Archive for October, 2008

Will Hill Breaks Out

Posted by admin on October 29th, 2008   No Comment

The early season hamstring injury is now a memory. Of course, I’m talking about Will “The Thrill” Hill, probably the most high profile recruit from Urban Meyer’s recent freshman class. The injury ensured he was behind Ahmad Black and Major Wright on the depth chart, but Hill announced his presence in a big way Saturday. Coach Meyer referred to his defense as a “three safety team” after the outstanding effort.

Will Hill has seen some time on special teams, mainly kickoff coverage. The Kentucky game was the first we saw him in extended minutes on defense, and he had a huge game. He led the defense in tackles with 11… 9 solo! I haven’t heard yet if he got more playing time because of Florida’s big lead. But certainly, he made a case to earn more playing time moving forward, regardless of how he found himself on the field in the first place.

Our defense has been much improved this year. But limiting Kentucky to 5 points is hardly a coronation. So many of the Wildcats’ playmakers were hurt, I think Tim Couch hurt himself while covering the game for the Big Blue Sports Network. What I’m getting at is while the defense is improved, to grow into a dominant defense it needs some of these big-time prospect playmakers to emerge. Will Hill has been touted as the kind of prospect that can be a big-time playmaker on a big-time defense, now he, and the UF defense, may be ready to show it.

Ahmad Black has shown that, despite his shortcomings (pun unintended), he can play a major role on an SEC defense. Major Wright shows he belongs with every bone-crushing, fumble-inducing hit that he doles out. And now Will Hill has shown he deserves some playing time. I, for one, will be waiting to see if he breaks out in a bigger way- on a bigger stage- next week in the Cocktail Party.

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Gators Blow Past Wildcats 63-5 On Homecoming

Posted by admin on October 25th, 2008   No Comment

The Gators improved their record to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the SEC after demolishing the Wildcats 63-5 in front of 90,589 fans on homecoming day. After beating top ranked LSU and then taking a week off, then topping off Kentucky with a blowout, I say Florida is headed into the right direction for next Saturdays game against the Bulldogs. Florida did just about everything right today. The special teams did phenomenal. Florida’s first block punt out of the two really changed the games performance early on in the game. Later on, the Gators blocked Kentucky’s field goal attempt which got them fired up even more. Kentucky could not get anything going what so ever. Combining quarterbacks between drives still could not lift Kentucky up on the board.

Florida’s offense was also incredible today. Florida put up 28 points in the first quarter which is the most the Wildcats have given up in a whole game this season. With Tim Tebow throwing for 180 yards and rushing for a pair of touchdowns, I say that’s not a bad day of work. Speedster Jeffrey Demps shined once again for the Gators in the backfield while rushing for 50 and receiving for 67 with a touchdown. Six different Gators carried the ball not including Tebow or Brantley, so it did show some sign of success in our running game. Before the first quarter was over you could tell by the looks in Kentucky’s eyes that they were done. The defense laid off and just let the Gators chomp all over them. Youngster quarterback John Brantley saw plenty on the field today in the 4th quarter. Brantley passed for 52 yards and also completed his first career Gator touchdown pass to David Nelson. The Gators will face another test against the Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville, Florida at 3:30pm on CBS. Stats from the 65-5 win against Kentucky are below.

* Florida Passing- Tebow 11/15 180 yards 2TD 1 INT, Brantley 2/3 52 yards 1TD

* Kentucky passing- Cobb 9/1 78 yards, Hartline 7/16 33 yards 1 INT.
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* Florida Rushing- Demps 7 car 50 yards, Tebow 9 car 48 yards 2TD, K. Moore 8 car 39 yards 1 TD, Rainey 7 car 36 yards, Harvin 2 car 22 yard 1TD, Brantley 2 car 14 yards, V. Brown 3 car 9 yards, B. James 2 car 9 yards

* Kentucky Rushing- Cobb 9 car 52 yards, Allen 6 car 32 yards, Dixon 6 car 27 yards, Nance 2 car 16 yards, Smith 8 car 11 yards, Hartline 1 car 2 yards, Bowland 1 car 1 yard
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* Florida Receiving- Demps 4 rec 67 yards 1TD, Nelson 1 rec 38 yards 1TD, Harvin 1 rec 33 yards 1TD, C. Moore 1 rec 25 yards, Murphy 2 rec 21 yards, Rainey 1 rec 16 yards, K. Moore 1 rec 14 yards, James 1 rec 9 yards, D. Thompson 1 rec 9 yards

* Kentucky Receiving- Conner 3 rec 26 yards, McCaskill 2 rec 22 yards, Dixon 5 rec 19 yards, Boyd 1 rec 16 yards, Adams 1 rec 16 yards, Adeyemi 1 rec 8 yards, Bogue 1 rec 8 yards, Cobb 2 rec 7, Ford 1 rec 5 yards

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Young Gator Secondary Is Shaping Up To Be One Of The Best In UF History

Posted by admin on October 23rd, 2008   No Comment

Would you expect that all of the starting defensive backs on the Gator roster are under classmen? Joe Haden, Ahmad Black, and Major Wright are all sophomores. Along with true freshman cornerback Janoris Jenkins, this superior group of DBs has more than enough promise for the future.

