bye week has come and gone and provided the Florida Gators with a chance to heal and get refreshed right before a huge road game against a top ten opponent. Now having played the game, the Gators are probably a little more banged up than they would like heading into Jacksonville next week for the big rivalry game with Georgia. Urban Meyer talked about injuries and more in his Sunday teleconference.
First and foremost on the worry list for most Gator fans is the health of star quarterback Tim Tebow. Perhaps the Heisman front runner after his five touchdown performance on Saturday, Tebow also sustained a shoulder injury in the game.
“Tim has a shoulder contusion,” Meyer said Sunday morning. “He will have no contact all week, but will be fine from what they are telling me.”
Tebow’s Heisman chances have been skyrocketing because he is such a big part of the Florida offense. After seven games, Tebow leads the nation in pass efficiency. He has thrown 17 touchdown passes and only three interceptions on the season. What is truly amazing is what he is doing on the ground. He leads the Gators in rushing with 578 rushing yards and attempts with almost 18 attempts per game. He is averaging 82.6 yards rushing per game.
Meyer says that as he continues to grow in the offense, Tebow will learn to use the play makers around him more instead of relying on himself to try and make a lot of plays. That has always been the plan, but it is a maturation process.
“A lot of them aren’t designed quarterback runs,” Meyer pointed out when asked about Tebow running so much. “He just pulls it down. I just watched the film where he pulled it down and he could have just flipped it to Hernandez for some plus yardage and he just went on his own for some plus yardage. We have to continue to coach him up that if it is there, just manage the game. He has just had so much success, and he is just kind of that persona that wants to take it, that is a concern.”
It is a tough balancing act when coaching him up, because Tebow running the ball creates nightmares for the opposing defense. Meyer doesn’t want to lose that edge that Tebow has when is on the field.
“I think it comes with maturity,” he said about optimizing the run-pass balance. “We don’t (want to) let him lose his edge. I think it comes with confidence in the personnel around him. A year ago he would have many more carries because that is who he is. It just comes with experience and confidence in personnel around him.”
Meyer and company actually have a limit on the number of times he is asked to carry the ball via designed quarterback runs.
“Our direct runs, which means it is called for him, we don’t want him getting any more than ten a game,” Meyer said. “He is getting like 20 a game, but a lot of those are him just making a play. If you take that away from Tim Tebow, then he isn’t what Tim Tebow is to our offense...We all have to understand that we can’t get him hurt.”
Another injury concern for Florida heading into the Georgia game is starting true freshman free safety major Wright. Wright has had a good season so far although he was pretty invisible against the best passing team the Gators will play all year. Still, he has played well and is questionable for Saturday. There are a few guys that have a chance to play in Wright’s place and two that will get first shot.
“Major Wright is very questionable, he may have to have surgery on his thumb,” Meyer said. “If Major can’t go, it will be Kyle Jackson and Dorian Munroe. The guy with the best week of practice will play. Bryan Thomas was hurt for about three to four weeks. He is a guy that will have to get into the rotation; Jamar Hornsby is another name that has improved. It is open now, but I’m not certain if major will not play, I will know more today probably. He may have to have surgery, if he has to have surgery, then it will be a week later. They can cast it, but a safety without being able to grasp and make tackles and interceptions, which is awful difficult.”
Starting offensive tackle Carlton Medder and defensive tackle Clint McMillan both sustained injuries. McMillan missed most of the game with a shoulder injury and Medder had his heel stepped on. Both will be reevaluated this week.
The injury to McMillan meant more playing time for the young guys up front. The Gators totaled six sacks on the day which is a great total. Still the Head Gator was not happy with the consistency up front.
“We did not get a good pass rush,” Meyer said. “We had six sacks, so we had some guys make some plays. But, when a quarterback throws for as many yards as they did...I don’t want to take away from Kentucky because they are the best offense we have seen this year...but, we are not getting the continuous pressure that we expect. I think any time you see Javier (Estopinan) make a sack and Jermaine Cunningham comes on. I even saw Torrey Davis, a true freshman, make some plays. There is progress being made
“We had a pretty decent two weeks of work with some of the young players. We had to get them in there and we have said that all day. With McMillan’s injury, it forced us to get some quality playing time for some young guys. Although we are nowhere where we need to be on defense it is great to get some experience and actually see some guys make some plays.”
