On to the Goal

John Jones

Reserve linebacker John Jones will apparently transfer from Florida to seek more playing time. Jones saw action in 11 games in 2008, mostly on special teams. He recorded 18 tackles.

Jones was a part of the vaunted 2007 recruiting class and had fairly solid rankings from both of the major services: A three-star, #30 OLB from Rivals and a four-star #8 MLB from Scout. He had offers from LSU, Alabama, South Carolina and Notre Dame, among others. At Florida, however, he ran into logjams at all three linebacker positions and was likely to be listed behind the following players on the depth chart heading into fall camp: Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, Brandon Hicks, Dustin Doe, A.J. Jones, Lorenzo Edwards, Jon Bostic and perhaps even Jelani Jenkins eventually.

Based on the firepower on that list, this is a move that makes sense for Jones. Under NCAA rules, he could transfer to a Division I-A school, sit out one season and have two years of eligibility remaining. He could play immediately if he went to a school in a lesser division, but he wouldn’t gain any additional years of eligibility. If it were me, I’d sit out a year for the chance to stay in the bigtime. Based on the few chances I did get to see him play, I’m guessing he could (at minimum) be a starter for a decent ACC school, for instance. Yes, yes. Save your jokes about the “ACC” and “bigtime.”

As for the Gators, this move does little more than ding the ‘ole APR score a few points. Jones wasn’t likely to be much more than a special teams player in 2009, and he’d have to fight with a number of highly touted youngsters for playing time in 2010, which would have been his senior season at UF. As such, there’s little more to do here than send Jones on his way with our best wishes. Godspeed, good sir.

Photo via Gatorzone.com

Urban Meyer met with the Jacksonville Gator Club yesterday, and unlike those delivered at many “meet the coach” events, his speech contained a surprising amount of useful information. Jeremy Fowler has the details in his post, and he highlights four things, all of which are worthy of additional discussion:

Is “Jelani Jenkins Day” just around the corner?

Meyer identified this year’s recipient of the “Omar Hunter Award for Excellence in Overhyped Arrivals” as linebacker Jelani Jenkins. Based on his recruiting buzz this should come as little surprise, even considering the fact that he hasn’t even set foot on the practice field. With early enrollee Jon Bostic coming off a big spring, the Gators could have two freshman vying for time in the linebacker rotation. If nothing else, I suspect both will play on special teams, which could make this fall very interesting for opposing kick returners.

Ahmad Black is still a starter

Ahmad Black is somehow still hanging on to his starting position and I mean that as a sincere compliment. The Gators’ secondary is ridiculously loaded, and Black has thus far fended of challenges from two uber-recruits (Will Hill and Dee Finley) and the man whom he replaced in last year’s starting lineup (Dorian Munroe, who is back from a knee injury). Remember last August when depth at safety was a big concern? That hardly seems like it could have been less than 12 months ago, and Black emerging from out of nowhere is a big reason why.

From a physical standpoint, Black is probably the least talented of the group, but he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. I’m still not convinced that Florida would have defeated Oklahoma had Black not made that interception. If he plays like he did in 2008, I don’t see anyone overtaking him.

Offensive line is set? NSFMF

Our first NSFMF of the “summer” goes to the premature notion that the offensive line is set heading into two-a-days. I initially expected the line to be an in-flux competition right up until September, and I probably should have stuck with that line of thinking, even after the public announcement the following starting lineup back in April (from left to right):

T Carl Johnson, G Maurkice Pouncey, C Sam Robey, G Mike Pouncey, T Marcus Gilbert

It’s encouraging to hear that the coaching staff, particularly Steve Addazio, has such confidence in Robey, but we shouldn’t be too quick to forget how ridiculously awesome Maurkice Pouncey was at center last year. You don’t normally take that big of a strength at a difficult position and move it to an easier one unless you have a compelling reason.

So is Robey that good? We certainly hope so, but I suspect we haven’t heard the last from former five-star recruits Matt Patchan and James Wilson, either. Patchan, in particular, seems entirely too good to keep off the field in 2009. We knew based on his play at tackle last season — that’s defensive tackle, mind you — that he’s an athlete. But even being hampered by a knee injury in early spring, he took things to a whole new level in the spring game:

Watch this video starting at about the 2:15 mark. Patchan (#71, far left side of the line) is blocking out in front of Chris Rainey who has just caught a pass in the flat. Patchan makes a block on a defender (Markihe Anderson?) at about the 43-yard line, which allowed the play to pop up the sideline. He then runs up the field with Chris Rainey (with Chris Rainey!!!) and makes another block on the same defender at the 20-yard line. So that’s two blocks on the same player. 23 yards apart. On a simple swing pass. We’ll be hearing more from Mr. Patchan.

As for the line as a whole, there are at least seven players in the mix, including a few who can play multiple positions. As such, a complete breakdown of all possible permutations would resemble a particularly nasty LSAT question. If I had to put a guess to it, however, I would expect to see the following starting lineup take the field against Charleston Southern:

T Matt Patchan, G Carl Johnson, C Maurkice Pouncey, G Mike Pouncey, T Marcus Gilbert

Photo via GatorCountry

About “that one position that some people call the ‘Percy Position’ “

For the record, I think calling the hybrid receiver/running back position the “Percy Position” is a bit absurd, mainly because of how rare a talent Percy Harvin was on the college level. I’ll address this more in an upcoming post, but lacking a better term, I’m going to refer to it as “hybrid-back” for now.

Anyway, the competition for hybrid-back is down to just two players: Sophomore speedster Jeff Demps and incoming five-star receiver Andre Debose. Rainey is apparently out of the running, according to Meyer. Reading into the subtext of his quote, it sounds like the issue may have been, to put it kindly, comprehension:

“Rainey, he can’t handle all of it,” Meyer said. “We’re going to let him concentrate on tailback.”

That’s reminiscent of Jason Watkins’ quote when talking about Emmanuel Moody’s struggles to learn the Florida offense:

“If Chris Rainey can pick it up, (Moody) can pick it up.”

OK, so maybe Rainey isn’t the “Go to Mars, Go Cure Cancer” type, but as long as he keeps hitting those holes hard on the dive play (”white girl” joke goes here) he’ll be a star in this offense. Fuck the haters, it’s still good to be Chris Rainey.

As for the two men left standing (I suppose Brandon James is also somewhat in the mix), Demps is a known quantity as a runner, but we haven’t seen him line up much at receiver. He recorded 141 yards and a touchdown on 15 catches. There’s certainly potential for growth there, but even if Demps makes a significant leap as a pass-catcher, Debose is likely to enter fall practice as a superior “receiver.” As a runner, he’s not as fast as Demps (is anyone?) and he seems to be a bit more upright and a bit less shifty than Harvin, but judging by the Youtubes, he obviously has a few moves to go along with great straightline speed.

I suspect both will see significant playing time (certainly Demps), but my tentative hunch is for Debose to hold down the position once he arrives. Then again, playing Demps in the slot would be a great way to keep him on the field while getting some more reps for Rainey and Moody. No matter the case, I suspect we’ll see a dizzying array of formations and personnel groupings to the effect of SEXY RESULTS. You know, as per usual.