Before the 2008 season started, Dorian Munroe was the projected starter at the strong safety position with Wright at the other safety slot. Unfortunately an ACL tear would keep Munroe out for the season.

This would lead to the emergence of Ahmad Black. At 5-foot-9, 190-pounds, Black was a projected cornerback. But due to the lack of depth at the safety position, Black made the transition from cornerback to safety.
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Calling Out The D-Line

Posted by admin on October 23rd, 2008   No Comment

A defining characteristic of the great SEC defenses from the last two BCS National Championship games was the dominant play of the defensive line. While much has been made (and rightfully so, in my opinion) of the maturity of this year’s defense as a whole, I am skeptical about the play of the defensive line. Certainly, the entire front seven had to figure prominently in the way LSU’s rushing offense was limited (the last time we saw these Gators play). But I don’t think we have seen anything resembling the dominant pass rush of 2006.

Before the season, due largely to his imposing figure and performance in the Orange and Blue game, Carlos Dunlap was hyped as the next great Florida defensive end. While his numbers are decent- 3.5 sacks, 4 tackles for loss- from my memory, there haven’t been many times where, in watching the game, you are amazed by his play. Jermaine Cunningham (4.5 TFL, 3 sacks) and Lawrence Marsh (5.5 TFL, 3 sacks) also haven’t been All-American level. Indeed, all 3 of these guys have gotten virtually all of their numbers in the Hawaii and Miami games.

I think one of the main reasons is that we have not led by a lot until late in games, which has not forced the other teams to throw that much. In the LSU game, we got one of our two sacks on a corner blitz. So maybe the coaches are asking our line to take up space and blockers to stuff the run. But we should still have talented enough athletes to generate a pass rush without blitzing. I will certainly be watching for this on Saturday.

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Tamed the Tigers

Posted by admin on October 11th, 2008   No Comment

The Florida Gators came to play. All I can say right now due to over excitement. The Gators defeated the Tigers 51-21 in a well played ball game tonight. What a game huh? Tim Tebow played awsome. Not just Tebow, but the whole entire Gator squad. The 90,600 and some fans roared as the Gators ran out of the tunnel and the adrenaline really got to Florida and LSU might have showed some signs of intimidation. What a weekend of college football. With some of the top 10 teams going down, it should move Florida up in the rankings and they should be crawling back up slowly as the season comes along.

Freshman Jeffrey Demps surprised alot of fans tonight. Demps rushed for 129 yards along with his rushing touchdown. He made big plays to stretch the score out further and further and really hurt LSU on defense. Tebow came out really played his tail off. Throwing for 210 yards with 2 TD’s, rushing for 22 yards with one rushing TD. This game was expected to be much closer than it turned out but the Gator fans do not mind at all. If Florida plays like they did tonight, then there is no way any team in the Nation could compete with them. Florida has alot of talent and showed it all off against one of the biggest games of the season against ranked NO. 3 opponent.

On defense, Brandon Spikes came away with 2 interceptions. The Gators defense really impressed everybody. Florida only allowed LSU to 80 rushing yards. They were their to make the tackles when needed and their to break up the passes on 3rd and 4th down conversions. The Loss against Ole Miss had some effect in the win tonight. And what do you think about the quote about taking Tebow out of the game? Do you think that had some affect on the loss on the LSU side? Not much more to say about tonight besides Florida played real ball. That is the way “the Gators play”. Let’s hope Florida can play and finish up with the same intensity for the rest of the season against teams like Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida State. Not to mention the game in Vandy. You cannot play any better, so all I can say is what a great win to add on the W column and a way to make everybody in Gainesville happy. Florida will face the Kentucky Wildcats on homecoming night next week in the Swamp. Some stats may be seen below.

Florida- 51
LSU- 21

* Florida Passing- Tebow 14/221 210 yards 2TD
* LSU Passing- Lee 23/38 209 yards, 2TD, 2INT.— Hatch 2/3 32 yards.

* Florida Rushing- Demps 10 car 129 yards 1TD, Rainey 11 car 66 yards, Moore 4 car 23 yards 1TD, Tebow 12 car 22 yards 1TD, Harvin 2 car 13 yards, James 2 car 12 yards.

* LSU Rushing- Scott 12 car 35 yards, Holliday 2 car 26 yards, Murphy 2 car 19 yards, Hatch 4 car 14 yards 1TD, Williams 2 car 1 yard.

* Florida receiving- Harvin 6 rec 112 yards 2TD, Murphy 1 rec 37 yards, Thompson 2 rec 26 yards, Cooper 2 rec 19 yards, Demps 1 rec 11 yards, Hernandez 2 rec 5 yards.

* LSU Receiving- Byrd 6 rec 73 yards, LaFell 7 rec 59 yards, Dickson 6 rec 36 yards 1TD, Toliver 2 rec 32 yards, Holliday 1 rec 18 yards, Williams 1 rec 9 yards, Scott 1 rec 8 yards, Mitchell 1 rec 6 yards 1TD

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