houston Rockets.

Jai's father, John Lucas II, went to the University of Maryland, where he was an All-American as a basketball player and a tennis player. He had a 14-year NBA career that included an NBA finals appearance with the Houston Rockets in 1986. Jai's father later returned to the NBA as a coach with the San Antonio Spurs, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jai came to Florida as an extremely smart and mature player who was able to hold his own his freshman year. He clearly had benefited from competition with his brother and his father's coaching. The only way that Jai may have slipped mentally last year was that he changed the way he played the game after he took a brutal hit in the lane during the Vandy game last year. However, I have heard that he is once again fearlessly attacking the lane like he used to.

In a year or two (or three):

Erik Murphy plays for the New England Playaz, who are coached by former NBA player John Carroll. Erik Murphy's father, Jay Murphy, was a former Boston College standout and NBA player. His coach John Carroll says that he is not surprised at how good Erik is due to the fact that his father was such a great player.

The great thing about Erik is his mature approach to the game. One example of this would be his game against Derrick Favors in the Peach Jam finals. One of the criticisms of Erik Murphy's game is that he has fallen in love with his jump shot and that he is too weak to play in the low post. Well, Erik made it a point to show to everyone that they were wrong. Erik took it to Favors, scoring all of his points down low in the paint while shooting an extremely high percentage.

Clearly, Erik has learned how to work on his game and become a better basketball player. The reason that Erik decided to go to Florida was the fact that he watched how Al Horford progressively got better each year. He says that he would like to see the same sort of progress from himself. He has a very mature attitude about it all.

Austin Rivers is young, but he has the nasketball I.Q. of a 20-year-old. He is a lot like Nick Calathes coming out of high school. There is just no one that is a close second when it comes to basketball I.Q. He is the son of former NBA player and current coach of the Boston Celtics, Doc Rivers.

A lot of college scouts say that Rivers is better than Brandon Knight, the top player in the class of 2010, and Kenny Boynton right now, and he is only a sophomore in high school. He gets to spend lots of time around NBA players, so it makes sense that his game would be at the top of the class and up there with the best regardless of class. He is by far the best player in the class of 2011.