On to the Goal

Photo via Miami Herald

If you were to rank all the world’s social circles on factors such as propensity for irrational behavior and potential for swift, violent combustion, the blogosphere and SEC football would be near the top of the list. My guess is that they’d fall somewhere between illegal, underground cage fighting and the
Middle East.

When you combine the two in the form of blogs about SEC football… Well, sir, you’ve got yourself some madness of hyperbolic proportions. My goal for this blog is to keep things a bit more rational – not letting the highs get too high, the lows too low and so forth. I try my best to exude Gator fanboyism moderated by the firm, steady hand of reality. Laugh if you must, but that’s my dream.

Anyway, I bring this up because today I’ve let my guard down a bit. Normally, I’d be highly reticent to believe the hype, let alone embrace it. But after careful examination, I have come to the following highly logical conclusion about Florida’s prospects in 2009: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now under normal circumstances this would be considered by some to be, “calling down the thunder.” And, under normal circumstances, I would be the individual levying this charge. But these are no ordinary times for the Florida football program.

The Gators are reigning champions and a virtual shoo-in at number one in every preseason poll. “Astronomical” doesn’t even begin to define the expectations. Fairly or not, anything less than a 14-0 championship season will be considered a disappointment by most in the proverbial Gator Nation.

History tells us that living up to these expectations is going to be incredibly difficult. In the past seven seasons, only USC in 2004 went wire-to-wire from preseason #1 to national champions. It’s even more difficult to win back-to-back national titles. According to the BCS and the two major polls (whatever they happened to be called at the time) a repeat has happened just six times in the past 50 years. All but one of those involved a “split” championship in at least one of the two seasons — Nebraska in 1994-95 is the lone exception (and even then one could make a fairly strong argument that Penn State got screwed in ’94). More recently, no school has ever won consecutive BCS Championships.

So thus is the setup for the Gators in 2009: Impossibly high expectations to pull off what to this date has been an impossible feat.

As I see it, there’s two ways to go about this as a fan. On the one hand, we could spend the offseason living in constant fear, always expecting the next Google Alert to bring news of a late-night arrest or torn ACL. In the fall, we could dread every Saturday, wondering if today will bring this year’s “31-30.”

Or we could simply enjoy it. We can embrace these moments and go along with this thing for however long it lasts. Gator football has never been as strong as it is on April 20, 2009. Even if this is the high-water mark, it’s been one hell of a ride. But it’s not as if there are warnings of an impending end-point popping up at every turn. Rather, everywhere you look there are reasons for optimism.

The Orange and Blue game was a rousing success, with numerous backups shining in the place of resting starters. Though injuries were many this spring, as of press time, almost nobody from the two-deep suffered a setback that will keep him off the field for any length of time in 2009. The coaches, along with players such as Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes, are determined to not let the Gators get too comfortable this summer. And just as a reminder, the Florida returns 18 true starters – all 11 on defense and seven on offense (I count the Pounceys, Carl Johnson, Riley Cooper, Aaron Hernandez, Tim Tebow and a running back, take your pick which one).

In short, all of the usual pratfalls that can turn a champion into an also-ran seem to not apply here. There has not been an unusual amount of attrition or injuries, no bouts of lawlessness, no sense of entitlement or complacency. There isn’t even an overly daunting schedule awaiting Florida on the other side of August. With the usual disclaimer that injuries can befell any football team at any time, it seems that Florida’s chief enemies are history and the law of averages.

Maybe that’s an overly optimistic assessment, but if there were ever a time for that kind of confidence, this is it.

So sometimes a compliment really is just a compliment. A few hours ago, I wondered whether Sam Robey’s sudden emergence as a potential starter on the offensive line was serious or more of a motivational tactic by Meyer. Well, wonder no more, apparently:

Sam Robey is officially the Gators’ starting center. Barring injuries or ineffectiveness this August, your starting offensive line will be (L to R): Carl Johnson, Maurkice Pouncey, Sam Robey, Mike Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert. “Robey has been a great surprise this spring,” Addazio said. “He has really stepped up with maturity and toughness.”

Well then. Mea culpa. My initial skepticism was based on the assumption that both Johnson and Matt Patchan were too good to keep off the field. April lineups are very much subject to change, but so far, it looks as if Johnson is till a starter. Count me among those who believe he may be a better fit at guard than on the outside, but I could think of worse things than having a talent like CJ anywhere on the line.

Patchan’s case is a bit more interesting — we’ll cover that in a moment.

First, what is this thing you call a “Sam Robey“? Listed at 6′4″, 291, Robey is a redshirt freshman from Louisville, KY. He has an intriguing pedigree — his father, Rick, was an All-America basketball player at Kentucky and won an NBA title with the Celtics. From a recruiting standpoint, however, Robey was more of a “meh.” Robey was somewhat of an afterthought in the 2008 class that paid immediate dividends for Florida. Both major services had him ranked as a solid three-star player, Rivals as the #19 overall center and Scout, interestingly, as the #62 overall defensive end.

But as I mentioned previously, the Gators have had an impressive run of recent success developing merely “OK” or “good” linemen (from a recruiting perspective) into bigtime contributors. If Robey holds onto the center spot, he could be the latest success story. Because he’ll be just a redshirt freshman next season, he could be a big success story at that, but let’s just leave it at that for now.

So what does this mean for 2008’s heralded offensive line recruit, Patchan? Gilbert has more or less settled in at right tackle as of press time, so assuming Robey holds and Johnson stays on the outside (again, it’s April, folks), Patchan appears to be the odd man out. Of course, having the aforementioned starting lineup with Patchan, James Wilson and Maurice Hurt as backups would be a pretty good spot to be in.

But based on the superb athletic ability Patchan displayed last year as a backup defensive tackle, I find it hard to believe that he won’t contribute in some way next year. Patchan’s future is likely on offense, so a move back to the defensive line seems counter-productive.  But he quite literally hasn’t grown into the role of an everyday offensive lineman yet. He’s been stuck somewhere in the neighborhood of 270 pounds, mainly as a result of a bizarre string of ailments including a gunshot wound, mono and a scooter accident. But Patchan, ever the colorful interview, says he’s a “utility man” who will play wherever the team needs him. So let’s recap:

• Freakishly athletic blocker
• About a mid-sized toddler shy of 300 pounds
• Must play on offense
• Starting O-line may be set
• Willing to play anywhere

Oh, and one more thing: The Gators have a shortage of tight ends/H-backs. So, uh, are you thinking what Dan McCarney and I are thinking? Maybe “Matt Patchan: Tight end” is a bit of stretch at this point, but I’d love to at least see it, especially in short-yardage situations. And who knows? If he can catch the ball with any consistency, maybe we’re onto something here.

I freely admit that, despite a relatively out-of-context quote from a defensive assistant in early March, this is wild speculation on my part. But since I’ve missed out on most of this spring’s overly optimistic banter, humor me for a moment. If nothing else, the news of Robey’s asecndance and the potential depth chart issues it would raise is, again, a very good problem to have.