Freshman James Wilson (6’4, 308) has considered transferring. My question to Wilson would be…why? Why, when the clouds are departing and the bright blue sky is just beginning to open up for you? Wilson has been limited due to injuries, but is only beginning to assert himself now that he can actually practice. And guess what? He is establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with for the Gators. Yes, Wilson is only now starting to play some football and the big lineman is really turning some heads.
Working with the Florida second team at right guard, Wilson popped noseguard John Brown while pulling on an option play. He worked Brown right to the ground, smothering him. The following play, Wilson pancaked defensive tackle Lawrence Marsh on a running play to the left. He checked out after the play and as he was approaching one of the Florida assistant coaches held up two fingers. I have no idea if he was referring to solid back-to-back plays or not, but I could certainly understand if that was the case.
Later in the scrimmage, he pancaked Brown and made another nice block on Marsh to help seal off a hole in the line for running back Chris Rainey, who is quite used to seeing big uglies blow open holes in the middle. Again, his play continues to be limited until he works into football shape, but he is starting to turn some heads.
Jerimy Finch (6’1, 203) arrived at Florida and wasted little time cracking the defensive rotation. He was signed as a safety, but found a home at outside linebacker. Unfortunately, Finch broke his leg in the Tennessee game and lost for the remainder of the season. Well, Finch is starting to shake off the rust and have some fun. He’s playing some good football doing it too.
His best play of the day came as Rainey was running right looking for the slightest crease in the offensive line to slip through. It didn’t happen. Finch ran laterally along the front and covered every gap until reinforcements arrived and together they wrapped up the back for a loss. It was textbook defensive play. So much so, that head coach Urban Meyer praised Finch and even walked over from behind the offensive huddle and congratulated him. It was one of several plays that Finch made during the scrimmage session. His name was called out a few times by the coaches, who must be pleased with what they bare seeing from the Indiana native.
Like Finch, Ahmad Black (5’9, 177) was signed for one position before (perhaps) finding a home at another. Black has played both corner and safety this spring. He has most recently seen time at safety and is looking comfortable out there. The redshirt freshman spent his time on Saturday working between the first and second units. He was all over the field too, making several tackles and solid plays that earned him praise from his teammates. He knocked receiver Louis Murphy out of bounds after a pass completion near the sidelines. Murphy seemingly thought that he was going farther, but Black popped him immediately after the catch and ended the play right there. I’m not sure what happened with the corner on the play. It was a pretty short route that Black read all the way. He jarred the ball loose from another receiver as well in that same series.
He did have a bad play when James got behind him in a red zone drill. The quarterback floated the ball over the top for the score. I guarantee you Black wishes that he had that one over.
Offensive tackle Phil Trautwein (6’6, 301) saw the most extensive playing time of the spring as well. This space is reserved for players needing to step up and perform. Well, since Traut missed last year and has been limited this spring that suit s him as well. The result? Trautwein played very well at left tackle. IU watched him during several plays as he worked with the first unit before giving way to Carl Johnson.
Trautwein perfectly blocked Jermaine Cunningham on a run to the right forbidding Cunningham the ability to provide any backside pursuit. He and left guard Jim Tartt also looked good getting to the second level and picking off linebackers who attempted to slide over and make the hit on Brandon James running wide to the left. Tartt blasted an unknown linebacker coming over and Traut sealed things off. In pass protection, Traut knocked middle linebacker Brandon Spikes backwards, who was coming outside on a blitz. On another play, he gave defensive linemen Carlos Dunlap no room to operate and quarterback Tim Tebow plenty of time to throw the football. It’s really good to see Traut back and playing so well.