Meyer said one guy on defense that continues to do the right things is sophomore middle linebacker Brandon Spikes.
“Brandon Spikes is a very good football player,” he said. “He loves the game and is the emotional leader for our defense. He plays like a veteran, so he has played very well for us.”
One concern on defense for the Gators has been stopping teams on fourth down. The Gators have given up eight fourth down conversions in nine attempts in the last two weeks. According to Meyer, more often than not, someone just needs to make a play when a play is there to be made.
“Whether it is high school, NFL or college it still comes down on fourth down to someone making a play,” Meyer said. “The running back at LSU was hit in the backfield and our linebacker didn’t get him down, so that young man made a play and our guy didn’t. There have been other times when we have made plays on fourth. It comes down to someone making a play. I think guys have been in position to make plays. l If you look at the touchdown they made on fourth and seven we should have made that play. It was a veteran player out there too; it just comes down to making a play and getting the defense off the field.
On offense, it is very noticeable when senior wide receiver Bubba Caldwell is back in full gear. The offense tends to take a step up in production and efficiency with the true leader of the wide receivers out there. Meyer also said more guys are getting into a groove.
Bubba felt great after the game and that is the first time since Troy that he was back into the flow and an active part of the offense,” Meyer said.
“I think his speed element, his leadership element, and obviously he is a play maker. We went a few weeks with Percy (Harvin) getting banged up, with Bubba out, and with Riley Cooper out and that obviously limits us. Jarred Fayson didn’t have the statistics, but he had two excellent weeks of practice and was very involved in the game. He had two excellent weeks of practice and is getting much more involved in the game. He played more than he ever played. Bubba Caldwell, adding that element, I think he is a very good for (us).
With Caldwell back and others stepping up, it just adds a balance to the offense and a dimension that teams cannot cope with from the spread offense.
“I think the ideal offense is to have a play maker at quarterback and a play maker at tailback, then (play makers) on each side of the formation so they can’t roll the coverage one way and take away your best player. I think that is most offenses’ goal. With Bubba healthy and you put him at X and Percy at H, then you have Louis Murphy playing a great game, add (Cornelius Ingram) and Jarred Fayson, you have some quality players. Bubba certainly adds a speed element we were looking for.”
With the excellent play from the wide receivers, Meyer was not happy with the running game on Saturday, especially from the running back position. He says some of the blame may be on the offensive line.
“I think our traditional run game is a concern,” Meyer said. “Tim Tebow and the receivers are getting all the yards for us. At LSU we did block them and Kestahn Moore ran hard. I didn’t feel that way and I don’t think we played particularly well up front this week, but I am not done with the film.”
Special teams played a significant role in Saturday’s game and were a real shining point for the Gators. The real star was sophomore returner Brandon James who ran a kickoff back 61 yards at the end of the first half to allow the Gators a quick score and deflate any momentum Kentucky had just before half time. James also advanced a late game kickoff to the 43 yard line allowing Florida to open it up and pass deep down field catching Kentucky off guard on the Gators last possession. James is such a weapon that opposing teams really have to be concerned when kicking to him and some times things go awry.
“They shanked a punt and one was not a good punt,” Meyer said about James affect on the return game. “That kickoff (return) before the half was really the play of the game. Another huge play was at the end of the game when we take over at the 43 yard line, we went aggressive. If we were at our own 20, we don’t do that. Those were two game changing plays for us.”
Meyer is tired of using the youth excuse card. Yes, it is a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing significant minutes or starting in a lot of cases. The Gators have crossed the half season threshold and it is time for the young players to start playing like older ones.
“I need to quit saying it,” Meyer said because he has used the reference some this year. “Because it is the seventh game of the season. We had a bye week and I get very disappointed when I see players not know how to react to a big time college atmospheres. It is officially done; I don’t want to hear it anymore. That doesn’t mean you quit making improvement because there is a lot of improvement being made. Let’s act like we have been there before and go play hard for 4-6 seconds, which is what we do. If you can’t do that, freshman or not, then you aren’t playing.”
